INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY

Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2008; 23: 881

BOOK REVIEW

Practical Psychiatry in the Long-Term Care Home,3rd edn. Edited by D. Conn, N. Herrmann, A. Kaye,D. Rewilak and B. Schogt. Hogrefe and Huber:Cambridge, MA, 2007. Pages: 327.

An increasing ageing population finds us with a highmajority of residents in care homes with complexmental health needs. Resources for the training andsupport of staff from professionals, is at best patchy.Practical Psychiatry in the Long-Term Care Home byConn et al. aspires to be a jargon-free, clinicallyrelevant, user friendly training tool for care staff,undergraduate students and health care professionals.

It provides a comprehensive overview of majorpsychiatric illness with chapters on pharmacology,psycho-social intervention and behaviour manage-ment strategies. Case studies are outlined with anemphasis on practical management. Information forfamily members has been included in several chaptersof the book.

This book is aimed at a wide audience, thoughmainly at less qualified staff. It may be that the nur-sing home staff in Massachusetts have a skill levelgreater than often found in care homes in the UnitedKingdom, for the book assumes a level of medicalunderstanding beyond that expected in the UK for acarer. Due to the medical approach taken, this book

fails its main audience. Emphasis is placed on diagno-sis, symptoms and problems. Where is the person inall of this? It does not address the basics of communi-cation and the formation of a therapeutic relationship.For this reason, I am unconvinced of its usefulness asa resource for novice staff, and in contrast, profes-sionals may find it rather basic. In addition, culturalperspectives are not addressed in this book. Lack ofawareness of cultural needs can impact negativelyon the resident during the assessment period, inplanned interventions and in the formation ofrelationships.

Nonetheless, the book was an interesting read, andwould be useful for a professional in teaching andsupporting care staff in developing their caring rolewith their residents. Other professional groups mayfind it helpful, but the authors ‘all for one, one forall’ approach doesn’t quite work.

PATRICIA DAY

Community Psychiatric NurseManchester Mental Health & Social Care Trust

Manchester, UK

Published online in Wiley InterScience(www.interscience.wiley.com).

DOI: 10.1002/gps.1986

Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.