scholarly journals Mental health and the law: a South African perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Paul Szabo ◽  
Sean Zalman Kaliski
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
South African ◽  
Clinical Setting ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Mental Health Law ◽  
African Perspective

Mental health law in South Africa has been dominated in recent times by the Mental Health Care Act 2002. This paper provides selective insights into specific aspects of that Act and highlights its impact on clinical practice within a broad clinical setting and in so doing suggests areas for review and revision.

Viewing Primary Mental Health Care at a Time of Social Transition in South Africa

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melvyn Freeman ◽  
Cedric de Beer
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
South African ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Mental Health Needs ◽  
Primary Mental Health Care ◽  
Curative Care ◽  
African Context

As South Africa shifts from a social structure based on the principles of apartheid to a democratic society, social policies must be developed that are consonant with the ideals of the “new” society. These must, however, take into account the current realities of the South African context. This article suggests that the application of the principles of primary mental health care is the approach most likely to meet mental health needs in the future South Africa, but that difficulties are likely to arise in the transition to this approach. These difficulties must be identified and dealt with. The authors discuss the problems in providing competent curative care to all and in shifting emphasis to prevention and promotion in mental health care. The discussion covers both practical and political complications. The authors conclude that though the process to primary mental health care will be a long one, the problems are unlikely to be insurmountable.

Mental health law and mental health care: Introduction.

1994 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce D. Sales ◽  
Daniel W. Shuman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Mental Health Law

scholarly journals A relevant practical course for mental health care providers in South Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (8) ◽  
pp. 210
Author(s):  
Leepile Alfred Sehularo
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
South African ◽  
Care Provider ◽  
Rehabilitation Services ◽  
Mental Health Care Provider ◽  
Health Care Treatment

<p>The South African Mental Health Care Actdefines mental health care provider as a person providing mental health care services to mental health care users and includes mental health care practitioners. Mental health care practitioner means a nurse, psychiatrist or registered medical practitioner, psychologist, occupational therapist or social worker who has been trained at an accredited institution to provide prescribed mental health care, treatment and rehabilitation services. For a South African mental health provider to render high-quality mental health care, treatment and rehabilitation services, that mental health care provider should have been exposed to theory and practical teaching and learning in Intellectual Disability (ID). One of the most relevant practical courses for intellectual disability in South Africa is offered by the Sunshine Association.</p>

scholarly journals Policy, power, stigma and silence: Exploring the complexities of a primary mental health care model in a rural South African setting

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (6) ◽  
pp. 719-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rochelle Ann Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
South African ◽  
Care Model ◽  
Rural South ◽  
Primary Mental Health Care ◽  
African Setting ◽  
Health Care Model

The Movement for Global Mental Health’s (MGMH) efforts to scale up the availability of mental health services have been moderately successful. Investigations in resource-poor countries like South Africa have pointed to the value of an integrated primary mental health care model and multidisciplinary collaboration to support mental health needs in underserved and underresourced communities. However, there remains a need to explore how these policies play out within the daily realities of communities marked by varied environmental and relational complexities. Arguably, the lived realities of mental health policy and service delivery processes are best viewed through ethnographic approaches, which remain underutilised in the field of global mental health. This paper reports on findings from a case study of mental health services for HIV-affected women in a rural South African setting, which employed a motivated ethnography in order to explore the realities of the primary mental health care model and related policies in South Africa. Findings highlighted the influence of three key symbolic (intangible) factors that impact on the efficacy of the primary mental health care model: power dynamics, which shaped relationships within multidisciplinary teams; stigma, which limited the efficacy of task-shifting strategies; and the silencing of women’s narratives of distress within services. The resultant gap between policy ideals and the reality of practice is discussed. The paper concludes with recommendations for building on existing successes in the delivery of primary mental health care in South Africa.

The Reproduction of Racism in South African Mental Health Care

1991 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 240-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Swartz
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
South African ◽  
Transcultural Psychiatry

In an attempt to avoid reproducing apartheid ideology, some South African psychologists have tended to minimize cultural differences and emphasize universalism. Relativism and universalism in practice, though, are closely intertwined as an analysis of some local transcultural psychiatry literature shows. Similarly, racist and nonracist mental health care occur together in certain contexts. The development of less racist mental health care in South Africa will depend not solely on the rejection of racism but also on the recognition that traditions of racism are woven into the fabric of care.

scholarly journals COVID-19, psychosocial issues, politics, and public mental health care

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-303
Author(s):  
Anthony L Pillay ◽  
Anne L Kramers-Olen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Mental Health Policy ◽  
Public Mental Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Public Mental Health Care

The COVID-19 pandemic heralded challenges that were both significant and unfamiliar, placing inordinate burdens on health care systems, economies, and the collective psyche of citizens. The pandemic underscored the tenuous intersections between public mental health care, politics, economics, and psychosocial capital. In South Africa, the inadequacies of the public health system have been laid bare, and the disproportionate privileges of the private health care system exposed. This article critically considers government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the psychosocial correlates of lockdown, politics, corruption, and public mental health policy in South Africa.

Optimizing a Halfway House to Meet Mental Health Care Users’ Occupational Needs

2021 ◽  
pp. 000841742110448
Author(s):  
Itumeleng Augustine Tsatsi ◽  
Nicola Ann Plastow
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Unmet Needs ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Halfway House ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Halfway Houses

Background. Halfway houses (HwH) may support community reintegration of mental health care users and can be effective in meeting occupational needs of residents. However, they are not optimally used in South Africa. Purpose. This study aimed to improve the functioning of a HwH so that it better meets occupational needs of the resident mental health care users. It draws on Doble & Santha; ( 2008 ) seven occupational needs. Method. A four-phase Participatory Action Research methodology was used. We conducted thematic analysis to describe met and unmet needs within PAR phases. Findings. Occupational needs of accomplishment, renewal, pleasure and companionship were being met. However, coherence, agency and affirmation needs were not being met. An additional occupational need for interdependence, based on the African ethic of Ubuntu, was identified. Implications. HwH functioning affected residents’ experiences of health and wellbeing. Engagement in collective occupations can contribute to meeting the occupational need of interdependence.

Health care practitioners' perceptions of public mental health care in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 370-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalena van Rooyen ◽  
Kegan Topper ◽  
David Morton ◽  
Joanitha Strümpher ◽  
Isabell Schierenbeck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Public Mental Health ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Health Care Practitioners ◽  
Public Mental Health Care
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