A previous analysis showed that mental health service users experienced profound loneliness, struggled to relate to other people, and were careful in considering what to share with health-care professionals. Being recognized by professionals in relationships may contribute to recovery processes characterized by 'connectedness', 'hope and optimism', 'identity', 'meaning', and 'empowerment'. This paper regards people as mainly seeking contact and meaning (relational perspective) and aims to describe service users' understanding of being in relationships with professionals, and how these relationships may limit or enhance recovery. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze data from in-depth interviews. Participants described three levels of connectedness with professionals: (i) being detached; (ii) being cautious; and (iii) being open and trusting. Level of connectedness seemed to be associated with opportunities for promoted recovery. Trusting relationships may strengthen identity, provide opportunities for meaning and hope, and contribute to opening new perspectives, and lessen significance of internal voices. Adopting a relational perspective may assist professionals in recognizing the service user as a person involved in making sense of life experiences and in the process of connecting to other people.

Sammendrag:Artikkelen tar for seg sårbarhet i relasjoner mellom psykiatriske tjenester og fagfolk som arbeider i kommunebaserte psykiske helsetjenester. Hensikten var å utforske hvordan brukerne av disse tjenestene beskrev og ga mening til sine møter med andre mennesker. Forskningen er et samarbeidsprosjekt mellom forskere og personer med erfaringsbasert kunnskap. Dataene er hentet fra 19 intervjuer med 11 personer som er avhengige av psykiske helsetjenester minst tre ganger i uken. Resultatene bekrefter at gjensidighet er grunnleggende for relasjoner. Det er viktig å anerkjenne den enkelte brukeren, og dette innebaerer et personlig engasjement hos den profesjonelle omsorgsyteren.Omsorgsbiblioteket har ikke tilgang til å publisere dette dokumentet i fulltekst. Kanskje ditt lokale bibliotek kan hjelpe deg, eller kanskje du kommer videre med lenken nedenfor.Relevant lenke: https://doi

Stable, trusting relationships are at the core of Norwegian community-based mental health services. Being acknowledged and respected may promote a client's recovery. The aim of this study was to explore mental health workers' experiences of relating to clients. The design involved multi-stage focus groups based on a participatory approach and using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Acknowledging the personhood of a client appears to offer opportunities for growth and development in the client as well as in the health worker, based on reciprocal processes of each person affecting the other and the health workers' openness to understanding the other person.

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