Patients' experience of learning and gaining personal knowledge during a stay at a mental hospital.

The focus is on voluntarily hospitalized patients' subjective experiences of learning and gaining personal knowledge during a stay at a mental hospital. The aim was to explore and describe patients' learning as personal knowledge acquisition related to the therapeutic process during hospitalization. The study was exploratory and descriptive, with a hermeneutic--phenomenological approach in data collection and analysis. Qualitative interviews were carried out with 15 patients during and after their stay. A re-analysis was conducted. The results underline the importance of the environmental effects on patients' motivation for learning and self-esteem in an acknowledging milieu. Moving towards relearning presupposes that the patient's motivation is aroused. Patients must participate in the treatment and the validity of the knowledge must be tested in the individual patient's life. The patients confirmed and helped each other to increase insight through recognizing each other's problems and reactions. Time in itself seemed to increase self-reflection. Receiving impulses and getting concrete tools through therapy stimulated meaning and hope for future living. The professionals must use a holistic approach including a learning climate in pleasant surroundings and a conjoint contribution from fellow patients and staff. Further research should focus on how to combine therapy with learning--preferably by means of a co-operative inquiry design.