Abstract
Veterans Mental Health Councils (VMHCs) have been established at many Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers to promote recovery and improve mental health services. Though research shows that consumer-led advisory councils may produce a number of positive outcomes, the aspects of implementation critical for VMHC effectiveness have not been identified. The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing effective functioning of VMHC, including contextual factors affecting council success. A key goal was to understand how participants defined effective council functioning. In-depth semistructured phone interviews were conducted with 15 council members and VA-employed staff liaisons sampled purposively from a broader group of volunteer participants. Inductive and iterative grounded theory analytic techniques were used to identify influential structural and process elements. Findings suggested that characteristics of council members, staff liaisons, and VA medical centers interact over time to shape council implementation and the effective functioning of councils along two dimensions—setting and accomplishing council goals and supporting recovery among members. VMHCs can develop members and improve the quality of VA mental health services when they are well implemented and supported. Mental health clinicians and supervisors can support councils in several ways. Additional research is needed to explore contextual differences in councils and to quantify the value added to VA mental health services by effective VMHCs.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 585-595 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Psychological Services |
Volume | 16 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This material is based upon work supported in part from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Academic Affiliations VA Advanced Fellowship Program in Health Services Research and Development. We thank Brandi Balmer for providing editorial assistance. This material is the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research at VA Boston Healthcare System. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Psychological Services. All Rights Reserved.
Keywords
- consumer council
- mental health recovery
- qualitative research
- veteran mental health