Mothers’ Experiences of Home Treatment for Adolescents With Anorexia Nervosa: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Home treatment (HT) is emerging as an alternative to admission for adolescents with anorexia nervosa. It relies heavily on parental (often maternal) input to be effective. Given the high levels of carer stress reported by mothers, the current study aimed to explore mothers’ experience of HT. A qualitative study using purposeful sampling was conducted. Nine interviews were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Two contextual themes described the mother-daughter relationship and maternal stress and distress prior to HT. The third theme, “experience of help,” included sub-themes of when help is needed, the need for containment, gaining strength and skills, and how HT met families’ philosophy and values. The results support previous research on the stress that mothers particularly are under when their adolescent daughters have anorexia nervosa, and provides rich data on their experiences. HT is perceived as having both helpful and unhelpful aspects. Further research on its effectiveness is needed.     

Bisexual People’s Experiences with Mental Health Services: A Qualitative Investigation

Bisexual people experience minority stress and social isolation as a result of their marginalized sexual identities, and likely due to this stigmatization, previous research has identified high rates of psychological distress, anxiety, depression, suicidality, alcohol misuse, and self-harming behaviour among bisexual populations. It is therefore important that mental health service providers are able to provide culturally competent care to bisexual people. This study used focus groups and interviews with 55 bisexual participants across the province of Ontario, Canada, to investigate their experiences with mental health care. Results suggest that bisexual people have both positive and negative experiences with mental health service providers. Specific provider practices which contribute to the perception of positive and negative experiences with mental heath services are described, and the implications for clinical practice discussed.     

Disclosing Mental Illness During Dating: an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Partners’ Experience

International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction - The relatively little research on disclosure of mental illness has mainly presented the perspective of the individual who copes with a mental...     

Parents’ Experiences of Intergenerational Value Transmission in Turkey’s Changing Society: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study

Intergenerational value transmission is a systemic phenomenon that affects parent-child relationships. However, there is a dearth of information about bidirectional value transmission processes from the perspectives of the parents. Based on an eco-systemic perspective, the researcher aimed to understand the parents’ experience of transmission of values with their adolescent children. This process included: What they chose to transmit, how they had tried to transmit, and the ways they negotiated value differences. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews in Istanbul, Turkey with 6 upper-middle class parents who had children between the ages of 13 and 19. Interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed 6 main themes that described parents’ experiences: (a) family connectedness, (b) transfer strategies, (c) transformations, (d) a changing world, (e) reflecting on parenting, and (f) process between the parents. The researcher then discusses the implications for clinicians and researchers.     

Intellectual Disabilities and Mental Health: United States–Based Research

In the United States, research directed specifically at improving our understanding of the psychiatric assessment and treatment of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) has grown, yet lags far behind efforts for typically developing children and adults. In the United States, a lack of a national approach to the mental health problems of people with ID has likely contributed to a lack of a clear and cohesive national research agenda for “dual diagnosis” of intellectual disabilities and mental health disorders. Despite these concerns, much has been learned and important progress has been made. This article provides an overview of the latest developments in research and social policy on behalf of persons with ID and mental health needs in the United States.     

Mental Health Service Users’ Perceptions of Stigma,From the General Population and From Mental Health Professionals in Mexico: A Qualitative Study

Community Mental Health Journal - Negative attitudes towards people with mental health disorders have been widely studied and identified in the general population, and even within health care...     

Latino Adults’ Access to Mental Health Care: A Review of Epidemiological Studies

Since the early 1980s, epidemiological studies using state-of-the-art methodologies have documented the unmet mental health needs of Latinos adults in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. This paper reviews 16 articles based on seven epidemiological studies, examines studies methodologies, and summarizes findings about how Latino adults access mental health services. Studies consistently report that, compared to non-Latino Whites, Latinos underutilize mental health services, are less likely to receive guideline congruent care, and rely more often on primary care for services. Structural, economic, psychiatric, and cultural factors influence Latinos’ service access. In spite of the valuable information these studies provide, methodological limitations (e.g., reliance on cross-sectional designs, scarcity of mixed Latino group samples) constrict knowledge about Latinos access to mental health services. Areas for future research and development needed to improve Latinos’ access and quality of mental health care are discussed.     

