Applying quality of life in mental health social work practice

Authors

  • Kathy Martindale A Senior Lecturer at The University of Auckland, School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work.
  • Ross Phillips Director of Inclusion Solutions, based in Auckland.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol21iss4id261

Keywords:

health social work, mental health social work, mental health, social work practice, quality of life indicators, subjective wellbeing,

Abstract

The use of Quality of Life (QOL) indicators has become increasingly common in health and social services. This article proposes a framework to strengthen mental health social work practice by outlining subjective wellbeing, a component of the QOL construct. Following a discussion on the current policy influences on mental health service provision in Aotearoa New Zealand the QOL construct is outlined. The application of a QOL framework to mental health social work practice draws parallels between QOL principles and the current mental health philosophies of recovery, social inclusion and community care. The authors maintain that a focus on applying QOL in mental health social work will see its contribution to the mental health sector enhanced and its role and function more clearly described.

References

Andrews, F. M., & Withey, S. B. (1976). Social indicators of well-being: Americans’ perception of life quality. New York: Plenum Press.

Brown, I., & Brown, R. I. (2003). Quality of life and disability: An approach for community practitioners. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Brown, R. I., & Brown, I. (2005). The application of quality of life. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 49(10), 718-727.

Campbell, A., Converse, P. E., & Rodgers, W. L. (1976). The quality of American Life: Perceptions, evaluations and satisfactions. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Connolly, M., & Ward, T. (2008). Navigating human rights across the life course. Child and Family Social Work, 13, 348-356.

Cummins, R. A. (1998). The second approximation to an international standard for life satisfaction. Social Indicators Research, 43, 307-334.

Cummins, R. A. (2000). Objective and subjective quality of life. Social Indicators Research, 51, 55-72.

Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542-575.

Diener, E., & Lucas, R. E. (1999). Personality and subjective well-being. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 213-229). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Diener, E., & Suh, E. (1997). Measuring quality of life: Economic, social, and subjective indicators. Social Indicators Research, 189-216.

Diener, E., Suh, E., & Oishi, S. (1997). Recent findings on subjective well-being. Indian Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Evans, S. (2007). Quality of life in mental health services. In M. S. Ritsner & A. G. Awad (Eds.), Quality of life impairments in schizophrenia, mood and anxiety disorders (pp. 333-353). Dordrecht: Springer.

Frese, F., Stanley, J., Kress, K., & Vogel-Scibilia, S. (2003). Integrating evidence-based practices and the recovery model. In R. Drake & H. Goldman (Eds.), Evidence-based practices in mental health care (pp.21-29). Arlington: American Psychiatric Association.

Frisch, M. B. (2000). Improving mental and physical health care through quality of life therapy and assessment. In E. Diener & D. R. Rahtz (Eds.). Advances in quality of life theory and research (pp.207-241). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Headey, B., & Wearing, A. (1992). Understanding happiness: A theory of subjective well-being. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire.

Keith, K. D. (2007). Quality of life. In A. Carr, G. O’Reilly, P. Noonan Walsh & J. McEvoy (Eds.), The handbook of intellectual disability and clinical psychology practice (pp. 143-168). London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

Matthewson, P. (2007). Professional leadership in mental health social work. Social Work Review, 19(3), 388-47.

Mental Heath Advocacy Coalition. (2008). Destination: Recovery Te Unga ki Uta, Te Oranga. Auckland: Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand.

Mental Health Commission. (1998). Blueprint for Mental Health Services in New Zealand: How things need to be. Wellington: Author.

Mental Health Commission. (2001). Recovery competencies for New Zealand mental health workers. Wellington: Author.

Mental Health Commission. (2004). Report on progress 2002-2003: Towards implementing the Blueprint for Mental Health Services. Wellington: Author.

Mental Health Commission. (2004a). Our lives in 2014: A recovery vision from people with experience of mental illness for the second mental health plan and the development of the health and social sectors. Wellington: Author.

