Family Resilience Progress from the Perspective of Parents of Adolescents with Depression: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Abstract

Family resilience plays an important role in the healthy family development of adolescents with depression, but few studies have explored the specific process of family resilience. This study aims to explore the dynamic processes of family resilience from parents of adolescents with depression. Data were collected from 14 Chinese parents of adolescents with depression by interpretative phenomenological analysis method. Four themes and 12 sub-themes emerged: (1) decompensation phase: (i) misinterpretations of illness, (ii) heavy psychological burden, (iii) chaotic rhythms in family; (2) launch phase: (i) potential influences of labeling, (ii) we must cure my child anyway, (iii) begin adjusting to family roles; (3) recovery phase: (i) family reflection, (ii) subsequent reorganization of family resources, (iii) ultimately establishing a new balance; (4) normality phase: (i) adaption for medical seeking process, (ii) actively lower expectations, (iii) concerns of future needs. Mental health professionals could provide targeted suggestions to help the parents achieve family resilience by assessing its different phases.

Parental Perception of Children's Mental Health During the Pandemic: Insights From an Italian Cross‐Sectional Study

“…However, studies performed with different methodologies showed conflicting results, suggesting that there is no sufficient evidence on this issue 69‐72 . Additionally, it was associated with spending less than half day with the child, in line with previous studies reporting that time spent with relatives was protective against symptoms of poor mental health 73,74 . In contrast with pandemic‐related literature, 47,48,60,75 this outcome was less likely among female children, perhaps due to confounding variables that unfortunately we did not evaluate.…”

The lived experience of mental disorders in adolescents: a bottom‐up review co‐designed, co‐conducted and co‐written by experts by experience and academics

“…Parents must "learn how to parent in a completely different way" 109,110 , often negotiating a new balance between maternal and paternal roles 107 and establishing new parental rules 111 . This may include "letting [the child] get away with things that I wouldn't have before probably" 108 .…”

The relationship between family communication and family resilience in Chinese parents of depressed adolescents: a serial multiple mediation of social support and psychological resilience

“…This cross-sectional study was a part of a larger mixed methods project. This project quantitatively investigated the relationships between family resilience and family communication in parents of depressed adolescents in this paper, and in another paper, interpretative phenomenological analysis method was used to explore the dynamic processes of family resilience from parents of adolescents with depression [9]. Participants were recruited from the inpatient department of children and adolescent psychiatry of two tertiary hospitals in Changsha, China, between May and December 2020.…”

“…Long-term hospitalization places a heavy financial burden on families, especially for some low-income families [6]. In addition, families face long-term caregiving burdens, family dysfunction, and breakdown of family relationships, severely reducing the quality of life of family members [7][8][9]. Notably, a recent study found that some families with chronically ill children demonstrate satisfactory coping skills, and use their experiences to facilitate normal family functioning [10].…”

“…Studies have found that family resilience is strongly associated with the flourishing growth of children in adversity [12]. Although previous studies have indicated that family resilience program can effectively reduce posttraumatic stress and negative emotions in parents, while improving overall family functioning [13], studies examining the mechanism of family resilience in depressed adolescents are currently inadequate [9,14]. There are some researches to explore the mechanism of resilience, but they are focusing on individual resilience rather than family resilience [15,16].…”