The role of personal medicine in shared decision making and mental health recovery

Personal medicine, a concept derived from Pat Deegan (2005) and the recovery movement, has been incorporated into Shared Decision Making when applied in mental health settings. This exploratory, qualitative study explores the experiences of mental health consumers who use personal medicine to better understand how they comprehend and use personal medicine; how personal medicine works within the context of Shared Decision Making; and how the concept impacts mental health recovery. Further, this dissertation applies the idea of feminisms (Hackett & Haslanger, 2006) as a way to understand personal medicine within the context of other related concepts in mental health treatment. Purposeful sampling was used to select fourteen consumers with severe and persistent mental illness diagnoses from a local community mental health center. Inclusion criteria was developed based on current mental health research and input from consultant panels at the agency of study and the Office of Mental Health Research at the University of Kansas. Using Naturalistic Inquiry, semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted with participants, interviews were transcribed and coded, and then preliminary findings were corroborated with consultant panels. Findings were confirmed through comprehensive member checks to ensure trustworthiness. Results suggest that Shared Decision Making was used inconsistently or not at all by providers at the agency of study. On the other hand, results propose that personal medicine is a much larger concept and tool than what can be explained by any single modality. Findings explore several factors contributing to personal medicine use including the individualization of the personal medicine by consumers; how consumers define the concept; the importance of relationships in personal medicine; the purposes and benefits to personal medicine; barriers and enhancements to personal medicine; and the role personal medicine plays in recovery. There is an interdependency or interconnectedness between each of these areas that support mental health treatment and recovery. A visual representation of themes is offered to highlight the interdependency and interconnectedness of themes in this dissertation. Finally, findings offer implications that may inform how personal medicine is used by the social work profession in supporting consumers in mental health recovery.