Health professionals’ experiences of person-centered collaboration in mental health care

Abstract

ObjectiveThe basic aim in this paper is to discuss health care professionals’ experiences of person-centered collaboration and involvement in mental health rehabilitation and suggest ways of improving this perspective. Furthermore, the paper explains the supportive systems that are at work throughout the process of rehabilitation.MethodThe study design is a qualitative approach using three focus group interviews with a total of 17 informants with different professional backgrounds such as nurses, social workers, and social pedagogies. In addition, one nurse and one social worker participated in a semi-structured in-depth interview to judge validity.ResultsOur results may demonstrate deficits concerning mental health care on several levels. This understanding suggests firstly, that a person-centered perspective and involvement still are uncommon. Secondly, multidisciplinary work seems uncommon and only sporadically follows recommendations. Thirdly, family support is seldom involved. Lastly, firm leadership and knowledge about laws and regulations seems not to be systematically integrated in daily care.ConclusionTaking these matters together, the improvement of a person-centered perspective implies cooperation between different services and levels in mental health care. In order to bring about improvement the health care workers must critically consider their own culture, coordination of competence must be increased, and leadership at an institutional and organizational level must be improved so that scarce rehabilitation resources are used to the optimal benefit of people with a mental illness.

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“…Understanding different discipline-specific roles and knowledge cultivates a culture of collaboration [8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Members of different disciplines are equipped with specific knowledge and competencies within their own discipline [8].…”

“…Share decision making is an important attribute to achieve effective IDC [8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Shared decision making is a collaborative process in which healthcare professionals make health related decisions together with the clients.…”

“…People with mental illness have various needs along their developmental lifespan in view of physical problems, psychological burden, family issues, 4/8 COJ Nurse Healthcare finance, housing and other socio-emotional factors [20]. With the multi-faceted nature, the needs of these clients are extensive and multidimensional [12][13][14][15][16][17]. These complex needs should be addressed with multidimensional interventions delivered by health professionals with diverse knowledge and skills [20].…”

“…The fragmentation of health care services constitutes a challenge to the collaboration process [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. The decentralised and fragmented nature of health care systems brings about communication gaps and obstructs shared decision-making between health providers, affecting the continuity of care [21].…”

“…IDC adopts the notion of 'intellectual synergy' and 'wisdom of crowd' whereby professionals collaboratively contribute to decision making from different perspectives [26]. It guarantees effective, professional clinical decisions which best matches the clients' needs, the healthcare staff's capacities and the resources available in the setting [14].…”