Psychological medicine
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Psychological medicine · Sep 2000
Are recent increases in deliberate self-harm associated with changes in socio-economic conditions? An ecological analysis of patterns of deliberate self-harm in bristol 1972-3 and 1995-6.
The incidence of deliberate self-harm (DSH) in Britain has increased markedly over the last 30 years. Reasons for this rise are not clear. We have investigated whether changes in the social and economic environment underlie any of the recent increase in DSH incidence. ⋯ This analysis suggests that changes in levels of socio-economic deprivation may influence area-specific patterns of DSH and such changes may have contributed to recent rises in DSH.
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Psychological medicine · Sep 2000
Detection of psychological distress by practice nurses in general practice.
The general practitioner (GP) has traditionally been the first port of call for people with psychiatric morbidity but increasingly other members of the primary care team see the patients first, particularly practice nurses. The numbers and roles of practice nurses have expanded greatly over the past decade and it is important that practice nurses are able to recognize patients with psychiatric morbidity. This paper reports a study to determine the abilities of 24 practice nurses to detect psychiatric morbidity in patients attending their clinics. ⋯ These results demonstrate that practice nurses' caseloads include a high proportion of patients with psychiatric morbidity and that agreement with the GHQ classification of psychiatric morbidity is modest. Therefore, training in detection will be crucial for the nurses.