Joining, belonging, and re-valuing: A process of meaning-making through group participation in a mental health lifestyle intervention

Abstract

Background: Balancing Everyday Life (BEL), a new group-based intervention for mental health service users, was implemented in Sweden. Mental health service users often experience group interventions as meaningful, but knowledge of the process of meaning-making in a group is lacking.

Aim: To explore participants’ perceptions of the group in the Balancing Everyday Life (BEL) lifestyle intervention; specifically, personal experiences of what brings meaning when participating in a group.

Methods: This qualitative Grounded Theory study included 26 interviews with 19 BEL participants.

Results: A process of meaning-making in a group was constructed: Joining with others: from feeling alone to connected, A sense of belonging: mutual support and understanding, and Re-valuing Self: respect and self-worth. No longer feeling alone contributed to meaning. Peers and group leaders were considered important parts of the group, and participants appreciated feeling understood, respected, and helping others.

Conclusion: The proposed process of meaning-making, as well as ‘Joining’ as a unique step, seems to be new contributions which could help practitioners when organizing groups. Overcoming fear of joining could break a cycle of isolation and lead to connecting and belonging. The value of participants finding purpose through helping others should be further explored.

Keywords:

• Mental illness
• group intervention
• occupational therapy
• lifestyle
• meaning
• mental health
• groups
• grounded theory

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the participants who offered their time, stories, and insights, and without whom this research could not have been done. We acknowledge Maria Emmelin and Becky Nelson for their valuable feedback in the beginning analysis stage. We would also like to thank Kathy Charmaz for encouraging an approach of delving deeper into categories emerging from the data, and for her feedback on theoretical sampling and theory testing.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by the Swedish Research Council, Reg. No. K2014-99X-20067-09-4. Vetenskapsrådet.