Comparison of a co-produced mental health service to traditional services: A co-produced mixed-methods cross-sectional study

This study investigates the differences between a co-produced experimental mental health centre and traditional day centres. For this purpose, we used a collaborative and mixed-method approach in two complementary studies: (i) a quantitative cross-sectional study designed to compare users' hospitalization rates and their use of psychiatric medications and (ii) a qualitative study designed to explore and document the experienced differences between co-produced and traditional services. In the quantitative cross-sectional study, surveys were administered to 37 users of one co-produced mental health service and to 40 users of traditional mental health services. A negative binomial regression analysis was performed to examine the relationships between predictors and users' hospitalization rates. After adjusting for the potential confounders, users of the co-produced centre reported a 63.2% reduced rate of hospitalizations compared with users of traditional mental health services (P = 0.002). Furthermore, 39% of users of the co-produced centre reported a reduction or even withdrawal from psychiatric medications against 22% of the comparison group (P = 0.036). In the qualitative study, six main differences emerged from a thematic analysis of a large user-led focus group. In the participants' experiences, the co-produced service focused on (i) parity and respectful relationships, (ii) people's strengths, (iii) freedom, (iv) psychological continuity, (v) social inclusion, and (vi) recovery orientation. Our research provides empirical evidence concerning the 'preventive aspect' of co-produced mental health services. Additionally, new insights into how different stakeholders, particularly users of co-produced mental health services, experience the differences between co-produced and traditional mental health services are provided.