Focus group on staff views towards Recovering Citizenship (RC)
Introduction
Citizenship is defined as a person's strong connection to the 5 R's of the rights, responsibilities, roles, resources, and relationships that society offers its members, and a sense of belonging in society through public and social institutions and associational life (Rowe, 1999). By adopting the recovery model and the recovering citizenship (RC) approach in our services, the care provided to people in recovery can be more comprehensive, diverse, and effective to meet variations of the mental health needs of individuals.
The Richmond Fellowship of Hong Kong (RFHK) planned to adopt the citizenship concept to its community mental health services in 2020. To collect the views of staff in applying this relatively new approach to case works, services, and programs, focus groups were carried out in all service units.
Research period: June – July 2019
Target population: All staff working in RFHK.
Objectives
- To investigate staff’s understanding and knowledge of RC, and their views on adopting the RC approach into the agency’s community mental health services.
- To identify potential challenges and barriers in the implementation of RC, and strategies to facilitate the implementation of the RC approach effectively.
Methods
Focus groups were conducted involving staff working on different job natures and service units, including management, professionals (i.e. social workers, clinical psychologists, and occupational therapists), assistive personnel, and others. A semi-structured question guide was used. The discussion was audio-recorded for transcription and analysis. The identities of the participants were not disclosed.
Results
- Ten focus groups were conducted with 78 staff participating in the interviews.
- Most participants only had a basic knowledge of RC, for example, naming the 5 Rs, and had limited understanding of the RC approach and its implementation in community mental health services.
- A small portion of staff seemed reluctant to incorporate RC into the existing services. In general, the majority were supportive, and was feasible to put RC into practice.
- Limited knowledge of the RC approach and putting it into practice were the main challenges to our staff.
- Staff training was required to focus on the purpose of adopting the RC approach, its strength in mental health, and how to bring it into practice. A step-by-step approach to incorporating the concept of RC into services was preferred. Instructions and guidelines on the extent of putting the 5 Rs into services and programs were suggested.
Conclusion
Most staff had limited understanding of RC, yet they were supportive. More training and detailed instructions and guidelines were recommended to enhance their implementation of RC in mental health service practices.
References
Rowe, M. (1999). Crossing the border: Encounters between homeless people and outreach workers. University of California Press, Berkeley.
