‘We're Still in There’—Consumer Voices on Mental Health Inpatient Care: Social Work Research Highlighting Lessons for Recovery Practice: Table 1

Abstract

This paper reports on research undertaken in an acute inpatient mental health facility in rural Australia to explore the lived experience of inpatient care. Conceptualised within a recovery framework that emphasises the biopsychosocial approach acknowledging consumers' lived experiences alongside clinical perspectives, this study contributes to addressing a gap in the literature about what consumers experience as being most important to their recovery during an episode of inpatient care. Traditionally, mental health service delivery has been weighted towards clinical recovery with a biomedical approach dominating. This is especially so in an inpatient setting. In this qualitative study, the personal and social components of recovery emerge as critical factors for consumers even in an acute phase of care indicating a need to redress the imbalance. Eight in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with consumers during their stay in the inpatient facility. Drawing on a hermeneutic phenomenological analysis and the use of NVivo, three themes emerged: the importance of listening, facilitating peer support and the inclusion of families. All three themes resonate with core social work practice suggesting social workers have a critical role to play in the transformation of mental health services to reflect the recovery paradigm.

Recovery‐oriented practice: Participant observations of the interactions between patients and health professionals in mental health inpatient settings

“…Health professionals point to the paradox of collaborating and offering choice where none in fact exist in situations of using legislation to hospitalize, detain, restrain, and/or treat patients against their will (McKenna et al 2014). Stenhouse (2011), Hyde et al (2015, Sharac et al (2010), and Waldemar et al (2018) conjure that health professionals are busy doing administrative and practical tasks rather than engaging with patients. Their options in terms of meeting the individual needs of the patients are thus perhaps equally limited.…”

“…Results suggest that health professionals support the idea of providing a recoveryoriented care and treatment and many state that their work is recovery-oriented. Likewise, studies using a patient perspective report that patients lack information and feel excluded from treatment planning and influence during admission (Aston & Coffey 2012;Hyde et al 2015;Waldemar et al 2018). Communication and collaboration with patients and relatives continue to be described as inadequate by health professionals (Gwinner & Ward 2013;Tsai & Salyers 2010;Walsh & Boyle 2009).…”

Addressing the support needs of families during the acute hospitalization of a parent with mental illness: A narrative literature review

“…Hospitalization can potentially increase or decrease the stigma, shame, and sense of loneliness surrounding parenting with a mental illness (Hyde et al . ; Savvidou et al . ).…”

“…Critical reflection on organizational policy and model-of-care provision, and current nursing practice in regard to parents and families, is essential to challenge stigma and negative stereotypes of parents with mental illness. Hospitalization can potentially increase or decrease the stigma, shame, and sense of loneliness surrounding parenting with a mental illness (Hyde et al 2015;Savvidou et al 2003). Parents with mental illness value their parenting role, and might have particular concerns about disclosing parenting issues out of fear that their children will be removed from their care (Montgomery et al 2006).…”

“…For some parents and their families, admission to an inpatient unit can be the first point of contact with mental health services. Mental health inpatient units are located within hospitals, which are traditional biomedical settings with individualistic models of care (Hyde et al 2015). An individual approach to care can result in the consumer's needs as a parent being overlooked, particularly in an acute inpatient unit that focusses on safety and crisis management .…”