What question did this study set out to answer?

The study aims to explore the complex nature of friendship among youth in peer support settings.

April 19, 2026Open Access

Friendship: a phenomenological exploration of the lived experience of youth and of peer support workers in Youth FACT (flexible assertive community treatment) services

Key Points

The study aims to explore the complex nature of friendship among youth in peer support settings.
Phenomenological approach
In-depth interviews with youth and peer support workers
Analysis of lived experiences
Friendship is seen as a dynamic and complex experience
Meanings of friendship vary greatly among individuals
Some view friendship as protective, while others find it burdensome.

Abstract

Friendship reveals as a complex, living, existential phenomenon, integral, continuously in motion as dynamic processes beyond our control. Friendship offers possibilities without guarantees, unfolding through presence, vulnerability, movement, and freedom. Among young people and peer support workers in Youth FACT, our exploration show how layered meanings of friendship uncover uniquely in each encounter, protective for some, burdensome for others, and at times both within the same relationship and experience.

Friendship: a phenomenological exploration of the lived experience of youth and of peer support workers in Youth FACT (flexible assertive community treatment) services

Key Points

Abstract

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