scholarly journals Mental health service user and worker experience of psychosocial support via telehealth through the COVID­19 pandemic: A qualitative study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Venville ◽  
Sarah O'Connor ◽  
Hannah Roeschlein ◽  
Priscilla Ennals ◽  
Grace McLoughlan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Service User ◽  
Psychosocial Support ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Worker Experience ◽  
To Receive ◽  
The Relationship

BACKGROUND The Covid-19 pandemic saw telehealth rapidly become the primary way to receive mental health care. International research has validated many of the benefits and challenges of telehealth known pre-pandemic for specific population groups. However, if telehealth is to assume prominence in future mental health service delivery, greater understanding is needed about its capacity to provide psychosocial support for people with complex and enduring mental health conditions. OBJECTIVE Focusing on an Australian community-managed provider of psychosocial intervention and support, this qualitative study aimed to understand the service user and worker experience of psychosocial support via telehealth through the COVID­19 pandemic. METHODS This research was jointly developed, and conducted by people with lived experience of mental ill health and/or distress, mental health service providers, and university-based researchers. Semi structured interviews conducted between August and November 2020 explored participant experiences of receiving or providing psychosocial support via telehealth platforms including telephone, text, and video conferencing. Qualitative data was analysed thematically, quantitative data was collated and analysed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS Twenty service users and eight workers completed individual interviews via telephone or video conferencing platform. Sixty percent (n=12) of service users received psychosocial support services by telephone, 30% (n=6) by videoconferencing, and 10% (n=2) through a blend of telephone and videoconferencing. Of note, 55% (n=11) of service user participants stated a future preference for in-person psychosocial support services, 30% (n=6) preferred to receive a mixture of in-person and telehealth, and 15% (n=3) elected telehealth only. Two meta- themes emerged as integral to worker and service user experience of telehealth during the pandemic: (1) creating safety and comfort, and (2) a whole new way of working. The first meta-theme comprises sub-themes relating to a sense of safety and comfort while using telehealth; including trusting in the relationship, and having and exercising choice and control. The second meta-theme contains sub-themes reflecting key challenges and opportunities associated with the shift from in-person psychosocial support to telehealth. CONCLUSIONS Overall, our findings highlighted that most service users experienced telehealth positively, but this was dependent on them continuing to get the support they needed in a way that was safe and comfortable. Whilst access difficulties of a subgroup of service users should not be ignored, most service users and workers were able to adapt to telehealth by focusing on maintaining the relationship and using choice and flexibility to maintain service delivery. Although most research participants expressed a preference for a return to in person psychosocial support, or hybrid in-person and telehealth models, there was a general recognition that intentional use of telehealth could contribute to flexible and responsive service delivery. Notably, challenges to telehealth provision of psychosocial support identified in this study are yet to be fully understood.

Service users’ experiences of participation in clinical psychology training

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 337-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meadhbh Campbell ◽  
Charlotte Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Clinical Psychology ◽  
Service User ◽  
Psychology Training ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Clinical Psychology Training ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Psychology Course

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore mental health service users’ experiences of involvement in a clinical psychology course. Design/methodology/approach Five participants were recruited from a service user and carer group aligned to a university professional clinical psychology course. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and data were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Findings Four superordinate themes, group processes, advocating, transforming and power, were drawn from the data, with ten subthemes emerging capturing experiences on the personal, professional and group levels. Research limitations/implications The study is not generalisable and has a small number of participants. However, many of the themes have resonance with existing literature. Practical implications Service user initiatives need to consider the personal and contextual issues that service users may have experienced prior to their involvement. The needs of service user initiatives may change over time. Such initiatives must evolve in conjunction with the personal and political journeys of participants. Originality/value Few studies have explored the experiences of mental health service users in clinical psychology training using a robust methodology. The current study suggests that eliciting these experiences highlights factors that facilitate involvement as well as the barriers.

Irish Mental Health Social Movements: A Consideration of Movement Habitus

2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewen Speed
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Service User ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Mental Health Service User ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Consumer Model

There has been a lack of any concerted mental health service users‘ movement within the Republic of Ireland. Mental health service users’ movements elsewhere have a marked orientation towards strategies of empowerment and the provision of peer advocacy and support for mental health service users. Two potential user habituses (drawn from the literature) are expounded and discussed, in a context of transformations they have effected in the mental health field. Through an analysis of Department of Health and Children literature and literature offered by mental health service user groups (such as Schizophrenia Ireland and AWARE) service user habitus in Ireland are delineated and explored. A comparison between the habitus drawn from international literature and the Irish literature illustrates that the dominant Irish mental health social movement habitus is a consumer habitus. This analysis demonstrates that Irish governmental psychiatric policy is driven by a consumer model that in turn is adopted by mental health social movement organisations, resulting in a dominant consumer habitus.

scholarly journals Psychiatric drugs: reconsidering their mode of action and the implications for service user involvement

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Marc Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Service User ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Service User Involvement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Psychiatric Drugs

