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Copyright of Canadian Journal of Psychiatry is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) was introduced into Canadian federal legislation in 2016. Mental illness as the sole underlying medical condition (MI-SUMC) is currently excluded from eligibility; such exclusion is scheduled to expire on March 17, 2024. Irremediability, capacity, quality of life, autonomy, family involvement, and healthcare system constraints have been debated intensively. Recent studies have not explored the views of family members of persons with mental illness on MAiD MI-SUMC. This study aimed to fill this knowledge gap. Twenty-five Ontario residents who had a loved one with mental illness participated. A persona–scenario exercise was designed to explore participants' views on MAiD MI-SUMC in hypothetical situations. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. A lived experience-advisory panel was engaged throughout the study. Seven themes were developed: Witnessing suffering; A road with barriers and limitations; Societal barriers; The unknowns of mental illness; Individual choices: the life or death that a person wants; MAiD MI-SUMC as an acceptable choice when suffering cannot be relieved with available treatments and supports; and The emotional outcome. Participants constructed their views based on their experience of supporting a loved one with mental illness. MAiD MI-SUMC was perceived as a multifaceted issue, whose acceptability and potential introduction required a concurrent exploration and discussion of the challenges arising due to limitations of the healthcare system, the opportunities and limits to family involvement, and the value of patient autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is most often provided in a hospital setting. Home-based models of care have been developed to overcome geographic, among other, barriers in patients at a lower risk. This study assessed whether clinical and geographic factors were related to the use of either a hospital-based or a home-based program. Secondary analysis was undertaken within a study of 1268 cardiac outpatients recruited from 97 cardiologist practices where clinical data were extracted. Participants completed a survey including the Duke Activity Status Index. They reported CR utilization in a second survey mailed 9 months later, including CR site and program model. Geographic information systems were used to determine the distances and the drive times to the CR site attended from patients' homes. Overall, 469 (37.0%) participants attended CR at one of 41 programs. Of the 373 (79.5%) participants with complete geographic data, 43 (11.5%) reported attending home-based CR. The sole clinical difference was in activity status, where patients attending a hospital-based program had lower activity status (P less than 0.01). There were no differences in model attended on the basis of geographic parameters including urban versus rural dwelling or drive times (P greater than 0.05). In conclusion, only one-tenth of outpatients participated in a home-based program, and this allocation was unrelated to geographic considerations. Although patients should continue to be appropriately triaged on the basis of clinical risk to ensure safety, more targeted allocation of patients to home-based services may be warranted. This may optimize the degree of participation and potentially patient outcomes. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

Individual battered women have reported experiencing housing discrimination, but the extent of this problem has not been examined. This research used two experiments and a survey to determine if landlord discrimination could keep women from accessing rental units. In Study 1, a confederate asked 181 landlords about the availability of a rental unit in one of three living conditions (shelter, friends, no mention of current living conditions) and across two scenarios (does or does not have a child). Rental units were almost 10 times more likely to be available in the control condition compared to the shelter condition, X[superscript 2](1, N = 181) = 8.624, p = 0.003, and these results were not affected by whether or not the caller had a child, X[superscript 2](1, N = 181) = 0.214, p = 0.644. In Study 2, the confederate was employed and left a message on 92 landlords' answering machines in the same three living conditions. The hypothesized comparison between the shelter and the other two conditions combined was significant, X[superscript 2](1, N = 92) = 4.602, p = 0.032. Finally, in a telephone survey of 31 landlords, a substantial minority (23%) said they would not rent to a hypothetical battered woman. The results of our studies suggest that discrimination against battered women by landlords is a real problem that is likely contributing to the difficulties that women experience in finding safe and affordable long-term housing.

This descriptive study seeks to understand what first and second generation Portuguese women believe about wife abuse and what actions they believe are appropriate for an abused wife. Eighty first generation and 54 second generation women participated. The researcher read the questionnaire items aloud in one-on-one meetings. Overall, participants defined wife abuse broadly, did not approve of wife abuse, were most likely to believe that women should seek external help, and did not hold strong patriarchal beliefs. However, a number of generational differences were found. Second generation women were more likely to label an abusive behavior as abuse, and first generation women were more likely to approve of abuse, endorse indirect or traditional options to deal with wife abuse, and hold stronger patriarchal beliefs. The study's implications for research and practice within Portuguese communities are discussed.

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Psychiatry is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)