Healthcare Professionals’ Experiences with Patient Participation in a Mental Healthcare Centre: A Qualitative Study

Introduction: Patient participation is a cornerstone of the debate concerning healthcare professionals and patients of mental health centres. It constitutes an objective in government health policy in Scandinavia and other Western countries. However, little is known about the experiences of healthcare professionals in mental healthcare practices involving patients under their treatment and care. Objective: This study aimed to explore the experiences of healthcare professionals with patient participation in the context of a mental health centre. Methodological design: Four focus group interviews with healthcare professionals reflected differing experiences with unfolding patient participation in clinical practices in four wards of a mental health centre. A content analysis developed and framed themes. Results: Patient participation was based on structural conditions, which shows that predetermined structural methods predominantly control involvement. The structural methods are seen as promoting participation from the patient’s perspective. At the same time, the methods also enable taking account of the individual patient’s wishes and needs for involvement. Discussion and conclusion: This study illuminates the meaning of patient participation in a mental health centre based on the social interactions among nurses and other healthcare professionals. The approach can contribute to dealing with the challenges of incorporating patient participation as an ideology for all patients in a psychiatric context, which is important knowledge for healthcare professionals.