Mental Health Literacy Content for Children of Parents with a Mental Illness: Thematic Analysis of a Literature Review

Riebschleger, Joanne; Grové, Christine; Cavanaugh, Daniel L.; Costello, Shane

doi:10.3390/brainsci7110141

Cited by 41 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 114 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Increased mental health literacy in children with a parent with MHP is thought to help improve coping and mental health outcomes for these children (Pikhala, Sandlund, & Cederstrom, 2011). Children with better mental health literacy show greater emotional resilience and are more likely to seek help from adults (Riebschleger, Grove, Cavanaugh, & Costello, 2017). A coherent understanding of parental behaviour and maintaining a distance between parent and self appears to reduce internalization of blame and over‐identification with the MHP, and consequently better long‐term mental health outcomes (Cooklin, 2013; Focht & Beardslee, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most existing reviews have focused on children and parents with MHP, including prevalence, risks to children, practical and emotional needs and analysis of interventions (Marston et al, 2015; Reupert & Maybery, 2016; Wahl, Bruland, Bauer, & Okan, 2017). Riebschleger et al (2017) analysed literature on children's mental health literacy needs. With regard to meaning making and communication, children's accounts of their experience of their unwell parent have been examined (Dam & Hall, 2016; Drost, van der Krieke, Sytema, & Schippers, 2015; Gladstone, Boydell, Seeman, & McKeever, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Family understanding and communication about an adult relative’s mental health problem: A systematic narrative review

Gammage

Nolte

2020

Psychiatric Ment Health Nurs

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Accessible summary What is known on the subject? Adults who support an adult family member with a severe and enduring mental health problem often experience carer burden. Over time, this often negatively affects their mental and physical health and social well‐being. Understanding and communicating about mental health problems in families can help to improve resilience and coping among both adults and children. What does this paper add to existing knowledge? We conducted a review of studies looking at how adult relatives understand and communicate about an adult family member's mental health problem. The findings highlight that how relatives make sense of MHP is related to historical family relationships, their mental health literacy and whether they see themselves as a “carer” or not. The findings also show that little research to date has explored how adult relatives talk with children about their parent's difficulties, and how the adults’ understanding might affect what children learn about the MHP. What are the implications for practice? There is a research gap to be addressed regarding family communication with children about parental mental health problems. This knowledge gap likely impacts family‐focused mental health nursing and therapy provision. Mental health nursing, therapeutic and support workers and advocates are ideally positioned to assist relatives with improving their mental health literacy and confidence communicating about mental health, and to promote inclusion of relatives and children in interventions. Abstract IntroductionRelatives are profoundly affected by an adult family member's severe and enduring mental health problem (MHP). The burdens of caring impact on adult relatives’ emotional, physical and social well‐being. How relatives make meaning and communicate about the MHP is thought to affect family talk about mental health, and this can impact family coping and well‐being. AimNo review has yet drawn together research about how adult relatives of people with severe and enduring MHP make meaning and communicate about their relatives’ difficulties. We aimed to address this gap. MethodWe conducted a systematic review of peer‐reviewed primary research. SCOPUS, PubMed, Psychnet, SCIE, Cochrane and CINAHL+ databases were searched. ResultsNineteen papers qualified for inclusion. Findings are organized under four themes: making meaning about the MHP and affected individual; conceptualizing the self in the presence of the MHP; meaning‐making processes underlying relatives’ well‐being outcomes; and relatives’ perspectives on family talk about the MHP. DiscussionHistorical relationships, caregiver identity and mental health literacy moderate relatives’ understanding and talk about the MHP. Implications for practicePsychoeducation and communication support for relatives should be provided by mental health practitioners. Future research should address familial communication about MHP, including with children.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family understanding and communication about an adult relative’s mental health problem: A systematic narrative review

Gammage

Nolte

2020

Psychiatric Ment Health Nurs

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…An extensive review of child mental health literacy research identified stigma as a key area of challenge for youth mental health (Riebschleger et al 2017). It is noteworthy that no participants from the school that elected to use the program with a whole class indicated any stigma or concern about being selected.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Child’s Voice in Determining Program Acceptability for a School-Based Mindfulness Intervention

2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

School-based mindfulness interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing mental health symptoms. However, comparatively little research has investigated the acceptability of these programs from the perspective of the children. Program acceptability underpins engagement, and more engaging programs are also more efficacious (Cowan & Sheridan, 2003;Mautone et al., 2009) yet there is little literature which has considered the acceptability of school-based mindfulness programs. To address this gap, semi-structured interviews were conducted with upper primary aged children (N = 30) who had participated in a six week mindfulness program in four Australian primary schools. Thematic analysis of interviews revealed children found the program to be acceptable. Children reported that they enjoyed doing the mindfulness program, would recommend it to others, and learned about relaxing as well as felt relaxed while doing the program. Children also highlighted the use of culturally appropriate teaching materials and possible stigmatisation as threats to the acceptability of the program. The results of the study support the acceptability of mindfulness programs in school settings, grounded in the unique perspective of the child.

