Listen to me, I’m talking: involvement and recovery
| Pages | 111-123 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHRJ-09-2016-0018 |
| Published date | 12 June 2017 |
| Date | 12 June 2017 |
| Author | Fran Walsh,Anna Tickle |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health |
Listen to me, I’m talking: involvement and
recovery
Fran Walsh and Anna Tickle
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to explore how thoseengaged i nservice user involvement (SUI) initiatives
perceive involvement and recovery; whether involvement is related to their recovery process and, if so, how.
Design/methodology/approach –An exploratory qualitative method, social constructionist grounded
theory, was adopted throughout the research process. Nine semi-structured interviews were undertaken
with participants who self-defined as having current or previous mental health problems and who were
engaged in SUI initiatives.
Findings –Most participants identified explicit links between their own experiences of SUI and recovery.
These links represented a connection between the characteristics they perceived to be inherent to
involvement and their personal definitions of recovery. In contrast, experiences of consultation and
involvement as patient service users was limited and identified as an area for improvement. The core of the
tentative grounded theory constructed suggests that individuals found in involvement elements which were
concordant with and supported their own definitions of recovery and which were not apparent in their
experiences as patients.
Research limitations/implications –The small sample and narrow constituency of participants limit the
nature of the claims made by the study.
Practical implications –This study highlights the value of involvement in promoting recovery and indicates
the merit of promoting meaningful involvement across the spectrum of the service user experience.
Originality/value –This study offers a unique contribution to the current literature, highlighting the links
made between involvement and personal recovery.
Keywords Grounded theory, Mental health, Service user involvement, Recovery
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Notionsof mental illness have their rootsnot only in the medical orthodoxiesof their time, but also in
prevailing attitudes towards the problem and subsequent shifts in social policy (Boyle, 2002;
Porter, 2002). In recent decades, there has been a shift from biomedical conceptualisations of
disease to more holistic constructions of mental health. Central to this has been service user led
movements demanding increasing involvement in services and proposing new concepts of
recovery. These influences, coupled with an increasingly neo-liberal consumerist agenda shaping
mental health policy(Ramon, 2008), have resulted in the rhetoricof service user involvement (SUI)
and recovery becoming incorporated in public policy (Department of Health (DH), 2011). Beyond
the values of recoveryand SUI being seen as elements underpinninggood practice the DH (2011)
explicitly linked them stating that “a number of mental health trusts (are) […] gaining additional
benefits by encouraging SUI, thereby aiding their(service users’)recovery”(p. 29). However,there
has been no researchfocussing specificallyon the impact that involvement mighthave on recovery
or how service users construct how or indeed if the two are related.
SUI
SUI is a complex construct, driven by diverse practices and principles of a wide range of
stakeholders.Mental health service users occupy a widerange of identities and roles in relation to
Received 21 September 2016
Revised 25 November 2016
Accepted 31 January 2017
Fran Walsh and Anna Tickle are
Clinical Psychologists, both at
the Nottinghamshire
Healthcare NHS Foundation
Trust, University of Nottingham,
Nottingham, UK.
DOI 10.1108/MHRJ-09-2016-0018 VOL. 22 NO. 2 2017, pp. 111-123, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1361-9322
j
MENTALHEALTH REVIEW JOURNAL
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PAG E 11 1
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