Hjelpsomme relasjoner. En kvalitativ undersøkelse av samarbeidet mellom brukere med alvorlige psykiske lidelser og rusproblemer og fagpersoner i to oppsøkende team

Abstract

Helpful relations. A quality study about the alliance between users with serious mental health problems and health care professionals in two outreach teams.

In recent years Norway has established various types of assertive outreach teams in community based mental health care. The article examines the importance of the quality of the alliance between health care professionals and users in two assertive outreach teams. More specifically, we describe the common characteristics of a good relation, pointed out by both users and professionals, and the methods that are thought to support these relationships. The study has a qualitative design and data was gathered through semi structured in-depth interviews of 19 professionals and 9 users. The study concludes that helpful relationships are characterized by contact and equality, and that interaction through everyday activities helped strengthen the working alliance. Our results confirm recent research that highlights the importance of the quality of the relationship as a prerequisite for good care, and the importance of the tacit knowledge used and informal work done by professionals interacting with users.