Understanding the experiences of teenagers with low mood- V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A qualitative investigation of the experiences of teenagers with low mood who attend a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.
IRAS ID
133981
Contact name
Shona Lavey
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Research and Governance Department, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
Research summary
How do adolescents with depression experience stigma?
Five percent of adolescents suffer from depression, and this will often persist into adulthood if untreated. Many adolescents with depression do not access mental health services for treatment. Research with adults has identified negative attitudes and actions (stigma) about mental health problems can reduce how likely people with depression are to seek treatment. There is a very limited amount of research into how adolescents with mental health problems experience stigma, and due to adolescence being a period where identity is developing, this could be crucial in the experiencce and management of stigma.
This study will interview 10-14 adolescents (aged between 14 and 17 years) who have a diagnosis of depression and are going to a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), about their experiences and awareness of stigma. This is an exploratory study that we hope will give us more information about how adolescents with depression experience and deal with stigma. Adolescents will be recruited from CAMHS in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and once their parents have consented to their participation, they will be asked to take part in a 45-90 minute semi-structured interview about their relationships, personal experiences of stigma and knowlesge of mental health stigma generally. After the interview, participants will be debriefed. The interviews will be transcribed and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. We hope that we will be able to learn from the experiences of these adolescents, so that we can help more adolescents to overcome stigma and to seek treatment for depression.
This study is sponsored by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, and is completed as part of a doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Oxford University.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/SC/0422
Date of REC Opinion
5 Sep 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion