Important Components of Working Side-by-side in Clubhouses: A Qualitative Study of Staffs experiences

Project summary

A clubhouse/ Fountain House are typically described as a psychosocial rehabilitation program for adults experiencing mental health problems (members), but also as a “prevocational program” and an “intentional recovery community”. A clubhouse provide their members with the opportunities of participation in a “work-ordered-day”, and educational –, recreational- activities, as well as transitional employment. Members and staff run the clubhouses together in egalitarian ways. Several empirical research have explored the outcomes and characteristics of the clubhouse model. However, we need to know more about the staffs` experiences of clubhouses as helpful working communities’, across cultural contexts. Thus, the aims of this qualitative study: 1) to explore the staffs` experiences of important components of working alongside with members in Clubhouses in the context of Norway and USA. 2) To increase the knowledge of clubhouses as intentional communities that values work-mediated relationships within a context that provides structure while instilling values of work, positive expectations, hope, and a sense of empowerment. 

Method

 Method: In this qualitative study, we will use a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to collect and analyze the data: Two focus groups with 16 – 18 staff, males and females with dissimilar professional background, who work alongside with members in their daily practice, recruited from three accredited Clubhouses (2 in Oslo, Norway/1 in New York, USA). The Norwegian Social Science data service have approved the study. Implications of this study might be validation of clubhouse- communities as useful ways of empowering clubhouse members in their processes of recovery.