Empowering Mental Health Management: A Participatory Approach for Black Communities Using Psychological Ownership.

Psychological ownership (PO) theory was found to be a useful framework for understanding mental health empowerment among Black British mental health service users.

• The study used PO theory to analyse participants' motives: efficacy and effectance, self-identity, and having a place to dwell.
• The study also examined three routes to ownership: control, intimate knowledge, and self-investment.
• Key findings 'confirmed the usefulness of framing understanding mental health empowerment from the perspective of psychological ownership.'
• The study was conducted at a culturally specific mental health day service in London exclusively serving people of African and Caribbean descent.

Culturally grounded spaces were identified as an important factor in enabling Black British service users to take ownership of their mental health management.

• The finding emerged from semi-structured interviews and co-design workshops with Black British mental health service users and staff.
• The service studied exclusively serves people of African and Caribbean descent, providing a culturally specific recovery context.
• Culturally grounded spaces were identified alongside peer support and participatory decision-making as key findings.

Peer support was identified as an important mechanism for mental health empowerment among Black British service users.

• Peer support emerged as one of three key findings from the interviews and co-design workshops.
• The finding was contextualized through co-design workshops that resulted in 'actionable intervention concepts.'
• The service had a committee of service users involved in providing input and feedback on service delivery, which was engaged throughout the study.

Participatory decision-making was identified as a key opportunity for empowerment in mental health management for Black British communities.

• Participatory decision-making was one of three major findings revealed by applying PO theory to the interview and workshop data.
• Co-design workshops further contextualized this finding and produced actionable intervention concepts.
• The service user committee was engaged from reviewing the study proposal and materials through to engaging in analysis of interviews and taking part in co-design activities.

Black British communities experience significant mental health disparities driven by systemic racism, stigma, and lack of culturally competent care.

• These disparities formed the motivation for examining PO as a framework for empowerment and participatory care.
• The study situates these disparities as the context requiring novel frameworks for understanding and addressing mental health inequities.
• The study concludes with 'recommendations for embedding PO principles into culturally competent healthcare models' as a response to these disparities.

Co-design workshops with Black British service users and staff produced actionable intervention concepts for improving mental health services.

• Workshops were conducted alongside semi-structured interviews as the primary data collection methods.
• Co-design workshops 'further contextualised these findings, resulting in actionable intervention concepts.'
• The participatory approach integrated theoretical insights from PO theory with co-design processes.
• The study highlights 'the potential of PO to guide the design of equitable mental health services.'