skip to content
Dovepress - Open Access to Scientific and Medical Research
View our mobile site

8852

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

Original Research

(2786) Views  (668) Full article downloads

Authors: Rita Sommerseth, Elin Dysvik

Published Date October 2008 Volume 2008:2 Pages 259 - 269
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/PPA.S3988

Rita Sommerseth, Elin Dysvik

University of Stavanger, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Health Studies, Stavanger, Norway

Objective: The 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.

Method: The 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 semistructured in-depth interview to judge validity.

Results: Our 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.

Conclusion: Taking 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.

Keywords: multidisciplinary teams, person-centered collaboration, supportive systems, rehabilitation






 

Other articles by Dr Rita Sommerseth



Readers of this article also read:

Periosteoplasty for covering gingival recessions: Clinical results
Radiolucency below the crown of mandibular horizontal incompletely impacted third molars and acute inflammation in men with diabetes
Role of aliskiren in cardio-renal protection and use in hypertensives with multiple risk factors
A man could never do what women can do: Mental health care and the significance of gender
Perspectives on healthcare leader and leadership development
Enucleation following treatment with intravenous pentamidine for Acanthamoeba sclerokeratitis
Improving health care quality through culturally competent physicians: leadership and organizational diversity training
Cumulative clinical experience from over a decade of use of levofloxacin in community-acquired pneumonia: critical appraisal and role in therapy
Erratum
Servant leadership: a case study of a Canadian health care innovator