Marriage and Family Therapy Trainees’ Experiences of Learning and Applying Common Factors in Therapy: A Qualitative Participatory Study With Thematic Analysis

ABSTRACT

In recent marriage and family therapy literature, there has been increased discussion about the role of common factors in marriage and family therapy training, specifically in advocating for a more prominent role (Karam et al., 2014; Sprenkle, Lebow & Davis, 2009). This article describes a study exploring the marriage and family therapy master’s students’ experiences of learning and applying the common factors approach to their clinical practice. The sample consists of four current marriage and family therapy master’s level students in a Commission on Accreditation in Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE)-accredited training program. Qualitative data were collected and analyzed using thematic analysis. The themes that emerged from our analysis demonstrate that marriage and family therapy students found the common factors approach to positively inform their clinical training.     

Mental Health Consumers’ Motives for Seeking Advocacy Support: A Qualitative Exploration

Advocacy plays a vital role in ensuring that mental health consumers’ rights are maintained. However, the primary issues for which consumers seek advocacy support remain unknown. Understanding these issues provides a sound basis from which advocacy organisations may develop a clear service delivery focus. This study addresses the literature gap through presenting a qualitative analysis of 60 records from an advocacy service. Four major themes emerged, across which two key issues were dominant: the sense of fearfulness and disempowerment. These issues accentuate the importance of advocates in enhancing the agency of mental health consumers.     

Couples’ Experiences of Parenting a Child After an Autism Diagnosis: A Qualitative Study

After a child is diagnosed with autism, parents’ relationships are impacted as they reorganize their daily lives to support their child’s specific needs. A better understanding of parenting couples’ adaptation is needed to accompany them during this period. This qualitative study explored couples’ experiences after their child’s autism diagnosis. An inductive thematic analysis among ten couple interviews (N?=?20) revealed three key themes: emotional experiences, external support, and adaptation. Overall, the quality of couples’ relationships before having a child influenced their relationship after the diagnosis. In general, parents presented complementary coparenting roles, while different opinions about how to raise the child strained their relationship. Helping parents adapt to a diagnosis together could prove to be important for future interventions and research.

     

Help-Seeking for Children with Mental Health Problems: Parents?? Efforts and Experiences

Parents who contacted 1 of 15 children's mental health agencies in Ontario, Canada reported on where and why they were seeking mental health services for their 4- to 17-year-old children. Parents contacted an average of four agencies (± 1.7; range = 1-14) in the previous year. Approximately one-half of parents were looking for either multiple types of treatment, or help for different problems, across agencies. The complex pattern of help-seeking evidenced in our study likely increases the burden on the mental health care system and on families, and may reduce the likelihood that families will connect with the most appropriate treatment.     

Community Mental Health in the People’s Republic of China: A Critical Analysis

Community mental health has long been the crucial modality in service delivery of mental health services. This paper is an attempt to evaluate community mental health services in the People’s Republic of China. The writer critically argues that community mental health services in the People’s Republic of China still have faced a lot of difficulties such as huge demand but scarce resources, withdrawal of governmental funding in related services, inaccessibility of services to deprived and remote rural areas, political control, high mental health illiteracy and problems in formation of multidisciplinary team. An articulation of community mental health in the China context is also discussed.     

Landlords’ Experiences of Housing Tenants Suffering from Severe Mental Illness: A Swedish Empirical Study

The aim of this Swedish study was to describe landlords’ experiences of having tenants suffering from severe mental illness. Sixteen landlords working in private and public housing agencies participated in open in-depth interviews. Data were subjected to a thematic latent content analysis. The results showed that having tenants with severe mental illness entails being confronted with various difficult circumstances, ranging from mismanagement of apartments to sensitivity among neighbours as well as issues regarding provocative behaviour. It involved providing assistance that was far beyond their professional obligations and to be neglected by the community-based psychiatric service system when in need of help. In order to support landlords and to prevent evictions of individuals with severe mental illness, community-based psychiatric services need to be more pro-active in their attempts to achieve collaboration with the parties at hand.     

What Can the Experiences of People With an Intellectual Disability Tell Us About the Desirable Attributes of a Mental Health Professional?

