Art promoting mental health literacy and a positive attitude towards people with experience of mental illness.

Background: Exhibitions of art by people with experience of mental illness are increasingly being staged to improve awareness of mental health issues in the general community and to counter the stigma of mental illness. However, few exhibitions have incorporated research to ascertain their actual effectiveness.

Method: This paper reports the results of a study that considered the responses of 10,000 people after they viewed exhibitions of art produced by people with experience of mental illness.

Priority setting and patient adaptation to disability and illness: outcomes of a qualitative study.

The study examined the question of who should make decisions for a National Health Scheme about the allocation of health resources when the health states of beneficiaries could change because of adaptation. Eight semi-structured small group discussions were conducted. Following focus group theory, interviews commenced with general questions followed by transition questions and ended with a 'focus' or 'key' question.

Movie making as a cognitive distraction for paediatric patients receiving radiotherapy treatment: qualitative interview study.

Objectives: To establish the outcomes achieved by using an innovative movie-making programme designed to reduce fear of radiotherapy among paediatric patients.

Design: Qualitative descriptive evaluation based on semistructured, qualitative interviews with purposeful sampling and thematic analysis.

Setting: Tertiary Cancer Centre.

The monetary value of a life year: evidence from a qualitative study of treatment costs.

A small number of studies have provided suggestive evidence that the general public rejects the idea of giving higher priority to low-cost patients, in the context of a limited budget, in order to maximise health benefits. The study reported here used semi-structured group discussions to investigate the normative bases of such views among the Australian public. Discussion groups help participants reflect critically upon their own reasoning processes and go some way towards revealing underlying values rather than unreflective preferences.

Diverse voices, simple desires: a conceptual design for primary care to respond to depression and related disorders.

Background: The World Health Organization and the World Organization of Family Doctors have called for 'doable' and 'limited' tasks to integrate mental health into primary care. Little information is provided about tasks GPs can undertake outside of guidelines that suggest to prescribe medication and refer to specialists.

Objectives: The reorder study aimed to gather diverse patient and community perspectives to inform the development of an effective system of depression care.

Treatment costs and priority setting in health care: A qualitative study.

Background: The aim of this study is to investigate whether the public believes high cost patients should be a lower priority for public health care than low cost patients, other things being equal, in order to maximise health gains from the health budget. Semi-structured group discussions were used to help participants reflect critically upon their own views and gain exposure to alternative views, and in this way elicit underlying values rather than unreflective preferences. Participants were given two main tasks: first, to select from among three general principles for setting health care priorities the one that comes closest to their own views; second, to allocate a limited hospital budget between two groups of imaginary patients.

Who should be involved in health care decision making? A qualitative study.

Most countries appear to believe that their health system is in a state of semi-crisis with expenditures rising rapidly, with the benefits of many services unknown and with pressure from the public to ensure access to a comprehensive range of services. But whose values should inform decision-making in the health area, and should the influence of different groups vary with the level of decision-making? These questions were put to 54 members of the public and health professionals in eight focus groups. Adopting a different perspective from other studies, participants were not asked if particular groups should be involved in decisions but rather through deliberation and discussion nominated their own potential decision makers.