Rosenhan Clinical Study

Front 1

What did Rosenhan aim to investigate?

Back 1

To investigate whether eight sane individuals who gained admission to 12 hospitals could be distinguished from insane.

To investigate the experience of being in an institution.

Front 2

Who were the pseudo-patients?

Back 2

8 pseudo-patients were used; 3 females and 5 males, including Rosenhan himself.

Front 3

What was the procedure?

Back 3

They gained admission to 12 different hospitals across 5 states by reporting auditory hallucinations of "empty, hollow, thud". All other information was true. Once admitted, they acted normally and stopped simulating symptoms. They all took notes of their experiences.

Front 4

What were the findings?

Back 4

1. All pseudopatients were admitted to hospitals (7 with schizophrenia, 1 with manic depression with psychosis).
   
2. They remained in hospital for between 7-52 days (mean 19).
   
3. 35 out of 118 patients voiced suspicions that they were sane.
   

Front 5

What was the quantitative data gathered from Rosenhan's experiment?

Back 5

Staff left their staff room only 11.3% of the time.

Nurses only gave verbal responses to patients 2% of the time. This led to all but one wanting to be released immediately due to lack of monitoring and lack of interaction.

Front 6

What did Rosenhan conclude?

Back 6

1. Staff in the psychiatric hospitals were unable to distinguish those who were sane from those who were insane, therefore the DSM-II was not a valid measurement of schizophrenia diagnosis.
   
2. “Once given the label of schizophrenic, the pseudo-patient was stuck with that label.” - Rosenhan
   

Front 7

What are the evaluation points?

Back 7

1. Generalisability - a variety of different hospitals, however all in the USA.
   
2. Reliability - Pseudopatients used a standardised procedure.
   
3. Application - Highlights issues with DSM-II and poor treatment of hospital patients.
   
4. Validity - field experiment, however, notes may be subjective.
   

Front 8

What were the ethical issues or strengths?

Back 8

• Rosenhan maintained the confidentiality of hospitals.
  
• Hospital staff were intentionally deceived.
  
• Could have led to psychological harm as they may question their integrity.
  
• Hospital staff didn't have a right to withdraw.
  
• May have wasted valuable resources.