The Nordic comparative study on sectorized psychiatry: Professional ideology and realities among staff

As a part of the Nordic Comparative Study on Sectorized Psychiatry, a study on staff members' ideals of good psychiatric service and perceived realiti es at their place of work was carried out in the seven participating servic es. The aim was to throw light on some ideologic dimensions of community-ba sed psychiatric services. The reorientation of psychiatric services has led to a decrease of inpatient facilities and to an increase of a spectrum of outpatient services. The reorientation has been guided by principles of com munity psychiatry, such as comprehensiveness, coordination and non-institut ionalization. The organizational framework has been the sectorization of se rvices. Staff members' perceptions of these ideals and of the realities in their own service might not always correspond with the officially stated ai ms and goals set up for the service. This might substantially influence the successfulness of the reorientation. The result of the present study showe d general good agreement on the importance of developing an integrated appr oach and cooperating with general practitioners and social services, wherea s the principle of avoiding hospitalization was found to be fairly unpopula r. Ideas important to community-based psychiatry were found to be more impo rtant in non-metropolitan catchment areas.