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Mental health recovery has shifted from clinical conceptualizations to more personal ones. However, much of the lived experience literature has focused on people living with mental health conditions, and less attention has been placed on various mental health professionals, especially in Asian countries, where the personal recovery literature base is in its nascent stage. We sought to contribute to a growing body of work by exploring recovery from the lens of different mental health professionals in Singapore. Mental health professionals in Singapore were invited to participate in an online interview through social media. The recordings were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a constructive grounded theory approach. Nineteen participants were interviewed. A single core category, "living in society once more", and three categories, "An ongoing process", "Regaining ability to function in society", and "A normality report card" were identified from our data. Recovery within the Singapore mental health professional perspective focuses on helping individuals return to society and function productively while considering existing societal norms such as the highly competitive and pragmatic culture in Singapore. Future research can explore in greater depth the impact of these factors on the recovery process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Scarce information is available about how users experience treatment at mental health day hospitals, particularly in South America. Aims: To explore users’ perspectives about elements of day hospital treatment that facilitate or hinder the recovery process in a mental health facility in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Methods: Semi-structured individual interviews (n = 8) and focus groups (n = 4) were carried out with a convenience sample of users of a mental health day hospital program based on a formulation, testing and redevelopment of propositions approach. Results were analyzed through grounded theory techniques. Results: Categories indicating recovery were: starting to do things, being able to see themselves from a new perspective, mood improvement and changes in interpersonal relationships. Aspects facilitating recovery were: activities organized by the facility, the group approach, the care provided by facility workers and the physical environment. Hindering aspects were: heterogeneity of users in terms of age, severity, diagnosis and being underestimated by staff. Conclusions: Being active again was considered to be the main recovery indicator in this cultural context and participating in activities led by skilled facilitators was the most beneficial factor of the program according to the users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Australian mental health policy requires that mental health services facilitate meaningful and genuine consumer participation in all aspects of mental health services. Roles for practitioners who work from their own experience of significant mental health challenges and mental health service use have been implemented in many services to promote participation and the development of more consumer focused services. Aims: To enhance understanding of perspectives of individuals working in lived experience roles to more closely understand their experiences and opinions about these roles. Method: A grounded theory study interviews were conducted with 13 lived experience practitioners. Results: The medical model was a core category arising from this work. Participants described the medical model as a prevailing culture within mental health services from their personal and professional experiences. This culture imposed a major limitation on the implementation, effectiveness and development of lived experience roles and themselves as individuals. It was also seen as a major limitation to the progress of Recovery orientated reform. Conclusions: The development of Recovery oriented services requires a strong lived experience practitioner workforce, with appropriate resourcing and support available. The current medical model approach requires critique to facilitate reform and avoid tokenism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research on recovery from mental illness and the influence of compulsory psychiatric institutional care has revealed the complexity of this concept. There is also limited knowledge regarding the impact of gender-role expectations in these contexts, and how such expectations may influence both the care and individuals' recovery processes. Aim: To explore women's and men's perceptions of the impact of compulsory inpatient care on recovery from severe mental illness. Method: Grounded theory was used to analyse 30 first-person accounts of recovery from mental illness, elicited via interviews with individuals who had been compulsorily treated in hospital and diagnosed with a severe mental illness. Results: Inpatient care at an early stage was crucial for the informants' recovery. However, there was ambivalence in their perceptions of the impact of compulsory inpatient care. The narratives confirmed gender differences as well as gender stereotypes. Conclusions: The results have implications for recovery research, in that they emphasise the importance of understanding recovery as a gender-influenced process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of having hope for recovery has been highlighted in numerous qualitative studies of recovery. It is identified as a vital part of this process, and guidelines suggest that service providers should therefore facilitate hope in their clinical work; however, they do not indicate how this guidance can be operationalised. To identify the sources of hope for recovery based on the accounts of people with experience of recovery; to ascertain how these accounts show service providers can facilitate such hope in their therapeutic work. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight people with experience of recovering from mental health problems. A grounded theory analysis was undertaken. A model conceptualising the role of hope in recovery was developed with three categories: "influence of others on hope", "personal hope" and "doing recovery". The model indicates a complex interaction between hope and recovery with an important role for social context and interpersonal relationships, including those with clinicians. Mental health service providers occupy a powerful position in relation to service users' hope, and must carefully consider how they communicate their own hopefulness about clients' recovery. Suggestions are made about facilitating hope for recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of recovery has become central to international mental health policy and service planning. At present there, however, is no unified theory of mental health recovery available to guide clinical practice. The aim of this study was to develop a coherent theory of recovering from mental health problems from the point of view of those recovering in Ireland. The study was guided by classic grounded theory and based on individual interviews with 32 volunteers who had experienced mental health problems. The participants' main concern was identified as striving to reconnect with life. The core category of reconnecting with life had three interactive subcategories: (1) reconnecting with self through accepting oneself as a worthy human being capable of positive change; (2) reconnecting with others through accepting and validating interaction; (3) reconnecting with time, through getting a glimpse of positive future, coming to terms with the past, and actively shaping and executing one's present and future. The study shows that accepting, validating and the hope-instilling interaction can facilitate the process of reconnecting with life and is, therefore, crucial for recovery-oriented care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]