Search

Unlabelled: BACKGROUND OF STUDY: Three hundred and sixty three subjects from various civil service organisations were administered the SCOPE-i (Stress, Coping and Personality Inventory) as part of the Institute of Mental Health's efforts to promote mental health in the workplace., Aim of Study: This study examines the relationship between stress-related factors and absenteeism. Absenteeism is measured by the number of days of medical leave taken (MC) and self-report of minor illnesses (MI) which are not severe enough to warrant the coverage of a medical certificate., Results: In this study, we are interested in the differences between MI and MC, and their respective relationships with stress-related factors. We hypothesised that MI, rather than MC, is more related to poor workplace conditions. The findings of this study support this hypothesis. Thus if workplace environment is stressful, people are still likely to come to work despite their illness. An interesting observation in this study is the different ways in which environmental stressors and psychosocial aspects of the workplace environment affect the MC variable. Individuals are more likely to take MC when the environmental stressors are high (i.e., poor lighting, uncomfortable temperatures, etc) as compared to poor psychosocial environmental conditions (e.g., work overload, high organisational tension, career limitations and high personal constraints). On the other hand, when faced with poor psychosocial environmental conditions, MI increases instead of MC., Conclusion: These findings have implications on the types of changes in a workplace which employers should make in order to decrease MC and improve physical well-being. In addition, the study shows the usefulness of MI in future studies as a dependent variable.

Psychiatric disorders and physical illnesses often coexist. Although there is evidence of high psychiatric morbidity in general hospital patients, only a small percentage are referred to the consultation-liaison psychiatrist. The paper describes and discusses the common psychiatric conditions encountered and referred in general hospitals. They include attempted suicides, psychiatric disorders presenting with physical symptoms, organic psychiatric disorders presenting with psychiatric symptoms and the psychiatric consequences of physical illness. The major diagnostic categories of these referrals are organic psychotic disorders, functional psychoses and neurotic disorders. Some broad guidelines are listed for the referring physician. Patients presenting with suicidal ideations or attempts, suspected emotional psychiatric disturbance, a history of psychiatric illness, an apparent incompetence in giving consent for medical procedures and those with diagnostic and management problems could be referred to the psychiatrist.

A psychosocial study was carried out on 10 out of the 18 HIV positive persons who were under surveillance and receiving counselling at either Middle Road Hospital or the Communicable Disease Centre in February 1988. The results of the psychological testing and psychiatric findings are presented. All 10 were male: 9 of them were homosexual and 1 heterosexual. Only one had significant depressive symptoms at the time of study. All had fears about their infection being found out by others and of the stigma that this might bring to their families. Psychometric tests on memory function did not show any signs of visuo-verbal memory impairment but did reveal a possible indication of audio-verbal memory dysfunction.