Implementing an occupational therapy specific mental health intervention in a multi-professional context – the case of Balancing Everyday Life (BEL)

Figures & data

Table 1. Schematic presentation of the BEL intervention.

	The main period of working with themes	The booster sessions
Time frame	Working with 12 themes; distribution over 12–15 weekly session allows for variation in tempo	Two biweekly booster sessions
Example of themes	Motivation; meaningfulness; productivity; leisure; healthy eating; social interactions	Revisiting previous themes; being on one’s own
Overall aim	Developing an ability to reflect on one’s life situation; finding strategies for how to increase one’s activity balance and satisfaction with everyday activities and, in that, one’s personal recovery	Maintaining the developed strategies and translating them to one’s regular everyday life
Session structure	Brief educational section; discussing the session theme; when working with themes 4–12 setting a personally relevant goal related to the theme; translating the goal to a specific activity and a strategy for how to complete the activity	Revisiting session theme(s); highlighting important strategies; preparing for mutual peer support
Between sessions	The specified activity and suggested strategies (themes 4–12) are carried out as a home assignment in a real-life context, to be completed before the next session	A home assignment is possible if relevant, but not standard
The BEL cycle	Reflection, goalsetting and choice of strategy are the first steps of a loop that starts in one session, continues with performing the activity between sessions, and concludes with reflection, evaluation and possibly re-negotiation of goals upon follow-up in the next session

Table 2. The themes and categories reflecting the process of implementing BEL in a multi-professional context.

Theme 1: Conditions and opportunities in the setting
The managers’ expectations about occupational therapy*	A positive climate makes the wheels roll*^,**	Positive and negative contextual preconditions*^,**	An inbuilt flow of changes affects the implementation process*^,**
Theme 2: Putting the BEL intervention into practice
Information received or lost*^,**	Recruiting and keeping BEL participants*^,**	Adjusting to BEL and growing with the intervention*^,**
Theme 3: Experiences of practicing BEL
BEL captures the specifics of occupational therapy**	Setting and achieving goals**	Reflections on the BEL structure and contents*^,**	Outcomes of BEL*^,**

*Findings reflect the managers’ perspective. **Findings reflect the occupational therapists’ perspective.