Exploring mental health staff’s views and experiences on supporting service users’ needs for romantic/intimate relationships: a qualitative systematic review

Mental health service users often voice a need for support regarding romantic/intimate relationships, yet staff face barriers in delivering that support. Given the importance of intimacy to well-being and recovery, this systematic review aimed to synthesise the available qualitative literature on mental health practitioners’ views and experiences of supporting people’s needs for romantic/intimate relationships. We conducted searches on four research publication databases. Quality of studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Checklist for Qualitative Research, and results were summarised using meta-aggregation. Confidence in the findings was measured using the ConQual assessment tool. We identified 24 papers which met our inclusion criteria. Four synthesised findings were developed, namely 1) ideas and perceptions surrounding the intimacy needs of service users, 2) service provision at a personal level, 3) fitting intimacy needs into the therapeutic context and 4) service provision at an organisational level. Staff understood the importance of addressing intimacy needs, but voiced a need for improved knowledge, skills and support on how to have such conversations. Our findings can inform mental health policy change and support the development of interventions and guidelines that will enable staff to discuss with service users their needs regarding romantic/intimate relationships.