Service users' experiences with help and support from crisis resolution teams. A literature review

BACKGROUND: Services for crisis resolution provided by home treatment teams are recent developments in the mental health care scene. There is a lack of systematized reviews in the service users' responses to these services. AIM: To systematize the existing knowledge regarding the service users' experiences with crisis resolution and home treatment (CR/HT) teams in order to explore ways to develop this form of service further. METHOD: A systematic review of the periodical literature and research reports on CR/HT was carried out for the period from January 1995 to January 2009. RESULTS: A total of 13 papers, one RCT review and two reports were identified, including both qualitative and quantitative studies. Although these studies provided few in-depth details, three major themes as the characteristics of CR/HT teams are extracted as: (a) access and availability, (b) being understood as "normal" human beings, and (c) dealing with crises in an everyday life context. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that the key positive characteristics of help in crisis situations are intrinsically tied to the values and principles undergirding CR/HT services. The commitment to community-based services, the philosophy of partnership, and user-empowerment seem to the base from which these three themes of positive experiences emerged.