How do patients expect the mental health service system to act?
Bramesfeld A; Klippel U; Seidel G; Schwartz FW; Dierks ML Department of Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health System Research, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. bramesfeld.a@mh-hannover.de The World Health Organisation (WHO) concept of responsiveness has been defined as a measure of how well the health system responds to the population’s legitimate expectations of non-health aspects of health care provision. It comprises eight domains: dignity, prompt attention, autonomy, choice of health care provider, clear communication, confidentiality, quality of basic amenities, and access to social support networks. The concept is of particular relevance to mental health care systems because of the specific dependency and vulnerability of their users. We tested its applicability to mental health care with five focus groups of experienced mental health care users in Hannover, Germany. The focus groups revealed 492 statements about users’ expectations in mental health care. Most conce
