Children of mentally ill parents: The need for new routines and better implementation strategies

Reedtz, Charlotte; Lauritzen, Camilla

doi:10.15714/scandpsychol.2.e10

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Child Talks is implemented and adopted in northern Norway (16). Regarding this intervention, Reedtz and Lauritzen (35) found in a retrospective study of electronic patient journals in the University hospital in north Norway that implementing Child Talks in adult mental healthcare may lead to clear identification of patients who are parents and more referrals of children in need of more extensive interventions ( N = 5,268 in 2010, N = 5,599 in 2011, and N = 5,705 in 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of the “Semente” Program on the Family-Focused Practice of Mental Health Professionals in Portugal

et al. 2019

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Background: Children of parents with mental illness (COPMI) are a high-risk group. There is a strong association between parents’ psychiatric disorders and the incidence of psychopathology in their children. These children need to be identified and supported by mental health workers early, and hence, clinical practice in adult mental health services needs to change from a focus on individual patients to a more systemic family focus. “Semente,” a mental health promotion program developed by the Psychiatry Service of Fernando Fonseca hospital (Lisbon, Portugal), had been established to identify these children and families and promote their mental health, by decreasing the impact of risk factors and promoting protective factors. The program included preventive COPMI interventions and implementation of activities offered to families with children in the mental health care. The aim of the present study was to evaluate changes in mental health care after the training in “Child Talks” intervention (two to three psycho-educational meetings with parents and children) and implementation of the “Semente” program. Methods: Participants ( N = 51) were all professionals from Psychiatric Service of Fernando Fonseca Hospital who received Child Talks training. The Family-Focused Mental Health Practice Questionnaire (FFMPQ) was used to measure change in professionals’ attitudes, knowledge, confidence, and organizational structure in working with these families. All participants filled in the questionnaire before training and 10 months later. Results: The results showed that, from pre- to post-measurement, the professionals changed clinical practice significantly. The largest changes were visible in the improved provision of support at the workplace for family-focused practice and the clarity and availability of the policies and procedures. Furthermore, the skill and knowledge of the mental health workers showed significant improvement at posttest. Conclusion: The positive results of this study were not unexpected; the training, implementation of routines, and procedures as well as workplace support were aims of the “Semente” program. Interpretation of the results should be taken with caution because of the small sample and the lower reliability of some of scales of the FFMPQ. The results indicate that professionals moved from patient focus to family focus during the implementation of the “Semente” program.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of the “Semente” Program on the Family-Focused Practice of Mental Health Professionals in Portugal

et al. 2019

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“…These provisions require health personnel in adult mental health services to identify and fulfill the needs of COPMI. It has taken time to implement these legal amendments, and they have thus far not led to satisfactory changes in clinical practice (40, 41). One study showed that 56% of health personnel at a large Norwegian university hospital did not identify patients' children (39), and a 5-years follow-up study showed that 28% of the health personnel in the same clinic still did not identify patients' minor children (42).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of Children of Parents With Mental Illness: A Necessity to Provide Relevant Support

et al. 2019

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Background: The main objective of this study was to identify and describe core life circumstances of children with mentally ill parents (COPMI) and their parents. Knowledge about COPMI aged 0–17 years is necessary, as assessment of the risk and protective factors in their lives provide solid background for preventive interventions.Methods: Participants (N = 422) were parents of minor children (N = 589) receiving treatment in the clinic for psychiatric illness and substance abuse at the University Hospital of Northern Norway. Data was drawn from electronic patient journals.Results: A total of 286 mothers and 136 fathers participated in the study, and 46.3% were single parents. Parents had 1–7 children (M = 2.24; SD = 1.02). Most parents had one diagnosis (n = 311, 73.7%), and mood disorders was the most frequent type of diagnosis. The largest proportion of parents had serious mental disorders (n = 185; 46.0%), and a large proportion of the sample was affected by disorders of moderate severity (n = 156; 38.8%). The mean age of the children was 8.6 years (SD = 4.97), and 432 children (74.6%) had one or more siblings. The large majority of children had access to adult resource persons other than the mentally ill parent (n = 424; 94%), but 6% of the children (n = 27) did not. About three quarters of the children (76.2%, n = 526) were living with the mentally ill parent (n = 401), and 170 children (32.5%) lived with a single parent with a mental health disorder and siblings, full time or part of the time. The odds that parents had informed their children about the treatment/hospitalization and condition was higher the older the child was (p < 0.001), and the youngest children rarely got necessary information about this.Discussion: Risk and protective factors associated with the children's ages, access to resource persons, information about the parent's health problems and treatment are discussed in relation to different preventive steps for COPMI.

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Children of mentally ill parents: The need for new routines and better implementation strategies

Cited by 2 publications

References 18 publications

The Impact of the “Semente” Program on the Family-Focused Practice of Mental Health Professionals in Portugal

The Impact of the “Semente” Program on the Family-Focused Practice of Mental Health Professionals in Portugal

Identification of Children of Parents With Mental Illness: A Necessity to Provide Relevant Support

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