Service users’ participation in mental health community-based organizations
A large proportion of individuals with mental health problems are affected by social isolation. In the front line, community mental health nurses are called upon to accompany these individuals in their recovery process, and reduce their social isolation. User participation in community-based organizations (CBO) optimizes the recovery process, decreases feelings of social isolation, and consolidates the social support networks of individuals living with mental health problems. However, relatively little is documented  on user participation within the organizational structure of mental health CBOs. To address this knowledge gap, the objectives of this study were to document, describe the nature of user participation and explore facilitating and inhibiting factors associated with user participation. A mixed-method (qualitative and quantitative) design, broken into two phases, was used in this study. In the first phase, a survey of twelve directors from CBOs providing services to individuals with mental health problems was conducted using the format of semi-structured interviews. The French version of the “Adapted User Involvement Questionnaire” (Diamond et al., 2003) was administered in order to document the extent of user participation in the targeted CBOs. In the second phase, two CBOs were selected on the basis of the results of the questionnaire and the findings of the archival data analysis. The scores obtained by the administration of this questionnaire made it possible to choose CBOs with constrasting results on user participation. Different groups of key informants (members of the governing board of the CBO, service users, CBO staff and directors) from the two CBOs participated in semi-structured interviews to collect detailed information about the following themes: the nature of user participation and facilitators and inhibitors for user participation.  Results of the analysis show that: (1) factors that facilitate user participation are : access to participatory space for service users and professionals of different disciplines supporting service users in user participation activities; (2) factors that inhibit user participation are : social stigmatization of individuals with mental health problems and service users’ personal characteristics associated with their mental health problems; and (3) advantages of user participation are: services adapted to users’ needs and requests, service user empowerment (in participating in organization of CBO services) and service users’ sense of belonging to the CBO. Consequently, the study’s findings suggest that accompanying service users in their participation in CBOs, in order to facilitate their empowerment and improve their well-being, is a promising avenue for community mental-health nurses.
Participation Mental health Community-based organization Community mental health nursing Participation