Nurses’ Knowledge & Experience toward Psychiatric Patient's Advocacy

Abstract

The term advocate originated from the Latin ‘Vocare’ meaning ‘to call’ or Latin ‘Advocatus’ meaning ‘one who is summoned to give evidence’.The role of advocacy originated in the legal system where lawyers spoke on behalf of their clients in court, and this can be seen as involving verbal acts of persuasion and justified arguments further, defining advocacy as stating a case to influence decisions, getting better services, being treated equally, being included, being protected from abuse, redressing the balance of power and becoming more aware of and exercising rights (Cohen & Ezer, 2013).