SCIE Guide 21: Commissioning and providing mental health advocacy for African and Caribbean men
Outcomes from advocacy
'Delivering Race Equality' describes 12 characteristics of transformed services. As advocacy is a key ingredient of this transformation process, these characteristics can be used as outcomes for advocacy services for African and Caribbean men.
Link: Department of Health: Delivering Race Equality
These have been grouped into six areas that were identified from the SCIE Knowledge Review 15.
They are:
Outcome area 1: Changes in the person reflected as increased confidence and the ability to get on with life and with other people
- Increase in the numbers of African and Caribbean men who feel that they have recovered from their illness.
- Increased involvement in decisions about care and care planning.
Outcome area 2: Changes in treatment
- Increased access to a greater range of treatments and effective therapies, such as peer support services, psychotherapeutic and counselling treatments, as well as pharmacological interventions that are culturally appropriate and effective.
- Reduction in the disproportionate rate of admissions from African and Caribbean communities to psychiatric inpatient units.
- Fewer violent incidents due to the improved treatment of mental illness.
- Reduction in the rates of seclusion for African and Caribbean men.
- Reduction in the use of physical interventions and associated injuries and deaths in mental health services.
Outcome area 3: Changes in the relationship between mental health services and the individual service user
- Less fear of mental health services by African and Caribbean men and their communities.
- Increase in the choices offered.
- Increased satisfaction and engagement with mental health services.
- Increased involvement of African and Caribbean men in the training of professionals, the development of mental health policy and in the planning and provision of services.
Outcome area 4: Changes in service provision so that service users receive more culturally appropriate and effective service and access to a broader range of support
- Reduction in inequalities and disparities in access to appropriate treatment.
- Provision of a greater range of treatments and effective therapies that are culturally appropriate and effective.
- Development of alternative models of mental health care from a black perspective.
- Development of a workforce that is capable of delivering appropriate and responsive mental health services to African and Caribbean men.
Outcome area 5: Changes in the family and/or support system
- Increased acceptance and awareness of mental health issues by African and Caribbean communities.
- Increased involvement in family and community activities.
Outcome area 6: Changes in the civil status of the individual so that the service user is more able to fully participate in civic and social roles
- Increase in rates of African and Caribbean men moving out of the mental health system and into further training and/or employment.
