“Det är mycket leende, men bakom leendet ser man att det är rätt tungt."

: En kvalitativ undersökning om hur fritidsledare arbetar med att avstigmatisera psykisk ohälsa bland ungdomar

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate how recreation leaders work to destigmatize mental illness among young people who visit the recreation center. The focus was on the leisure leader and his role in working with the young people who visit the leisure park. In order to investigate how leisure leaders work to destigmatize mental illness among the young people who visit the leisure center, a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews has been carried out. This is to gain a deeper understanding and insight into the respondents' thoughts, knowledge and experiences regarding the role of leisure leader and the work to destigmatize mental illness. The results were analyzed based on the theory of stigma and the theory of sense of coherence. The results of the study showed that the recreation leaders work to destigmatize mental illness among the young people who visit the recreation center and that they work in slightly different ways. Leisure leaders have a significant role in the work with mental illness among young people who visit the leisure center as the leisure leader is neither the youth's parent nor teacher, but a safe outside adult. The leisure leaders work closely with other organizations to prevent a young person from getting into trouble and make the necessary efforts to help the young person to a safe existence.

Date of Award	2023-Jun
Original language	Swedish
Supervisor	Jonas Ringström (Supervisor) & Sari Pekkola (Examiner)