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Stakeholders' views on volunteering in mental health: an international focus group study

da Costa, Mariana Pinto; Conneely, Maev; da Silva, Fabio Monteiro; Toner, Sarah; (2022) Stakeholders' views on volunteering in mental health: an international focus group study. BMJ Open , 12 (3) , Article e052185. 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-052185. Green open access

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Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Explore the views of two main stakeholders: mental health professionals and volunteers from three European countries, on the provision of volunteering in mental healthcare. DESIGN: A multicountry, multilingual and multicultural qualitative focus group study (n=24) with n=119 participants. PARTICIPANTS: Volunteers and mental health professionals in three European countries (Belgium, Portugal and the UK). RESULTS: Mental health professionals and volunteers consider it beneficial offering volunteering to their patients. In this study, six overarching themes arose: (1) there is a framework in which volunteering is organised, (2) the role of the volunteer is multifaceted, (3) every volunteering relationship has a different character, (4) to volunteer is to face challenges, (5) technology has potential in volunteering and (6) volunteering impacts us all. The variability of their views suggests a need for flexibility and innovation in the design and models of the programmes offered. CONCLUSIONS: Volunteering is not one single entity and is strongly connected to the cultural context and the mental healthcare services organisation. Despite the contextual differences between these three European countries, this study found extensive commonalities in attitudes towards volunteering in mental health.

Type: Article
Title: Stakeholders' views on volunteering in mental health: an international focus group study
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-052185
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-052185
Language: English
Additional information: This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry > Epidemiology and Applied Clinical Research
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10209102
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