abstract: 'Background:

  South Africa is a low and middle income country facing many challenges

  in public mental health care and implementation of recovery.

  Aims:

  To contribute to what barriers and facilitators to recovery might be for

  service users in South Africa, from the perspective of service users,

  carers and service providers from three psychiatric hospitals in the

  Western Cape province.

  Method:

  Interviews and focus groups were conducted with service users, carers

  and service providers. Interviews and focus groups were transcribed and

  analysed using atlas.ti software and reflexive thematic analysis, from

  the bottom up.

  Results:

  The barriers, environment, family, public mental health services, stigma

  and service users'' attitude or behaviour generated, were found to be the

  most salient. The facilitators to recovery generated were support,

  family or friends, service providers, structure and empowerment. The

  need for support was identified as an underlying component to all these

  themes.

  Conclusion:

  Barriers and facilitators to recovery seemed to have both intrapersonal

  and external sources that intersect at times. Recovery needs to be

  supported at an individual level, especially through an under-utilised

  resource such as peer support work, but in conjunction with the

  development of recovery-enabling environments in services and

  communities in South Africa.'
affiliation: 'de Wet, A (Corresponding Author), Stellenbosch Univ, Dept Psychol, Private
  Bag X1, ZA-7602 Matieland, Western Cape, South Africa.

  de Wet, Anneliese; Pretorius, Chrisma, Stellenbosch Univ, Dept Psychol, Private
  Bag X1, ZA-7602 Matieland, Western Cape, South Africa.'
article-number: 0020764020981126
author: de Wet, Anneliese and Pretorius, Chrisma
author-email: anneliesedewet@sun.ac.za
author_list:
- family: de Wet
  given: Anneliese
- family: Pretorius
  given: Chrisma
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1177/0020764020981126
earlyaccessdate: DEC 2020
eissn: 1741-2854
files: []
issn: 0020-7640
journal: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHIATRY
keywords: 'Barriers; facilitators; mental health recovery; South Africa;

  qualitative; peer support work'
keywords-plus: PEER SUPPORT; SERVICES; CARE; ILLNESS; POLICY
language: English
month: FEB
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '33'
orcid-numbers: 'Pretorius, Chrisma/0000-0002-9188-0255

  de Wet, Anneliese/0000-0002-8121-8698'
pages: 82-89
papis_id: 04ce33f878e8f7173b23c752ace540a1
ref: Dewet2022darknesslight
researcherid-numbers: 'Pretorius, Chrisma/U-8258-2017

  '
times-cited: '2'
title: 'From darkness to light: Barriers and facilitators to mental health recovery
  in the South African context'
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000627105000001
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '1'
volume: '68'
web-of-science-categories: Psychiatry
year: '2022'