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Youth psychosis & family involvement : narratives of a working alliance O’Brien, David

Abstract

Youth psychosis often represents a tumultuous disruption to individual and family life. Researchers and family advocates have recommended mental health service providers work with family caregivers of the seriously mentally ill as "partners" and "allies" in the recovery effort. Little research has examined the experiences and process interactions of these potential partners as they seek to form a working alliance in the context of treatment planning. A qualitative study conducted as a narrative phenomenology was undertaken to explore the experiences related to family involvement in an early psychosis intervention program of a family caregiver, a youth recovering from psychosis, and his primary social worker. A core narrative representing the illness and recovery journey and their perspectives on family involvement was extracted from a joint interview with all three participants. In individual follow-up interviews participants further elaborated on themes related to the effects of illness on personal agency, autonomy and their relationships. Results also addressed how participants constructed "recovery" as well as how the family member participated as an advocate and established a collaborative relationship with the social worker.

Item Metadata

Title
Youth psychosis & family involvement : narratives of a working alliance
Creator
O’Brien, David
Publisher
University of British Columbia
Date Issued
2004
Description
Youth psychosis often represents a tumultuous disruption to individual and family life. Researchers and family advocates have recommended mental health service providers work with family caregivers of the seriously mentally ill as "partners" and "allies" in the recovery effort. Little research has examined the experiences and process interactions of these potential partners as they seek to form a working alliance in the context of treatment planning. A qualitative study conducted as a narrative phenomenology was undertaken to explore the experiences related to family involvement in an early psychosis intervention program of a family caregiver, a youth recovering from psychosis, and his primary social worker. A core narrative representing the illness and recovery journey and their perspectives on family involvement was extracted from a joint interview with all three participants. In individual follow-up interviews participants further elaborated on themes related to the effects of illness on personal agency, autonomy and their relationships. Results also addressed how participants constructed "recovery" as well as how the family member participated as an advocate and established a collaborative relationship with the social worker.
Extent
4919126 bytes
Genre
Thesis/Dissertation
Type
Text
File Format
application/pdf
Language
eng
Date Available
2009-11-24
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
DOI
10.14288/1.0091659
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/15699
Degree
Master of Social Work - MSW
Program
Social Work
Affiliation
Arts, Faculty of; Social Work, School of
Degree Grantor
University of British Columbia
Graduation Date
2004-05
Campus
UBCV
Scholarly Level
Graduate
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.