Investigation of the Consumer Perspective on Leisure in Mental Health Inpatient Units.
Jessica Levick, Kieran Broome, Marion Gray and 3 others
PMID 37264602WHAT IT FOUND
People admitted to locked mental health inpatient units valued leisure highly, but rated their ability to engage lower.
They named motivation, sedation, staff time, and limited activities as barriers, and asked for simple social or independent activities.
Key findings
01People rated leisure 79 out of 100 as valuable, but rated their ability to engage on the unit 45 out of 100.
02Participants named personal barriers such as motivation, drowsiness or sedation, and unit barriers such as staff time, restrictions, and limited activity outside business hours.
03Consumers asked for independent or structured social activities, including coloring, computer games, cooking, gardening, music, bingo, and golf; 93% said they enjoy social visits with friends and currently or would like to do this.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
This was done at one hospital in Brisbane, so it may not represent all Australian mental health inpatient units. Convenience sampling may have introduced bias. Participants were acutely unwell while completing the survey, so their views may differ after discharge. Length of stay, diagnosis, treatment modalities, and mental health act status were not collected, so differences between consumers could not be examined. The survey was lengthy, and many responses were partial; the paper reports 57 partial and 41 completed responses. Uptake was low unless consumers were directly asked and offered a device, and some needed support to use the device. The paper reports 41 completed responses, but it does not clearly state how many participants were included in each analysis.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no financial support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the activity suggestions as proof that adding them improves recovery. The survey recorded consumer preferences and barriers, not changes in mental health or function.