Inpatient service providers’ perspectives on service user involvement in Norwegian community mental health centres

Background: For two decades, mental health services in Norway have focused on service user involvement. Despite this, there is little knowledge about how inpatient mental health services have promoted user involvement. Aim: To examine service providers’ reports of service user involvement at the individual and departmental levels in Norwegian community mental health centres (CMHCs). Methods: One hundred and eighty six (186) inpatient service providers in five CMHCs filled out a questionnaire. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis showed that service provider perceptions and awareness of service user involvement can be measured by three subscales: organizational user involvement; patient collaboration; and assisted patient involvement. Little user involvement was reported at the departmental level. Providers more often reported user involvement at the individual level. Providers in two of the CMHCs reported a somewhat higher degree of departmental-level user involvement. There were no significant differences across gender, age, leader position, profession and job tenure, though evening/night shift workers reported a lesser degree of user involvement. Conclusion: The results suggest that user involvement at the departmental level needs to be addressed in future efforts to promote user involvement in CMHCs.