Cunningham, E., Jamieson-MacKenzie, I., McMellon, C., McCallin, M., Eltiraifi, M., Smith, L. and Hepburn, K. (2024) "Don’t tell me how to tell my story”: Exploring young people’s perceptions around what it means to ‘feel (mis)understood’ by adults in supporting roles. Children and Youth Services Review, 156, 107361. (doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107361)
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Abstract
The subjective and emotional experience of feeling (mis)understood by another person is distinct from being literally (mis)understood. While there is literature exploring young people’s experiences of feeling (mis)understood in therapeutic or clinical settings by adults and the impacts thereof, there is limited exploration of young people’s conceptualisations and perspectives of feeling (mis)understood within a range of young person-supporting adult relationships. This paper reports on the first stage of a project that was co-designed and co-produced by young people, exploring how young people experience and conceptualise ‘feeling (mis)understood’ in the context of receiving support from adults in their lives. This initial stage of the project captures young people’s views on what feeling (mis)understood feels like, its impact on their mental health, and how adults can help young people to feel understood. Conceptualisation, design, fieldwork, analysis and writing were all co-produced with peer-researchers. Data for this project was generated through four workshops each held in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A total of 26 participants aged between 16 and 24 years of age took part in these workshops, and each workshop was facilitated by two peer-researchers and a member of university staff. Data was analysed through collaborative thematic analysis. The study found that feeling understood by supporting adults has a very positive impact on young people’s wellbeing, mental health and help-seeking behaviour. Feeling misunderstood was found to have the converse effect, and in addition was found to make young people less likely to seek further support. Young people also identified a number of key actions adults can take to help the young people they support feel better understood. The findings of this research suggest that practitioners in the health and social care sector working with young people should consider the ways in which they can help young people feel better understood.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the TRIUMPH Network (triumph.sphsu.gla. ac.uk) which is funded by the Cross-Disciplinary Mental Health Network Plus initiative, supported by UKRI under grant ES/S004351/1. |
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | McMellon, Dr Christina and Cunningham, Ms Emily and Jamieson-MacKenzie, Miss Isla |
| Creator Roles: | Cunningham, E.Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing Jamieson-MacKenzie, I.Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – review and editing McMellon, C.Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review and editing |
| Authors: | Cunningham, E., Jamieson-MacKenzie, I., McMellon, C., McCallin, M., Eltiraifi, M., Smith, L., and Hepburn, K. |
| College/School: | College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > General Practice and Primary Care College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > MRC/CSO SPHSU |
| Journal Name: | Children and Youth Services Review |
| Publisher: | Elsevier |
| ISSN: | 0190-7409 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1873-7765 |
| Published Online: | 23 November 2023 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright: © 2023 The Authors |
| First Published: | First published in Children and Youth Services Review 156: 107361 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence |
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Funder and Project Information
Funder and Project Information