We are a people whose cultural achievements have come at great human cost – from Native removal and genocide to racially defined chattel slavery and segregation and terrorism, to the devaluation of women's rights, to bodily and mental self-determination and the consistent prioritising of an imagined "superior" leisurely class (mostly white, mostly male, mostly oppressive) over others.
According to Bublitz (2013), this complex notion, often also referred to as mental self-determination, comprises two fundamental and intimately related principles: (a) the right of individuals to use emerging neurotechnologies; (b) the protection of individuals from the coercive and unconsented use of such technologies.
Search words were: obesity, obese, overweight, child*, adolescen*, pediatric*, young*, teen*, youth*, ethic*, moral*, patient autonomy, consent, assent, conflict, interest, self determination, health disparities, discrimination, mental capacity, mental competency, parental, perceptive discrimination, and beneficence.
In 2009 the Australian National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission reported that access to and collaboration between support services are key to recovery and self determination for people with mental illness [ 6].
Another aspect of self in play is self determination.
Whose self determination matters?
Utilize self determination.
While recovery-oriented practice recognises and embraces the possibilities for recovery created by the strengths and capacity of people experiencing mental health issues and maximises self-determination of health and wellbeing [ 7], admission to mental health units inherently removes people from their daily context.
AOT: Assertive outreach team; DT: District team; RCT: Randomized controlled trial; GSD: Guided self-determination; MHCP: Mental health care professional; PI: Principal investigator.
Then there's the issue of mental illness and the myriad factors beyond self-determination that would cause someone to be homeless in the first place.
The failure to provide services, which preserve the self-determination of people with mental illness, has been reported elsewhere [ 51], but this problem is particularly pertinent for women [ 52].
