Rosenhan Flashcards
What is the aim of Rosenhan?
To investigate if sane people who present themselves to a psychiatric hospital would be diagnosed and treated to test the validity and reliability of diagnosis
Who was the main sample being studied in this research?
12 hospitals and their staff
There was a variety of hospitals from public to private in this study- across how many US states were they spread?
5
How many pseudopatients were there?
8
What did the Pseudopatients do?
Go to meetings about symptoms they were suffering at hospital
What symptoms did they report?
Hearing voices saying hollow, thud and empty
What was the diagnostic results for the pseudopatients?
All but one were diagnosed with Schizophrenia
What type of observation is Rosenhan?
Covert, Participant, Naturalistic
What happened once the pseudopatients were admitted?
They acted normally and the voices stopped & kept written notes
What questions did the Pseudopatients ask?
Whether they could go outside and when they’d be released
Only 2 were taken but how many medication pills were given to pseudopatients?
2100
What was the range of days stayed by the Pseudopatients?
7 to 52
What was the average number of days before release for the psuedopatients?
19
When the pseudopatients were released what was the diagnosis given?
Schizophrenia in remission
What normal behaviours were interpreted as abnormal?
Queuing for food and writing in their diaries
How much time did they spend with a member of staff each day on average?
7 minutes
How many real patients voiced concerns about the Pseudopatients?
35
What happened in Rosenhan study 2?
Rosenhan told hospitals he would send more pseudopatients but didn’t send anyone
How many pseudopatients were identified as faking by 1 members of staff in Rosenhan 2?
39/193
How many pseudopatients were identified as faking by 2 members of staff in Rosenhan 2?
19/193
What is a strength for Rosenhan in terms of generalisablity?
It contained a variety of hospitals and staff
What is a weakness for Rosenhan in terms of generalisablity?
It is ethnocentric as only takes place in the USA
Is Rosenhan reliable?
Yes as various things like the words given during diagnosis and the instructions were standardised
Is Rosenhan high in ecological validity?
Yes- it was the staff’s real life environments and working days and so would treat the patients like they would in real life
Is Rosenhan high or low in Demand Characteristics?
Low- it was a covert observation so the staff didn’t know they were taking part/being studied and so would treat the patients how they really would without changing their behaviour
Rosenhan got qualitative data from pseudopatient notes and a strength of this is
It is high in depth and detail about the treatment of patients
What is a a weakness with the conclusion about diagnosis?
The pseudopatients lied about the symptoms the staff had no reason to think they were faking it, as healthy people do not say they hear voices that are not there
What is an issue with the way the pseudopatients recorded data in Rosenhan?
The findings are qualitative they could have been biased in what they chose to report so there is subjectivity
What are the ethical issues with Rosenhan?
There was problems with deception because the Pseudopatients lied about their symptoms, This study has issues with protection from harm because the pseudopatients were given medication and it took time away from real patients, There are issues with withdrawal as the staff couldn’t stop taking part and the pseudopatients couldn’t leave, There was problems with informed consent because the staff didn’t know about the research
