ABSTRACT

At Risk Mental State (ARMS) refers to people deemed at elevated risk of experiencing a first episode of psychosis. Family relationships often play a significant role in both the development and experience of early psychosis. How families make sense of problems influences their emotional experiences and relationships. To date there has been no research exploring how parents make sense of ARMS. Seven parents with a child meeting the ARMS criteria shared their experiences through semi-structured interviews and the data gathered were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The findings suggested that parents experienced three stages when making sense of the ARMS criteria: initial uncertainty, experience of getting support and the process of looking to the future. Parents felt they lacked the skills to help their child and often had difficulty accessing the right services. The research also demonstrated that carer beliefs about psychosis identified in carers of those who experienced a first-episode psychosis are present even prior to a diagnosis of psychosis. Future work could consider ways of including and supporting parents during this sense-making process as well as better promoting ARMS services.

摘要

处于风险精神状态 (ARMS) 是指被认为处于首次精神病发作风险较高的人。家庭关系通常在早期精神病的发展和经历中起着重要作用。家庭如何理解问题会影响他们的情感体验和人际关系。迄今为止，还没有研究探讨父母如何理解 ARMS。七位孩子符合 ARMS 标准的父母通过半结构化访谈分享了他们的经历，并使用解释性现象学分析对收集到的数据进行了分析。研究结果表明，父母在理解 ARMS 标准时经历了三个阶段：最初的不确定性、获得支持的经历和展望未来的过程。父母认为他们缺乏帮助孩子的技能，并且经常难以获得正确的服务。该研究还表明，即使在诊断出精神病之前，在经历过首发精神病的人的照顾者中发现的照顾者对精神病的信念就已经存在。未来的工作可以考虑在这个意义形成过程中包括和支持父母以及更好地促进 ARMS 服务的方法。