Background: South Africa is a low and middle income country facing many challenges in public mental health care and implementation of recovery. Aims: To contribute to what barriers and facilitators to recovery might be for service users in South Africa, from the perspective of service users, carers and service providers from three psychiatric hospitals in the Western Cape province. Method: Interviews and focus groups were conducted with service users, carers and service providers. Interviews and focus groups were transcribed and analysed using atlas.ti software and reflexive thematic analysis, from the bottom up. Results: The barriers, environment, family, public mental health services, stigma and service users’ attitude or behaviour generated, were found to be the most salient. The facilitators to recovery generated were support, family or friends, service providers, structure and empowerment. The need for support was identified as an underlying component to all these themes. Conclusion: Barriers and facilitators to recovery seemed to have both intrapersonal and external sources that intersect at times. Recovery needs to be supported at an individual level, especially through an under-utilised resource such as peer support work, but in conjunction with the development of recovery-enabling environments in services and communities in South Africa.
Mental health stigma experiences among caregivers and service users in South Africa: a qualitative investigation
