Parental Involvement and Adolescent Help Seeking
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An Exploration of the Effects of Parental Involvement upon Adolescent Help Seeking for Mental Health Problems
IRAS ID
192100
Contact name
Charis Green
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
This project will look at the influence of parents and carers upon the way adolescents seek help for a mental health problem. 'Help seeking' within a mental health context has been defined as "the process of using informal and professional networks to gain support in coping with mental health problems" (Michaelmore & Hindley, 2012, p. 507).
Research has found that adolescence is a key time for mental health interventions, as there is a high prevalence of mental health problems within the adolescent population, and a high proportion of mental health problems are said to begin before the age of 24 (Kessler et al., 2005). However, evidence suggests that despite this high level of need, only a small number of young people seek help from others and recieve interventions from mental health services (Gulliver, Griffiths & Christensen, 2010).
There has been some development of theory around help seeking of children and adolescents, considering the importance of the family network, and the role of adults as 'gatekeepers' in the help seeking process (Costello et al, 1998). This project aims to develop a theory specifically in the area of the parental influence into adolescent help seeking, considering developmental factors unique to adolescents.
Adolescents aged 13-18 currently using child and adolescent mental health services, their parents and carers, and clinicians working within these settings will be invited to take part in an interview lasting roughly one hour to talk about their experiences of adolescent help seeking. Interviews will take place in the NHS setting that is familiar to the participants, and analysed using a qualitative methodology. Participants will be involved in the development of common themes that have been identified in the interviews. The study aims to recruit roughly 15-20 participants.
REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/0583
Date of REC Opinion
20 May 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion