Part III: Recovery-Oriented Practices in Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services: A Meta-Synthesis

In recent decades, recovery-oriented practice has become the major approach in mental health and substance abuse care, especially in community mental health and substance abuse services. Various models of recovery-oriented practice have come to form the basis of the integration of this approach in service settings. The study aims to elucidate the characteristics of recovery-oriented practice as experienced by participants in the practice. The method used was a qualitative meta-synthesis that integrated the findings from thirty-four empirical papers published by one research group. Four meta-themes were developed: (a) helping and supporting, (b) collaborating and relating, (c) identity integration in practice, and (d) generating hope through nurturing and helping. These themes emphasize the value of relationships and connectedness, contextuality, and resources that can be mobilized in practice. The results emphasize the need to incorporate the elements in the four major themes as “working capital” for practitioners to realize recovery-oriented practice. The concepts of personal, social, and economic capital as working capital are elaborated, drawing from the meta-themes as the basis for recovery-oriented practice in mental health and substance abuse services.

Part I: Dynamics of Recovery: A Meta-Synthesis Exploring the Nature of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Recovery

Recovery-oriented care has become a leading vision across countries. To develop services and communities in more recovery-oriented directions, enhanced understandings of recovery in terms of personal and social contexts are important prerequisites. The aim of this study is to explore the nature and characteristics of the experiences of recovery. The method used is a form of qualitative meta-synthesis that integrates the findings from multiple qualitative studies published by one research group. Twenty-eight empirical papers with a focus on recovery as personal and contextual experiences were included in this meta-synthesis. Five meta-themes were developed: (a) being normal, (b) respecting and accepting oneself, (c) being in control, (d) recovery as intentional, and (e) recovery as material and social. The themes describe how recovery encompasses dynamics between personal experiences and contextual dimensions. This meta-synthesis consolidated an understanding of recovery as dynamics of the self and others, and as dynamics of the self and material resources. This understanding of recovery suggests the need to work not only with the person, but also with families, networks, social systems, and local communities, thus developing mental health and substance abuse services in more collaborative, open-ended, and context-sensitive directions.

Ohjauksen käsitteet mielenterveys- ja päihdetyössä – näkyykö asiakkaan osallisuus?

Sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon suunniteltujen uudistusten myötä asiakkaiden ja palveluiden ohjaus on noussut esiin yhtenä keskeisenä kehittämisen kohteena. Ohjauksen käsitteitä on useita, ja niiden käyttö vaihtelee kontekstin mukaan. Tässä tutkimuksessa mielenkiinnon kohteena oli erityisesti osallisuuden näkyminen ohjauksen eri käsitteissä ja niiden sisällöllisissä kuvauksissa. Osallisuus liittyy keskeisesti sosiaali- ja terveysalalla sekä asiakaslähtöisyyteen että mielenterveys- ja päihdetyössä yhtenä lähtökohtana olevaan toipumisorientaatioon. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, mitä ohjauskäsitteitä suomalaisissa mielenterveys- ja päihdetyötä koskevissa raporteissa on käytetty, mitkä ovat näitä käsitteitä kuvaavat tekstisisällöt ja mitkä näkökulmat näissä sisällöissä kuvastuvat. Tutkimus toteutettiin dokumenttianalyysina, ja aineisto analysoitiin sekä määrällisesti että laadullisesti. Analyysin tuloksena tunnistettiin kolme käytettyä ohjauksen käsitettä sekä kolme näkökulmaa, joista työntekijän näkökulma painottui eniten ja asiakkaan näkökulma vähiten. Tulosten perusteella voidaan todeta, että mielenterveys- ja päihdetyön alueella ohjauksen käsitteitä tulisi sekä sisällöllisesti kuvata tarkemmin että edelleen kehittää, jotta ne mahdollistavat asiakkaan osallisuuden. Tätä kehittämistyötä tulisi toipumisorientaation lähestymistavan mukaisesti tehdä yhdessä mielenterveys- ja päihdepalvelujen käyttäjien kanssa. Abstract Concepts of guidance in the context of mental health and substance abuse care – is client involvement enabled? Changes in the social and health care services as well as the development and utilization of the new technological methods in the everyday practice of the social and health care, have revealed a need to increase the competence of staff in different guidance activities. This need was recognized in several studies especially in the planning phase of the social and health care reform. In practice, several concepts are nowadays used when describing guidance. In the presented study the main interest was on the concepts used in the context of mental health and substance abuse care, in which the recovery approach with strong emphasis on client involvement is the main approach today. With the document analysis the aim was to describe which concepts of guidance have been used in the Finnish reports on mental health and substance abuse care, the content of these concept descriptions and the perspectives their present. Data was gathered with stepwise PRISMA process. As a result, three concepts describing the guidance were found and the most common perspective in these concepts was the employee’s perspective, two others being the client’s and service perspectives. Client perspective was the least described in the contents of these concepts, which indicates that the participation of the client is not made visible or well-supported in practice. It should be noted that this study has certain limitations, but the results are suggesting a need to develop the concepts of guidance towards more client-inclusive descriptions. It is recommended to work together with people with lived experience on mental health and substance abuse problems in this development process. Keywords: guidance, involvement, mental health and substance abuse services, document analysis

