WHAT'SINASERVICE?CONSUMERS'VIEWSOFAUSTRALIANMENTALHEALTHSERVICESThispaperreportsonaseriesofinterviewswithconsumersofmentalhealthservices,conductedaspartoftheConsumerEvaluationofMentalHealthServicesproject(CEO-MHS).Withoneofouroverarchingaimsbeingtodevelopaconsumerorientedandconsumerdirectedmethodofevaluatingmentalhealthservices,weconsideredseekingconsumers'viewsofmentalhealthservices,usingqualitativeinterviews,tobeessential.ConsumerResearchersfromtheteamconducted33interviewsinNSW,Australia.Eleventhemesemergedfromanalysisoftheinterviewdataandthesethemesaredescribedindetail.ConsumerparticipationintheevaluationofservicesisincludedwithintheNationalStandardsforMentalHealthServicesinAustralia,andinternationallysimilarrecommendationsaremadeforinclusionofconsumersinserviceplanningandevaluation(CommonwealthofAustralia,1997;DepartmentofHealth,London,1999;USDepartmentofHealthandHumanServices,2001).Traditionally,methodsofevaluatingmentalhealthserviceshavebeendrivenbyprofessionals'perspectives(Campbell,1997;Prince&Prince,2001)despitemarkeddifferencesnotedbetweentheseandconsumers'constructsaboutwhatisdesirableand/oreffective(Gill,Pratt,&Librera,1998;Perkins,2001).Theaimofthispaperistoreportoninterviewsconductedwithmentalhealthconsumersduringlate2002andearly2003.TheinterviewsreportedherearesituatedwithinthecontextoftheConsumerEvaluationofMentalHealthServices(CEO-MHS)project,a3-yearprojectfundedbytheAustralianResearchCouncilandlllawarraHealth,aregionalmentalhealthserviceinNSW,Australia.CEO-MHSisacollaborativeprojectwithanoverallaimtodevelopamethodofevaluationofmentalhealthservices(Strangetal.,2001)fromaconsumerperspective,andcouldbedescribedasconsumerhealthresearch.InHunt'sdiscussionofconsumerhealthresearch,sheidentifiestheparametersofthisstyleofresearchas"researchconductedbyandwithconsumers"asopposedto"researchconductedonbehalfofconsumers"(1997:p.48),notingthisdistinctionrelatestowhocontrolstheresearchprocess.ConductingtheCEO-MHSprojectisateamofacademicandconsumerresearchers(CRs).Inapracticalsense,ourassertionthatthiscouldbedescribedasconsumerhealthresearch,webelieve,issupportedbytheworkreportedhere,asCRsfromtheteamplayedinstrumentalrolesintheinterviews,fromthestageofdevelopingtheinterviewguide,throughdatacollection,toanalyzingtranscriptsandinterpretingthemes.Ouraiminconductingtheinterviewswastoaddressthequestions:•Whataretheexperiencesofbeingaconsumerofpublicmentalhealthservices?•Whataretheimportantaspectsofamentalhealthserviceforconsumers?Weconsidertheseimportantquestionstoaskgenerally,andadditionally,asnecessarytoouroverallaimofdevelopingaconsumerdirectedevaluationmethodformentalhealthservices.MethodConsumerResearchers(CRs),workingaspartoftheCEO-MHSteam,conductedtheinterviews,whichweretranscribed.Theirrolewastoguideparticipantsthroughthesemi-structuredinterview,posingthequestionswehaddevisedandkeepingthediscussionontopic.AnexplicitaspectoftheinterviewswasforCRstoconveyasenseofempathy,allowingtheparticipantstofeeltheirvoicewasbeingheard.CRshadattendedseveraltrainingsessionsinconductinginterviewsaspartoftheiremploymentontheCEO-MHSproject(McLeod&Oades,2001).Supportwasavailableinavarietyofformsforinterviewers,andwasexplicitlyviewedastheresponsibilityoftheentireresearchteam.Additionally,supervisionwasprovidedbythefirstauthor,whichinvolvedjointreflectionwithCRsontheirskillsasinterviewe...
