Volume 9, Number 2, Summer 2026

EN:

Objective

Recovery-oriented care has become a central framework in contemporary mental health services, emphasizing service user involvement, autonomy, and empowerment. This study aimed to explore service users’ perspectives on recovery-oriented practices within mental health services and examine how involvement, autonomy, and empowerment are experienced in everyday care.

Research Design and Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among adults with lived experience of mental health services. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing experiences of recovery-oriented care, including perceived involvement in care decisions, support for meaningful activities, and perceived control over their lives. Descriptive statistical analyses were used to summarize participants’ responses.

Results

Participants generally reported moderate levels of involvement and empowerment, while experiences of autonomy and support for engaging in meaningful activities were more limited. Many participants indicated that they experienced control over their lives only to some extent, and a substantial proportion reported little support for pursuing activities that were personally meaningful. These findings suggest that although recovery-oriented principles are widely promoted in mental health policy and practice, their implementation in everyday services remains uneven.

Conclusions

The findings highlight gaps between recovery-oriented policy ideals and service users’ lived experiences in mental health services. Strengthening opportunities for meaningful participation, autonomy, and shared decision-making may be essential for advancing recovery-oriented practice and improving service users’ recovery outcomes.

EN:

Objective: This study explores peer workers’ lived experiences of their role, including the benefits and challenges, in Norwegian mental health and substance use services.

Research Design and Methods: A qualitative research design was employed, utilizing five focus groups conducted across four Norwegian cities. The study included 24 peer workers with lived experiences of mental ill health and/or substance use. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis to identify patterns of meaning across the participants' accounts.

Results: The analysis identified two main themes: “the push and pull of peer work” and “negotiating role and self-care in a challenging system”. Participants experienced the role as a source of both personal growth and profound exhaustion. While finding the work deeply rewarding, peer workers struggled with an unclear professional role, systemic barriers, and a lack of recognition within complex clinical environments.

Conclusion: Peer work provides meaningful contributions to mental health care but carries considerable personal costs for the workers. While the study is contextually situated in Norway, the findings highlight a broad need to move beyond individual coping strategies. Developing supportive organizational structures, ensuring role clarity, and providing specialized supervision are essential clinical applications to sustain peer workers and successfully integrate recovery-oriented care.

EN:

Introduction: A growing area of research in the study of serious mental illness, examines the role of posttraumatic growth. One feature of posttraumatic growth not yet explored in-depth is how it relates to the development of resilience. Research which focuses specifically on youth is of great importance in understanding mental health trajectories. The aim of this review is to assess current knowledge about posttraumatic growth and resilience in youth populations following serious mental illness, including psychosis. Studies which exclusively address serious mental illness in youth are lacking.

Research Design and Methods: A scoping review was conducted according to the Arksey and O'Malley guidelines (2004) in the following steps: identifying the research question, identifying relevant studies, establishing eligibility criteria, finding information sources and drawing up query tables, completing an identification process, and selecting appropriate studies.

Results: Studies of posttraumatic growth in youth included mixed methods, quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Narratives relating to posttraumatic growth and resilience included variation in how the terms are defined, and resilience as both a prerequisite for and a result of posttraumatic growth. The literature currently available demonstrates heterogeneity in defining posttraumatic growth and resilience, as well as highlighting a potentially bidirectional relationship between the two phenomena.

Conclusions: Our review identified a paucity of research on resilience and posttraumatic growth among youth with serious mental health challenges, particularly challenges other than psychosis. While additional research on this topic is needed, stakeholders can draw upon our findings to plan future empirical and intervention studies.

EN:

Objectives: This study aimed to systematically examine the existing literature on mental health outcomes associated with participation in health retreats and to identify key components that may contribute to recovery.

Research design and methods: A systematic literature review with thematic analysis was conducted, including 17 peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2025. The studies encompassed diverse international settings and involved approximately 6,501 participants. Methodological quality and risk of bias were critically assessed.

Results: The majority of included studies reported improvements in mental health outcomes and subjective well-being following participation in health retreats. However, the evidence base was heterogeneous and frequently limited by methodological weaknesses. Five recurring themes were identified as potentially beneficial: (1) structured daily activities, (2) healthy diet, (3) socialsupport, (4) self-regulation practices, and (5) the environment.

Conclusions: Health retreats appear to offer promising non-pharmacological support for mental health and recovery. However, the current evidence is insufficient to support integration into clinical practice. Further rigorous, practice-oriented research, including health economic evaluations, is required.