<p>The aim of this undergraduate thesis was to study the experience of participation in support groups for children of mentally ill parents. The research questions dealt with how the children and the adolescents talked about the knowledge, that they believed having assimilated in the support groups. The knowledge concerned mental illness and the possible impact on children when having mentally ill parents. The research questions also dealt with how the children and the adolescents talked about the meaning of being in a group. Qualitative semi structured interviews were used in order to capture the respondents’ subjective experiences. As tools for analyzing the results, parts of the theories of Piaget and Antonovsky were applied. The results showed that the respondents experienced that they had learned about mental illness and that they had gotten different feelings explained and validated. Meeting other children of mentally ill parents and sharing experiences were some of the factors that the respondents claimed had made them feel less alone. A conclusion of the study was that the children and the adolescents have different cognitive possibilities to incorporate information about mental illness. This could help explain their somewhat different experiences of the support groups.</p>

The aim of this undergraduate thesis was to study the experience of participation in support groups for children of mentally ill parents. The research questions dealt with how the children and the adolescents talked about the knowledge, that they believed having assimilated in the support groups. The knowledge concerned mental illness and the possible impact on children when having mentally ill parents. The research questions also dealt with how the children and the adolescents talked about the meaning of being in a group. Qualitative semi structured interviews were used in order to capture the respondents’ subjective experiences. As tools for analyzing the results, parts of the theories of Piaget and Antonovsky were applied. The results showed that the respondents experienced that they had learned about mental illness and that they had gotten different feelings explained and validated. Meeting other children of mentally ill parents and sharing experiences were some of the factors that the respondents claimed had made them feel less alone. A conclusion of the study was that the children and the adolescents have different cognitive possibilities to incorporate information about mental illness. This could help explain their somewhat different experiences of the support groups.