The involvement of a consumer council in organizational decision making in a public psychiatric hospital

Abstract

This article describes a consumer group within a public psychiatric hospital that serves primarily a forensic population. Some barriers to participation included the severity of some clients' mental illness, an organizational culture that does not fully support participation, the lack of clients' awareness of problems or alternative actions, and inherent power imbalances between clients and staff. Despite these barriers, the consumer group has made improvements for facility clients. Some factors associated with this success included strong administrative support, the allocation of a highly qualified staff liaison to work with the group, and the integration of the group into the facility's formal decision-making structure. Lessons are offered for the development of similar groups within public psychiatric hospitals and community-based mental health agencies.

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.…”

Intervention Programs for Children of Parents with a Mental Illness: A Critical Review

“…The problem of justification is compounded by the limited long-term follow-up of participants, meaning that there is very little data to indicate whether time-limited interventions for children, parents and families have any lasting effect in terms of the specific program aims or other outcomes. Most studies also failed to include consumer participation in the development or evaluation of programs, even though both policy makers and researchers argue for the importance of such involvement (Australian Health Ministers, 2003;Linhorst & Eckert, 2002;Linhorst et al, 2001).…”

Mental health care user participation in mental health policy development and implementation in South Africa

“…At the institutional level, policy and practice guidelines should build in strategies for user involvement in decision making. Practitioner implementation of these strategies should be encouraged by building user consultation requirements into staff practice and performance reviews, and dedicating staff time for the implementation of these requirements (Linhorst et al, 2001). The role of users as a stakeholder in policy development should be clearly spelt out and user options for participation in implementation of policies should be elaborated within these frameworks.…”

“…User involvement has received attention at service and strategic levels in developed countries (Baggott & Forster, 2008;Boardman, 2005;HASCAS, 2005;Linhorst, Eckert, Hamilton, & Young, 2001;Malins, Oaders, Viney, & Aspden, 2006;McClean, 1995;Peck, Gulliver, & Towel, 2002), but less so in developing countries (Katontoka, 2007;Ntulo, 2006;Underhill, 2005), including South Africa.…”