Effects of individual user participation in mental health care - A qualitative study of users’ experiences

摘要

Background: The focus on user participation in health care services is increasing. Some research has investigated the implementation of user participation initiatives. T here is however little attention on how health service users experience the effect of participation intheir treatment and the users’ role during this process.Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore how users of mental health care experienceand describe the effects of user participation in individual treatment. Material and methods: This qualitative study is based on 20 semi-structured interviews from 17 users and three user representatives in mental health care. The interviews were analyzed using systematic text condensation.Results: The participants described that individual user participation in mental health care is a process that is closely linked to and regulated by the strength of mental health symptoms. According to the participants, this process includes both the basic values of the treatment ,tools used in the treatment process, and increased responsibility and increased activity as a final benefit form participation. Conclusion: The main findings correspond with previous research and literature. However, this study links the effects of user participation to the treatment process and the strength of mental health symptoms. A model is designed on the basis of the results found in this study .RELEVANCE: The results from this study can make it easier to design future studies that investigate the impact of user participation in individual treatment. These findings can also be important indicators of quality of the health services which can benefit users and providers in future clinical work.