Participation of inpatients in multidisciplinary team meetings: An explorative study of mental healthcare workers'...

To explore the perception of mental healthcare workers about participation of inpatients during multidisciplinary team meetings (MTMs) and to determine which demographic and contextual factors are associated with this perception.

A cross-sectional multicentre study in 17 psychiatric hospitals with 701 mental healthcare workers was performed between 29 April and 19 May 2019. For measuring the perception of the mental healthcare workers, the Patient Participation during Multidisciplinary Team meetings Questionnaire was used.

93 % of the mental healthcare workers indicate that they are willing to allow patients to participate in a MTM. Most mental healthcare workers prefer an active role for the patient when participating in a MTM (93 %) and a collaborative role for the patient when making decisions in a MTM (75 %). Level of education, discipline, experience with patient participation in MTMs, working in a team where patient participation is applied, and recent training on patient participation, are associated with the mental healthcare worker's perception on patient participation in MTMs.

Mental healthcare workers report a great willingness to involve inpatients in MTMs. However, social workers, nurses, and pedagogues feel less competent and are less positive about the effects of patient participation in MTMs. Mental healthcare workers with recent training in patient participation and experience in patient participation in MTMs feel more competent and believe more often that the patient should fulfil a more autonomous role when participating in a MTM. These results can be used to understand and improve patient participation in MTMs in mental healthcare.