Participatory action research with self-help/mutual aid organizations for psychiatric consumer/survivors is reviewed. We begin by tracing the origins of and defining both participatory action research and self-help/mutual aid. In so doing, the degree of correspondence between the assumptions/values of participatory action research and those of self-help/mutual aid for psychiatric consumer/survivors is examined. We argue that participatory action research and self-help/mutual aid share four values in common: (a) empowerment, (b) supportive relationships, (c) social change, and (d) learning as an ongoing process. Next, selected examples of participatory action research with psychiatric consumer/survivor-controlled self-help/mutual aid organizations which illustrate these shared values are provided. We conclude with recommendations of how the key values can be promoted in both the methodological and substantive aspects of future participatory action research with self-help/mutual aid organizations for psychiatric consumer/survivors.

This paper clari®es the concepts of empowerment and mental health and examines their interrelationships in a qualitative study of psychiatric consumer/survivors participating in three innovative community mental health programmes. Focus group interviews with 59 stakeholders and indepth stories of six consumer/survivors served as the data base. We de®ned mental health as the development of choice, control, and community integration and the acquisition of valued resources, and our research identi®ed indicators of each of these qualities. Moreover, we found empowering processes at the micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis that facilitated the recovery of mental health, as well as disempowering processes that impeded mental health. The ®ndings are discussed in the context of the literature on innovative practices and the emergence of an alternative paradigm in community mental health.

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This article presents a framework for understanding the concept of recovery from serious mental illnesses and other life struggles. The framework is based on findings from a longitudinal, qualitative study that involved in-depth interviews with 28 people who experienced serious mental health challenges. The purpose of this article is to clarify the concept of recovery by presenting a grounded theory analysis of the components of recovery. The framework recognizes the experiences of struggle constructed through the words of study participants and captures four main components of recovery: a) a drive to move forward, b) a spiral of positive and negative changes, c) the context of recovery, and d) a dialectical process of ongoing negotiation between self and external circumstances. Recovery Research and ThemesThe concept of recovery from serious mental illnesses was first used by psychiatrist Abraham Low, who founded one of the first mental health self-help This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

This article presents a new orienting fratiiework for understanding immigtant parenting. The framework was developed and tested through a qualitative research study that itivolved 50 focus group interviews with imtnigtant parents who have resided in Canada for less than 3 years. The article begitis by reviewing the existing parentitig models found in academic literature and noting the litnitations of these tnodels. Next it describes the cotnpoiients of our constructed framewotk for understanding itiitnigtant parenting. The article ends with the presentation of research results based on a large focus group data with 317 newcomer parents to Canada.