Involving psychiatric patients in their safety: A Mixed-Method study with focus groups

Aims: Active involvement of patients suffering from psychiatric disorders has been addressed as a priority by the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Mental Health. Patient empowerment and patient safety in psychiatric settings are two challenging processes where the knowledge and guidelines available from other medical settings might require some adaptations in order to be applied. Aim of the present study is to explore healthcare professionals* (HPs) opinions regarding the role that psychiatric patients might play in risk-management. Methods: 95 HPs across diverse disciplines and working in different settings of Mental Health in the city of Verona, accepted to participate to the focus-groups (fgs). In order to synthesis and extract specific topics, the contents expressed in the 12 fgs organized were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed by two independent evaluators applying a coding system. Results: The great majority of the 763 opinions expressed by HPs referred to Treatment and Care (70%). Within this macro-area, the most frequently discussed critical issues were related to the categories "relying on patient's experience" (n=32; 14.3%), "promoting the collaboration with the family" (n=25; 11.2%), and "providing information" (n=22; 9.9%). These categories resulted in part to be indicated by HPs also as potential strategies to empower psychiatric patients: "therapeutic alliance" (n=60; 19.6%), "relying on patient's experience" (n=53; 173%) and "providing information" (n=48; 15.6%). Conclusion: The application of a multilevel codification system offered a precise overview about the potential complex role of psychiatric patients in the risk management during the diagnostic and therapeutic process. Our study provides an outline of the strategies of patients' empowerment that might be applied as well as the challenges that have to be faced in the eyes of HPs. Future studies - including fgs with patients - are expected to allow the implementation of tailored programs aiming to improve patient safety and patients' empowerment in psychiatry on a daily basis.