Young Adults and Their Families Living With Mental Illness: Evaluation of the Usefulness of Family-Centered Support Conversations in Community Mental Health care Settings

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of Family-Centered Support Conversations (FCSC) offered in community mental health care in Norway to young adults and their families experiencing mental illness. The FCSC is a family nursing intervention based on the Calgary Family Assessment and Intervention Models and the Illness Beliefs Model and is focused on how family members can be supportive to each other, how to identify strengths and resources of the family, and how to share and reflect on the experiences of everyday life together while living with mental illness. Interviews were conducted with young adults and their family members in Norway who had received the FCSC intervention and were analyzed using phenomenography. Two descriptive categories were identified: “Facilitating the sharing of reflections about everyday life” and “Possibility of change in everyday life.” The family nursing conversations about family structure and function in the context of mental illness allowed families to find new meanings and possibilities in everyday life. Health care professionals can play an important role in facilitating a safe environment for young adults and their families to talk openly about the experience of living with and managing mental illness.

Young adults suffering from mental illness: Evaluation of the family‐centred support conversation intervention from the perspective of mental healthcare professionals

“…Confidentiality vis-à-vis the patients was experienced as an obstacle for the mental healthcare professionals. Patients and their family members also state that the mental healthcare professionals' loyalty always lies with the patient (Aass et al, 2020). In the current study, the mental healthcare professionals described how they played a more passive and listening role in the FCSC and let the patient determine the content of the conversation in order to avoid problems related to confidentiality.…”

“…FCSC has been used by school nurses in their meetings with adolescent girls with health complaints and their parents (Clausson & Berg, 2008). Patients and family members have described and evaluated FCSC in the community mental health services (Aass et al, 2020). To our knowledge, there is a lack of studies describing mental healthcare professionals' perceptions of conducting the intervention in community mental health service.…”

“…They help the patients to understand their own experiences of interaction with others, and in different situations, help others to understand users in order to promote a mutual understanding. Families have described the value of sharing experiences and thoughts with healthcare professionals present (Aass et al, 2020). Sharing of everyday family life stories might offer valuable information in the therapeutic conversations and help the family to new understandings.…”

“…However, mental healthcare professionals may also find that through the conversations, knowledge is gained of family life, the different perceptions of problems and different ways of solving these problems (Benzein et al, 2012). The FCSC might challenge constraining beliefs and make it possible to speak of the unspeakable (Aass et al, 2020). A study by Skundberg-Kletthagen et al, (2020) described meeting families experiencing many difficulties and a high level of conflict as a balancing act.…”

“…These young adults often live together with their family or need support from family members in their everyday life. In addition, young adults with mental illness are dependent on other family members and need to live close to the family because it gives them the feeling of being safe and supported (Aass et al, 2020). For the young adult, support from significant others may open up for a sense of a space to live in and be nourished (Sommer & Saevi, 2018).…”