Evaluating a Project's Impact Where Mental Health Service Users Advise on Professional Research, by Presenting their Point of View, to Empower Service Users.

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K15977
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Gerontological nursing
• Research Institution: Toyohashi Sozo University (2019); Sonoda Women's University (2016-2018)
• Principal Investigator: Katsuragawa Junko 豊橋創造大学, 保健医療学部, 准教授 (40369608)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 大西 香代子 甲南女子大学, 看護リハビリテーション学部, 教授 (00344599) ; 北岡 和代 公立小松大学, 保健医療学部, 教授 (60326080)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 精神障がい当事者 / 地域生活 / エンパワメント / 社会参加

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study revealed the impact of a project called Service User and Carer Group Advising on Research (SUGAR) to empower mental health service users. SUGAR has been implemented in England, and its members actively participate in society by making professional researches reflect on their expertise as service users. Eleven service users participated in this study and four sessions of SUGAR were convened. The effect was measured using the Empowerment Scale developed by Rogers et al. (1998) and Hata et al. (2003), as well as interviews conducted after the last session. It was observed that SUGAR raised self-efficacy and motivation in the life of the participants and they realized their growth and visualized their next goals, even though the scale did not record any significant increase in the scores.

Free Research Field

看護学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

2013年4月に施行された「障害者総合支援法」の理念に則り、現在わが国の福祉政策において、精神に障がいを持つ人々（以後「精神障がい者」とする）の地域移行は重要な課題である。一方、精神障がい者が自らの個性を発揮し、社会参加できる場は未だ限られている。精神障がい者が「支援者―被支援者」関係を越え、当事者の視点から研究者の研究に助言するというプロジェクトJ-SUGARは、自己効力感や生きがい、成長、社会参加のための次の目標などを喚起するものであり、今後、継続して、実施、評価することにより、新しい社会参加の方法として確立するものであると考えられた。