Introduction: Mental health professionals have reported that they have limited knowledge, skills, and confidence in the area of intellectual disability mental health. This article aims to learn from the experiences of people with intellectual disability about the attributes that may assist mainstream mental health professionals to provide them with a quality mental health service. Methods: Six people with intellectual disability participated in an interview or focus group. Thematic analysis was undertaken applying the Intellectual Disability Mental Health Core Competencies Framework. Results: The findings supported previous research for the need for mental health professionals to be adaptable, able to communicate, and work with a person’s support network. The study reinforced the need for professionals to undertake professional development in the area but also suggested that people with intellectual disability be included as educators and as peer workers. New attributes were identified, including the need for mental health professionals to be able to build rapport and trust through demonstrating their experience and respect for working with people with intellectual disability, and their ability to understand trauma and how it may influence mental health needs. Conclusions: The attributes identified in the study could be used to inform an intellectual disability mental health workforce development framework.     

Mexican Psychiatric Trainees’ Attitudes Towards People with Mental Illness: A Qualitative Study

Despite their training, psychiatrists have been found to have negative attitudes towards people with mental illness, including the patients they treat. Similarly, studies focused on service users have identified psychiatrists as a source of stigma. Even though negative attitudes in psychiatrists have been identified in different countries and settings, in Mexico the attitudes of these professionals have never been assessed. Because of this, we invited psychiatric trainees from a hospital in Mexico to participate in individual interviews to describe their opinions regarding mental health-related stigma, to evaluate their attitudes towards people with mental illness and to identify factors that could be influencing their attitudes. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. A total of 29 trainees participated in the study. The results suggested that trainees recognised psychiatrists can have negative attitudes towards people with mental illness, such as poor empathy, judgement and labelling, and mainly towards patients considered difficult and with borderline personality disorder. Participants recognised these attitudes can influence their relationship with patients, and considered it is necessary to develop interventions to improve their own attitudes and reduce mental health stigma. From this study we concluded Mexican psychiatrists are not free from stigma towards people with mental illness. However, Mexican psychiatric trainees are interested in improving their attitudes and reactions towards their patients.

     

Linking Gambling and Trauma: A Phenomenological Hermeneutic Case Study Using Almaas’ Transformation of Narcissism Approach

The purpose of this article is to examine the phenomenon of pathological gambling and addiction from the perspective of writer and teacher A.H Almaas. By drawing on his Diamond Mind approach we trace the origin of addictive behaviors and pathological gambling to narcissistic wounding, which constitutes the loss of connection with the Essential Identity. A phenomenological hermeneutic methodology was applied in the research process in which Penny, the subject of this case study, willingly shared her life journey through addiction. A thematic analysis clustered into 5 themes revealed a link between her experiences of childhood trauma, addiction, pathological gambling, and the manifestation of fundamental narcissism.     

Unlicensed Boarding House Managers’ Experiences and Perceptions of Need in Residents with Mental Health and Substance Use Problems

Unlicensed boarding houses provide low cost accommodation for many people who have mental health and/or alcohol or other drug problems. The present study explored the needs and experiences of owners and managers of unlicensed boarding houses who have residents with MH and AOD problems. Twenty-three boarding house managers (BHMs) from Illawarra and Sydney areas participated in semi-structured interviews which were recorded and transcribed. Content analysis revealed most BHMs had very limited understanding of different types of mental health and substance use disorders. Almost all reported problems with individuals who they believed had such problems. Several BHMs found themselves in the role of ??accidental counsellors??, but their responsiveness to residents needs was highly variable. BHMs?? inconsistent reactions to rule violations may create high levels of uncertainty amongst residents. The discussion describes options for addressing residents?? needs including educational strategies for BHMs and facilitating links with support agencies.     

On the Fault Line: A Qualitative Exploration of High School Teachers’ Involvement with Student Mental Health Issues

School-based mental health (SBMH) research often underplays the crucial role that teachers play in supporting student mental health, even as teachers often find themselves encountering student mental health issues. Further, teachers’ and school-based mental health practitioners’ (SBMHPs) work with shared students has historically tended toward distance rather than collaboration. This article explores the virtual fault line where SBMHPs’ and teachers’ work intersect, concerning student mental health issues. Drawing on qualitative data gathered at three high schools that, to varying degrees, required teachers’ involvement with student mental health issues, this study analyzes the nature of teachers’ work in this area. In particular, the study identifies ways in which teachers provided psychosocial support, as well as how teachers’ and SBMHPs’ work intersected. Findings indicate that uncertainty existed at the three schools about teachers’ involvement with student mental health issues, and that this uncertainty was reinforced by organizational structures that promoted a separation of teaching from SBMH. Implications for practice, professional learning, and research are discussed.