[Triadic mirror meetings; experiences of clients, relatives and care professionals]

The care for service users with severe mental illness is evolving. In this, feedback is indispensable for improving quality. At four locations for long-term inpatient treatment in Amsterdam, triadic mirror meetings have been implemented, in which service users and family give feedback on received care in a group discussion. To evaluate this method, we conducted a qualitative study.

To investigate the experiences of service users, family and healthcare professionals who participated in the mirror meetings.

Service users, family and healthcare professionals participated in a semi-structured interview about their experiences with the mirror meeting. The interviews were analyzed thematically.

The experiences of service users, family and healthcare professionals with mirror meetings in the triad were positive: they mentioned an increase in understanding of everyone’s perspective and a sense of equality, connection and shared learning. Service users and family also mentioned obstacles, such as insufficient preparation and lack of time.

Triadic mirror meetings with service users and family are a useful method in long-term clinical care to collect feedback and improve the quality of care in an atmosphere of joint learning.