Family Group Conferencing in Coercive Psychiatry: On Forming Partnership Between the Client, Social Networks and Professionals.

Family Group Conferencing is a new decision model to assign caring responsibilities among various actors in society, including the client, social networks, and professionals. The process of Family Group Conferencing in coercive psychiatry is delicate; nevertheless, it paves the way for courageous conversation, and it facilitates ownership over the problematic situation and the formation of a partnership. Different actors co-construct an open and new actuality by taking initiative during and after the Family Group Conference, by confronting each other; by sharing information about the situation and so forming a partnership.

Involving Undergraduate Nursing Students in Participatory Health Research: Implications from the Netherlands.

Internationally, there are increasing initiatives that involve undergraduate nursing students as co-researchers. This paper discusses the inclusion of final year undergraduate nursing students as co-researchers in participatory health studies. It reports on a large-scale study (2009-2015) on the process and outcomes of Family Group Conferencing in mental health care that demonstrates how undergraduate students in the Netherlands got involved as co-researchers and how their contribution was optimally utilised.

Family Group Conferencing as a Catalyst for Recovery and Ownership in Mental Health.

Background: Recovery is a journey not only of personal change but also of social reengagement. It underlines the essence of social environments that are supportive to the recovery of people with ongoing mental health issues. The process of recovery also affects other actors, and likewise these actors exert their influence on the recovery of their family member or friend.

Evaluating Family Group Conferencing: Towards a meaningful research methodology.

There is discussion on the most appropriate research methodology to examine the efficacy of Family Group Conferencing (FGC). Randomised controlled trials (RCTs), despite their pitfalls, are considered by many to be the 'golden standard', but the argument is not compelling. In this paper, the theory on programme evaluation is discussed which offers an alternative methodology to study FGC.

The Weakening of Kin Ties: Exploring the Need for Life-World Led Interventions.

The protective features that families and wider social relationships can have are required to meet the demands of life in contemporary Western societies. Choice and detraditionalization, however; impede this source of solidarity. Family Group Conferencing (FGC) and other life-world led interventions have the potential to strengthen primary groups.

Nursing and the Emergence of Egoless Care: A Discussion on Social Engineering in Mental Health.

The narrowing of the diverse fields of psychiatry to just the single dimension of the biomedical model has resulted in a situation where professions with a focus on curing (psychiatrists and psychologists) are favoured over those with a focus on caring and encouraging near communities to care for each other (nurses). The social engineering of mental problems leads to a state of helplessness. This paper contributes to an understanding of the barriers to utilise the social resources of people with mental health problems and argues for forms of "indirect social engineering" and "egoless care," and, ultimately, a rediscovery of nursing, using the mental health care in the Netherlands as a case study.

Family Group Conferencing-Its Added Value in Mental Health Care.

Worldwide, there is a growing emphasis on reducing coercion and involving social networks in the care of mental health clients. Nurses should encourage their clients to regain control over their lives, preferably with less coercion and with help from their social network. During four years, a Dutch evaluation study was deployed to determine the applicability of mobilising help from social networks of people with psychiatric problems.

Regaining ownership and restoring belongingness: impact of family group conferences in coercive psychiatry.

Aim: This study examined the impact of family group conferences on coercive treatment in adult psychiatry.

Background: Coercive treatment in psychiatry infringes the fundamental rights of clients, including the right to control their lives. A promising intervention is the family group conferences, which has the potential to prevent crises through the integration of the expertise of informal and professional networks.

Am I My Brother's Keeper? Moral Dimensions of Informal Caregiving in a Neoliberal Society.

Within the current Dutch policy context the role of informal care is revalued. Formal care activities are reduced and family and friends are expected to fill this gap. Yet, there is little research on the moral ambivalences that informal care for loved ones who have severe and ongoing mental health problems entails, especially against the backdrop of neoliberal policies.

Understanding how older adults living in deprived neighbourhoods address ageing issues.

Older adults living in deprived areas are at risk of developing frailty and becoming care dependent. The aim of this qualitative study is to explore how community-dwelling, older adults living in deprived neighbourhoods address ageing issues. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 participants who were community-dwelling (independently living), aged 65 years and older, not dependent on care, and living in a socioeconomically deprived urban neighbourhood in the northern part of the Netherlands.

Prevention of involuntary admission through Family Group Conferencing: a qualitative case study in community mental health nursing.

Aim: To understand whether and how Family Group Conferencing might contribute to the social embedding of clients with mental illness.

Background: Ensuring the social integration of psychiatric clients is a key aspect of community mental health nursing. Family Group Conferencing has potency to create conditions for clients' social embedding and subsequently can prevent coercive measures.

Family group conferences in public mental health care: an exploration of opportunities.

Family group conferences are usually organized in youth care settings, especially in cases of (sexual) abuse of children and domestic violence. Studies on the application of family group conferences in mental health practices are scarce, let alone in a setting even more specific, such as public mental health care. The present study reports on an exploratory study on the applicability of family group conferencing in public mental health care.

Establishing contact and gaining trust: an exploratory study of care avoidance.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study conducted to explore the competencies - especially deep-rooted personal qualities - of care providers who succeed in making contact and gaining trust with clients who are inclined to avoid the care they need.

Background: Demands, thresholds and fragmentation of services hinder the accessibility of health care, such that some severe mentally ill people do not receive the treatment they need or avoid healthcare services. Methods of establishing contact and gaining trust in mental health care include practical assistance, realistic expectations, establishing long-term goals, empathy and a client-centred and flexible approach.