About the PhD thesis

This PhD thesis investigates patient preferences and priorities in mental health care to support the shift toward more person-centered care and improve quality of services. It has three aims: (1) to synthe-size existing evidence on what patients consider important during mental health care, (2) to develop a co-designed questionnaire for a Danish mental health setting, and (3) to identify and rank important care aspects and the gaps between patient preferences and satisfac-tion.

The research is grounded in pragmatism and uses a co-creation ap-proach across three sequential studies. First, a scoping review identi-fied ten main categories of patient preferences. The most empha-sized areas were respectful and trusting relationships, clear commu-nication, and individualized care, while research in this field was found to be limited and methodologically diverse.

Second, a co-design process produced 54 questionnaire items and introduced two new themes: “the person as a whole” and “meaningful community connections.” Third, a cross-sectional survey in Danish mental health services showed that relational aspects of care were most highly prioritized, with the highest-rated items relating to trust, empathy, and being taken seriously. The largest gaps between im-portance and satisfaction were found in recovery information, cross-sector collaboration, and follow-up after discharge.

Overall, the thesis shows that relational aspects of care are central to patient priorities, and that measuring satisfaction alone is insufficient. Incorporating patient preferences into quality improvement is essen-tial for truly person-centered mental health care