Turkish-speaking service-user experience of guided self-help in an improving access to psychological therapies service: Using discovery interviews to improve services

Abstract

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) delivers guided self-help (GSH) interventions in the United Kingdom (UK). A minority service-user group for whom we know little of their engagement with GSH are Turkish-speaking users. The study aimed to better understand Turkish-speaking service-users experience of a GSH intervention in an IAPT service and identify possible service improvements. A discovery interview method facilitated service-users to describe their experience of GSH. Transcripts were analysed thematically. Excerpts of service-user narratives and thematic commonalities across interviews were disseminated in clinical teams and informed service improvements. Participant distress was expressed through somatic complaints, a high level of confusion and inactivity. Engagement with GSH was affected by ambivalent help-seeking and sense of limited self-efficacy. Service improvements aimed to address a widespread sense of confusion and anxiety. Listening to service-user experience provides opportunities for mending communication gaps between services and ethnic minority service-users.