Thesis abstract
In the first chapter, a systematic literature review explored experiences of children in care (CIC) and caregivers of accessing mental health services. The importance of effective mental health support for this population has been consistently stressed across research literature. Qualitative research exploring perceptions of attempting to engage with services was synthesised using a meta-ethnographic approach. Ten papers were included for review, resulting in five superordinate themes: 1) Feeling threatened, 2) Uncertainty and mistrust, 3) Neglected and alone, 4) Lifting barriers, and 5) Connecting. The findings revealed a pattern of dynamics within the foster care and mental health services system that reflect common experiences of children’s distress. Based on this, clinical implications were considered, highlighting ways to facilitate CIC engagement and retention in mental health services.
The second chapter presents a qualitative empirical study, exploring foster carers’ experiences of team formulation (TF). TF has been reported as helpful for collaborative multi-disciplinary working across health and social care settings. In the present context, it was employed to support carers in a number of ways in their stressful role supporting CIC. Four carers were interviewed, the data from which were examined using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four super-ordinate themes resulted from this analysis, presented here: 1) Firefighting, 2) Everyone’s in my corner, 3) It’s another world for me, 4) It’s not set in stone. Implications clinically and in terms of future research were discussed.
In the third chapter, the project was critically appraised, summarising the findings and implications from both papers, as well as exploring the author’s reflections about the research process and implementation of qualitative research methodologies.