Mental Health Service Users Experiences of Mental Health Care: An Integrative Literature Review

The aim of this integrative literature review was to identify how mental health service-users experience mental health services. A robust search of Web of Science, the Cochrane Database, Science Direct, Ebsco host (Academic... [ view full abstract ]

The aim of this integrative literature review was to identify how mental health service-users experience mental health services. A robust search of Web of Science, the Cochrane Database, Science Direct, Ebsco host (Academic Search Complete, Medline, Cinahl Plus Text), Psychinfo, Psycharticles, Social Science Full Text and the UK and Ireland Reference Centre) for data published between the years 1/1/2008-31/12/2012 was conducted. Using a staged approach and the application of pre-determined inclusion/exclusion criteria, the numbers of articles for inclusion were reduced to 34. Data extraction was completed for the 34 included studies with thematic analysis and quality assessment was undertaken. Generally, satisfaction with mental health service was moderately good. However, accessing services could be difficult because of a lack of knowledge and the stigma which surrounds mental health. Inpatient and community services reported moderate satisfaction ratings in quantitative reports but feelings of fear regarding how services function and lack of treatment choice remain. The main finding from this review is that whilst people may express satisfaction with mental health services through large scale surveys, many aspects of the relationship between mental health service-users and providers remain ambiguous and unaddressed. Elements of the recovery model, the predominant theoretical model informing mental health services, were lacking in relation to user involvement, empowerment and decision making about care planning.