Improving acute psychiatric hospital services according to inpatient experiences. A user-led piece of research as a means to empowerment.

This paper has been undertaken by people with experience with mental health issues and mental health care systems. The aim of the research was to explore psychiatric inpatients' strategies for coping with mental ill health and in what ways acute inpatient psychiatric hospital services are facilitative to the individual attempting recovery. Ten focus groups were facilitated and data were analysed through systematic content analysis. Findings revealed that the main areas of concern for inpatients were: information, communication, relationships, activities, self-help, patient involvement in care treatment plans, and the physical environment. The authors also make a case to improve the status of user-led research as a means to understand the needs of mental health service users.