Lost in transition? Perceptions of health care among young people with mental health problems in Germany: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: The transitioning of young patients from child and adolescent to adult mental health services when indicated often results in the interruption or termination of service. The personal views of young service users on current clinical practice are a valuable contribution that can help to identify service gaps. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of health care of young people with mental health problems in the transition age range (16–25 years), and to better understand health behaviour, care needs and the reasons for disengaging from care at this point in time. METHODS: Seven group discussions and three interviews were conducted with 29 young people in this age range. Discussions were audio-taped, transcribed verbatim and analysed following the reconstructive approach of R. Bohnsack’s documentary method. RESULTS: An overarching theme and nine subthemes emerged. Participants displayed a pessimistic and disillusioned general attitude towards professional mental health services. The discussions highlighted an overall concern of a lack of compassion and warmth in care. When they come into contact with the system they often experience a high degree of dependency which contradicts their pursuit of autonomy and self-determination in their current life stage. In the discussions, participants referred to a number of unmet needs regarding care provision and strongly emphasised relationship issues. As a response to their care needs not being met, they described their own health behaviour as predominantly passive, with both an internal and external withdrawal from the system. CONCLUSIONS: Research and clinical practice should focus more on developing needs-oriented and autonomy-supporting care practice. This should include both a shift in staff training towards a focus on communicative skills, and the development of skills training for young patients to strengthen competences in health literacy. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13034-018-0249-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.