Abstract
A qualitative phenomenological design was used to gather the accounts of mental-health consumers with mental illness and community stakeholders in a rural midwestern town in the US. Participants gave personal accounts concerning availability of mental-health services, unmet needs, and recovery. Findings contribute to research concerning rural community treatment programming and exploration and support for how OT has a role on Assertive Community Treatment teams.
Primary Author and Speaker: Lauren Lain
Despite the World Health Organization’s endorsement of establishing integrated mental health services in the community (WHO, 2017), mental illness remains a significant and unresolved societal concern, and this problem is intensified in rural communities (Robinson et al., 2012). Acknowledging the personal experiences of individuals impacted by any aspect of rural mental healthcare is key in being able to understand all factors of a problem and devise beneficial and cost-effective solutions. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to gain an understanding of the individual experiences of rural Iowans with serious mental illness living in the community, community stakeholders; and to explore challenges and essential elements of mental health services in rural Iowa. Seventeen individuals from a rural community in the Midwestern United States, consisting of community stakeholders and mental health consumers, participated in individual semi-structured interviews lasting 45 to 60 minutes in length. All participants were recruited by convenience sampling procedures, and two interview frames were created in order to have one set of interview questions for consumers and another for stakeholders. Cross analysis was used throughout the research process, and categories, themes, and subthemes were determined through unitization and categorization. Findings demonstrated that there were extensive similarities between the responses of the community stakeholders and mental health consumers concerning issues of mental health services and overall perceptions of serious mental illness in the rural community. Upon data analysis, proposed solutions included discussion of cost-effective Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams in rural locations and the inclusion of occupational therapy within rural community mental health. Implementation of occupational therapy in community mental health settings was suggested as being beneficial in meeting the demand for holistic care, mitigation of community-level challenges, and approaching mental health recovery in a functional manner. Future research demands more work to be done in the area of rural community mental health, and challenges and essential elements provided in the current study provide a starting pointing for the initiation of community programming and implementation of solutions.
Robinson, W. D., Springer, P. R., Bischoff, R., Geske, J., Backer, E., Olson, M., . . . Swinton, J. (2012). Rural experiences with mental illness: Through the eyes of patients and their families. Families, Systems, & Health, 30(4), 308-321. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030171
World Health Organization. (2017). Mental disorders. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs396/en/