This thought-provoking book examines the organization of medical and social services for people with serious psychiatric disorders. It focuses on the current transition from hospital-centred to community-centred services. The first part of the book concentrates on the changes which have occurred in the theory and practice of key groups of professionals, including psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists and psychologists. The second part describes how those changes have directly impinged on the everyday lives of people affected by psychiatric disorders. Prior demonstrates how sociological insights can be gained from an examination of the multiple ways in which disorders have been represented in and through the work of diverse groups of psychiatric professionals.

A study of the way in which death is socially organized in the city of Belfast. It analyzes the responses to 415 deaths registered here in 1981, tracing the social, medical, legal, religious and political responses made to those deaths from the time death was pronounced to the time of disposal.

Using Documents in Social Research offers a comprehensive, yet concise, introduction to the use of documents as tools within social science research. The books argues that documents stand in a dual-relation to human activity, and therefore by transmitting ideas and influencing the course and nature of human activity they are integral to the research process.

This thought-provoking book examines the organization of medical and social services for people with serious psychiatric disorders. It focuses on the current transition from hospital-centred to community-centred services. The first part of the book concentrates on the changes which have occurred in the theory and practice of key groups of professionals, including psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists and psychologists. The second part describes how those changes have directly impinged on the everyday lives of people affected by psychiatric disorders. Prior demonstrates how sociological insights can be gained from an examination of the multiple ways in which disorders have been represented in and through the work of diverse groups of psychiatric professionals.

Using Documents in Social Research offers a comprehensive, yet concise, introduction to the use of documents as tools within social science research. The books argues that documents stand in a dual-relation to human activity, and therefore by transmitting ideas and influencing the course and nature of human activity they are integral to the research process.