Service user preferences should be integrated into mental healthcare wherever possible, and providing information about the treatments on offer is essential for informed choice. Methods of presenting information about the arts therapies require consideration. This study sought to obtain service user opinions on three decision aids designed for the arts therapies.

Five focus group workshops totalling 20 participants were conducted with service users in community mental health services. They were shown three decision aids for the arts therapies: leaflets, videos and taster sessions. Discussions were recorded, transcribed and analysed using framework analysis.

Four themes were developed: Previous experiences of the arts shaped discussions; Aims of treatment are essential information; There were different expectations of each decision aid; The decision aids offered an evolving understanding of the art form in the workshops.

These results imply that service users’ previous experiences and expectations of the arts must be understood by clinicians when engaging in decision-making about treatment. Service users wanted to know explicit aims and goals of the arts therapies in all three decision aids. All decision aids were useful in different ways, therefore timing in the decision making process and physical location of the aids are worth considering.

应尽可能将服务使用者的偏好整合到精神保健中，并且提供有关所提供治疗的信息对于明智的选择至关重要。提供有关艺术疗法信息的方法需要考虑。这项研究旨在获得针对艺术疗法设计的三种决策辅助工具的服务使用者意见。

与社区心理健康服务的服务使用者一起举办了五个焦点小组讲习班，共有20名参与者。向他们展示了三种艺术疗法的决策辅助工具：传单，视频和品尝会。使用框架分析对讨论进行记录，转录和分析。

制定了四个主题：以前的艺术经验影响了讨论；治疗的目的是必不可少的信息；对每种决策援助有不同的期望；决策辅助工具使研讨会上人们对艺术形式有了不断发展的了解。

这些结果表明，临床医生在进行有关治疗的决策时必须理解服务使用者以前的经验和对艺术的期望。服务使用者希望在所有三个决策辅助工具中了解艺术疗法的明确目的和目标。所有决策辅助工具的使用方式都不同，因此，决策过程的时间安排和辅助工具的实际位置值得考虑。