Abstract
This study is an exploration of mental health consumers’ perspectives on information, including scientific information, and on other inputs to decision-making. Four focus groups were held with severely mentally ill consumers at two sites in the summer of 2005. Consumers varied in age, race and diagnosis. Participant responses were coded by theme and into subthematic categories. Implications for evidence-based decision-making included that: consumers desire and seek information about their illnesses and the mental health system; consumers identify scientific studies as information with special and welcome properties; and consumers also identify other influences on their decision-making, most of which fall under the “recovery” rubric.
References
Adams, J. R., & Drake, R. E. (2006). Shared decision-making and evidence-based practices. Community Mental Health Journal, 42(1), 87–105.
Adams, J. R., Drake, R. E., & Wolford, G. L. (2007). Shared decision-making preferences of people with severe mental illness. Psychiatric Services, 58, 1219–1221.
Cassell, E. J. (2004). The nature of suffering and the goals of medicine. New York: Oxford University Press.
Deegan, P.E., & Drake, R.E. (2006). Shared decision making and medication management in the recovery process. Psychiatric Services, 57, 1636–1639.
Hill, S. A., & Laugharne, R. (2006). Decision making and information seeking preferences among psychiatric patients. Journal of Mental Health, 15(1), 75–84.
Sackett, D. L., Rosenberg, W. M., Gray, J. A., Haynes, R. B., & Richardson, W. S. (1996). Evidence based medicine: What it is and what it isn’t. British Medical Journal, 312, 71–72.
Scheyett, A., McCarthy, E., & Rausch, C. (2006). Consumer and family views on evidence-based practices and adult mental health services. Community Mental Health Journal, 42(3), 243–257.
Tanenbaum, S. J. (2005). Evidence-based practice as mental health policy: Three controversies and a caveat. Health Affairs, 24, 163–173.
Tanenbaum, S. J. (2006). The role of “evidence” in recovery from mental illness. Health Care Analysis, 14(4), 195–201.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). (2005). National Consensus Statement on Mental Health Recovery. http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/sma05-4129/ (retrieved 28 Sept. 2006).
Acknowledgements
Presented in part at the Ohio Department of Mental Health Research Results Briefing, Columbus, 2 October 2006. The author would like to acknowledge a seed grant from The Ohio State University College of Public Health and a project grant from the Ohio Department of Mental Health Research Grants Program. Research assistance was provided by Jennifer Hill.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tanenbaum, S.J. Consumer Perspectives on Information and Other Inputs to Decision-Making: Implications for Evidence-Based Practice. Community Ment Health J 44, 331–335 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-008-9134-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-008-9134-y