Circumstances of psychiatric social work services in Malaysia's public hospital

Abstract

A study was conducted in 2013 to investigate the situation of the psychiatric social work services in Malaysia's public hospitals, nationwide.  The descriptive survey involved all the 201 medical social workers from the 14 public hospitals all over Malaysia. On the whole, the findings show that the physical, emotional and advocacy circumstances of psychiatric social work services in all the public hospital are at the satisfactory level; nevertheless,  there are still rooms for improvement. All the findings are significant as inputs, indicators and critical guidelines in any efforts to customise the Mental Health Policy, National Social Welfare Policy, and any effective social initiatives aim to enhance the life wellbeing of the people with a mental health condition. Furthermore, the study is essential to provoke for the need of the specific psychiatric social work in the medical social work service in this country.