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine two competing pharmacological models that have been used to understand how psychiatric drugs work: the disease-centred model and the drug-centred model. In addition, it explores the implications of these two models for mental health service users and the degree to which they are meaningfully involved in decisions about the use of psychiatric drugs. Design/methodology/approach The approach is a conceptual review and critical comparison of two pharmacological models used to understand the mode of action of psychiatric drugs. On the basis of this analysis, the paper also provides a critical examination, supported by the available literature, of the implications of these two models for service user involvement in mental health care. Findings The disease-centred model is associated with a tendency to view the use of psychiatric drugs as a technical matter that is to be determined by mental health professionals. In contrast, the drug-centred model emphasises the centrality of the individual experience of taking a psychiatric drug and implies a more equitable relationship between practitioners and mental health service users. Originality/value Although infrequently articulated, assumptions about how psychiatric drugs work have important consequences for service user involvement in mental health care. Critical consideration of these assumptions is an important aspect of seeking to maximise service user involvement in decisions about the use of psychiatric drugs as a response to their experience of mental distress.

scholarly journals Os saberes menores e a profanação acadêmica: os sentidos da experiência / Minor knowledge and academic profanation: the senses of experience

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 153
Author(s):  
Mateus Freitas Cunda ◽  
Lívia Zanchet ◽  
Carolina Seibel Chassot
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Production Of Knowledge ◽  
Academic Knowledge ◽  
The Senses ◽  
The Relationship

ResumoEste artigo se propõe a discutir a relação entre o saber acadêmico-científico e os saberes cotidianos, experienciais, locais. Esta relação geralmente encontra-se organizada por uma hierarquia estática, na qual os saberes acadêmicos são valorizados e os saberes locais são questionados ou invisibilizados. Problematizamos esta organização através da investigação dos efeitos que se produzem quando estes diferentes saberes se propõem ao encontro e à afetação mútua. Para isso, trazemos duas experiências de pesquisas realizadas com “usuários de saúde mental”, onde estes também foram pesquisadores, ocupando lugares normalmente reservados aos acadêmicos. A partir do que estas estratégias metodológicas produziram, foi possível evidenciar os tensionamentos de poder que atravessam a produção de conhecimento. Verificamos também a potência de desterritorialização destes “saberes menores” que operam agenciamentos inesperados, desestabilizam as fronteiras instituídas, e que em seus devires-pesquisadores podem profanar a academia e dessacralizar a produção de conhecimento. Palavras-chave: usuários de saúde mental; experiência; pesquisa-intervenção AbstractThis article proposes to discuss the relationship between academic-scientific knowledge and everyday, experiential, local knowledge. This relationship is usually organized by a static hierarchy, in which academic knowledge is valued and local knowledge is questioned or made invisible. We propose here to problematize this division through the investigation of the effects that occur when these different knowledges meet in an encounter and are open to mutual affectation. We discuss two researches carried out with "mental health users", inwhich they were also researchers, occupying places usually reserved for academics. From what these methodological strategies produced, it was possible to evidence the power tensions that go through the production of knowledge. We also see the power of deterritorialization of these "minor knowledges", which operate unexpected assemblages, destabilize established boundaries, and which, in their becoming-researchers, may profanate the academy and desacralize the production of knowledge.Keywords: mental health service users, experience; research intervention. 

User/consumer involvement in mental health service delivery

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judi Chamberlin
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
Health Service Delivery ◽  
Consumer Involvement ◽  
Service Users

SummaryThe involvement of mental health service users in service delivery is a new and growing phenomenon. Such involvement is complex, given the history of paternalism in the mental health system, the power differential between service providers and service users, and the very differing views each group holds on multiple issues. Unless such differences are addressed, there can be no meaningful involvement. Service user involvement needs to apply to all aspects of the service delivery system, including professional training, service design, delivery, evaluation, and research. User/survivors, and their organizations, have developed a body of experience and knowledge that needs to be recognized and respected. Unless there are multiple opportunities for ongoing and open dialogue on these many difficult issues, real user involvement will not occur.Declaration of Interest: the author has received no financial support that presents a conflict of interest.

Overcoming challenges in service user involvement in an older people’s mental health service

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-155
Author(s):  
Sophie Smith ◽  
Maria Abbas ◽  
Ariane Zegarra
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Service User ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
Service Improvement ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Service User Involvement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Group Members

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe how an older people’s mental health service involves service users in research and service improvement projects, the value of this work and the ways in which barriers to user-led research have been approached and handled. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a reflective review of their experiences of running “ResearchNet”, a group aimed at putting service users’ perspectives at the heart of service improvement projects, which benefits from and develops its members’ related skills. The authors explore overcoming barriers to service user involvement in research. Findings This paper identified the following key elements that enabled ResearchNet to overcome barriers which might be found in service user–led research: recruitment processes; identifying research projects; building confidence, sustaining motivation and overcoming setbacks; developing service user’s research skills; keeping multiple views in mind; involving people with dementia; being responsive to group members’ needs; and keeping the group safe. Practical implications Oxleas National Health Service is currently looking at integrating with the quality improvement team to provide further structure and training to group members. Originality/value This paper explores an under-represented area of research – service user inclusion in older adult mental health research and service improvement. It provides much needed clinical implications for clinicians seeking to increase clients’ involvement in research and service development projects.

Continuing the dialogue

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ellen Copeland ◽  
Shery Mead
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Service User ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Psychiatric Crisis

We consider the value of dialogue between healthcare professionals and mental health service users with severe mental illnesses. Discussion with the service user before, during and after a psychiatric crisis should help services to offer choice even to individuals under compulsory detention.

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