Development of a scale to measure shared problem-solving and decision-making in mental healthcare

To live well in the present, we take direction from the past. Yet, individuals may engage in a variety of behaviors that distort their past and current circumstances, reducing the likelihood of adaptive problem solving and decision making. In this article, we attend to self-deception as one such class of behaviors. Drawing upon research showing both the maladaptive consequences and self-perpetuating nature of self-deception, we propose that self-deception is an understudied risk and maintaining factor for psychopathology, and we introduce a “cognitive-integrity”-based approach that may hold promise for increasing the reach and effectiveness of our existing therapeutic interventions. Pending empirical validation of this theoretically-informed approach, we posit that patients may become more informed and autonomous agents in their own therapeutic growth by becoming more honest with themselves.

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Embodied Ethical Decision-Making: A Clinical Case Study of Respect for Culturally Based Meaning Making in Mental Healthcare

American Journal of Dance Therapy ◽

10.1007/s10465-020-09338-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Megz Roberts

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Decision Making ◽

Mental Health Treatment ◽

Ethical Decision ◽

Ethical Decision Making ◽

Meaning Making ◽

Hospital Setting ◽

Mental Healthcare ◽

Clinical Case Study ◽

Culturally Based

AbstractHow does embodied ethical decision-making influence treatment in a clinical setting when cultural differences conflict? Ethical decision-making is usually a disembodied and rationalized procedure based on ethical codes (American Counseling Association, 2014; American Dance Therapy Association, 2015; American Mental Health Counseling Association, 2015) and a collective understanding of right and wrong. However, these codes and collective styles of meaning making were shaped mostly by White theorists and clinicians. These mono-cultural lenses lead to ineffective mental health treatment for persons of color. Hervey’s (2007) EEDM steps encourage therapists to return to their bodies when navigating ethical dilemmas as it is an impetus for bridging cultural differences in healthcare. Hervey’s (2007) nonverbal approach to Welfel’s (2001) ethical decision steps was explored in a unique case that involved the ethical decision-making process of an African-American dance/movement therapy intern, while providing treatment in a westernized hospital setting to a spiritual Mexican–American patient diagnosed with PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder. This patient had formed a relationship with a spirit attached to his body that he could see, feel, and talk to, but refused to share this experience with his White identifying psychiatric nurse due to different cultural beliefs. Information gathered throughout the clinical case study by way of chronological loose and semi-structured journaling, uncovered an ethical dilemma of respect for culturally based meanings in treatment and how we identify pathology in hospital settings. The application of the EEDM steps in this article is focused on race/ethnicity and spiritual associations during mental health treatment at an outpatient hospital setting. Readers are encouraged to explore ways in which this article can influence them to apply EEDM in other forms of cultural considerations (i.e. age) and mental health facilities. The discussion section of this thesis includes a proposed model for progressing towards active multicultural diversity in mental healthcare settings by way of the three M’s from the relational-cultural theory: movement towards mutuality, mutual empathy, and mutual empowerment (Hartling & Miller, 2004).

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HR Managers’ Emotions in Strategic Decision-Making Events: Evidence from Croatia

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13020845 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 845

Author(s):

Marli Gonan Božac ◽

Katarina Kostelić

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Problem Solving ◽

Strategic Planning ◽

Strategic Decision ◽

Strategic Decision Making ◽

Personal Perspective ◽

Human Resource Managers ◽

Organizational Perspective ◽

Hr Managers ◽

Experienced Emotion

The inclusion of emotions in the strategic decision-making research is long overdue. This paper deals with the emotions that human resource managers experience when they participate in a strategic problem-solving event or a strategic planning event. We examine the patterns in the intensity of experienced emotions with regard to event appraisal (from a personal perspective and the organization’s perspective), job satisfaction, and coexistence of emotions. The results reveal that enthusiasm is the most intensely experienced emotion for positively appraised strategic decision-making events, while frustration is the most intensely experienced emotion for negatively appraised problem-solving events, as is disappointment for strategic planning. The distinction between a personal and organizational perspective of the event appraisal reveals differences in experienced emotions, and the intensity of experienced anger is the best indicator of the difference in the event appraisals from the personal and organizational perspective. Both events reveal the variety of involved emotions and the coexistence of—not just various emotions, but also emotions of different dominant valence. The findings indicate that a strategic problem-solving event triggers greater emotional turmoil than a strategic planning event. The paper also discusses theoretical and practical implications.

