GPs' and patients' views on recovery from psychosis

摘要

Purpose - Recovery is a key organising principle underlying mental health services, but remainsunder-researched in primary care. The purpose of this paper is to explore what recovery from psychosismeans from multiple perspectives, the role of primary care in fostering recovery, and interventions that mightenhance its promotion in primary care.Design/methodology/approach - A total of 20 patients who had experienced psychosis and 24 GeneralPractitioners (GPs) with varying expressed interest in mental health participated in semi-structuredinterviews, and were invited to two subsequent mixed focus groups. Data were analysed using FrameworkAnalysis.Findings - Recovery was conceptualised by GPs without a specialist clinical interest in mental healthas improvements in symptomatic outcomes, by GPs with a special interest as improvements in socialor functional outcomes, and by patients as a process involving a "whole person" approach. Both GPsand patients highlighted benefits of primary care including continuity, accessibility, and the role primary careprofessionals can play in supporting patients' families, and helping patients expand social supportnetworks. Despite feeling "fobbed off' at times, patients desired a shift in responsibility for psychosis fromsecondary to primary care.Practical implications - Reflective peer supervision meetings for GPs and patient-led training mightimprove primary care's ability to provide a more recovery-focused environment.Originality/value - This study provided original and valuable findings regarding how GPs viewed their ownrole in promoting recovery from psychosis. This study also provided original findings regarding how patientsviewed the role of primary care in promoting recovery from psychosis.