The reported responsibilities of mental health workers and clients

This paper explores how mental health workers construct and categorise the responsibilities allocated to themselves and to their clients, based on how these responsibilities are recorded and located in the handwritten shift reports created during an intensive outpatient rehabilitation course in Finland. The data consist of 27 shift reports, which are first sorted using data-driven inductive analysis that then provides the frame for a more detailed analysis. It is found that the workers see their responsibilities as being to make assessments, and to guide and support their clients to increase their ability to function independently and take responsibility for their everyday lives. Reciprocally, the clients' responsibilities are seen as being to accept the workers' advice and support and to attend to their own everyday tasks. The clients are also regarded as responsible for their own rehabilitation. There are also shared responsibilities, including promoting client recovery together. The aim of all these reported responsibilities is to improve clients' wellbeing and independence.