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.

Highlights

  • Being diagnosed with mental illness often has a negative impact on many aspects of a young adult’s life including decreased self-esteem, optimism, confidence, as well as difficulties concentrating and carrying out daily taken for granted tasks (McCann et al, 2012)

  • The FamilyCentered Support Conversations (FCSC) is theoretical grounded in Wright and Leahey’s Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM) and Calgary Family Intervention Model (CFIM) which are strengths-oriented family nursing assessment and intervention models for families living with illness (Shajani & Snell, 2019; Wright & Leahey, 2013)

  • A sample of 19 family members from seven families participated in the FCSC with mental health care professionals in four different municipalities in Norway in the period from December 2017–May 2018

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Summary

Introduction

Being diagnosed with mental illness often has a negative impact on many aspects of a young adult’s life including decreased self-esteem, optimism, confidence, as well as difficulties concentrating and carrying out daily taken for granted tasks (McCann et al, 2012). Interventions which focus on interactions and the family as a resource for offering unique skills, strengths, resources, and unmet needs are needed These kinds of interventions may facilitate the experience of mental health treatment and care (Goudreau et al, 2006; Tedeschi & Kilmer, 2005) and increase knowledge and the coping abilities of families (Chesla, 2010). Benefits were observed in families of young people living with severe mental illness regarding revisiting and building new connections among family members, and strengthening and supporting the family network (Sveinbjarnardóttir & Svavarsdóttir, 2019) These family nursing intervention studies were guided by the CFAM and CFIM and/or the IBM as the theoretical framework to inform the interventions offered (Gísladóttir et al, 2017; Gísladóttir & Svavarsdóttir, 2017; Svavarsdóttir et al, 2019; Sveinbjarnardóttir et al, 2013; Sveinbjarnardóttir & Svavarsdóttir, 2019). Knowledge from this study can provide direction about how to meet young adults and the family’s needs and will help to expand information about family focused care for this population of families nationally and internationally

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