Utvärdering av stödgruppsverksamhet för barn och ungdomar som växer upp riskmiljöer

Sammanfattning: ABSTRACT Background: Children and adolescents growing up in families where parents have serious problems are exposed to an increased risk of developing poor mental or physical health themselves. In a support group work they can meet other children in the same situation, receive help and support to process their emotions and manage their everyday life. Aim: To investigate if support group work at Trappan can reduce the psychological problems load and increase the experience of life quality, hopefulness and optimism in children and adolescents growing up in families where either addiction or mental illness occur in one of the parents. The purpose was also to investigate if there was any difference between these both child groups regarding psychological problems load, experience of life quality, hopefulness and optimism before and after support group participation. Method: Questionnaire study on children and adolescents of parents with addiction or mental illness. The children participated in support group work at Trappan. The measuring’s were conducted before and after support group participation. Results: In both groups an increased life quality in connection to finished support group participation was observed. No obvious improvement could generally be established concerning the children’s psychological problems load, but in the children of parents with mental illness an improvement concerning friend problems was observed. In the children of parents with addiction an increased hopefulness for the future was observed. Conclusion: For children growing up in risk environments participation in support group work at Trappan may contribute to an increased experienced life quality and may also give an increased hope for the future. Further research is required on the significance of support groups, mainly with follow ups after a longer period of time.