Experiences of Recovery in EPAPSY’s Community Residential Facilities and the Five CHIME Concepts: A Qualitative Inquiry

Abstract

In the context of the reform of psychiatric services in Greece, the debate about the concept of recovery is still growing. Recovery is defined as a path through which individuals facing mental health challenges are enabled to regain and further develop significant relationships with family, friends, the community, and themselves and at the same time to cope with the detrimental effects of stigma through empowerment. The present qualitative study aims to explore the experiences of people living in EPAPSY's (Association for Regional Development and Mental Health) community residential facilities focusing mainly upon the key concepts of the CHIME (connectivity, hope, identity, meaning, and empowerment) conceptual framework of recovery. To this end, semistructured interviews were conducted with seven participants living and receiving mental health care in a residential facility of EPAPSY. The participants' accounts were analyzed using thematic analysis in a deductive and inductive manner. The research findings highlighted, among others, the challenges the participants faced during their early years in family and school, the experience of the revolving door effect, and the perceived turn their life took when they were transferred to a community residential facility, thus opening a new chapter in their lives. Of the five CHIME concepts, all are present in the participants' accounts, with emphasis given to a meaningful present, a need to feel "normal" again, and a positive outlook for the future, both for themselves and their relationships, despite the persistence of certain difficulties.

Culture-dependent and universal constructs and promoting factors for the process of personal recovery in users of mental health services: qualitative findings from Japan

“…For example, Williams et al [35] proposed assessing the validity of recovery scales based on their correlation with CHIME. The conceptual framework of CHIME has also been used in recent interview research studies and their qualitative analyses [16,36,37], as well as in reviews and their analyses [38,39]. Two researchers independently engaged in the analysis for reliability [21].…”

Contemporary Accommodation Services for People with Psychiatric Disabilities – the Simple Taxonomy for Supported Accommodation (STAX-SA) Applied and Discussed in a Swedish Context

“…As regards individuality, the development is generally in line with housing preferences within the target group (Richter & Hoffmann 2017), but the type of housing, the settings, and the services must also be organised out of their perspective and preferences. Recent studies from a target group perspective offer guidance and emphasise recovery-oriented preferences such as choice, control, privacy, and security (Fossey, Harvey & McDermot 2020) as well as connectivity, hope, meaning, and empowerment (Apostolopoulou et al 2020). Piat and colleagues (2020) showed that everyday recovery-supporting choices for the individual, such as 'home-making' (e.g., spatial aspects and living environment) and 'alone time' (e.g., choosing when to socialise) contribute to wellbeing and mental health recovery.…”

“…STAX-SA has been welcomed by researchers in the field, with the anticipation of enabling more robust evidence for good practice in the area of supported accommodation (Barbato et al 2020;Brunt 2020;Parker et al 2019), and recent studies on supported accommodation indicate a positive response. A number of studies have used the taxonomy as a tool for describing and classifying empirical material (Apostolopoulou et al 2020;Fossey, Harvey & McDermot 2020;Jose et al 2021). Briefly, it seems as though the STAX-SA domains are applicable and relevant, while the Types are more difficult to apply (see Piat, Seida & Padgett 2020).…”

Remarkable recoveries: an interpretation of recovery narratives using the CHIME model

“…Piat et al (2017) used the CHIME framework with individuals with serious mental health problems in the community, finding that CHIME helped make sense of seemingly mundane things which were an important part of the recovery journey. CHIME has also been found to work in a variety of cultures (Apostolopoulou et al , 2020; Brijnath, 2015). A Dutch study found that CHIME was a practical framework for understanding personal recovery and helped guide assessment tool choice for practitioners (Vogel et al , 2020).…”