Abstract
Introduction: ‘Recovery’ is a concept of current high interest in adult mental health research and services. There have been recent calls by the Care Services Improvement Partnership (2007) to transfer this concept to child mental health. However, caution is needed in assuming that the concept as we know it in adult mental health is applicable to children and their families. Objective: As it cannot be assumed that ‘recovery’ will be important to children and their families, this project investigated more broadly children’s experiences of mental health difficulties. In line with the existing research surrounding ‘recovery’ in adult mental health, this project aimed to move beyond developing an understanding of children’s experiences, to developing a conceptualisation. This project was one of three each looking at a different stakeholder group, with this project focusing on the views of parents/carers. Method: A grounded theory approach was used to interview and analyse data from twelve mothers of adolescents with anxiety and/or depression. Results: A conceptualisation of adolescents’ experiences of depression and/or anxiety, from the perspective of their mothers, was developed. Conclusion: The conceptualisation developed suggested some elements of overlap with ‘recovery’ in adult mental health, for example, the importance of the social context and hope, and the individual nature of mental health experiences which do not necessarily follow a linear pathway or lead to a specified outcome. However, the findings also highlight some aspects of divergence with the adult concept of ‘recovery’, which suggests caution is needed when considering transference to child mental health.