{"title":"Families supporting people with mental health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic: learnings from a co-designed and co-delivered study","authors":"Caroline Walters, Hayley Solich, Sharon Lawn, Eileen McDonald, Melissa Petrakis","doi":"10.1332/23978821y2024d000000043","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The significant demand for and reduction in mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in family carers providing higher levels and increased hours of support of increased complexity. Guided conversations within seven co-designed online focus groups with 73 family carers, representing diverse communities and ages, explored the experiences of and desired changes for mental health service provision. Six themes emerged: service users’ experiences; the effects of system failures and service provisions; the impact on carers’ health and well-being; unmet community needs; responsive innovations; and policy and practice recommendations. Co-producing research with families elevated family voices and supported carers in expressing their experiences, needs and rights.","PeriodicalId":43660,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Care and Caring","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Care and Caring","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1332/23978821y2024d000000043","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The significant demand for and reduction in mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in family carers providing higher levels and increased hours of support of increased complexity. Guided conversations within seven co-designed online focus groups with 73 family carers, representing diverse communities and ages, explored the experiences of and desired changes for mental health service provision. Six themes emerged: service users’ experiences; the effects of system failures and service provisions; the impact on carers’ health and well-being; unmet community needs; responsive innovations; and policy and practice recommendations. Co-producing research with families elevated family voices and supported carers in expressing their experiences, needs and rights.