this study contributes to the growing evidence-base which suggests that ACT could be another treatment option for people with psychosis. Further studies of ACT for people with psychosis are required to continue building upon the evidence-base.
Within healthcare services, we facilitate ACT-based groups for people with mental health difficulties. We have an opportunity here to set up ACT-based groups specifically for people with psychosis and conduct service evaluation studies to evaluate their feasibility in services.
Several useful points for clinicians emerge from this paper. The first-hand experiences compiled here reveal some common experiences among people living with depression which are not reflected in diagnostic criteria or checklists for lay people. While sleep, weight and appetite disturbances are noted in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as indicative of depression, this paper suggests that the somatic nature of the depressive experience is more pronounced than this. Experiences such as aches and pains, a sense of heaviness, and a body that lacks physical energy may be important markers of depression, and it is therefore unhelpful to view the mind and body as separate. The importance of fatigue has also been stressed by adolescents experiencing depression
In our work on Understanding integration, The King’s Fund and the Picker Institute developed a guide for health and care partners to come together to better understand and learn from the views and lived experience of people and communities, in the spirit of delivering genuinely integrated care. Centred around 10 principles, the guide was designed to help systems to work to co-ordinate services around what matters to people and communities.
Over the past year, The King’s Fund has been working with NHS England and the HOPE network to design and develop projects drawing on the principles and ways of working outlined in the guide. The HOPE network provides peer learning and support opportunities for leaders within NHS trusts with responsibility for patient experience.
Over the past few years it feels like things have gone backwards. The proportion of patients feeling involved in decisions about their care or treatment has been falling in recent years. There is still good work going on but increasingly we hear from staff who feel powerless to act on what they are hearing and tell us that patient experience is slipping down the agenda both nationally and locally.
The Women in Medicine Carers Network focuses on the specific issues doctor carers face, and have numerous stories of where support was insufficient or non-existent; here is just one.
This review concluded that people living with depression are at considerable risk of internalising negative stereotypes and discrimination associated with depression. Prominent risk factors were identified, including depression symptom severity and stigma-related factors; but protective factors were also identified, such as quality of life and self-esteem.
Avoidable harm in mental health social care - Andie Ashdown summarises a review on service users’ experiences of social and psychological avoidable harm.
Editorial. Although mental health problems are extremely common, stigma is still attached to them, often making them difficult to talk about. Despite women and men experiencing stigma in response to help-seeking for mental health issues, there would appear to be gender-specific influences on men's reluctance to seek help.
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During mirror meetings, professionals were confronted with the experiences of young people (YP) with inflammatory bowel disease to encourage them to improve their transitional care arrangements. Mirror meetings are a powerful tool to enhance professionals' awareness of YP's needs. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
In this study, we observed that caring for people with PWS can have a significant effect on the mental health, burden and quality of life of caregivers, with a greater impact among primary caregivers compared with the other living relatives. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
There are people who argue for the use of intersectional approaches in understanding people’s lived experience of care in tackling ethnic health inequalities. These intersectional approaches help health and care providers shift their focus from people’s behaviours to also identifying and addressing ways of working that create and reinforce inequalities and poor experiences of care that create and reinforce inequalities and poor experiences of care.
The early-access Living Well support group, led by an occupational therapist and a registered nurse, was developed to support people with motor neurone disease and their carers. The objective of this study was to explore the carers’ lived experiences of being part of this support group. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
This paper aims to examine the use of coproduction to create a film “Do You See Me?”, to amplify the voices of a “hard to reach” group: older lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) victim-survivors of domestic abuse (DA). To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
This article represents reflections on current social and legal issues for people given a mental diagnosis, from a lived experience perspective. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
This reflective piece occurs from the co-production of knowledge between Mark Lynes and Clive Sealey. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
This article explores the key areas by which an academic book was co-produced with people from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences. We argue that co-production is possible, by building relationships with co-participants, working in an adaptable and flexible way around structures and facilitating the voices of people with lived experience. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
Orla, a Bipolar UK peer support officer, shares her personal experiences and how nurses can help to destigmatise the condition. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
Since the age of 14 I have had symptoms of bipolar, with alternating periods of depression and hypomania.
People with mental health problems are often left behind, forgotten and excluded• Little is known or written from a service user perspective about experiences of psychiatry, mental health nursing, Mental Health Tribunals and alternative ap-proaches (such as counselling, peer support, psychological and recovery ap-proaches, cognitive behavioural therapy—CBT and creative/art/music/drama/horticultural/dance therapies)
Commentary on: Anttila M, Lantta T, Hipp K, et al. Recovery-oriented mental health principles in psychiatric hospitals: How service users, family members and staff perceive the realisation of practices.
Implications for practice and research
Systematic efforts are needed for staff to recognise and address the barriers for personal recovery in psychiatric hospitals.
A larger focus on patient-reported and family-reported outcome measures is needed in the evaluation of recovery-oriented practices.
To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.