Perspectives on mental health recovery from Egyptian mental health professionals: A qualitative study

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Recovery-oriented mental health practice is an emerging approach that aims to empower individuals to define their goals and take responsibility for their own recovery. However, mental health practice in Egypt is still custodial. AIM: To explore perspectives of Egyptian mental health professionals on recovery METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 mental health professionals identified through snowball sampling. RESULTS: The current study identified that functional recovery outweighed other definitions. Four facilitators of mental health recovery were identified: therapeutic relationship; family engagement; cultural sensitivity; and professionals' self-awareness. Six barriers to recovery were found, comprising mental health stigma and lack of awareness, seeking traditional healers, shortage of psychiatrists, cost of treatment, lack of training and effective rehabilitation programs. DISCUSSION: The concept of functional recovery predominates amongst nurses and other mental health professionals, which may be due to limited training and the historical lack of service user involvement in Egypt. Lack of support from family and society, inadequate training MHPs and perceived system inefficiencies are also major impeding factors for recovery. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: There is a need nurses to be involved in designing intervention programs targeting the general public, and to support increased involvement of people with mental health issues.