Exploring Parent & Youth Concepts of Teen Mental Illness in High-Poverty Settings

描述（由申请人提供）：这项探索性的定性研究问：如何在高度贫困的城市环境中的青年和他们的父母概念化，识别和应对青少年心理健康问题？心理健康问题不仅给家庭带来情感上的损失，而且还可能干扰正常的青少年发展，阻碍学业成功和建立健康的关系。然而，多达三分之二的患有心理健康问题的青少年，包括患有精神疾病的青少年，没有得到心理健康服务系统的充分服务。经济上处于不利地位的青年尤其如此，他们中的许多人居住在我国的内陆城市。基于对服务于低收入家庭的纽约市学校进行的十多年的研究，本研究将使用理论和经验的定性方法来创建一个丰富的青少年和家长的青少年心理健康问题和治疗的“主位”概念数据库。核心数据的收集将包括半结构化的开放式访谈100父母-青年的二人组。通过开放式调查获得的叙述将进一步了解家庭如何思考和理解社区中的青少年心理健康问题。检查父母和青少年的叙述也将有助于确定哪里存在障碍，包括对心理健康服务的负面看法和经验，这些障碍会破坏适当治疗的途径。此外，访谈将使用假设的小插曲作为一个共同的刺激，以引出规范，态度和信念，青少年心理健康，精神症状和疾病，和治疗。初步的焦点小组将进行，以获得社区对访谈协议的投入，最后一组焦点小组将进行审查的主要结果和他们的解释。具体目标是：1.诱发青少年和青少年心理健康问题的父母主位概念化，问题的警告信号，以及对精神疾病及其治疗的信念和态度; 2。确定规范的信念，态度和行为有关的自助做法和寻求帮助的策略，青少年和家长使用，以解决青少年的心理健康问题; 3。综合研究结果，以（a）完善寻求帮助的青少年问题的概念模型，可以指导未来的研究和（B）有助于制定emic知情的战略，以改善青少年的心理健康和心理健康教育，推广和服务，在高度贫困的环境。长期目标是提供与文化相关的教育、外联和服务，以支持家庭，改善可能遇到心理健康问题的青少年的功能和生活机会。调查结果有可能提供一个更全面的了解为什么青少年在具有挑战性的经济弱势环境服务不足，以及可以采取什么步骤来纠正持续的差距。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This exploratory qualitative study asks: How do youth and their parents in high-poverty urban environments conceptualize, recognize and respond to teen mental health problems? Mental health problems not only take an emotional toll on families, but also can interfere with normal adolescent development, impeding academic success and the establishment of healthy relationships. Yet as many as two-thirds of adolescents experiencing mental health problems, including those with psychiatric disorders, are underserved by the mental health service system. This is especially the case for economically disadvantaged youth, many of whom reside in our nation's inner cities. Building on over a decade of research conducted with New York City schools serving low-income families, this study will use a theoretically and empirically informed qualitative approach to create a rich database of youths' and parents' "emic" concepts of teen mental health problems and treatment. Core data collection will consist of semi-structured open-ended interviews with 100 parent-youth dyads. Narratives obtained through open-ended inquiry will further understanding of how families think about and make sense of adolescent mental health problems in their community. Examining parents' and youths' narratives will also help identify where there are barriers, including negative perceptions of and experiences with mental health services, that derail pathways to appropriate treatment. In addition, interviews will use hypothetical vignettes as a common stimulus to elicit norms, attitudes, and beliefs about teen mental health, psychiatric symptoms and illness, and treatment. An initial set of focus groups will conducted to obtain community input on the interview protocol and a final set of focus groups will be conducted to review key findings and their interpretation. The specific aims are to: 1. Elicit youth and parent emic conceptualizations of adolescent mental health problems, warning signs of problems, and beliefs and attitudes about mental illness and its treatment; 2. Identify normative beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors related to self-help practices and help-seeking strategies used by adolescents and parents to address teen mental health problems; 3. Synthesize findings to (a) refine a conceptual model of help seeking for teen problems that can guide future research and (b) contribute to the development of emic-informed strategies for improving teen mental health and mental health education, outreach, and services in high-poverty settings. The long-term goal is to inform culturally-relevant education, outreach and services that support families and improve the functioning and life chances of adolescents who may be experiencing mental health problems. Findings have the potential to provide a fuller understanding of why adolescents in challenging economically disadvantaged settings are underserved and what steps can be taken to remedy ongoing disparities.