Search results

The purpose of this study is to describe participation in decision-making among service users with severe mental illness.

Service users want to participate in decision-making and in the planning of their care. There are widely known methods, such as shared decision-making, that could be used to facilitate service user participation. Three focus group interviews were conducted with the participation of 14 persons with mental illness and/or substance abuse who were service users at two Swedish Homes for Care and Residence (HVB). Data were analyzed by qualitative content analysis.

Two themes emerged: service users’ involvement in decisions is hampered by the professionals’ approach and adequate information and experience of participation means greater empowerment.

Although it is known that service users would like to have more influence, and that methods like shared decision-making are recommended to empower service users and improve the decision process, research on these matters is limited.

This study reveals that there is a need of more systematic decisional support, such as shared decision-making, so that service users can be seen as important persons not only in guidelines and policy documents but also in clinical practice.

The findings indicate that service users do not participate in decisions systematically, although policies, guidelines and laws providing that service users should be offered an active part in decision-making with regard to their care and treatment.

Although it is known that service users would like to have more influence, and that methods like shared decision-making are recommended to empower service users and improve their decision process, research on these matters is limited. The findings indicate that service users do not participate in decisions systematically, even though policies, guidelines and laws are in place stipulating that service users should be offered an active part in decision-making with regard to their own care and treatment. The results of this project bring improvement opportunities to light.

The purpose of this study was to describe mental health professionals’ experiences of changes in attitudes towards, and knowledge about, users of mental health-care recovery and decisional participation in clinical practice after an educational intervention.

Users of mental health care want to participate in decisions regarding their own mental health care. Shared decision-making as a method is coherent with recovery orientation in mental health services and results in better-informed patients and fewer conflicts regarding decisions. A qualitative intervention study was designed to evaluate changes in attitudes and knowledge about mental health recovery in Sweden. Nine participants were interviewed, and the data were analysed by content analysis.

Three categories were generated from the analysis: Increased theoretical knowledge, changing attitudes about practical approaches and the significance of social factors in recovery.

When shared decision-making is to be implemented in mental health, professionals need to gain knowledge about recovery and need to adopt changed roles as health professionals. Educational interventions therefore seem necessary if such changes are to happen.