https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0032-3144
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ABSTRACT
Purpose: This article aims to explore counsellor experiences using an idiographic assessment procedure implemented in adolescent mental health services. The procedure, Assert, is based on asking the adolescents the question “What matters to you?” to define important topics to address in treatment.
Methods: Focus groups and interviews were conducted with counsellors who used Assert (N = 27), and the data were analysed with thematic analysis.
Results: Five themes were identified: (a) “What Matters to You?” (b) “Professional Responsibility,” (c) “Empowering the Adolescent,” (d) “Practical Utility of Assert in Treatment,” and (e) “The Implementation of Assert.” Each theme had a number of associated sub-themes.
Conclusions: Assert was perceived by the counsellors as enhancing collaboration and conveying to the adolescents that the counsellors took their concerns seriously. It also provided structure by giving the sessions a concrete focus. However, some counsellors found it difficult to surrender control to the adolescents, and finding a balance between helping and directing the adolescents to define topics could be challenging at times. Assert was generally considered a useful and simple way to assess adolescents’ concerns, and it was accepted by the counsellors as a positive contribution to their existing methods.
Acknowledgments
Martha Shumway for her contributions to the analysis and interpretation.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. This number refers to her grade. The scale goes from one, which is failing, to six, which is the best grade.
2. Here, the counsellor is referring to the randomization of the adolescents to intervention or control conditions.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Thomas Kristian Tollefsen
Thomas Kristian Tollefsen was educated as a clinical psychologist from University of Oslo in 2012 and is employed by the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. He is currently researching how idiographic assessment of adolescents’ concerns may influence their autonomy, mental health and quality of life. His main fields of interest include adolescent development, empowerment and user involvement in treatment of adolescents and mental health in primary health care settings.
Sabrina Michelle Darrow
Dr. Sabrina Michelle Darrow is Assistant Professor and licenced psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry. She is passionate about improving the link between research and mental health services with the goal of empowering individuals to reach their personal goals. She has a particular interest in helping youth struggling with depression, anxiety, and suicide. Dr. Darrow’s expertise is in clinical behaviour analysis and her primary research interests include the clinical utility of assessments, mechanisms of action in psychotherapy, and implementation science.
Vibeke Lohne
Dr. Vibeke Lohne is a Nurse and a Professor at University of OsloMet. She has a degree (Dr Polit) from University of Oslo and her main research focus is on hope, dignity in critically illness and in the context of rehabilitation, and on family caregivers.
Turid Suzanne Berg-Nielsen
Dr. Turid Suzanne Berg-Nielsen is educated as a psychologist from the University of Oslo and became a specialist in clinical psychology in 1986. She achieved her PhD at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 2002 and became a professor of clinical child psychology at the same university in 2013. Her research is focused on clinical child psychology, developmental psychology and parent-child interaction. She is the Principal Investigator in the Assert-study, which this publication is a part of.