| Abstract: | There are many barriers to successful recruitment of professional and subprofessional personnel in the mental health professions. The companion program "recruits students from… universities to serve as volunteer companions to mentally ill patients for a full academic year. Students are invited to either select or be assigned to a chronic patient who has minimal or no contact with individuals outside the hospital, and to meet with this patient for one hour on a weekly basis throughout the school year… . The goal that is stressed throughout is that the student must build a feeling of companionship between himself and the patient." The program appears to be "a very significant method for altering the attitudes of people." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
