Mental Health Consumers’ Motives for Seeking Advocacy Support: A Qualitative Exploration

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. Advocacy plays a vital role in ensuring that mental health consumers’ rights are maintained. However, the primary issues for which consumers seek advocacy support remain unknown. Understanding these issues provides a sound basis from which advocacy organ...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Stomski, N., Morrison, P., Whitely, Martin, Brennan, P.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Springer New York LLC 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/73389
Description
Summary:© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. Advocacy plays a vital role in ensuring that mental health consumers’ rights are maintained. However, the primary issues for which consumers seek advocacy support remain unknown. Understanding these issues provides a sound basis from which advocacy organisations may develop a clear service delivery focus. This study addresses the literature gap through presenting a qualitative analysis of 60 records from an advocacy service. Four major themes emerged, across which two key issues were dominant: the sense of fearfulness and disempowerment. These issues accentuate the importance of advocates in enhancing the agency of mental health consumers.