Attitudes among medical and law students toward decision-making in regard to involuntary psychiatric hospitalization

Background

The management of individuals with mental illnesses sometimes requires involuntary hospitalization. The Israel Mental Health Act requires that cases of involuntary psychiatric hospitalization (IPH) be periodically reviewed by the district psychiatric committee. The discussion in the committee often leads to debate regarding the need for an IPH potentially depriving the patient of his freedom. Little is known about the way in which the psychiatrists and attorneys on these committees arrive at their decisions. The present study was designed to examine the views of future doctors and attorneys concerning cases of possible IPH to determine whether their decisions would be influenced by their respective professional educational backgrounds.

Methods

After compiling demographic data, we asked 170 students from each of the two disciplines what their decision would be in two hypothetical cases that dealt with the question of a prolongation of a psychiatric hospitalization. Questionnaires examining social distance and possible stigmatizing views concerning psychiatric patients were also distributed and collected.

Results

The response rates for the medical and law students were, respectively, 90% and 85%. We found no differences between the medical and law students regarding their views on prolongation of a psychiatric hospitalization. This was consistent regardless of whether the hospitalization was against the patient's will or according to his wish and against the treating physicians' advice. We also found that the medical and law students had similar general views regarding psychiatric patients, but that the latter evidenced greater social distance than the former.

Conclusions

Academic background and socialization were not found to influence the decisions of students regarding IPH. Educational programs and exposure to psychiatric patients during law studies are proposed to lessen psychiatric stigma and promote better understanding between members of the two disciplines.     

In the Shadow of Grexit: The Greek Election of 17 June 2012

This article provides an overview and analysis of the Greek elections of June 2012. Placing the elections within the broader framework of the Greek socio-political and economic context, it discusses the electoral campaign and results, juxtaposing them to the 6 May electoral round. The election results confirmed many of the trends of the previous round, including electoral volatility, the fragmentation of the party system and the rise of anti-establishment forces. The main difference was the entrenchment of the pro- versus anti- bailout division and the prominence of the question of Greece's continued eurozone membership.     

Constitutionalism and common knowledge: Assessment and application to a future European constitution

The purpose of the paper is to advocate that constitutions should be established through a contractarian process, rather than through conventions. To achieve it, they are studied from the perspective of the concept of common knowledge. We refer to its political philosophy and game theory dimensions. The making of common knowledge relates to communication and induction problems. The argument is applied to European constitutional integration, with a particular focus on administrative law.     

Crossover and stability of victim type in child molesters

Purpose. This study examined the degree to which child sex offenders demonstrated crossover in victim choice, as defined by age, gender, and relationship to the offender. It also aimed to explore the direction of the shift in victim type with repeated offending within each of the three domains and to identify variables predictive of crossover behaviour. Method. The sample comprised 128 adult male child sexual offenders. All had offended against multiple victims and were attending a community‐based assessment and treatment service for sexual offenders at the time of data collection. Variables were gathered, coded, and de‐identified from a manual search through clinical casenotes, from client assessment reports as well as from supplementary information consisting of sentencing remarks or other professional reports. Results. More than half of the sample (63.3%, N = 81) demonstrated crossover in victim type across at least one domain. Crossover was 48.0% (N = 59) in the age domain, 22.0% (N = 28) in the gender domain, and 25.8% (N = 33) in the relationship to victim domain. Crossover offending was associated with number of victims but unrelated to frequency of offending or to recidivism risk as assessed by a standard risk assessment instrument. Transitional matrices showed general stability in victim type across offences within the gender and relationship domains, but lower stability within the age domain. Conclusions. Crossover offending behaviour was found to be frequent in the age domain, but the high frequency of crossover in this domain may be artifactual. Crossover offending was less frequent in the gender and relationship domains, but should be taken into account in risk assessment. Victim type shows stability across multiple offences in the gender and relationship to victim domains. Analysis of victim type across multiple offences should be replicated under conditions where disclosure of offending is maximized.     

A commentary on local authority commercialisation strategies

As growing numbers of local authorities in England are facing up to funding challenges, many of them are looking to commercialising services to increase revenue and to balance their budgets. This commentary paper outlines the characteristics of commercialisation and the drivers for it, reviews the commercial strategies being introduced by a number of local authorities, and offers some general reflections on commercialisation within local government. Although local authorities have created their own individual commercialisation strategies, a number of general themes can be identified within these strategies. These common themes include the drivers for commercialisation; the vision, aims, and objectives of commercialisation strategies; delivery plans and priorities; measurement; and risk management. In reflecting on local authority commercialisation strategies, the authors highlight the importance of developing both a communications plan and new skills and knowledge bases for employees, and they link their findings to the privatisation of public sector services and to neoliberal models of local service provision.     

Reality Shock and Public Service Motivation: A Longitudinal,Qualitative Study Among Dutch Veterinary Inspectors

To this day little is known about the mechanisms that help explain the mixed findings of longitudinal public service motivation (PSM) research. This study aims to deepen our understanding of post-entry PSM dynamics by focusing on the role of the often cited “reality shock” as a potential explanation for the decrease in PSM also found here. The results of this longitudinal, small-scale qualitative study of a specific cohort of newcomers who just started work as veterinary inspectors at the Dutch food safety authority suggest that a loss of PSM is not due to a generic shock effect, but is linked to having unclear job expectations and individual differences in coping behaviour.     

Unitary states and peripheral regions: a model of heterogeneous spatial clubs

Efficiency explanations of the wealth and size of nations provide useful insights into the history and current makeup of nations. We focus here on two related issues that matter, for instance, in large areas such as Western or Eastern Europe, or Canada. We develop an analytical framework for understanding the limits of constitutional unity. This microeconomic model of unitary states deals with two kinds of heterogeneity. First, preference distance or physical distance account for decreasing net benefits from expansion. Second, heterogeneity may involve a discontinuity in the spatial pattern of preferences: “peripheral behaviors” threaten unity. We integrate such behaviors into the model and draw some lessons as to the nature of an optimal constitutional area, discussing in particular the status of peripheral regions.     

A commentary on the rollout of 5g mobile in the UK

The first waves of the fifth generation of mobile phone technology, 5G, are breaking on the telecommunication shores of the United Kingdom. The government's ambition is for the United Kingdom to be a global leader in 5G mobile technology, but its widespread commercial deployment faces a number of barriers and challenges. The aims of this commentary paper are to outline the main characteristics and rollout of 5G mobile technology, to explore the forces driving and shaping the 5G market, to examine the perceived barriers to the deployment of 5G networks, and to offer some wider reflections on the rollout of 5G.