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Our roles are not at ease: The work of engaging a youth advisory council in a mental health services delivery organization

OBJECTIVES: There is growing policy impetus for including youth voices in health services research and health system reform. This article examines the perspectives of professionals in a mental healthcare organization charged with engaging young people as advisors in service transformation. METHODS:...

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Autores principales: Canas, Eugenia, Wathen, Nadine, Berman, Helene, Reaume‐Zimmer, Paula, Iyer, Srividya N.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8483197/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34240785
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hex.13302
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author Canas, Eugenia
Wathen, Nadine
Berman, Helene
Reaume‐Zimmer, Paula
Iyer, Srividya N.
author_facet Canas, Eugenia
Wathen, Nadine
Berman, Helene
Reaume‐Zimmer, Paula
Iyer, Srividya N.
author_sort Canas, Eugenia
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: There is growing policy impetus for including youth voices in health services research and health system reform. This article examines the perspectives of professionals in a mental healthcare organization charged with engaging young people as advisors in service transformation. METHODS: An institutional ethnography of a youth mental health services organization in Ontario, Canada, was conducted. Fieldwork consisted of twelve months of observation of meetings, interviews with youth advisors and adult service providers, with subsequent text analysis of engagement training and policy materials. The present article reports data from six adult professionals and related field observations. RESULTS: Service providers’ efforts to engage youth were observed in three areas: a) supporting youth's development as advisors, b) retaining and deepening youth participation while waiting for organizational change and c) embedding relationships between youth and adults at various levels within the system of care. This work denotes existing tensions between the values and ideals of youth engagement and the everyday demands of services delivery. CONCLUSION: In this setting, a fundamental dimension of this work consisted of negotiating tensions between the policy enthusiasm for engagement and its realization in a health services context. In describing these contextual challenges, we outline implications for consideration by other youth mental health services. Engagement efforts that are authentic and sustained require resources and flexibility, and leadership commitment to instil service users’ perspectives throughout multiple levels within the organization.
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spelling pubmed-84831972021-10-06 Our roles are not at ease: The work of engaging a youth advisory council in a mental health services delivery organization Canas, Eugenia Wathen, Nadine Berman, Helene Reaume‐Zimmer, Paula Iyer, Srividya N. Health Expect Original Articles OBJECTIVES: There is growing policy impetus for including youth voices in health services research and health system reform. This article examines the perspectives of professionals in a mental healthcare organization charged with engaging young people as advisors in service transformation. METHODS: An institutional ethnography of a youth mental health services organization in Ontario, Canada, was conducted. Fieldwork consisted of twelve months of observation of meetings, interviews with youth advisors and adult service providers, with subsequent text analysis of engagement training and policy materials. The present article reports data from six adult professionals and related field observations. RESULTS: Service providers’ efforts to engage youth were observed in three areas: a) supporting youth's development as advisors, b) retaining and deepening youth participation while waiting for organizational change and c) embedding relationships between youth and adults at various levels within the system of care. This work denotes existing tensions between the values and ideals of youth engagement and the everyday demands of services delivery. CONCLUSION: In this setting, a fundamental dimension of this work consisted of negotiating tensions between the policy enthusiasm for engagement and its realization in a health services context. In describing these contextual challenges, we outline implications for consideration by other youth mental health services. Engagement efforts that are authentic and sustained require resources and flexibility, and leadership commitment to instil service users’ perspectives throughout multiple levels within the organization. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-07-09 2021-10 /pmc/articles/PMC8483197/ /pubmed/34240785 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hex.13302 Text en © 2021 The Authors. Health Expectations published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Articles
Canas, Eugenia
Wathen, Nadine
Berman, Helene
Reaume‐Zimmer, Paula
Iyer, Srividya N.
Our roles are not at ease: The work of engaging a youth advisory council in a mental health services delivery organization
title Our roles are not at ease: The work of engaging a youth advisory council in a mental health services delivery organization
title_full Our roles are not at ease: The work of engaging a youth advisory council in a mental health services delivery organization
title_fullStr Our roles are not at ease: The work of engaging a youth advisory council in a mental health services delivery organization
title_full_unstemmed Our roles are not at ease: The work of engaging a youth advisory council in a mental health services delivery organization
title_short Our roles are not at ease: The work of engaging a youth advisory council in a mental health services delivery organization
title_sort our roles are not at ease: the work of engaging a youth advisory council in a mental health services delivery organization
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8483197/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34240785
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hex.13302
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