A qualitative exploration of how adopted children and their parents conceptualise mental health difficulties.

Date
2016-03
Authors
O’Reilly, Michelle
Bowlay-Williams, Jeanette
Svirydzenka, N.
Vostanis, P.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sage
Peer reviewed
Yes
Abstract
Adopted children tend to have high levels of emotional, behavioural and developmental need and are more likely to present to a range of services, including Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Although research exploring adopted children’s’ perspectives is growing, it remains limited. Furthermore, there has been little work t0 engage adopted children in research. Our project aimed to examine adopted children’s viewpoints of mental health and services alongside those of their adoptive carers. Results indicated that, although there were some similarities between carer and child perspectives, they also frequently differed. They provided different constructions of the problem but agreed that family relationships were strained. Some acknowledgement of the role of the school was offered and other external sources of support cited. Coping was considered to be complex and, while some issues were analogous to ‘normal’ family life, much was inherent to the adoption status.
Description
The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
Keywords
children and adolescents, mental health, adoption, parents, perceptions
Citation
O’Reilly, M., Bowlay-Williams, J., Svirydzenka, N. and Vostanis, P. (2016) A qualitative exploration of how adopted children and their parents conceptualise mental health difficulties. Adoption & Fostering, 40 (1), pp. 60-76
Research Institute
Institute for Psychological Science
Mary Seacole Research Centre