Better Relationships, Mental Wellness, and Self Development: What Parents Expect from Residential Treatment for Their Struggling Youth

Parents often initiate treatment for their youth with substance use or mental health issues. For this reason, parental expectations of treatment are helpful in considering the nature of parental engagement in the treatment process and possible barriers to treatment. The goal of this study was to better understand the expectations of parents who sought residential treatment for their youth. From 638 potential parent applications, 28 individual applications were randomly selected for in-depth qualitative analysis. The most frequently expressed expectation was for youth to have better relationships with their family and with peers. Implications for treatment program design, effectiveness, and evaluation are discussed. Keywords: treatment expectations, residential treatment, adolescents, parent involvement, mental health, substance use Acknowledgements: We gratefully acknowledge the parents who made this paper possible.