Evans C J, McGaha A C
Missouri Institute of Mental Health, St. Louis 63139, USA.
Community Ment Health J. 1998 Dec;34(6):615-23. doi: 10.1023/a:1018715102256.
As the service delivery system is redesigned, the involvement of consumers and family members in mental health policy-making is essential. Advocacy is a way for them to have an impact on policy or decision-making. To determine the extent of their participation in advocacy efforts, consumers and family members were surveyed by other consumers and family members about their involvement in advocacy and mental healthcare reform. Although more family than consumers reported receiving mental healthcare reform information, both groups had difficulty understanding this information. Consumers were more likely to have received information from a mental health professional while family were more likely to have received information from an advocacy group. Lack of economic resources and communication problems were the most often cited barriers to advocacy for consumers. Strategies are suggested for how to increase involvement of consumers and family in advocacy efforts. The limitations of conducting a state-wide study with consumers and family as data collectors is discussed.
随着服务提供系统的重新设计，消费者和家庭成员参与心理健康政策制定至关重要。倡导是他们影响政策或决策的一种方式。为了确定他们参与倡导工作的程度，其他消费者和家庭成员对消费者和家庭成员进行了调查，了解他们在倡导和精神卫生保健改革方面的参与情况。虽然报告收到精神卫生保健改革信息的家庭成员比消费者多，但两组在理解这些信息方面都有困难。消费者更有可能从心理健康专业人员那里获得信息，而家庭成员更有可能从倡导团体那里获得信息。缺乏经济资源和沟通问题是消费者倡导工作中最常被提及的障碍。文中提出了一些策略，说明如何提高消费者和家庭成员在倡导工作中的参与度。还讨论了以消费者和家庭成员作为数据收集者进行全州范围研究的局限性。
