Promoting Participation in Organizational Decision Making by Clients with Severe Mental Illness

Abstract

This qualitative study assessed clients' participation in organizational decision making in a public long-term psychiatric hospital. Numerous examples were found in which clients meaningfully participated in the decision-making process and achieved favorable policy changes. Three means of involving clients were found to be especially useful: (1) using a consumer council, (2) involving clients in the formal policy review process, and (3) including clients in the hospital's performance improvement system. The authors offer guidelines for mental health organizations wishing to promote client participation in organizational decision making. Implications for social work are discussed.

What is the evidence base for public involvement in health‐care policy?: results of a systematic scoping review

“…Few studies described a longer evaluation timeframe. Examples included a 30‐month period of study, as well as three, five and up to seven years of data.…”

“…While all studies reviewed reported on the goal of the public involvement initiative analysed, definitions of what constituted ‘the public’, varied and were generally unclear. The vast majority of studies had not provided an explicit definition or statement of how the public was operationalized for the analysis in question …”

On the fringes: How youth experiencing homelessness conceptualize social and economic inequality–A Photovoice study

“…Policymakers, service providers, and researchers have often treated young people experiencing homelessness as passive subjects in decision‐making processes (Kuskoff, ). Extant studies, however, have documented the benefits of involving clients in planning services, including better service retention and treatment outcomes (James & Meezan, ; Linhorst, Eckert, & Hamilton, ). Our findings suggest that youth experiencing homelessness can be engaged as active agents in contributing to various initiatives, including program planning or policymaking.…”

Identity work of welfare service users in participatory spaces

“…For welfare services where competition and the influence of consumer choice are limited, user participation is believed to have a quasi‐market effect that triggers business improvements and efficiencies (Bradley, ). Accordingly, strengthening the user perspective in welfare service provision has become a policy imperative in many countries, particularly in North America and the European states (Beresford & Branfield, ; Borg, Karlsson, & Kim, ; Hodge, ; Linhorst, Eckert, & Hamilton, ; Mizrahi, Humphreys‐Lopez, & Torres, ; Munday, ). User participation in the provision of welfare services is also evident in the global south.…”