Aims and methodTo develop a self-report questionnaire to measure mental health recovery from the service user viewpoint. Literature searches and scoping exercises indicated that psychological, social and spiritual issues should be included. The resultant provisional scale was completed by 107 service users.ResultsThe provisional scale was shortened as a result of factor analysis. The finalised version was highly reliable (Cronbach's alpha 0.911) and valid, correlating significantly with an already established recovery scale. It contained nine recognisable subscales, the first two describing existential and religious well-being. Separate well-being and ill-being factors were also identified.Clinical implicationsAn inclusive tool for service users' assessment of their own recovery, the Service User Recovery Evaluation (SeRvE) scale, has been validated. This can be used both as a research tool and clinically to monitor interventions. The importance of spiritual care for service users is highlighted.
Summary
This article uses three fictitious case vignettes to raise questions and educate on how clinicians can appropriately approach patients experiencing spiritually significant hallucinations. Religious hallucinations are common but are not pathognomonic of mental illness. They are often intimate experiences for the patient that raise complex questions about psychopathology for clinicians. When assessing a patient with religious hallucinations it is important that clinicians hold at the centre that person's personal experience and create a safe space in which they are listened to and epistemic injustices are avoided. Involvement of chaplaincy services is important not just to support the patient but also to ensure that as clinicians we seek support in understanding the religious nature of these experiences.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.