The meaning of recovery in young people project
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Recovery Project: What does recovery mean to young people who have experienced mental health difficulties?
IRAS ID
221356
Contact name
Timothy Clarke
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
Improvements in mental health are often measured by changes in symptoms from medical checklists. However, people can learn to live full and productive lives independently of any distress they experience as part of a mental health problem. This process is commonly referred to as ‘recovery’. Recovery is a very active and personal process and different people recover in different ways. Research has identified some common characteristics of the process: it is about being connected to others, being optimistic about the future, developing a helpful sense of identity and meaning in life, and feeling empowered to achieve.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of research has focussed on recovery processes in adults and there is little research examining what it means to adolescents. We have reason to believe that it may be different for adolescents because they may not have much experience of life without the distress of a mental health problem. In view of this difference, some mental health trusts around the country have named their recovery groups for adolescents as ‘discovery’ groups. We believe that there is a chance now for research to build upon this and consult adolescents about what they think about recovery.
If the NHS treats adolescent mental health problems using a recovery approach then we need reliable measurements that capture individual improvement and outcomes of concern to service managers. We plan to interview 20-30 adolescents from the Greater Manchester NHS foundation trust and the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS foundation trust. We will analyse the interviews using a process known as ‘thematic analysis’ which essentially means identifying important themes that exist across the entire set of interviews. This information will hopefully provide us with a rich and accurate description of recovery for young people that we could use to develop items for a measure in a future project.REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EE/0231
Date of REC Opinion
7 Jul 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion