Search results
1 – 10 of 535
The purpose of this paper is to explore student experiences of learning from mental health service users and carers.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore student experiences of learning from mental health service users and carers.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 30 clinical psychology trainees and ex-trainees took part in an online survey (n=21) or focus group (n=9). Responses were analysed using interpretative thematic analysis.
Findings
A number of themes were identified. There were two pre-conditions of learning: valuing the teaching and emotional arousal. Participants’ learning experiences were characterised by cognitive and meta-cognitive processes: active learning, reflection, increased attention and vivid memories. Furthermore, participants might have a meta-cognitive experience of having learned something, but being unsure what that something was. Participants reported learning about the lives of service users, about themselves and about the wider societal context for people with mental health difficulties.
Practical implications
In order to facilitate learning students should value the input of service users. This allows them to contain and use the emotional arousal the teaching produces. Furthermore, leaving students with a feeling that something has been learned but not being exactly sure what that has been may facilitate students seeking out further opportunities for service user involvement.
Originality/value
Few studies have explored the process of learning from mental health service users and carers. In the current study, the emotion aroused in participants was primary. Furthermore, a new meta-cognitive experience, namely, the experience of having learned something, but not being sure what has been learned, has been identified.
Details
Keywords
Aiveen Dillon, Charlotte Wilson and Catherine Jackman
The purpose of this paper is to explore service users’ experiences of a mindfulness group intervention.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore service users’ experiences of a mindfulness group intervention.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 15 participants with a diagnosis of a mild or moderate intellectual disability and concurrent mental health difficulties were interviewed using semi-structured interviews about their experiences of attending the mindfulness group.
Findings
Thematic analysis was used to interpret the data. The three super ordinate themes that emerged were positive aspects of mindfulness, positive aspects of attending the group and negative aspects of attending the group. There were seven subthemes. The results highlighted that participants found the mindfulness group to be beneficial, partly due to specific aspects of the mindfulness intervention and partly due to the group process. The negative aspects of the group were harder to elicit, and were less specifically related to mindfulness.
Originality/value
Mindfulness-based interventions have emerged as a promising approach for individuals with intellectual disabilities with mental health difficulties. There is currently a lack of research exploring service users with intellectual disabilities about their experiences of mindfulness interventions.
Details
Keywords
Meadhbh Campbell and Charlotte Wilson
The purpose of this paper is to explore mental health service users’ experiences of involvement in a clinical psychology course.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore mental health service users’ experiences of involvement in a clinical psychology course.
Design/methodology/approach
Five participants were recruited from a service user and carer group aligned to a university professional clinical psychology course. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and data were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).
Findings
Four superordinate themes, group processes, advocating, transforming and power, were drawn from the data, with ten subthemes emerging capturing experiences on the personal, professional and group levels.
Research limitations/implications
The study is not generalisable and has a small number of participants. However, many of the themes have resonance with existing literature.
Practical implications
Service user initiatives need to consider the personal and contextual issues that service users may have experienced prior to their involvement. The needs of service user initiatives may change over time. Such initiatives must evolve in conjunction with the personal and political journeys of participants.
Originality/value
Few studies have explored the experiences of mental health service users in clinical psychology training using a robust methodology. The current study suggests that eliciting these experiences highlights factors that facilitate involvement as well as the barriers.
Details
Keywords
Geraldine McNamara and Charlotte Wilson
Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals experience higher rates of mental health difficulties in comparison to their heterosexual counterparts (Meyer, 2003; Plöderl and…
Abstract
Purpose
Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals experience higher rates of mental health difficulties in comparison to their heterosexual counterparts (Meyer, 2003; Plöderl and Tremblay, 2015). This is in part due to the experience of homophobia and stigmatisation within society. This discrimination has also been perpetuated within the mental health field, where LGB individual’s sexuality has been pathologised. In response to this historical stigmatisation a number of policies have been created to develop ethical practice while working with this minority group (APA, 2012; BPS, 2019; HSE, 2009; PSI, 2015). The purpose of this paper is to capture the experience of LGB individuals within mental health services and examine if these guidelines are being adhered to.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is a meta-narrative synthesis of 13 empirical papers, published between 1999 and 2019.
Findings
This study has found both negative and positive experiences of service users. The paper discusses major themes, implications for practice and directions for future research.
Originality/value
This is the first systematic review to look at the experiences of clients who have attended mental health services.
Details
Keywords
Charlotte Brontë integrated her own and her sisters' traumatic boarding school experiences into her novel, Jane Eyre (1847) as a way of expressing her anger through…
Abstract
Purpose
Charlotte Brontë integrated her own and her sisters' traumatic boarding school experiences into her novel, Jane Eyre (1847) as a way of expressing her anger through autobiographical fiction. The aim is to link contemporary research into boarding school trauma to the relevant events, thereby identifying what she wrote as a testimony contributing to the long history of the problematic nature of boarding schools.
Design/methodology/approach
Autobiographical fiction is discussed as a form of testimony, placing Jane Eyre in that category. Recent research into the traumatic experiences of those whose parents chose to send them to boarding school is presented, leading to an argument that educational historians need to analyse experience rather than limiting their work to structure and planning. The traumatic events the Brontë sisters experienced at the Clergy Daughters' School are outlined as the basis for what is included in Jane Eyre at the fictional Lowood School. Specific traumatic events in the novel are then identified and contemporary research into boarding school trauma applied.
Findings
The findings reveal Charlotte's remarkable insight into the psychological impact on children being sent away to board at a time when understandings about trauma and boarding school trauma did not exist. An outcome of the analysis is that it places the novel within the field of the history of education as a testimony of boarding school life.
