Setting up a mental health service user research group: a process paper

Coproduction of research between consumers of mental health services and nonconsumer mental health researchers is increasing. There is some research available describing consumer perspectives of this experience. However, there is a notable lack of research on other (nonconsumer) researcher experiences of and views about consumer involvement in coproduced research. A qualitative exploratory study was undertaken to examine perspectives of mental health researchers about consumer involvement in research. In-depth individual interviews were undertaken with 11 nonconsumer mental health researchers in Australia and New Zealand. Interview transcripts were analysed to identify major themes. There were three interacting themes: the salience of experiential difference, expanded learning, and enhanced research. The dynamic between different perspectives and learning had the effect of enhancing research across the spectrum of study phases and in ensuring research was of value to different groups. The findings emphasize the important contribution consumer researchers can make to mental health research by bringing their unique perspective and enhancing an environment of mutual learning. Findings also point to the need for foregrounding the numerous benefits of joint research between consumer and other researchers to enhance and improve clinical practice and the development of policy.

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“…Fothergill et al . ). Other researcher views and experiences have also been sought through surveys (Lawn ; Staley et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

How did I not see that? Perspectives of nonconsumer mental health researchers on the benefits of collaborative research with consumers

Happell

Gordon

Bocking

et al. 2018

Int J Mental Health Nurs

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“…Given that each of the four publications represented employment of different research designs we were not in a position to directly compare study quality as would be possible when the literature is comprised of conventional approaches such as randomised controlled trials. Nonetheless, it is suggested here that – as the consumer perspective can enhance the external validity of research (Fothergill et al ) and so potentially lead to approaches that effectively address barriers to physical health care – all those seeking a PMHCR approach should consider the portability of research designs that were reviewed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A particularly important form of consumer participation for improving health services has been the inclusion of consumers as co-researchers (Happell & Roper 2007;Kidd et al 2015). Exemplar forms of such research include "participatory action research" (Schneider 2012) and "service user research" (Fothergill et al 2012). For consistency, we will use the term Participatory Mental Health Consumer Research (PMHCR).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Participative mental health consumer research for improving physical health care: An integrative review

Happell

Ewart

Platania‐Phung

et al. 2016

Int J Mental Health Nurs

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People with mental illness have a significantly lower life expectancy and higher rates of chronic physical illnesses than the general population. Health care system reform to improve access and quality is greatly needed to address this inequity. The inclusion of consumers of mental health services as co-investigators in research is likely to enhance service reform. In light of this, the current paper reviews mental health consumer focussed research conducted to date, addressing the neglect of physical health in mental health care and initiatives with the aim of improving physical health care. The international literature on physical healthcare in the context of mental health services was searched for articles, including mental health consumers in research roles, via Medline, CINAHL and Google Scholar, in October 2015. Four studies where mental health consumers participated as researchers were identified. Three studies involved qualitative research on barriers and facilitators to physical health care access, and a fourth study on developing technologies for more effective communication between GPs and patients. This review found that participatory mental health consumer research in physical health care reform has only become visible in the academic literature in 2015. Heightened consideration of mental health consumer participation in research is required by health care providers and researchers. Mental health nurses can provide leadership in increasing mental health consumer research on integrated care directed towards reducing the health gap between people with and without mental illness.

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“…); funders restricting applications to academics (Fothergill et al. ) and academics using exclusionary scientific paradigms and language (Phillips ; Barber et al. ).…”

Section: Service User Involvement: Tensions and Debatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural safety, diversity and the servicer user and carer movement in mental health research

Cox

Simpson

2015

Nursing Inquiry

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This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link AbstractThis paper will be of interest to anyone concerned with a critical appraisal of mental health service users' and carers' participation in research collaboration and with the potential of the post-colonial paradigm of cultural safety to contribute to the service user research [SUR] movement. The history and nature of the mental health field and its relationship to colonial processes provokes a consideration of whether cultural safety could focus attention on diversity, power imbalance, cultural dominance and structural inequality, identified as barriers and tensions in SUR.We consider these issues in the context of state-driven approaches towards SUR in planning and evaluation and the concurrent rise of the SUR movement in the UK and Australia, societies with an intimate involvement in processes of colonisation. We consider the principles and motivations underlying cultural safety and SUR in the context of the policy agenda informing SUR.We conclude that while both cultural safety and SUR are underpinned by social constructionism constituting similarities in principles and intent, cultural safety has additional dimensions. Hence we call on researchers to use the explicitly political and selfreflective process of cultural safety to think about and address issues of diversity, power and social justice in research collaboration. KeywordsCultural safety, diversity, research, power, service users/consumers, carers, mental health, IntroductionThe paper offers a critical appraisal of the participation of mental health service users in research collaboration and the potential of cultural safety to concentrate researchers' attention on power imbalance 1 , cultural dominance and structural inequality 2 informing research practices and mental health service users' experience. According to Kara the literature on mental health service user 3 research involvement 'suggests that power imbalances and identity issues are at the root of most difficulties and gaps ' (Kara 2013, 122).Kara suggests that these matters relate to the diversity 4 of players in mental health research, which, along with service user involvement, is central to policy in both the UK and These similarities between the UK and Australia reflect their close socio-political relationship and shared history in colonial projects and so they were chosen as the context for our discussion. Today both societies grapple with control of bodies, minds and discourse in 1 Power is a contested concept in deep, ongoing philosophical debates. We are indebted to Berger and Luckmann's (1966) social constructionism that overcame the agency [Weber] and structure [Marx] debate in arriving at a concept of power that recognised it as an aspect of social relationships occurring in the dialectic between individuals and structures.2 By structural inequality we mean systematic unequal rewards, access to resources and their control, ...

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Setting up a mental health service user research group: a process paper

Cited by 12 publications

References 12 publications

How did I not see that? Perspectives of nonconsumer mental health researchers on the benefits of collaborative research with consumers

How did I not see that? Perspectives of nonconsumer mental health researchers on the benefits of collaborative research with consumers

Participative mental health consumer research for improving physical health care: An integrative review

Cultural safety, diversity and the servicer user and carer movement in mental health research

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