Abstract
Background: Collaboration between researchers who have lived experience of mental illness and services (consumer researchers) and mental health researchers without (other mental health researchers) is an emergent development in research. Inclusion of consumer perspectives is crucial to ensuring the ethics, relevancy and validity of mental health research; yet widespread and embedded consumer collaboration of this nature is known to be impeded by attitudinal and organisational factors. Limited research describes consumer researchers’ experiences of barriers. Other mental health researchers are key players in the co-production process yet there is also a paucity of research reporting their views on barriers to collaborating with consumers. Aims: To explore other researchers’ views and experiences on partnering with consumer mental health researchers in Australia and New Zealand. Methods: Exploratory qualitative design. Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with mental health researchers. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. Results: Four themes concerning barriers to collaborating with consumers (hierarchies, status quo, not understanding, paternalism), and one theme on addressing the barriers (constantly chipping away) were identified. Conclusions: It is suggested that multifaceted strategies for advancing collaboration with consumers are most effective. It is imperative to attend to several barriers simultaneously to redress the inherent power disparity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 49-55 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of Mental Health |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 28 Apr 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2 Jan 2019 |
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Chipping away : non-consumer researcher perspectives on barriers to collaborating with consumers in mental health research. / Happell, Brenda; Gordon, Sarah; Bocking, Julia; Ellis, Pete; Roper, Cath; Liggins, Jackie; Scholz, Brett; Platania-Phung, Chris.
In: Journal of Mental Health, Vol. 28, No. 1, 02.01.2019, p. 49-55.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Chipping away
T2 - non-consumer researcher perspectives on barriers to collaborating with consumers in mental health research
AU - Happell, Brenda
AU - Gordon, Sarah
AU - Bocking, Julia
AU - Ellis, Pete
AU - Roper, Cath
AU - Liggins, Jackie
AU - Scholz, Brett
AU - Platania-Phung, Chris
PY - 2019/1/2
Y1 - 2019/1/2
N2 - Background: Collaboration between researchers who have lived experience of mental illness and services (consumer researchers) and mental health researchers without (other mental health researchers) is an emergent development in research. Inclusion of consumer perspectives is crucial to ensuring the ethics, relevancy and validity of mental health research; yet widespread and embedded consumer collaboration of this nature is known to be impeded by attitudinal and organisational factors. Limited research describes consumer researchers’ experiences of barriers. Other mental health researchers are key players in the co-production process yet there is also a paucity of research reporting their views on barriers to collaborating with consumers. Aims: To explore other researchers’ views and experiences on partnering with consumer mental health researchers in Australia and New Zealand. Methods: Exploratory qualitative design. Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with mental health researchers. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. Results: Four themes concerning barriers to collaborating with consumers (hierarchies, status quo, not understanding, paternalism), and one theme on addressing the barriers (constantly chipping away) were identified. Conclusions: It is suggested that multifaceted strategies for advancing collaboration with consumers are most effective. It is imperative to attend to several barriers simultaneously to redress the inherent power disparity.
AB - Background: Collaboration between researchers who have lived experience of mental illness and services (consumer researchers) and mental health researchers without (other mental health researchers) is an emergent development in research. Inclusion of consumer perspectives is crucial to ensuring the ethics, relevancy and validity of mental health research; yet widespread and embedded consumer collaboration of this nature is known to be impeded by attitudinal and organisational factors. Limited research describes consumer researchers’ experiences of barriers. Other mental health researchers are key players in the co-production process yet there is also a paucity of research reporting their views on barriers to collaborating with consumers. Aims: To explore other researchers’ views and experiences on partnering with consumer mental health researchers in Australia and New Zealand. Methods: Exploratory qualitative design. Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with mental health researchers. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. Results: Four themes concerning barriers to collaborating with consumers (hierarchies, status quo, not understanding, paternalism), and one theme on addressing the barriers (constantly chipping away) were identified. Conclusions: It is suggested that multifaceted strategies for advancing collaboration with consumers are most effective. It is imperative to attend to several barriers simultaneously to redress the inherent power disparity.
KW - Barriers
KW - consumers
KW - lived experience
KW - mental health
KW - researchers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85046098010&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.mendeley.com/research/chipping-away-nonconsumer-researcher-perspectives-barriers-collaborating-consumers-mental-health-res
U2 - 10.1080/09638237.2018.1466051
DO - 10.1080/09638237.2018.1466051
M3 - Article
VL - 28
SP - 49
EP - 55
JO - Journal of Mental Health
JF - Journal of Mental Health
SN - 0963-8237
IS - 1
ER -