Collaboration With Clinicians in Inpatient Mental Healthcare: A Qualitative Investigation of Consumer Perspectives.
Joel Sebastian Zugai, Katherine Gill, Grant Kinghorn and 3 others
PMID 42548284WHAT IT FOUND
Consumers in involuntary mental health care said collaboration often failed, especially around medication decisions.
They felt dismissed as psychotic when ordinary concerns were recorded as illness. Warm, present relationships with clinicians, including nurses, made them feel safe enough to collaborate.
Key findings
01Participants said they were often not told what medication they were being prescribed, why, or what risks and benefits it had.
02Participants described clinicians treating their statements as evidence of psychosis, including ordinary concerns, so accounts could be misrecorded and dismissed.
03Participants said genuine interpersonal care, including a nurse making extra efforts, helped them feel safe and cared for.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Participants were recruited through social media, so people who are less digitally engaged or more marginalised may be missing. All participants were English-speaking adults from Australia, so the findings may not transfer to other legal systems, languages or cultures. Only consumers were interviewed, so clinicians' perspectives were not included. Transcripts were not returned to participants for checking. The study describes experiences, not effects, so it cannot show that any practice improves outcomes.
Declared interests
The study was funded by an internal research grant from the University of Wollongong, and the authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not generalise these experiences to all inpatient mental health consumers. The participants were recruited through English-language social media sites in Australia, so less digitally engaged or culturally and linguistically diverse people may be missing.