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Abstract
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OBJECTIVES: It is the determination of the opinions, practices and recommendations of health professionals in Community Mental Health Centers (CMHC) regarding the risk assessment.
METHODS: The descriptive design of qualitative research tradition is applied. The research sample comprises 14 health professionals from three different CMHCs. Research data were collected through a semi-structured interview form prepared by the authors. The qualitative data were analyzed by descriptive analysis method.
RESULTS: It has been revealed that healthcare professionals have awareness of risk assessment and regularly assess the risks of suicide, exacerbation, self-harm and harm to others. Patient and the family are not actively included in the risk assessment process. Various problems stemming from the clients, their families, health personnel and system, and risk assessment forms are experienced in risk assessment practices. Risk assessments cannot be performed due to reasons such as lack of team integrity because of excessive workload, medical staff consistency, regular patient attendance and security personnel deficiencies in risk assessment forms such as unclear questions and no score equivalent, health personnel's lack of risk assessment training. The case-oriented explications, compliance with the contemporary practice, and elaborated information provision about suicide is suggested regarding the risk assessment training.
CONCLUSION: The study revealed that health professionals in CMHCs have numerous difficulties regarding risk assessment. Moreover, there are deficiencies in risk assessment practices due to these difficulties. © 2021 by Journal of Psychiatric Nursing.
Language: en |