Table 2.

Four main themes and subthemes of experiences, barriers, potential benefits and strategies for service users/caregiver involvement across the three LMICs

Themes and subthemes	Ethiopia	Nigeria	Nepal
1) Experiences of Involvement
1a) No or limited experiences of involvement*†‡	X	X	X
2b) positive experience of involvement outreach)*†‡	X	X
2) Barriers to involvement
2a) Poor access to mental health service*†‡	X	X	X
2b) Multiple level problem of stigma (self-stigma, community, service provider and within the health system)*†‡	X	X	X
2c) Power differentials in health system (lack of: personal confidence, knowledge of services, support in local community)†	X	X	X
3) Potential benefits of involvement
3a) Sharing lived realities and experience to improve lives of service users/care givers*†	X	X	X
3b) Contributions to improvement of mental health services quality†	X		X
3c) Awareness raising and service promotion†	X	X	X
4) Strategies for greater involvement
4a) Service users and caregiver mobilisation and empowerment†‡	X	X	X
4b) Training service users/caregiver and service providers†‡	X	X	X
4c) Ensure human rights for greater involvement*†‡	X	X

^*Macro-level (e.g. policy-making, national level planning and advocacy).

^†Meso-level (e.g. in local service planning, monitoring and evaluation, advocacy, training and recruitment of staff, input into guidelines).

^‡Micro-level (e.g. individual care planning, assessment and care management).