An evaluation of mental health service provision in Northern Ireland

Abstract

Although Northern Ireland has high levels of mental health problems, there has been a relative lack of systematic research on mental health services that can provide an evidence base for legal, policy, and service developments. This article aims to provide a review of the central issues relating to mental health service provision in Northern Ireland, and to gather the perceptions of different stakeholders of these services. The study utilised in-depth qualitative interviews, focus groups, and an online survey to collect data from respondents throughout the region. This method involved the completion of semistructured interviews with significant mental health commissioners and senior managers, and with service-users and their key workers. Focus groups sessions were also completed with mental health professionals, service-users, and carers. Data collection occurred between December 2014 and June 2015. Thematic analysis was used to identify key issues. The findings identified that considerable progress had been made not only in the development of mental health services in the last decade, but also highlighted the significant limitations in current services. Most notably, strengths in provision included the transition from long-stay hospital care to community-based services and person-centred approaches. The researchers identified the need to improve funding, address problems with fragmentation, and gaps in service provision. Based on these findings, the authors consider the implications for practice and policy relating to the human and organisational aspects of service development. In particular, services should be developed focusing on a recovery ethos and on person-centred and relationship-based approaches. The needs of carers should additionally be considered and programmes developed to tackle stigma.

Healthcare professionals’ perspectives on mental health service provision: a pilot focus group study in six European countries

“…Collaborative models in MHC delivery have been linked to quality care and benefits for HPs and people using healthcare services [45,50,51]. The allimportant holistic, collaborative and person-centered approaches discussed in the literature are considered pathways towards adequately addressing the mhcGAP [7][8][9].…”

“…8 Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. 9 • fast, convenient online submission…”

“…The gap between MHC needs and MHS provision has prompted evaluative research in several European countries, including Turkey, England, and the Netherlands [7][8][9]. The evaluation of care provision from HPs using qualitative methodologies identified positive perspectives regarding newly developed community mental health centers in Turkey.…”

“…In a similar vein, Montgomery et al [9] evaluated MHS provision in Northern Ireland using qualitative methods, namely, in-depth interviews with HPs and service-users. Their analyses revealed improvements in that there has been a shift from long-term hospital care to communitybased care and person-centered approaches.…”

‘Such a white thing to do’: A discourse analysis of CAMH’s Coping with COVID-19 Campaign

“…Common research methods used throughout the available literature include purposive theoretical sample surveys (Collins et al, 2019;Crowe and Averitt, 2015;Martinez et al, 2017;Pescosolido et al, 2019) and questionnaires (Carey et al, 2019;Deb et al, 2019;Eiroa-Orosa and Lomascolo, 2018;Khenti, Bobbli & Sapag, 2019;) as primary methods of data collection. Focus groups were used in one study (Montgomery et al, 2018), however there is a questionable absence of qualitative research or complex inquiry examining the individual experience of awareness campaigns and the production of identity or self, particularly in relation to madness. The politics of evidence (Denzin, 2017) which contribute to the primacy of evidence-based research in the context of mental health support a positivist paradigm by privileging quantitative methodology and methods to provide large quantities of data.…”