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Mental health consumers and caregivers as instructors for health professional students: a qualitative study

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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore the self-reported effect of consumer and caregiver-led education for pharmacy students and to explore the goals, challenges and benefits of mental health consumer educators providing education to health professional students.

Methods

Five focus groups (mean duration 46 min, SD 22 min) were held with 23 participants (11 undergraduate pharmacy students, 12 mental health consumer educators) using semi-structured interview guides. The focus groups were digitally audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically content analyzed using a constant comparison approach.

Results

Three major themes emerged from the data; raising awareness about mental health, impact on professional practice and impact on mental health consumers. The students reported decreased stigma, improved attitudes toward mental illness and behavior changes in their professional practice. The primary reason for becoming an educator was to raise awareness and reduce mental health stigma. However, educators also benefited personally through empowerment, improved confidence and social skills.

Conclusion

Providing students the opportunity to have contact with consumers with a mental illness in a safe, educational setting led to decreases in stigma, the fostering of empathy and self-reported behavior changes in practice. Sharing personal stories about mental illness is a powerful tool to decrease mental health stigma and may be an important aspect of a person’s recovery from mental illness. Contact with mental health consumers in an educational setting is recommended, particularly for future health care professionals. Appropriate training and support of consumers is crucial to ensure the experience is positive for all involved.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge the Schizophrenia Fellowship of New South Wales for their support of this research and for providing the training and support of the mental health consumer educators.

Conflict of interest

All authors declare they have no conflicts of interest relevant to this research or the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney, Pharmacy and Bank Building A15, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Claire L. O’Reilly, J. Simon Bell & Timothy F. Chen

  2. Kuopio Research Centre of Geriatric Care, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 1627, 70211, Kuopio, Finland

    J. Simon Bell

  3. Clinical Pharmacology and Geriatric Pharmacotherapy Unit, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 1627, 70211, Kuopio, Finland

    J. Simon Bell

  4. Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre, Sansom Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    J. Simon Bell

Authors
  1. Claire L. O’Reilly
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  2. J. Simon Bell
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  3. Timothy F. Chen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claire L. O’Reilly.

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O’Reilly, C.L., Bell, J.S. & Chen, T.F. Mental health consumers and caregivers as instructors for health professional students: a qualitative study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 47, 607–613 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-011-0364-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-011-0364-x

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