TY - JOUR

T1 - Encounters with service professionals experienced by children from families with alcohol problems

T2 - A qualitative interview study

AU - Werner, Anne

AU - Malterud, Kirsti

PY - 2016/11/1

Y1 - 2016/11/1

N2 - Aim: The aim of this study was to explore encounters with service professionals experienced in childhood and adolescence by children who grew up with parental alcohol abuse. We focused on their accounts from situations indicating children’s struggles or parental drinking problems. Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interview study was conducted with retrospective data from nine adults. Systematic text condensation was used to understand childhood experiences from encounters with professionals. Results: Participants believed that professionals rarely recognised their parents’ drinking problems. The children felt abandoned by professionals who must have noticed their struggles. Participants experienced that their appearance or behaviour was ignored and that they were not invited to talk. Professionals taking part in individual family members’ problems seemed to avoid subsequent involvement in underlying parental drinking. Even when problems were obvious, participants felt that professionals took no further action. Medical and social problems were managed within very confined perspectives. Conclusions: Specific commitment to confront cultural taboos is needed to attend to children’s unmet needs. Recognising each young person’s situation implies not only noticing that something is wrong, but also taking action. Children’s experiences of fragmented and confined approaches towards parental drinking problems may be counteracted by better collaboration between teachers, school nurses and GPs.

AB - Aim: The aim of this study was to explore encounters with service professionals experienced in childhood and adolescence by children who grew up with parental alcohol abuse. We focused on their accounts from situations indicating children’s struggles or parental drinking problems. Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interview study was conducted with retrospective data from nine adults. Systematic text condensation was used to understand childhood experiences from encounters with professionals. Results: Participants believed that professionals rarely recognised their parents’ drinking problems. The children felt abandoned by professionals who must have noticed their struggles. Participants experienced that their appearance or behaviour was ignored and that they were not invited to talk. Professionals taking part in individual family members’ problems seemed to avoid subsequent involvement in underlying parental drinking. Even when problems were obvious, participants felt that professionals took no further action. Medical and social problems were managed within very confined perspectives. Conclusions: Specific commitment to confront cultural taboos is needed to attend to children’s unmet needs. Recognising each young person’s situation implies not only noticing that something is wrong, but also taking action. Children’s experiences of fragmented and confined approaches towards parental drinking problems may be counteracted by better collaboration between teachers, school nurses and GPs.

U2 - 10.1177/1403494816661651

DO - 10.1177/1403494816661651

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 27516443

VL - 44

SP - 663

EP - 670

JO - Acta socio-medica Scandinavica

JF - Acta socio-medica Scandinavica

SN - 1403-4948

IS - 7

ER -