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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - A qualitative analysis of relatives’, health professionals’ and service users’ views on the involvement in care of relatives in Bipolar Disorder
AU - Chatzidamianos, Gerasimos
AU - Lobban, Fiona
AU - Jones, Steven
PY - 2015/9/23
Y1 - 2015/9/23
N2 - BackgroundRelatives of people with bipolar disorder report that services do not meet their own needs, despite clinical recommendations for the development of care plans for relatives, provision of information regarding their statutory entitlements, and formal involvement in decision making meetings. Further, there is now conclusive evidence highlighting the benefits of relatives’ involvement in improving outcomes for service users, relatives, and the health system as a whole. This qualitative study explored the views of relatives of people with bipolar disorder, service users and healthcare professionals regarding the barriers and the facilitators to relatives’ involvement in care.MethodsThirty five people were interviewed (12 relatives, 11 service users and 12 healthcare professionals). Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and common themes in participants’ narratives emerged using framework analysis.ResultsParticipants’ accounts confirmed the existence of opportunities for relatives to be involved. These, however, were limited and not always accessible. There were three factors identified that influenced accessibility namely: pre-existing worldviews, the quality of relationships and of communication between those involved, and specific structural impediments.DiscussionThese themes are understood as intertwined and dependent on one another. People’s thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, cultural identifications and worldviews often underlie the ways by which they communicate and the quality of their relationship. These, however, need to be conceptualised within operational frameworks and policy agendas in health settings that often limit bipolar relatives’ accessibility to opportunities for being more formally involved.ConclusionsInvolving relatives leads to clear benefits for relatives, service users, healthcare professionals, and the health system as a whole. Successful involvement of relatives, however, depends on a complex network of processes and interactions among all those involved and requires strategic planning from policy makers, operational plans and allocation of resources.
AB - BackgroundRelatives of people with bipolar disorder report that services do not meet their own needs, despite clinical recommendations for the development of care plans for relatives, provision of information regarding their statutory entitlements, and formal involvement in decision making meetings. Further, there is now conclusive evidence highlighting the benefits of relatives’ involvement in improving outcomes for service users, relatives, and the health system as a whole. This qualitative study explored the views of relatives of people with bipolar disorder, service users and healthcare professionals regarding the barriers and the facilitators to relatives’ involvement in care.MethodsThirty five people were interviewed (12 relatives, 11 service users and 12 healthcare professionals). Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and common themes in participants’ narratives emerged using framework analysis.ResultsParticipants’ accounts confirmed the existence of opportunities for relatives to be involved. These, however, were limited and not always accessible. There were three factors identified that influenced accessibility namely: pre-existing worldviews, the quality of relationships and of communication between those involved, and specific structural impediments.DiscussionThese themes are understood as intertwined and dependent on one another. People’s thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, cultural identifications and worldviews often underlie the ways by which they communicate and the quality of their relationship. These, however, need to be conceptualised within operational frameworks and policy agendas in health settings that often limit bipolar relatives’ accessibility to opportunities for being more formally involved.ConclusionsInvolving relatives leads to clear benefits for relatives, service users, healthcare professionals, and the health system as a whole. Successful involvement of relatives, however, depends on a complex network of processes and interactions among all those involved and requires strategic planning from policy makers, operational plans and allocation of resources.
KW - Mental Health
KW - Bipolar disorder
KW - Carer
KW - Qualitative
KW - Policy Making
KW - framework analysis
KW - RELATIVES
KW - relative involvement
KW - Barriers
U2 - 10.1186/s12888-015-0611-x
DO - 10.1186/s12888-015-0611-x
M3 - Journal article
VL - 15
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - BMC Psychiatry
JF - BMC Psychiatry
SN - 1471-244X
IS - 1
M1 - 228
ER -