Service Users' Experiences of Involuntary Hospital Admission Under the Mental Health Act 2001 in the Republic of Ireland (original) (raw)

From admission to discharge in mental health services: a qualitative analysis of service user involvement

Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy, 2015

User involvement and recovery are now widely used terms within the mental health policy, research and practice discourse. However, there is a question mark about the impact these ideas have in everyday practice. Of interest is the degree of involvement in key transitions of care. In particular, admission to and discharge from acute inpatient mental health wards. To explore the nature of service user involvement in the admission and discharge process into and out of acute inpatient mental health care. A qualitative study using focus groups. One acute, inpatient mental health ward was the focus of the study. Seven uniprofessional focus group interviews were conducted with ward staff, community staff and service users (total number of participants = 52). Conventional, thematic qualitative techniques were used to analyse the data. The data analysed and presented in this article relate to the loss of the service user voice at the key transition points into and out of acute inpatient care...

Between No Help and Coercion: Toward Referral to Involuntary Psychiatric Admission. A Qualitative Interview Study of Stakeholders' Perspectives

Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2021

Objective: Paths toward referral to involuntary psychiatric admission mainly unfold in the contexts where people live their everyday lives. Modern health services are organized such that primary health care services are often those who provide long-term follow-up for people with severe mental illness and who serve as gatekeepers to involuntary admissions at the secondary care level. However, most efforts to reduce involuntary admissions have been directed toward the secondary health care level; interventions at the primary care level are sparse. To adapt effective measures for this care level, a better understanding is needed of the contextual characteristics surrounding individuals' paths ending in referrals for involuntary admission. This study aims to explore what characterizes such paths, based on the personal experiences of multiple stakeholders.Method: One hundred and three participants from five Norwegian municipalities participated in individual interviews or focus group...

Voluntary and involuntary mental health service users' views on how their human rights were considered

2020

Background: The legal framework for governing involuntary treatment in England and Wales is set out in the Mental Health Act (1983) which gives health professionals power, in certain circumstances, to detain, assess and treat people considered to have a ‘mental disorder’, in the interest of their own health and safety or for public safety. It is accompanied by a Code of Practice and other statutory safeguards that aim to preserve service users’ human rights. While some people find psychiatric inpatient treatment helpful and necessary, there are growing concerns that services are failing to protect service users’ human rights. Aims: To deepen an understanding of how service users’ human rights are respected on psychiatric inpatient wards. Key research questions were: what are voluntary and involuntary inpatient service users’ experiences of staff respecting their human rights; what are voluntary and involuntary inpatient service users’ experiences of being informed about their rights...

Opinions of key stakeholders concerning involuntary admission of patients under the Mental Health Act 2001

Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 2016

ObjectivesTo evaluate and compare the opinions of key stakeholders involved in the involuntary admission and treatment of patients under the Mental Health Act (MHA) 2001 regarding their views towards the operation of the legislation.MethodsWe employed a descriptive survey design. A questionnaire was distributed to stakeholders involved in the operation of the MHA 2001 (except service users, whose views were explored in a separate qualitative study) via paper or online versions evaluating their opinions regarding the operation of the MHA 2001 in relation to assessment, care, rights, transfer and information available.ResultsStakeholders agreed that in their opinion that patients generally benefit from the care they receive (79%) and that the MHA 2001 ensures an independent and fair review of the person’s detention (65%). However, only 23% of stakeholders were satisfied with the process of transferring patients to hospital and with the clinical assessment procedures therein (37%), wit...

Life in acute mental health settings: experiences and perceptions of service users and nurses

Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences

Background. Acute psychiatric provision in the UK today as well as globally has many critics including service users and nurses. Method. Four focus groups, each meeting twice, were held separately for service users and nurses. The analysis was not purely inductive but driven by concerns with the social position of marginalised groups - both patients and staff. Results. The main themes were nurse/patient interaction and coercion. Service users and nurses conceptualised these differently. Service users found nurses inaccessible and uncaring, whereas nurses also felt powerless because their working life was dominated by administration. Nurses saw coercive situations as a reasonable response to factors 'internal' to the patient whereas for service users they were driven to extreme behaviour by the environment of the ward and coercive interventions were unnecessary and heavy handed. Conclusion. This study sheds new light on living and working in acute mental health settings today...