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‘I’m just one soldier of many in the battle against stigma’: Young people’s experiences developing an anti-stigma resource
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0540-3576
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Number of Authors: 82025 (English)In: British Journal of Social Work, ISSN 0045-3102, E-ISSN 1468-263X, article id bcaf107Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Children whose parents have mental health challenges often experience stigma, which may be further intensified by additional marginalized identities. StigmaBeat is a co-designed online resource developed with rural young people to challenge such stigma and share lived experiences. This qualitative, narrative study explored six participants’ ‘narratives of change’ one year after their involvement in developing the resource. Participants described feeling isolated, and particularly stigmatized in encounters with professionals before the project. Their involvement fostered connection with similarly situated peers and contributed to narrative reconstruction and destigmatization, with participants describing a shift from internalizing blame to becoming collectively armed to resist stigma rooted in structural injustice. They also reported greater self-compassion and a strengthened sense of empowerment to challenge stigma and influence others. Participants noted improvements in family dynamics and social relationships. The findings underscore the value of narrative approaches in professional practice—particularly anti-oppressive social work—in promoting non-stigmatizing understandings of social problems and mental health. The results call for social workers and healthcare professionals to engage in critical reflection on embedded assumptions and power dynamics that risk reproducing stigma. Narrative methods can further illuminate how interventions shape participants’ self-perceptions and everyday lives, offering valuable insights for practice development.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2025. article id bcaf107
Keywords [en]
Co-design, empowerment, epistemic injustice, mental health, stigma, young people
National Category
Social Work Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine
Research subject
Social Work
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-245580DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bcaf107ISI: 001520394900001OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-245580DiVA, id: diva2:1989283
Available from: 2025-08-15 Created: 2025-08-15 Last updated: 2025-08-26Bibliographically approved

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Silvén Hagström, Anneli

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