Self-care strategies for emotional distress among young adults in Catalonia: a qualitative study

Defining young people's mental health self-care: a systematic review and co-development approach

Self-care is among the emerging types of mental health support which operate outside traditional services, although the meaning and practice of self-care for young people with mental health difficulties are currently unclear. This systematic review was pre-registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021282510) and investigated conceptualizations of self-care in academic publications which investigated or discussed self-care for young people's mental health or wellbeing. A Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) workshop facilitated young people with experience of mental health difficulties to respond to the identified concepts and co-develop a definition of self-care. Searches in PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL Plus, Scopus, Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews, and gray literature sources resulted in 90 included publications. Content analysis indicated little conceptual consistency, with health and wellness promotion most commonly used to define self-care. The PPI workshop co-developed a definition of mental health self-care, which attendees felt should emphasize an individual process of self-awareness, self-compassion, and specific strategies to work toward emotional balance. This study highlights the gap between current academic understandings of young people's mental health self-care and young people's experience. The presented definition will enable future research to begin from an understanding of self-care which is relevant to young people with experience of mental health difficulties.

Representations and care practices of professionals regarding indigenous use of alcohol

Indigenous people's health in Brazil is organized by the indigenous health subsystem, structured according to that of SUS, and described in the National Policy for Health Care of Indigenous Peoples. Alcohol consumption has been regarded as a health issue among indigenous peoples. In this paper, we describe the representations attributed by health professionals concerning alcohol use among indigenous peoples, and how these influence care practices. This is a descriptive ethnographic study based on interviews and participant observation. Analysis and interpretation were made with the support of Software Atlas TI 8.0. Excessive consumption occurs in specific contexts, and professionals view alcohol use as a problem. Drinking patterns vary with ethnicity, religion, and location, thus resulting in the need to develop cultural competencies that support implementation of effective actions and that also allow for collective construction, as stipulated in the policies. A network of supporters is described, among which are indigenous leaders, traditional healers, and the Evangelical Church. The study shows the difficulties of both carrying out policies and implementing actions which correspond to the indigenous peoples' expectations, recognizing the cultural and social rationale related to alcohol use.

Meeting the needs? Perceived support of a nurse-led lifestyle programme for young adults with mental illness in a primary health-care setting

Being a young adult with mental illness challenges all aspects of health, including an increased risk for developing lifestyle-related diseases. There is a lack of lifestyle programmes in primary health care that target physical, mental, and social needs for young adults with mental illness. The aim of the present study was to describe the experiences of young adults with mental illness receiving support from a nurse-led lifestyle programme, and how this support was related to their life context, including challenges and coping strategies. Two focus groups and six individual interviews were performed with 13 young adults (16-25 years), and analysed using a qualitative content analysis. The findings showed that the young adults experienced challenges in their daily lives, including psychiatric symptoms, lack of social understanding, and loneliness. The study indicated that the programme could support lifestyle habits with its components of supportive interpersonal relationships, awareness of coping strategies, understanding of health and illness, and cognitive support (e.g. schedules and reminders). However, the programme could not meet everyone's needs for new social relationships or more comprehensive support. Even so, this nurse-led programme provides health information-management strategies that could easily be integrated in a primary health-care setting.

Prioritizing young people's emotional health support needs via participatory research

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT?: Young people's mental health is a concern to people around the world. Good emotional health promotes mental health and protects against mental illness, but we need to know more about how to help young people look after their emotional health. We are learning that research is better if the public are involved in it, including children and young people. Therefore, we need to listen carefully to what young people have to say. In this paper, we describe some research that involved young people from start to finish. We were asking what kind of emotional health support would be useful to them. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: We developed a useful way to involve young people in research so their voice can be heard. Young people like to use the Internet to find emotional health support and information, but need to know which web sites they can trust. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Our method of bringing young people together to tell us their views was successful. It is important to explore ways to help young people judge the quality of emotional health web sites.

ABSTRACT

Introduction Youth mental health is a global concern. Emotional health promotes mental health and protects against mental illness. Youth value self-care for emotional health, but we need better understanding of how to help them look after their emotional health. Participatory research is relevant, since meaningful engagement with youth via participatory research enhances the validity and relevance of research findings and supports young people's rights to involvement in decisions that concern them. Aim We aimed to develop a participatory approach for involving youth in research about their emotional health support preferences. Method Our team included a young expert-by-experience. We developed a qualitative, participatory research design. Eleven youth (16-18 years) participated in focus groups, followed immediately by a nominal group exercise in which they analysed the data, thus enhancing methodological rigour. Results This process highlighted youth perspectives on self-care strategies for emotional health. Discussion and implications for practice Our simple participatory research approach generated trustworthy and credible findings, which accurately reflect youth perspectives and are consistent with the literature, endorsing our method. Young people said that they want reassurances of quality and safety when accessing digital mental health resources. These findings can inform future development of youth-oriented digital mental health resources.