Barriers and facilitators for implementing interventions for professionals providing long-term community mental healthcare to people with severe non-psychotic mental illness: a Grounded Theory approach.

Abstract

Title: Barriers and facilitators for implementing interventions for professionals providing long-term community mental healthcare to people with severe non-psychotic mental illness: a Grounded Theory approach. Background: A major challenge in mental healthcare is to bridge the gap between research and practice. Several studies have described that community mental healthcare for people with severe non-psychotic mental illness lacks a formal structure, and a solid basis that guides interventions. In order to successfully implement a new intervention, barriers and facilitators have to be explored. However, not much is known about the barriers and facilitators regarding the implementation of interventions within this field. Research question: What are the barriers and facilitators for the implementation of interventions for professionals providing long-term community mental healthcare to people with severe non-psychotic mental illness? Method: A qualitative study using a Grounded Theory approach was conducted. Data were gathered through a combination of fourteen individual interviews and one focus group. The focus groups and interviews were recorded using audio recording and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis was based on the Grounded Theory approach. Results: This study identified six categories of barriers and facilitators. Professionals perceived most barriers at the intervention level, and facilitators at the level of the organizational context. These findings correspond with the findings of other studies. Conclusion: This study provides new insights into barriers and facilitators as perceived by professionals. The surplus value was found to be the core category that drives the whole implementation. Barriers and facilitators cannot simply be seen as separate factors because they interact with each other within the process of implementation. Recommendations: It is recommended to use tailored implementation strategies that take the barriers and facilitators found within this study into account when implementing a new intervention.