Narratives of recovery from psychosis of young African Caribbean men

1. Narratives of recovery from psychosis of young African Caribbean men By Bello Utoblo PhD Researcher Faculty of Health and Social Sciences Leeds Metropolitan University LS2 8NU

2. Aim of the Study The study aimed to research the phenomenon of recovery from psychosis through exploring the experiences of young African Caribbean men focusing on what has helped or hindered them so far in their recovery journey

3. Key factors found to influence research participants’ recovery Treatment Supportive relationships Hope Self Concept

4. Treatments Psychological intervention Participant indicated that talking to a therapist was unhelpful as led to low feelings and suicidal thoughts. Hospital admission A place of safety Hospital admission facilitated medical tests and assessment Hospital as link to community services Use of medication Improvement in symptoms due to use of medication But side effects such as participant feeling weak was associated with medication use, which appeared to impede on usage.

5. Supportive relationships Family members Healthcare professionals Trusting relationship with community psychiatric nurse and social worker. Who undertook regular home visits and maintained frequent contact. • Being able to talk to and share their concerns with the family was a core factor in the study participants recovery • This contributed to help with access to mental health service. • Which helped reduce risk of admission or detention under the mental health act. • Family members also helped with safer accommodation.

6. Identified supportive network

7. Hope • Study participants highlighted having hope was important to them. • Conceptualised into three categories • Formation of hope such as talking to family members and birth of child • Maintenance of hope such as encouragement and need to keep head up because of son/family • However, there were obstacles likely to affect the study participants abilities to maintain hope such as unemployment, social exclusion and poor mental health care.

8. Hope and recovery HOPE Maintenance: .Encouragement .Need to keep head up because of son/family Formation: .Talking to mum/dad .Birth of son Obstacles include: .Unemployment .Bereavement .Social exclusion

9. Self concept • Self concept in relation to both gender and racial identities was highlighted as of crucial importance. • Study participant believes that as an African male he is supposed to support • Hence identified employment as relevant to increase self worth, and offer a chance to engage in meaningful activity and contribute