Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W. 168th St., 5th Floor, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Psychiatr Serv. 2012 Jan;63(1):61-5. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201000512.
Consumer-run mental health programs that include advocacy, peer counseling, and mentoring are somewhat commonplace in community mental health services, yet fully peer-operated mental health centers remain novel in the public mental health landscape. This ethnographic study of a consumer-run mental health center had two major aims: to learn what is distinctive about consumer-run services-for example, how they might strengthen personal capacity for social integration-and to explore how the development of these capacities might promote recovery.
Data collection for this modified ethnographic study consisted of ten months of participant observation, coupled with semistructured interviews (N=25), a focus group (N=22), and dramatic skits (N=17), to identify and define the distinctive features of the program, both structurally and from the point of view of participants. Inquiry was framed theoretically by the capabilities approach.
Participants in this consumer-run mental health program experienced themselves as accountable for and to their peers in what amounts to a shared project of recovery.
As part of a capacity-building approach in consumer-run services, programs should aim to not only provide social support for participants but also foster a culture in which service users are accountable for their peers. Such reciprocity may help to strengthen socialization skills, which could better prepare consumers for participation in the community at large.
在社区心理健康服务中，包含倡导、朋辈咨询和指导的消费者运营的心理健康项目已经相当普遍，但完全由同行运营的心理健康中心在公共心理健康领域仍然是新颖的。这项对消费者运营的心理健康中心的民族志研究有两个主要目的：了解消费者运营服务的独特之处，例如，它们如何增强个人融入社会的能力，以及探索这些能力的发展如何促进康复。
这项经过修改的民族志研究的数据收集包括十个月的参与观察，以及半结构化访谈（N=25）、焦点小组（N=22）和戏剧性短剧（N=17），以从结构和参与者的角度确定和定义该计划的独特特征。探究从能力方法的理论框架出发。
这个消费者运营的心理健康计划的参与者认为自己对同行负责，并在一定程度上对他们负责，这相当于一个共同的康复项目。
作为消费者运营服务中能力建设方法的一部分，该计划不仅应旨在为参与者提供社会支持，还应培养一种服务使用者对其同行负责的文化。这种互惠可能有助于增强社交技能，这可以使消费者更好地为参与整个社区做好准备。
