Search

Objective: The aim of this paper is to present the Mental Health Consumer Perceptions and Experiences of Services (MH-CoPES) Framework and discuss its development. The Framework was developed to address the need for a consistent approach across New South Wales mental health services for consumer involvement in service evaluation and planning. Conclusions: A four step Framework has been developed for implementation across adult public mental health services in NSW. The Framework focuses not only on collecting consumers' views of mental health services but on ensuring that procedures to report on and make changes based on this information are in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Most mental health outcome and satisfaction measures have been developed by academic researchers or service providers. Consumers have been limited to the role of participant or advisor. The validity and reliability of these satisfaction measures have been challenged. This paper reports the development of a consumer satisfaction questionnaire in which consumers work as collaborative researchers to increase its face validity and relevance. Method Eleven themes from a previous participatory study were used by consumer researchers and university-based researchers to generate questionnaire items, with four items reflecting each theme. The internal consistency and factor structure were examined in public and non-government mental health service centres based on data of 202 mental health consumers. Results Principal Components Analysis with oblique rotation yielded a two-factor structure: Empowerment and Dehumanization. The two factors together explained 36.7% of the total variance. The scale demonstrated high internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha for the total scale at 0.92, and for the two factors at 0.92 and 0.80. Conclusions The questionnaire was developed in accordance with an evaluation framework of consumer directed evaluation of mental health services. The final questionnaire consists of 26 items. It has satisfactory internal consistency and appeared to be useful with inpatients and outpatients. Further research will be performed to establish its test-retest reliability and criterion validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this paper is to present the findings of a survey of consumers of mental health services who are working (in either paid or unpaid positions) in NSW Health and in the Non Government Organisation sector in NSW. Method: A survey was distributed through the NSW Consumer Advisory Group newsletter to elicit the roles and assess the training needs of consumer employees, as well as those who were working in voluntary capacities as consumer representatives, within the mental health system in NSW. Results: Many mental health consumers have been placed in the untenable position of being engaged in representation and/or advocacy roles with unclear job descriptions and no training. The majority of consumers want a code of ethics and performance standards for consumer workers. Conclusions: The rhetoric of consumer participation is not matched by effective and timely strategies that ensure that consumer involvement is underpinned by relevant training and supportive infrastructure. The goal of meaningful consumer participation in mental health services, as outlined in policy, is yet to be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This paper outlines a proposed framework including values, principles and steps, developed by consumers, to evaluate mental health services from a consumer’s perspective. Method: A research team consisting of consumer researchers, established academics and students developed the framework. The team had already conducted qualitative research with consumers of mental health services. Using these experiences and the evaluation literature, the proposed framework was developed over a series of 13 meetings. Results: An evaluation framework, which describes the values underpinning consumer-directed evaluation of mental health services and the principles and steps to follow in conducting this type of evaluation, is presented. Conclusions: The evaluation framework will guide consumers and services in conducting consumer-directed evaluation of mental health services, and assist in developing more genuine consumer participation in services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Reflections on the response to the COVID‐19 pandemic often evoke the concept of 'resilience' to describe the way health systems adjusted and adapted their functions to withstand the disturbance of a crisis, and in some cases, improve and transform in its wake. Drawing from this, this study focuses on the role of consumer representatives in healthcare services in initiating changes to the way they participated in the pandemic response in the state of New South Wales in Australia. Methods: In‐depth interviews were conducted with two cohorts of consumer representatives. Cohort A included experienced and self‐identified consumer leaders, who worked together in a COVID‐19 Consumer Leaders Taskforce; Cohort B included participants outside of this group, and purposively included consumer representatives from rural and regional areas, and culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Results: The pause in consumer engagement to support health service decision‐making in responding to the pandemic forced consumer representatives to consider alternative approaches to participate. Some initiated networking with each other, forming new collaborations to produce consumer‐led research and guidelines on pandemic‐related patient care. Others mobilized support from community and politicians to lobby for specific healthcare issues in their local areas. Conclusion: The response to the COVID‐19 pandemic made visible the brittle nature of previous engagement processes of involving consumers in organizational design and governance. However, the momentum for proactive self‐organization in an unexpected crisis created space for consumer representatives to reset and reimagine their role as active partners in health services. Their ability to adapt and adjust ways of working are key assets for a resilient health system. Patient or Public Contribution: This project is a collaborative study between academic researchers and health consumer (patient and public) representatives. It followed the principles of codesign and coresearch, whereby both consumer representatives and academic researchers contributed equally to all stages of the project. The study was cofunded by both academic institutions and consumer representative organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is growing recognition of the importance of involving patients and families with lived experiences of illness in healthcare service quality improvement, research and implementation initiatives. Ensuring input from people with palliative care needs is important, but how to enable this is not well understood. Aim: To seek the perspectives of Australian patients with palliative care needs, and their family members, to elicit their views on how to best contribute to inpatient palliative care quality improvement initiatives. Design: An exploratory qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews. Setting/participants: Eligible participants were adult patients with palliative care needs receiving care within a hospital setting, and their family members. Recruitment occurred through: five hospitals in New South Wales, Australia; and snowballing. Results: Fifty participants took part (21 patients and 29 family members). Results confirmed four themes: (1) Mechanisms for providing feedback about care quality need to be supportive and individualised; (2) The clinician-patient/family power imbalance makes real time feedback challenging to provide; (3) Willingness to contribute varies according to diagnosis, timing and role and (4) Face to face feedback is preferred for health service improvement work. Conclusions: Enabling meaningful consumer input to quality improvement requires careful consideration due to the unique requirements of the palliative care population. Embedding tailored outcome and experience measures to inform real-time care provision coupled with focussed opportunities for input into service improvement may best foster improvements in inpatient palliative care, founded in what matters most for people requiring this care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many nursing contexts have introduced bedside handover, where the person in care participates in the transfer of clinical information, with benefits for person, carers, and clinicians. This type of handover has been implemented across a number of mental health settings, but there is limited evidence regarding implementation approaches or of practice change. This study reports the development and evaluation of a co-produced education and support package. To evaluate changes in nurses' practice regarding bedside (person-side) handover following implementation of a structured education and support package. Multi-method design incorporating nurse surveys and chart audit. The survey and audit were conducted in 2019–2020 on two inpatient mental health units in a metropolitan health service immediately prior to, and 6 months after, implementation, with 70 survey responses and 52 files audited. Non-parametric tests assessed change, and text comments were reported. Significant improvements were observed in nurses' reports of confidence, the ability to maintain privacy, identified benefits for the person and in information transfer. In contrast, the chart audit identified no change in documentation of this practice. The implementation of a co-produced education and support package demonstrated positive practice change in engaging people receiving care in handover. This approach to handover provides increased opportunity for nurses to work in partnership with people receiving mental healthcare, facilitating collaborative person-centred care and shared decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Participation of people with disabilities is influenced by environmental and contextual factors. Disability awareness programmes aim to increase knowledge and acceptance of disability. This study evaluated a disability awareness programme for students aged 9–11 in Australia. Method: Pre–post questionnaires and focus groups evaluated the programme. The intervention took a cognitive-behavioural approach including a person with a disability co-presenting. Students ( n = 147) participated in two sessions of discussions, written activities, demonstrations and disability simulation activities. Results: Significant improvements ( p < 0.001) in knowledge, attitudes and acceptance of disability were evident immediately following the intervention. Focus group analyses further demonstrated these findings. Conclusions: A brief disability awareness programme for children improved knowledge, attitudes and acceptance of disability in the short-term. Further research is required to identify the potential impact of such programmes on inclusion and social participation of people with disabilities both inside and outside of the school setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]