The support of people with mental illness is an important element in the psychiatric rehabilitation nursing. I paid attention to the clubhouse method for effective psychiatric rehabilitation nursing. The purpose of this paper was to clarify the characteristics of the staff who supported the members at a clubhouse of people with mental disorders. The data was qualitatively analyzed by author's observation. The speech and behavior of the staff were described and encoded for this research data. They were analyzed by 28 elements and categorized into 6 features. I called these features : "The characteristics of staff behavior". These characteristics were as follows : (1) Promotion of self-decision, (2) Equality of relation, (3) Motivation of participation (4) Valuing of work and role, (5) Reinforcement of companionship, (6) Support of practice This research suggested the need for both a medical model and a social model in order to describe psychiatric rehabilitation nursing.

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This study analyzed how the presentation of the negative prior information regarding an unknown psychiatric patient affected nursing attendants' impression formation of this individual. Case information was based upon that of a typical patient staff would encounter daily in their work, and comprised two types if information : that which staff would routinely hear at admission and a report of behavior that would be observed during a typical episode. A newly designed questionnaire was completed by 322 nursing attendants who worked in psychiatric care facilities. The results were as follows. (1) Staff's impression of the patient was regarding the patient's character, next his dependence on medication, and then lifestyle. (2) Cluster analysis revealed that of the six groups identified, four of these accounted for 97% ; first group's impression was regarding disease and environment (31%), followed by that of interpersonal relationships, lifestyle and emotions (25%), next character (21%), and then dependence on medication (20%). (3) Cognitive evaluation of the patient was negative in 60% of staff, and positive in only 5 %. (4) The behavior of the patient was most frequently cited by staff to convey information they used to form an image of the patient. These results suggest that presentation of negative patient information results in staff attributing negative personal qualities to an unknown patient.

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This paper attempts to develop risk assessment strategies in the field of community mental health nursing in Japan by learning from the strategies used in the UK. Risk assessment has been become a significantly important concept in the field of community mental health in the UK. It is a systematic decision-making process of the degree, immediacy and likelihood of the identified risk occurring in the future and it is an important strategy for enhancing the quality of life of people with mental illness. Therefore, it is important to develop accurate risk assessment strategies. This study explores the way specialist practitioners make use of risk assessment and evaluate the reliability of their assessment. Seven specialist practitioners from different Community Mental Health Trusts in the north of England took part in this study and were interviewed. The method of content analysis was carried out to understand the phenomenon. The analysis of the interviews indicates that an effort of accurate understanding of the patient is the core of effective risk assessment. Based on the literature review and the findings of the empirical research, a model has been developed which considers the important areas of information gathering, expertise, engagement, communication skills, beliefs and judgment in order to gain an accurate picture of the patient. The main implications for an effective risk assessment are that the use of observation skill to enhance an accuracy of perception on the patient and an application of reflective practice to develop practitioners' own judgment on risk.

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