Ragnfrid Eline Kogstad

Social Networks for Mental Health Clients: Resources and Solution

Abstract Several studies have illustrated the importance of social support and social networks for persons with mental health problems. Social networks may mean a reduced need for professional services, but also help to facilitate access to professional help. The interplay between social networks and professional services is complicated and invites further investigation. Compare aspects of clients’ experiences with social networks to experiences with professional services and learn about the relationship between network resources and help from the public health service system. Quantitative analyses of a sample of 850 informants. Supportive networks exist for a majority of the informants and can also be a substitute for public/professional services in many respects. Regarding help to recover, social networks may offer qualities equal to those of professional services. Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between trust in a social network and trust in public professional services. Trust in a social network also increases the probability of achieving positive experiences with professional services. Our findings imply that more network qualities should be included in professional services, and also that professionals should assist vulnerable groups in building networks.

Narratives of Natural Recovery: Youth Experience of Social Inclusion through Green Care

The aim of this study has been to investigate the effects of Green Care services for youth in vulnerable situations risking social exclusion. Green Care enterprises represent alternative arenas in which people can work with animals, agriculture and other tasks related to nature. We interviewed nine persons, aged 17–27, working in three different places, two or more times over a two-year period. We looked at essential beneficial factors in order to better understand how the “green” element could add to more traditional recovery factors. We found that the youth described core success factors corresponding to well-known recovery factors such as recognition, supportive relationships, motivation, meaning, positive coping, self-esteem, confidence and hope. The effective factors can be described as: (a) The leader’s ability to create a good group atmosphere, (b) the varied tasks which allow step-wise increases in self-efficacy, and (c) experiences with animals and in nature that provide comfort for youth who lack trust in people and need safe situations to recover a positive sense of self. We followed a process in which several persons gradually regained self-respect and the motivation for further education or a job outside the Green Care enterprise. The study illustrates that Green Care can be an important supplement in helping people back to a satisfying life and meaningful roles in society.

User Experiences of Different Treatment Cultures in Mental Health Care

Background: Clients have mixed experiences with mental health services. Historically there have been quite different and also incompatible approaches to treatment in mental health care. Some antagonisms may have been overcome, but clients’ experiences still seem to mirror approaches that are in contrast to each other. Aim: To describe different treatment approaches as clients experience them, discuss essential factors in, and differences between the approaches and the degree to which they appear corresponding or antagonistic. Method: Qualitative content analysis of stories from approximately 492 users dealing with positive, negative, or both positive and negative experiences with the health service system. Results: Clients experience different treatment cultures side by side within the mental health care system. The cultures exist on a continuum where monologue and dialogic cultures represent endpoints. Conclusion: It is important to acknowledge the contrasts clients have experienced between different treatment cultures. Realizing the contrast between approaches, it emerges as important that clients are given a choice and can get the kind of treatment they prefer.

Green Care services in the Nordic countries: an integrative literature review

This article reviews Nordic literature on Green Care for people out of work or school, or with mental health- and/or drug-related problems, published from 1995 to April 2014. Green Care is a well-established international concept that uses animals, plants and nature in an active process to offer health-promoting activities for people. Reports, evaluations and scientific articles are included. The main finding was that the Green Care services described in the literature provided positive activities for our target group. Seven main categories emerged during the analysis: mastery and coping, positive effects on mental health, physical activity, structure and meaningfulness, the feeling of dignity produced by performing a decent ordinary job, social gains, animals and nature experienced as being supportive. Essential intervention factors identified can be described as: (i) contact with animals, (ii) supportive natural environments, (iii) the service leader as a significant important other, (iv) social acceptance and fellowship with other participants and (v) meaningful and individually adapted activities in which mastery can be experienced. These five components interact in a holistic way; the synergetic effects extend the sum of the single factors.

The Knowledge Concealed in Users’ Narratives, Valuing Clients’ Experiences as Coherent Knowledge in Their Own Right

Objective. As the history of psychiatry has been written, users have told their stories and often presented pictures incompatible with the professional or official versions. We ask if such a gap still exists and what the ethical as well as epistemological implications may be. Study Design. The design is based on a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach, with a qualitative content analysis of the narratives. Data Sources. The paper draws on user narratives written after the year 2000, describing positive and negative experiences with the mental health services. Extraction Methods. Among 972 users answering a questionnaire, 492 also answered the open questions and wrote one or two stories. We received 715 stories. 610 contained enough information to be included in this narrative analysis. Principal Findings. The stories are coherent, containing traditional narrative plots, but reports about miscommunication, rejection, lack of responsiveness, and humiliation are numerous. Conclusions. The picture drawn from this material has ethical as well as epistemological implications and motivates reflections upon theoretical and practical consequences when users’ experiences do not influence professional knowledge to a larger degree.