This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Farnfield, S. Articles by Kaszap, M. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Farnfield, S. Articles by Kaszap, M. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

What makes a helpful grown up? Children's views of professionals in the mental health services

Department of Community Studies, The University of Reading, Bulmershe Court, Earley Reading RG6 1HY

M. Kaszap

Département de Didactique, Psychopédagogie et Technologie Educative, 866 Pavillon des Sciences de l’Education, Université Laval, Québec, Canada G1K 7P4

Children’s mental health has risen to the top of the social agenda in recent years but surprisingly little has been done systematically to collect and analyse their views of professional help. In this study the NUD•IST qualitative data analysis software was used to analyse 35 interviews with children and young adults aged between 7 and 20 and build a model of what makes a helpful grown up. It was also possible to discern what makes grown ups unhelpful and list some of the complaints the children had about their treatment. On coding the qualities of the helpful adult four major themes appeared: general qualities; counselling skills; ethical stance; and the ability to make things happen (helpful outcomes). The unhelpful adult was categorized in terms of: physical behaviour; verbal behaviour; social behaviour and attitudes. In terms of adult roles the three types of unhelpful behaviour are associated with parents, foster parents, residential workers in children’s homes and teachers. Unhelpful attitudes are associated with all adults whether carers or professionals. The children complained about foster and residential placements, the difficulty of actually telling adults they had a problem, the unfairness of the way some adults treated them and the help they should have had but either never received or which took too long to arrive. While making no claims for profundity this model of the helpful grown up is presented with considerable confidence. A finding was that the profession of the adult matters far less than whether or not they possess the qualities of the helpful grown up, and there is a clear need for all healthcare professionals working with children to possess these core skills if they are to be effective.

Health Informatics Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1, 3-14 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/146045829800400102


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Aubrey and S. Dahl Children's Voices: The Views of Vulnerable Children on Their Service Providers and the Relevance of Services They Receive Br. J. Soc. Work, January 1, 2006; 36(1): 21 - 39. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Carney, S. Murphy, J. McClure, E. Bishop, C. Kerr, J. Parker, F. Scott, C. Shields, and L. Wilson Children's Views of Hospitalization: An Exploratory Study of Data Collection J Child Health Care, March 1, 2003; 7(1): 27 - 40. [Abstract] [PDF]