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The Psychosocial Atmosphere in Community-Based Activity Centers for People with Psychiatric Disabilities: Visitor and Staff Perceptions

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Abstract

This study investigated how visitors and staff in community-based activity centers in Sweden perceived the psychosocial atmosphere and whether this could be explained by the centers’ orientation (work-oriented versus meeting place-oriented centers). Eighty-eight visitors and 37 staff members at three work-oriented and three meeting place-oriented centers participated. The Community-oriented Programs Environmental Scale was used to estimate the psychosocial atmosphere. The result showed that the psychosocial atmosphere at the centers was in accordance with a supportive ward atmosphere profile. Visitors and staff perceived several aspects of the psychosocial atmosphere differently, especially in the meeting place-oriented centers. The visitors in the meeting place-oriented centers did not perceive the psychosocial atmosphere differently from those visiting the work-oriented centers. The results indicated that the psychosocial atmosphere at the centers was in line with what previous research has shown to be beneficial for visitors regarding outcome and favorable for promoting a good therapeutic alliance and a good functioning in daily life.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Lund University, Paradisgatan 5 P, 223 50, Lund, Sweden

    Jan-Åke Jansson & Håkan Johansson

  2. Division of Occupational Therapy and Gerontology, Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, Box 157, 221 00, Lund, Sweden

    Mona Eklund

Authors
  1. Jan-Åke Jansson
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  2. Håkan Johansson
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  3. Mona Eklund
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Correspondence to Jan-Åke Jansson.

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Jansson, JÅ., Johansson, H. & Eklund, M. The Psychosocial Atmosphere in Community-Based Activity Centers for People with Psychiatric Disabilities: Visitor and Staff Perceptions. Community Ment Health J 49, 748–755 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-013-9651-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-013-9651-1

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