Knowledge and attitudes of mental health professionals and students regarding recovery: A systematic review

Abstract

This review was conducted to systematically identify and synthesize evidence of mental health professionals (MPHs) and Mental Health Professional (MHP) students’ knowledge, attitudes, understanding, perception and expectations regarding recovery-oriented practices. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a systematic search was conducted in the following databases: Scopus, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of science, Medline and Embase as well as Google scholar and the web. A combination of key terms including “mental health professionals”, “students’’, 'knowledge’, “understanding”, “perception” “attitude”, “expectation”, “recovery-oriented practice”, were used for the searches. After screening and quality assessment, the review included 29 articles, published in English and published in the period January 2006 to June 2019 and were analyzed systematically using a mixed method synthesis. The findings revealed that there is increasing evidence (especially among MHPs) of knowledge, attitudes, understanding, perceptions and expectation regarding recovery. However, there are disparities in how MHPs perceive and understand recovery. While some understood it to mean a personal process, others explained it as a clinical process. In addition, there was limited knowledge among the MHPs and MHP students regarding the non-linearity nature of the recovery process and expectations regarding recovery. The implications from these findings are the need for more in-service training for MHPs and examination of the curriculum used to educate MHP students. In particular, they should be sufficiently informed about the non-linearity nature of the recovery process and how to develop hopeful and realistic expectations for consumers throughout the recovery process. The review was preregistered with PROSPERO (Registration No: CRD42019136543).