Mental Health Consumers as Public Educators: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

This qualitative study documented the subjective meaning to mental health consumers of participation in high school students' education sessions. The purpose was two-fold: to uncover the meaning of human experiences through the analysis of participants' descriptions, and to document the step-by-step process of conducting qualitative nursing research. Data collection included field notes, semi-structured interviews, open-ended questions, and observation of six mental health consumers with major psychiatric illnesses. Interviews were recorded in both handwritten and audio forms. All field notes and interviews were transcribed. Techniques of bracketing, intuiting, analyzing, and describing were employed to identify and cluster natural meaning units, and to synthesize the focal meaning(s) (Banonis, 1989). The key phenomena were: positive experience, increased self-esteem, and introspection. The results indicate that a collaborative relationship between nurses and mental health consumers can be a growth-promoting experience for the consumers.