Recovery-Oriented Cross-Sectoral Network Meetings between Mental Health Hospital Professionals and Community Mental Health Professionals: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

Aims and objectives: In the medical field, we lack knowledge on how interprofessional collaboration across sectors is carried out. This paper explores how healthcare professionals and users perceive recovery-oriented cross-sectoral discharge network meetings between mental health hospital professionals and community mental health professionals and which discourses manifest themselves within the field of mental healthcare. Method: Ten professionals from a mental health hospital and eight community mental health professionals participated. In addition, five users with experience in mental health services in both sectors participated. Fairclough’s discourse analysis framework was used to explore their experiences. The study was designed following the ethical principles of the Helsinki Declaration and Danish law. Each study participant in the two intersectoral sectors gave their informed consent after verbal and written information was provided. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist was used as a guideline to secure accurate and complete reporting of the study). Results: The healthcare professionals in both sectors are governed by steering tools, legislation and a strong biomedical tradition to solve illness-related problems, such that users must be offered treatment and support to achieve self-care as soon as possible. This can be seen as a reflection of, and a driving force in, a change in the wider social practice that Fairclough terms the ‘marketisation of discourse’—a social development in late modernity, whereby market discourse colonises the discursive practices of public institutions. The user of psychiatric and social services experiences a structured system that does not offer the necessary time for deep conversations. Users do not consider recovery as something that is only seen in relation to the efforts of the professionals, as recovery largely takes place independently of professionals. Recovery depends on users’ internal resources and a strong network that can support them on the journey. Conclusion: Healthcare professionals perceive recovery-oriented cross-sectoral discharge network meetings to reflect paternalistic and biomedical discourses. Users want to be seen more as whole persons and did not experience sufficient involvement in the intersectoral care. Relevance to clinical practice: Healthcare professionals need to be supported to seek clarity in the understanding and operationalisation of a recovery-oriented approach, if the agenda is to be truly adopted and strengthened.