Originality/value
This is the first application of boarding school trauma research to the novel.
Details
Keywords
Giulia Signorini, Nikolina Davidovic, Gwen Dieleman, Tomislav Franic, Jason Madan, Athanasios Maras, Fiona Mc Nicholas, Lesley O'Hara, Moli Paul, Diane Purper-Ouakil, Paramala Santosh, Ulrike Schulze, Swaran Preet Singh, Cathy Street, Sabine Tremmery, Helena Tuomainen, Frank Verhulst, Jane Warwick, Dieter Wolke and Giovanni de Girolamo
Young people transitioning from child to adult mental health services are frequently also known to social services, but the role of such services in this study and their interplay…
Abstract
Purpose
Young people transitioning from child to adult mental health services are frequently also known to social services, but the role of such services in this study and their interplay with mental healthcare system lacks evidence in the European panorama. This study aims to gather information on the characteristics and the involvement of social services supporting young people approaching transition.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 16 European Union countries was conducted. Country respondents, representing social services’ point of view, completed an ad hoc questionnaire. Information sought included details on social service availability and the characteristics of their interplay with mental health services.
Findings
Service availability ranges from a low of 3/100,000 social workers working with young people of transition age in Spain to a high 500/100,000 social workers in Poland, with heterogeneous involvement in youth health care. Community-based residential facilities and services for youth under custodial measures were the most commonly type of social service involved. In 80% of the surveyed countries, youth protection from abuse/neglect is overall regulated by national protocols or written agreements between mental health and social services, with the exception of Czech Republic and Greece, where poor or no protocols apply. Lack of connection between child and adult mental health services has been identified as the major obstacles to transition (93.8%), together with insufficient involvement of stakeholders throughout the process.
Research limitations/implications
Marked heterogeneity across countries may suggest weaknesses in youth mental health policy-making at the European level. Greater inclusion of relevant stakeholders is needed to inform the development and implementation of person-centered health-care models. Disconnection between child and adult mental health services is widely recognized in the social services arena as the major barrier faced by young service users in transition; this “outside” perspective provides further support for an urgent re-configuration of services and the need to address unaligned working practices and service cultures.
Originality/value
This is the first survey gathering information on social service provision at the time of mental health services transition at a European level; its findings may help to inform services to offer a better coordinated social health care for young people with mental health disorders.
Details
Keywords
Cathy Street, Ellen Ni Chinseallaigh, Ingrid Holme, Rebecca Appleton, Priya Tah, Helena Tuomainen, Sophie Leijdesdorff, Larissa van Bodegom, Therese van Amelsvoort, Tomislav Franic, Helena Tomljenovic and Fiona McNicholas
This study aims to explore how young people in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands and Croatia, experienced leaving CAMHS and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how young people in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands and Croatia, experienced leaving CAMHS and identified a range of factors impeding optimal discharge or transition to adult mental health services (AMHS).
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews about discharge or transition planning, including what information was provided about their ongoing mental health needs, undertaken with 34 young people aged 17–24, all previous or current attendees of CAMHS. Some interviews included accounts by parents or carers. Data were thematically analysed.
Findings
A number of previously well-documented barriers to a well-delivered discharge or transition were noted. Two issues less frequently reported on were identified and further discussed; they are the provision of an adequately explained, timely and appropriately used diagnosis and post-CAMHS medication management. Overall, planning processes for discharging or transitioning young people from CAMHS are often sub-optimal. Practice with regard to how and when young people are given a diagnosis and arrangements for the continuation of prescribed medication appear to be areas requiring improvement.
Originality/value
Study participants came from a large cohort involving a wide range of different services and health systems in the first pan-European study exploring the CAMHS to adult service interface. Two novel and infrequently discussed issues in the literature about young people’s mental health transitions, diagnosis and medication management were identified in this cohort and worthy of further study.
Details
Keywords
Charles D. Bodkin, Cara Peters and Jane Thomas
Company stores market to their internal employees via the distribution of branded promotional products. The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that may influence when…
Abstract
Purpose
Company stores market to their internal employees via the distribution of branded promotional products. The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that may influence when an employee is more likely to purchase from a company store.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to the members of a chamber of commerce located in the southeastern USA. Data were analyzed using regression, and post hoc analyses were conducted using an analysis of covariance.
Findings
Organizational identification and job satisfaction significantly impacted employees’ intentions to purchase from a company store. Gender, education, marital status and years of work experience were personal factors that moderated that relationship. Firm size and employee rank were company factors that moderated the relationship between employee work perceptions and employee purchase intentions at a company store.
Originality/value
No research to date exists on company stores. This study is unique in that it proposes internal branding as a theoretical foundation for understanding company stores and examines factors that impact employees’ intentions to purchase from a company store.
Details
Keywords
I.E. Jernigan, Joyce M. Beggs and Gary F. Kohut
This study of hospital nurses (n = 154) examined the influence of dimensions of work satisfaction on types of organizational commitment. Significant results were found for the two…
Abstract
This study of hospital nurses (n = 154) examined the influence of dimensions of work satisfaction on types of organizational commitment. Significant results were found for the two affective commitment types tested but not for the instrumental type evaluated. The results indicate that satisfaction with professional status was a significant predictor of moral commitment. Dissatisfaction with organizational policies, autonomy, and professional status were significant predictors of alienative commitment. None of the dimensions of work satisfaction were predictors of calculative commitment. The results of this study suggest that understanding how various factors impact the nature and the form of an individual’s organizational commitment is worth the effort. If managers do not know what causes an attitude to take on a particular form, they cannot accurately predict what behavior might follow.
Details