The clinical and psychosocial journey of young people engaging with early intervention psychosis services: qualitative study

Background Early Intervention Psychosis Services (EIPS) provide multimodal interventions for young people who are at risk of, or have experienced, a first episode of psychosis. Although recent studies have begun to examine this critical period in a young person’s personal recovery in more depth, little is known about how young people experience EIPS in general, and its influences on their clinical and psychosocial recovery in particular. Aims This study aimed to explore young people’s experience of EIPS, specifically the factors that have affected their (a) clinical and (b) psychosocial recovery. Method This study purposively sampled 27 young people from a range of backgrounds at 6 community-based EIPS in Australia. Audio-recorded, semi-structured interviews were conducted and reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse this data-set. Results Four themes of how EIPS enabled recovery were identified. The first three - a safe space, unconditional support and active involvement – were foundational to a fourth theme of gradual self-management. In earlier-stage self-management, participants relied on practical supports to make connections and find education and employment opportunities. By later-stage self-management, they had developed the tools to do these things for themselves. Participants’ movement between earlier- and later-stage self-management was connected to their overall EIPS engagement and, for some, to their engagement with peer support. Conclusions Providing a safe space, unconditional support and active involvement for clients and their families created the foundational conditions for improved clinical and psychosocial recovery. Peer support programmes, increasing engagement when situational changes such as employment occur and the provision of culturally sensitive care appeared valuable to this process.