Impact of Partnership in Coping in mental health recovery: an experimental study at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna.

Almost everyone, at some point in life, experiences emotional and behavioural problems or psychiatric symptoms, but mental health services reflect only an orthodox medical model which emphasizes cure to the detriment of humanistic focus. Partnership in Coping is an emerging concept, based on recovery alliance theory, which emphasizes partnership to overcome such problems and symptoms. It is a collaboratively-integrated system that provides opportunity for own problem solving, while one's coping strategies are being empowered. This study was designed to ascertain how Partnership in Coping impacts mental health recovery. It paves the way for remedying problems inherent in the orthodox medical model approach which provide pathological perspective to the detriment of humanistic focus. The participants were 56 service users at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna. The Professional Quality of Life Scale helped in selecting research assistants, while the Mental Health Recovery Measure was used in assessing the post-treatment behaviour of participants. The experimental group had Partnership in Coping during a 3-month clinical intervention period, while the control group only had medical treatment. The finding revealed that F (1, 56) = 2268.750, P < 001. Thus, partnership enhances complete recovery from mental illness. This reality changes perception and frees people from stigmatization and hopelessness, thereby influencing service systems.