{"id":{"repo_id":"city-london","oai_identifier":"oai:openaccess.city.ac.uk:17026"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/city-london/oai:openaccess.city.ac.uk:17026","repository":{"repo_id":"city-london","name":"City University of London","base_url":"https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/cgi/oai2"},"display":{"title":"My Child and Me: A Qualitative Exploration of the Experiences of Parents Who Have Had a Child or Children Receive Psychological Therapy","abstract":"Previous research has examined general attitudes towards mental health. These attitudes have tended to be stigmatised, which results in a negative impact upon the individuals who suffer from mental health difficulties. When parents have a child who suffers from a mental health difficulty, they are also affected by these stigmatising views, and there appears to be a culture of blame placed upon parents, particularly mothers. When a child needs psychological therapy, the effects that parents can have upon their child's therapy have been well researched, but the effects that children's mental health and the receipt of psychological therapy has upon the parents has been less researched, and there is a significant lack of research conducted around this area in the UK. This piece of research aimed to address this gap and to explore parents' experiences of having had a child or children receive psychological therapy. Eight mothers were interviewed all of whom had a child or children under the age of sixteen years receive psychological therapy. A semi-structured interview schedule was used, and the data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four master themes emerged from the analysis which highlighted how the mothers made sense of having a child receive psychological therapy; the enhancement of relationships, exploring the meaning of having a child with mental health difficulties, the journey of therapy, and negotiating the role of parenthood. These themes are further discussed, and links are made to relevant previous research and literature. The challenges of conducting this research are discussed, along with the strengths and limitations of the study and the implications for the field of Counselling Psychology and practice. Ideas for future research are also presented. Keywords: parents, children, mental health, psychological therapy, IPA","abstract_html":"Previous research has examined general attitudes towards mental health. These attitudes have tended to be stigmatised, which results in a negative impact upon the individuals who suffer from mental health difficulties. When parents have a child who suffers from a mental health difficulty, they are also affected by these stigmatising views, and there appears to be a culture of blame placed upon parents, particularly mothers. When a child needs psychological therapy, the effects that parents can have upon their child's therapy have been well researched, but the effects that children's mental health and the receipt of psychological therapy has upon the parents has been less researched, and there is a significant lack of research conducted around this area in the UK. This piece of research aimed to address this gap and to explore parents' experiences of having had a child or children receive psychological therapy. Eight mothers were interviewed all of whom had a child or children under the age of sixteen years receive psychological therapy. A semi-structured interview schedule was used, and the data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four master themes emerged from the analysis which highlighted how the mothers made sense of having a child receive psychological therapy; the enhancement of relationships, exploring the meaning of having a child with mental health difficulties, the journey of therapy, and negotiating the role of parenthood. These themes are further discussed, and links are made to relevant previous research and literature. The challenges of conducting this research are discussed, along with the strengths and limitations of the study and the implications for the field of Counselling Psychology and practice. Ideas for future research are also presented. Keywords: parents, children, mental health, psychological therapy, IPA","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Clark, Julia"],"institution":"City, University of London","degree_name":"other","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016","date_published":"2016","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:39:30Z","subjects":["BF Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Clark, Julia"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2016"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2016"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Doctoral Theses","Department of Psychology & Neuroscience","School of Health & Medical Sciences Doctoral Theses","Department of Psychology"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["City, University of London"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/17026/"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["other"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["BF Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/17026/1/Clark%2C%20Julia%20%28redacted%29.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Previous research has examined general attitudes towards mental health. These attitudes have tended to be stigmatised, which results in a negative impact upon the individuals who suffer from mental health difficulties. When parents have a child who suffers from a mental health difficulty, they are also affected by these stigmatising views, and there appears to be a culture of blame placed upon parents, particularly mothers. When a child needs psychological therapy, the effects that parents can have upon their child's therapy have been well researched, but the effects that children's mental health and the receipt of psychological therapy has upon the parents has been less researched, and there is a significant lack of research conducted around this area in the UK. This piece of research aimed to address this gap and to explore parents' experiences of having had a child or children receive psychological therapy. Eight mothers were interviewed all of whom had a child or children under the age of sixteen years receive psychological therapy. A semi-structured interview schedule was used, and the data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four master themes emerged from the analysis which highlighted how the mothers made sense of having a child receive psychological therapy; the enhancement of relationships, exploring the meaning of having a child with mental health difficulties, the journey of therapy, and negotiating the role of parenthood. These themes are further discussed, and links are made to relevant previous research and literature. The challenges of conducting this research are discussed, along with the strengths and limitations of the study and the implications for the field of Counselling Psychology and practice. Ideas for future research are also presented. Keywords: parents, children, mental health, psychological therapy, IPA"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["text"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["My Child and Me: A Qualitative Exploration of the Experiences of Parents Who Have Had a Child or Children Receive Psychological Therapy"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Clark, Julia"],"dc:date":["2016"],"dc:date.issued":["2016"],"dc:description.abstract":["Previous research has examined general attitudes towards mental health. These attitudes have tended to be stigmatised, which results in a negative impact upon the individuals who suffer from mental health difficulties. When parents have a child who suffers from a mental health difficulty, they are also affected by these stigmatising views, and there appears to be a culture of blame placed upon parents, particularly mothers. When a child needs psychological therapy, the effects that parents can have upon their child's therapy have been well researched, but the effects that children's mental health and the receipt of psychological therapy has upon the parents has been less researched, and there is a significant lack of research conducted around this area in the UK. This piece of research aimed to address this gap and to explore parents' experiences of having had a child or children receive psychological therapy. Eight mothers were interviewed all of whom had a child or children under the age of sixteen years receive psychological therapy. A semi-structured interview schedule was used, and the data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four master themes emerged from the analysis which highlighted how the mothers made sense of having a child receive psychological therapy; the enhancement of relationships, exploring the meaning of having a child with mental health difficulties, the journey of therapy, and negotiating the role of parenthood. These themes are further discussed, and links are made to relevant previous research and literature. The challenges of conducting this research are discussed, along with the strengths and limitations of the study and the implications for the field of Counselling Psychology and practice. Ideas for future research are also presented. Keywords: parents, children, mental health, psychological therapy, IPA"],"dc:format":["text"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/17026/1/Clark%2C%20Julia%20%28redacted%29.pdf"],"dc:publisher.department":["Doctoral Theses","Department of Psychology & Neuroscience","School of Health & Medical Sciences Doctoral Theses","Department of Psychology"],"dc:publisher.institution":["City, University of London"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/17026/"],"dc:subject":["BF Psychology"],"dc:title":["My Child and Me: A Qualitative Exploration of the Experiences of Parents Who Have Had a Child or Children Receive Psychological Therapy"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["other"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:39:30Z"}