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Systems thinking, a consilience of values and logic

Human Systems Management ◽

10.3233/hsm-2005-24402 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 259-274

Author(s):

Sameer Kumar ◽

Thomas Ressler ◽

Mark Ahrens

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Problem Solving ◽

Systems Thinking ◽

Qualitative Reasoning ◽

Colleges And Universities ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Modern World ◽

Problem Solving Process ◽

Problem Solvers

This article is an appeal to incorporate qualitative reasoning into quantitative topics and courses, especially those devoted to decision-making offered in colleges and universities. Students, many of whom join professional workforce, must become more systems thinkers and decision-makers than merely problem-solvers. This will entail discussion of systems thinking, not just reaching “the answer”. Managers will need to formally and forcefully discuss objectives and values at each stage of the problem-solving process – at the start, during the problem-solving stage, and at the interpretation of the results stage – in order to move from problem solving to decision-making. The authors suggest some methods for doing this, and provide examples of why doing so is so important for decision-makers in the modern world.

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Reflections on the type of question as a determinant of the form of interaction in decision‐making and problem‐solving discussions

Communication Quarterly ◽

10.1080/01463370309370146 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 51 (2) ◽

pp. 111-125

Author(s):

Dennis S. Gouran

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Problem Solving

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Exploring patterns in psychiatric outpatients’ preferences for involvement in decision-making: a latent class analysis approach

BMC Psychiatry ◽

10.1186/s12888-021-03137-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ingunn Mundal ◽

Mariela Loreto Lara-Cabrera ◽

Moisés Betancort ◽

Carlos De las Cuevas

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Depressive Disorder ◽

Latent Class ◽

Psychiatric Patients ◽

Mental Healthcare ◽

Psychological Reactance ◽

Psychiatric Outpatients ◽

Public And Private ◽

Level Of Education ◽

Healthcare Settings

Abstract Background Shared decision-making (SDM), a collaborative approach that includes and respects patients’ preferences for involvement in decision-making about their treatment, is increasingly advocated. However, in the practice of clinical psychiatry, implementing SDM seems difficult to accomplish. Although the number of studies related to psychiatric patients’ preferences for involvement is increasing, studies have largely focused on understanding patients in public mental healthcare settings. Thus, investigating patient preferences for involvement in both public and private settings is of particular importance in psychiatric research. The objectives of this study were to identify different latent class typologies of patient preferences for involvement in the decision-making process, and to investigate how patient characteristics predict these typologies in mental healthcare settings. Methods We conducted latent class analysis (LCA) to identify groups of psychiatric outpatients with similar preferences for involvement in decision-making to estimate the probability that each patient belonged to a certain class based on sociodemographic, clinical and health belief variables. Results The LCA included 224 consecutive psychiatric outpatients’ preferences for involvement in treatment decisions in public and private psychiatric settings. The LCA identified three distinct preference typologies, two collaborative and one passive, accounting for 78% of the variance. Class 1 (26%) included collaborative men aged 34–44 years with an average level of education who were treated by public services for a depressive disorder, had high psychological reactance, believed they controlled their disease and had a pharmacophobic attitude. Class 2 (29%) included collaborative women younger than 33 years with an average level of education, who were treated by public services for an anxiety disorder, had low psychological reactance or health control belief and had an unconcerned attitude toward medication. Class 3 (45%) included passive women older than 55 years with lower education levels who had a depressive disorder, had low psychological reactance, attributed the control of their disease to their psychiatrists and had a pharmacophilic attitude. Conclusions Our findings highlight how psychiatric patients vary in pattern of preferences for treatment involvement regarding demographic variables and health status, providing insight into understanding the pattern of preferences and comprising a significant advance in mental healthcare research.

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