Approved Mental Health Professionals’ Experiences of Moral Distress
‘Who Are we For ’
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10895114 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jill Hemmington (0000-0002-8919-1434, University of Lancashire, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 762-779 |
| Publication date | 2024-03-21 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal of Social Work (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0045-3102 • E-ISSN: 1468-263X |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjsw/bcad258 |
| OpenAlex | W4389879006 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 36 |
In England and Wales, approved mental health professionals (AMHPs) undertake interviews with service users as part of wider Mental Health Act assessments. AMHPs act as the ultimate decision-maker in relation to statutory detentions. They have legal duties to consider the least restrictive outcomes for service users, including alternatives to hospital. Yet they are increasingly unable to act on this, resulting in conflicting pressures. This article draws on a qualitative research study incorporating ethnographic research and interviews with AMHPs. Evidence suggests that service restructures are creating different approaches to practice with contradictory priorities, for example, whether the work is values-driven and relational or whether approbation is attached to a ‘need for speed’. AMHPs are increasingly deliberating about what makes ‘proper’ or ‘good’ AMHP practice, asking ‘who are we for?’ and referring to their work as ‘political activity’. AMHPs’ sense-making and language are indicative of moral distress. Organisational politics may lead to the work being seen as a technical-rational endeavour, not a moral one, leading to dissonance. More broadly, AMHPs and service users are, together, bearing the brunt of austerity measures and there are increasing unmet needs. Overall, there is a need to establish an ideological, theoretical and political base for practice
Austerity · Business · Cognitive dissonance · Ideology · Mental distress · Mental health · Political science · Politics · Psychotherapist · Public relations · Service (business) · Sociology · Statutory law · Work (physics) · Ethics in medical practice · Healthcare Decision-Making and Restraints · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice
Thematic analysis.
Late Modernity and Social Change
Ethnography
Ethnographic Methods
Power as Perceived in MHA Assessment Contexts
Realising Sedgwick’s vision
Being Assessed under the 1983 Mental Health Act—Can it Ever be Ethical
Reading Bauman for Social Work
Approved social work and psychotherapy
User Involvement in Research and Evaluation
Moral distress among social workers
The language of shirkers and scroungers?’ Talking about illness, disability and coalition welfare reform
Staff shortages in the mental health workforce
Powers to Detain under Mental Health Legislation in England and the Role of the Approved Social Worker
A Study Exploring How Social Work AMHPs Experience Assessment under Mental Health Law
Researching Social Work Practice Close Up
Accounting for Social Perspectives
Why Do Approved Mental Health Professionals Think Detentions under the Mental Health Act Are Rising and What Do They Think Should Be Done about It
Self-Identity, Embodiment and the Development of Emotional Resilience
AMHP Work
The Mental Health Act Code of Practice
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Living with conflicts-ethical dilemmas and moral distress in the health care system
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |