How patient participation is constructed in mental health care: a grounded theory study

The aim of the study was to explore how patient participation is constructed in social interaction processes between nurses, other health professionals and service users, and which structures provide a framework for the participation of service users in a psychiatric context?

Ten tape-recorded interviews of nurses and observations of interactions between nurses, other health professionals and service users reflected differing constructed views of patient participation. Charmaz's interpretation of the grounded theory method was used, and the data were analysed using constant comparative analysis.

The study was designed in accordance with the ethical principles of the Helsinki Declaration (1) and Danish law (2). Each study participant in the two psychiatric departments gave informed consent after verbal and written information.

The articulation of patient participation emphasises the challenge between, on the one side, orientations of ethical care, and, on the other, paternalism and biomedicine. The core category was generated from four inter-related categories: (i) taking care of the individual needs; (ii) the service user as expert; and (iii) biomedicine, and (iv) paternalism, and their 13 subcategories.

This study illuminates the meaning of patient participation in a psychiatric context based on social interaction between nurses, other health professionals and service users. This can contribute to dealing with the challenges of incorporating patient participation as an ideology in all service users in a psychiatric context and is therefore important knowledge for health professionals.