A young person's first psychiatric hospitalization can present a crisis for the family. This initial contact with the mental health care system and health care providers, whether positive or negative, has the potential to set the foundation for all future interactions. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a young person's first hospitalization on his or her parents and to determine the parents' perspectives on their own emotional and practical support needs. Ten parents (nine mothers and one father) of a young person aged 18 to 25 were recruited through local support groups and by snowball sampling. Based on Aguilera and Messick's (1986) crisis theory, participants were asked about their perception of the event, coping methods they used, and support systems they engaged while their adult child was hospitalized. Six themes were identified: feeling relief about receiving a diagnosis; shock and disbelief associated with the diagnosis of a mental illness; isolation associated with the stigma of mental illness; feeling excluded during the discharge process; and grieving for the loss associated with an altered future. The results revealed that participants received their support from family, friends, and support groups and did not find mental health care providers to be helpful or supportive. The participants provided recommendations for those who work with families experiencing the crisis of a first psychiatric hospitalization.

Pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is an intensive treatment that can be life-threatening. All family members experience distress. We conducted a grounded theory study using a family systems-expressive arts framework to develop a theoretical understanding of the family experience of HSCT. Six families (15 family members) participated in two interviews, drew an image, and were guided through a “dialoguing with images” process. Participants did not always perceive HSCT as an experience they had lived as a family and were surprised to hear other family members’ experiences. While one mother drew, she suddenly understood it was not only her ill child, but the entire family who had “fallen down the rabbit hole.” The family experience of HSCT is described across (a) the pre-HSCT trajectory, (b) family fragmentation (hospitalization), and (c) family reintegration. We identified a critical need for targeted family intervention during the transition into HSCT, throughout and following hospitalization.

Despite the increasing integration of arts-based methods within qualitative research, few expressive arts methods have been studied to understand their process, rationale and impact on the inquiry process. We conducted a grounded theory study on family experiences of paediatric HSCT where we simultaneously adapted and studied a ‘dialoguing with images’ (DI) expressive arts process as method. Fifteen family members participated in two interviews, drew an image and were guided through the DI method. We articulate the social process shared by researchers, participants and the images as they co-constructed knowledge through the DI method. The four distinct phases of the method include: 1) containing the imaginative space within an outer and inner frame, 2) creating an embodied image: image work is an expressive, generative process, 3) a shared, participatory aesthetic interpretation and 4) crystallizing stories of illness. The findings are grounded in expressive arts theory and philosophy, hermeneutics and analytical art psychotherapy theory.