Patient and Mental Health Care Professionals’ Perspectives on Health Promotion in Psychiatric Clinical Practice: A Focus Group Study

The need to protect the physical health of people with mental illness is increasingly acknowledged. We conducted six focus groups with 14 patients and 12 mental health care professionals to explore their individual and mutual perspectives on health promotion in daily clinical practice. Three main themes: Health as a balancing act; Dilemmas for health promotion; and Ideals and responsibility for health promotion in clinical practice were identified using thematic analysis. We discuss how aligning mutual expectations and creating an authentic dialogue based on the identification of and respect for patients’ individual resources can support health promotion in clinical psychiatry.