• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.209-279
• /
• 2016

The Korean Mental Health Act was amended 2016 overall. This paper examines and evaluates the old Korean Mental Health Act since 1995 and the new Korean Mental Health Promotion Act 2016 from the Perspective of Human Rights and Inclusion of Persons with Psychosocial Disabilities. The persons with mental disabilities was separated and ruled out from society by the enactment of the Mental Health Act in 1995 and five times amendment. That has been justified and institutionally supported by medical viewpoint. The medical approach which reconsider the persons with mental disabilities as patients conceal that the aims of the involuntary admission in Mental Hospital are protection of society and the relief of the family member's duty of support for person with mental disabilities. This is institutionally supported in the 1995 Korean Mental Health Act by involuntary admission through the consent of family members as protectors. According to the old Act, the family members as protectors are authorized to consent to involuntary admission of persons with mental disabilities. Also, the psychiatrist that diagnoses the person with mental disabilities and evaluates the need for treatment by admission is not impartial in this decision. Family members as protectors may want to lighten their burden of support for the person with mental disabilities in their home by admitting them into a mental hospital, and the psychiatrist in the mental hospital can be improperly influenced by demand of hospital management. Additionally, Article 24 of the Korean Mental Health Act for the Involuntary Admission by the Consent of Family Members as Protector might violate personal liberty, as guaranteed in the Korean Constitution. The Mental Health Promotion Law was amended to reduce the scope of the persons with mental illness which are subject to forced hospitalization and to demand that a second diagnosis is made by another psychiatrist and screening by the committee concerning the legitimacy of admission in the process of the involuntary admission by the consent of family members as a method of protection. The amended Mental Health Promotion Law will contribute to reducing the number of the involuntary admissions and the inclusion of persons with mental disabilities. But if persons with mental disabilities are not providing some kind of service to the community, the amended Mental Health Promotion Law does not work for Inclusion of them.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.46-55
• /
• 2017

Objectives : Outpatient treatment orders refer to a mandatory social program in which mentally ill persons are ordered by the court to participate in specified outpatient treatment programs. This study aimed to investigate the factors that affect outpatient treatment orders and adherence to outpatient treatment in mental health patients. Methods : A survey on outpatient treatment orders and adherence to outpatient treatment was conducted on 60 psychiatrists between October and November 2016. The questionnaire items were drafted based on a literature review, and they were then evaluated by 3 psychiatrists and 1 law school professor before being finalized. Answers from the respondents were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and the median, maximum, and minimum values of the effectiveness scores of outpatient treatment orders were calculated. Results : Among the 60 psychiatrists, 45(75.0%) were aware of outpatient treatment orders; however, only 2 out of the 45(4.0%) had actually used the program in the last 12 months. The subjective effectiveness was very low, with only 40 points out of 100. Furthermore, of the readmitted patients, 37.7% had received continued outpatient treatment, whereas 53.1% chose to quit the outpatient treatment programs, meaning that the number of dropouts was higher. Among the discharged patients, approximately two-thirds were receiving continued treatment. With regard to follow-up for dropouts, majority of the responses were either "Not taking any action"(n=27) or "Not following up"(n=15). Only two respondents answered "Contact the community mental health promotion center," meaning that this response was very rare. Meanwhile, when asked about efficient measures to be implemented for dropouts, a vast majority of the respondents(n=30) selected the answer "Work with the community mental health promotion center." Conclusions : The outpatient treatment orders currently being administered were found to be ineffective, and the associated adherence to outpatient treatment was also found to be extremely poor. Hence, the effectiveness of the therapeutic interventions could benefit from institutional as well as administrative improvements. Community mental health promotion centers are expected to have an important role in the future.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.778-785
• /
• 2013

In Korea, the enactment of National Health Promotion Act 1995 gradually increased considerable attention on not only the quality of life, but also the desire for health. Health Promoting Behaviors have been considered as significant factors in determining the quality of life. The purpose of this study was to examine health promoting behaviors of conscripted policemen, to analyze the relationship between such behaviors and a sense of self-efficacy, and finally to provide some basic data which can be utilized for developing health promotion programs of conscripted policemen. For this study, a total of 251 conscripted policemen in Daegu city and Kyongbuk Province were sampled. The data were collected for 7 days from August 20 to August 27 2012 by employing a questionnaire. The collected data were then processed by using the SPSS PC 18.0 program for Frequencies, Percentages, Means, Standard Deviations, and Pearson's Correlation Coefficient. This study measured 2.52(${\pm}0.28$) points in the health promoting behaviors, and 3.74(${\pm}0.50$) points in the extent of a sense of self-efficacy. Therefore, this study clearly demonstrated that health promoting behaviors are strongly correlated with a sense of self-efficacy in Korean conscripted policemen. Considering the results of this research, it is highly recommended that programs for improving health promoting behaviors of conscripted policemen should be developed.