Mental Health Commission. (2007). Te harerenga mo te whakaoranga 1996-2006: The journey of recovery for the New Zealand mental health sector. Wellington: Author.

Mental Health Commission. (2009). Mental health and social inclusion: Concepts and measurements. Wellington: Author.

Ministry of Health. (2008). Let’s get real: Real skills for people working in mental health and addiction. Wellington: Author.

Ministry of Social Policy. (2001). The social development approach. Wellington: Author.

O’Brien. J. (1993). Supported living: What’s the difference? Syracuse: Responsive Systems.

Phillips, R. (2008). A right to a risk filled life: Understandings and analysis of the risk discourse for consumers in mental health (unpublished Masters thesis). Massey University, New Zealand.

Reamer, F. (2005). Social work values and ethics: Reflections on the profession’s odyssey. Advances in Social Work, 6(1), 24-32.

Renouf, N., & Bland, R. (2005). Navigating stormy waters: Challenges and opportunities for social work in mental health. Australian Social Work, 58(4), 419-430.

Rogers, A., & Pilgrim, D. (1996). Mental health policy in Britain: A critical introduction. Houndmills: Macmillan Press.

Ryan, M., Dowden, C., Healy, B., & Renouf, N. (2005). Watching the experts: Findings from an Australian study of the expertise in mental health social work. Journal of Social Work, 5(3), 279-298.

Schalock, R. L., Brown, I., Brown, R., Cummins, R. A., Felce, D., Matikka, L. M., et al. (2002). Conceptualization, measurement, and application of quality of life for persons with intellectual disabilities: Report of an international panel of experts. Mental Retardation, 40(6), 457-470.

Schalock, R. L., & Felce, D. (2004). Quality of life and subjective well-being: Conceptual and measurement issues. In E. Emerson, C. Hatton, T. Thompson & T. R. Parmenter (Eds.), International handbook on applied research in intellectual disabilities (pp. 261-279). Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.

Schalock, R. L., & Verdugo, M. A. (2002). Handbook on quality of life for human service practitioners. Washington, DC: American Association on Mental Retardation.

Warren, H. (1996). The hard end of community care. Auckland: Auckland University Press.

Downloads

Published

2009-01-01

How to Cite

Martindale, K., & Phillips, R. (2009). Applying quality of life in mental health social work practice. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 21(4), 55–63. https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol21iss4id261

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 4 (2009): Vol 22, No 1

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

By completing the online submission process, you confirm you accept this agreement. The following is the entire agreement between you and the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) and it may be modified only in writing.

You and any co-authors

If you are completing this agreement on behalf of co-authors, you confirm that you are acting on their behalf with their knowledge.

First publication

By submitting the work you are:

  1. granting the ANZASW the right of first publication of this work;
  2. confirming that the work is original; and
  3. confirming that the work has not been published in any other form.

Once published, you are free to use the final, accepted version in any way, as outlined below under Copyright.

Copyright

You assign copyright in the final, accepted version of your article to the ANZASW. You and any co-authors of the article retain the right to be identified as authors of the work.

The ANZASW will publish the final, accepted manuscript under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This licence allows anyone – including you – to share, copy, distribute, transmit, adapt and make commercial use of the work without needing additional permission, provided appropriate attribution is made to the original author or source.

A human-readable summary of the licence is available from http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, which includes a link to the full licence text.

Under this licence you can use the final, published version of the article freely – such as depositing a copy in your institutional research repository, uploading a copy to your profile on an academic networking site or including it in a different publication, such as a collection of articles on a topic or in conference proceedings – provided that original publication in Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work is acknowledged.

This agreement has no effect on any pre-publication versions or elements, which remain entirely yours, and to which we claim no right.

Reviewers hold copyright in their own comments and should not be further copied in any way without their permission.

The copyright of others

If your article includes the copyright material of others (e.g. graphs, diagrams etc.), you confirm that your use either:

  1. falls within the limits of fair dealing for the purposes of criticism and review or fair use; OR
  2. that you have gained permission from the rights holder for publication in an open access journal.