title: An Ethnographic-Discursive Approach to Parental Self-Help Groups: The Case of ADHD.
abstract: Mutual aid groups have become a common form of help in the mental health field. Although self-help groups are associated with a range of health and social benefits, they remain poorly understood in terms of the dynamics of their interactions. Adopting an ethnographic-discursive approach, we conducted a 6-month observation of the meetings of a self-help group of parents with children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to analyze the discursive dynamics of the interactions that characterized the group. Using a set of discursive strategies and practices, the parents promoted a homogeneity of viewpoints and experiences within the group and constructed a shared and consensual narrative to endorse a specific understanding of ADHD. The production of both homogeneity within the group and a shared narrative served to absolve parents of guilt, helped parents to signify their experience within a blaming social context, and preserved their identities as "good parents."
authors.affiliation: University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy alessandra.frigerio@unimib.it.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Frigerio
authors.affiliation: University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Montali
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012657:Self-Help Groups
keywords: Italy; attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); discourse analysis; ethnography; group interaction; knowledge construction; qualitative; self-help