Highlighting recovery services promoting personal recovery of adults living with severe mental illness – A comprehensive integrative review

Background: There is increasing call regarding recovery services, however, little review studies have been undertaken regarding such services. This integrative review aimed to identify and synthesize evidence on the usefulness of recovery services used to promote personal recovery among adults living with severe mental illness.

Methods: A search of the published literature was conducted using: Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus. Mixed methods synthesis was used to analyse the data. The search was limited to papers published in English from January 2008 to January 2020. The review integrated both qualitative and quantitative data into a single synthesis.

Results: Out of 40 included papers, 62.5 %( 25/40) used Quantitative data, 32.5% used Qualitative and 5 %( 2/40) used mixed methods. The review identified three recovery services such as integrated recovery model, vocational rehabilitation (Individual Placement Services), as well as recovery narrative photovoice and art-making services. The recovery services are useful in areas such as medication and treatment adherence, improvement in functioning, symptoms, physical health & social behaviour, self-efficacy, economic empowerment, social inclusion, household integration and access to support services.

Conclusions: The evidence on recovery services focused largely on integrated rehabilitation and individual placement services, with a few studies implementing recovery narrative photovoice and art-making services. Mental health professionals are encouraged to implement the identified recovery services to improve the personal recovery goals of consumers.