Managers’ perceptions of competence and practice development following education in the prevention and management of staff-directed aggression: promoting person-centred practice

Background: Staff-directed aggression and violence may have harmful implications for all parts of a mental health service organisation. In an effort to advance the development of competent practice in community mental health and substance abuse services in Oslo, the municipality has offered various courses in the prevention and management of staff-directed aggression and provided supportive tools for practice development. Aim: To explore managers’ perceptions of how participating in education and applying supportive tools have contributed to the development of competence and practice in their own services. Method: Qualitative interviews with 11 managers working in homebased community mental health services were analysed, using qualitative content analysis. Findings: The findings show education and application of tools contributed to: 1) increased awareness and understanding of the complexities of staff-directed aggression; 2) empowered and collaborative practice through negotiations of power relations; and 3) adjustment of perceived management responsibilities and assignments. Conclusion: The findings indicate that managers not only felt their staff had become more knowledgeable and competent following education, but that participation in education also impacted on collaboration within and outside their own services, as well as directly influencing how they dealt with threatening situations in the workplace. Implications for practice: Staff-directed aggression is a complex phenomenon and efficient practitioners are able to keep in mind a number of relevant aspects of practice simultaneously Collaboration in prevention and management of staff-directed aggression requires staff to acknowledge and accommodate service users’ perspectives regarding practice A levelling of power differentials between community mental health services and specialist mental health services takes place when partaking in the same education and sharing vocabulary and conceptual frameworks regarding risk assessment and management

‘Developing an App Could Be the Wrong Place to Start’: User Reflections and Ideas about Innovation in Municipal Substance Abuse Services

Introduction: There has been an increased focus on the search for innovative ways to use technology to improve services among many public welfare services. However, this focus has been less apparent among municipal substance abuse follow-up and aftercare services. Historically, this is a field that has had weak user involvement. Therefore, we have explored user ideas and reflections on whether and how technological innovation can improve these services. Method: We conducted four group sessions with a total of 14 users of substance abuse follow-up services (five women and nine men) in the southern part of Norway in June of 2014 and February of 2016. Results: The users who participated in the study pointed out that face-to-face interaction with service practitioners is an important dimension of these services. Some expressed fear that more technology might lead to services that are less relational or more standardized and that such developments might lead to reduced availability. They pointed out that enhancing individualization, continuity and service collaboration might be more important than prioritizing technology-oriented innovation. Nevertheless, the users viewed technology as positive and useful when it improves service accessibility and communication between service providers and users. More generally, the data also shed light on users’ service experiences. The analysis of these data shows that access to support from peers who have had user experiences was found to be particularly valuable. Discussion: We contribute to the literature on co-production and user involvement by highlighting user perspectives on the risks, uncertainties and possibilities for the use of new technologies in service delivery. Based on these findings, we develop the ‘co-production triangle’. In this model, the relationship between the service provider and the user is expanded to include skilled peers as a third actor. Keywords: User involvement, co-production, technology, follow-up care, addiction, peer support

Risk Factors and Services to Reduce Child Sexual Abuse Recurrence

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with a range of negative consequences for victims that are compounded when it recurs. We used the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System to study a cohort of 42,036 children in 45 U.S. states with sexual abuse reports first confirmed by child protective services (CPS) during 2010 in order to identify children with increased risk for recurrence. A small proportion (3.6%) had a second confirmed sexual abuse report through 2015. In multivariate models, female gender, family hearing and vision problems, other child maltreatment, and other family violence were associated with increased risk of recurrence, while younger children, Hispanic families, and those with substance abuse tended to have less risk. One fourth of recurrence involved the same offender, usually a parent or caretaker. One fourth of cases were referred for any CPS services, which were more likely to be provided for families with poverty, drug or alcohol problems, or other violence. Only substance abuse services significantly reduced recurrence in multivariable models. Those trying to reduce CSA recurrence should recognize that certain case characteristics are associated with greater recurrence, and most CPS services do not significantly reduce CSA recurrence.