What characterizes a good mental health professional in court-mandated treatment settings?: Findings from a qualitative study with older patients and mental health care professionals

Table 3 Overview of themes

Themes describing good MHPs	Who described those themes?	Specific characteristics of good MHPs
Treating the patient with respect	Experts and patient-participants	Avoiding stigmatization
		Humanistic approach
Displaying genuine interest in helping the patient	Experts and Patient-participants	Intrinsic motivation to help
		Take the person and his/her issues seriously
		Providing support that exceeds expectations
Recognizing and responding to patients’ needs	Experts and Patient-participants	Incorporating patient’s wishes
		Allowing patient some choices
Tackling topics in detail	Patient participants only	Targeting the important issues
		Identifying underlying emotions
		Taking a different perspective
Perceived skillfulness of the therapists	Patient participants only	Having expertise to respond to therapeutic questions
		Emphasizing positive sides
		Good manners

ISSN: 2050-7283