A Collaborative Investigation of the Experiences of Elders Using an Older Adult Home Treatment Team: From Understanding to Action

Introduction: Older Adult Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Teams (OA-CRHTT) have become more prominent in NHS services in recent years. The research on such services thus far has focused on the business aspect of measures, namely hospital admissions. There is no current evidence exploring the experiences of elders using these services, and how these services are perceived by elders.
Method: Five co-researchers were recruited from an OA-CRHTT in inner London, and agreed to engage in a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project. Narrative analysis was used to investigate how the co-researchers experienced support from the OA-CRHTT. A particular focus was paid to the element of action based on the findings of this research project.
Narrative stories were created using a collaborative framework. The data was analysed by first creating personal narratives and then having a group collective statement based on these narratives.
Results: The interpretation from the personal narratives suggest that elders who have not had prior experience with mental health services require support in understanding the service and how it operates and what it is meant to provide, and that stigma played a role in perceptions of engaging with an acute community mental health team. Humanising care was reported as the main factor of what elders found as useful, with a need for understanding and good assessment to be achieved.
Discussion: Co-researchers each presented different aspects of what they found helpful about the service, steeped in their own context and experience of services. The need for dominant narratives regarding elders about the ability for services to be responsive to these was imperative. Implications for the research highlight the need for further investigation of elder views of the workings of CRHTT for elders, specifically hearing from people who are diagnosed with dementia, and elders from marginalised groups.