User Involvement in Mental Health: Time to Face up to the Challenges of Meaningful Involvement?

Abstract

User involvement in health is of increasing importance in Scotland. It has been defined in a series of specific policy commitments to give users a stronger voice and to involve people in the design and delivery of the health service. Increased organisational commitment and resources have accompanied this policy, leading to proliferation of consultation and involvement activities. However, despite the policy rhetoric, there are a number of challenges that users of mental health services face in becoming involved in their own care and treatment and in playing a meaningful role in developing the services they use. This paper will argue that it is not yet possible to judge whether user involvement can deliver its aims of changing the culture of services, the ways in which they interact with the people they serve and how services are delivered. However, the user involvement agenda appears to hold much promise for mental health promotion; the challenge for mental health promotion will be to capture this work and ensure that promise is delivered.

Keywords:

• user involvement
• mental health promotion
• service re-design
• policy development