‘Who cares?’ An exploratory study of carer needs in adult mental health

Abstract

Overall, health professionals have been slow to recognise the needs of families and carers, and have tended to marginalise their input in aiding consumer recovery. Despite the rhetoric of carer inclusion in mental health policy, the continued lack of systematic involvement of carers in mental health systems ensures that they remain outside the realm of core business in mental health treatment. Based on dialogues with 31 participants in a series of focus groups who are directly engaged in caring for an adult with a serious mental illness, this study reinforces the need for carer inclusion and legitimacy, and highlights necessary changes to service delivery that acknowledge carer isolation and secondary stigma. The importance of psychoeducation programs, consistency in case management roles, and better information about the interface with legal systems were seen as particularly critical.

Keywords:

• carers
• caregiving
• consumers
• mental health services
• psychoeducation
• policy
• qualitative