show abstract

“…A recent literature review of mental health literacy content for children with severely mentally ill parents 137 highlighted the need for adding family-contextual content (e.g. dealing with stigma experiences, managing stress and communicating about parental mental illness) to the standard content of mental health literacy that is designed for children in the general population.…”

Section: Mental Health Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

An intervention to improve the quality of life in children of parents with serious mental illness: the Young SMILES feasibility RCT

Abel

Bee

Gega

et al. 2020

Health Technol Assess

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Quality of life for children and adolescents living with serious parental mental illness can be impaired, but evidence-based interventions to improve it are scarce. Objective Co-production of a child-centred intervention [called Young Simplifying Mental Illness plus Life Enhancement Skills (SMILES)] to improve the health-related quality of life of children and adolescents living with serious parental mental illness, and evaluating its acceptability and feasibility for delivery in NHS and community settings. Design Qualitative and co-production methods informed the development of the intervention (Phase I). A feasibility randomised controlled trial was designed to compare Young SMILES with treatment as usual (Phase II). Semistructured qualitative interviews were used to explore acceptability among children and adolescents living with their parents, who had serious mental illness, and their parents. A mixture of semistructured qualitative interviews and focus group research was used to examine feasibility among Young SMILES facilitators and referrers/non-referrers. Setting Randomisation was conducted after baseline measures were collected by the study co-ordinator, ensuring that the blinding of the statistician and research team was maintained to reduce detection bias. Participants Phase I: 14 children and adolescents living with serious parental mental illness, seven parents and 31 practitioners from social, educational and health-related sectors. Phase II: 40 children and adolescents living with serious parental mental illness, 33 parents, five referrers/non-referrers and 16 Young SMILES facilitators. Intervention Young SMILES was delivered at two sites: (1) Warrington, supported by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), and (2) Newcastle, supported by the NHS and Barnardo’s. An eight-session weekly group programme was delivered, with four to six children and adolescents living with serious parental mental illness per age-appropriate group (6–11 and 12–16 years). At week 4, a five-session parallel weekly programme was offered to the parents/carers. Sessions lasted 2 hours each and focused on improving mental health literacy, child–parent communication and children’s problem-solving skills. Main outcome measures Phase ll children and parents completed questionnaires at randomisation and then again at 4 and 6 months post randomisation. Quality of life was self-reported by children and proxy-reported by parents using the Paediatric Quality of Life questionnaire and KIDSCREEN. Semistructured interviews with parents (n = 14) and children (n = 17) who participated in the Young SMILES groups gathered information about their motivation to sign up to the study, their experiences of participating in the group sessions, and their perceived changes in themselves and their family members following intervention. Further interviews with individual referrers (n = 5) gathered information about challenges to recruitment and randomisation. Two focus groups (n = 16) with practitioners who facilitated the intervention explored their views of the format and content of the Young SMILES manual and their suggestions for changes. Results A total of 35 families were recruited: 20 were randomly allocated to Young SMILES group and 15 to treatment as usual. Of those, 28 families [15/20 (75%) in the intervention group and 13/15 (87%) in the control group] gave follow-up data at the primary end point (4 months post baseline). Participating children had high adherence to the intervention and high completion rates of the questionnaires. Children and adolescents living with their parents, who had serious mental illness, and their parents were mainly very positive and enthusiastic about Young SMILES, both of whom invoked the benefits of peer support and insight into parental difficulties. Although facilitators regarded Young SMILES as a meaningful and distinctive intervention having great potential, referrers identified several barriers to referring families to the study. One harm was reported by a parent, which was dealt with by the research team and the NSPCC in accordance with the standard operating procedures. Limitations The findings from our feasibility study are not sufficient to recommend a fully powered trial of Young SMILES in the near future. Although it was feasible to randomise children and adolescents living with serious parental mental illness of different ages to standardised, time-limited groups in both NHS and non-NHS settings, an intervention like Young SMILES is unlikely to address underlying core components of the vulnerability that children and adolescents living with serious parental mental illness express as a population over time. Conclusions Young SMILES was widely valued as unique in filling a recognised gap in need. Outcome measures in future studies of interventions for children and adolescents living with serious parental mental illness are more likely to capture change in individual risk factors for reduced quality of life by considering their unmet need, rather than on an aggregate construct of health-related quality of life overall, which may not reflect these young people’s needs. Future work A public health approach to intervention might be best. Most children and adolescents living with serious parental mental illness remain well most of the time, so, although their absolute risks are low across outcomes (and most will remain resilient most of the time), consistent population estimates find their relative risk to be high compared with unexposed children. A public health approach to intervention needs to be both tailored to the particular needs of children and adolescents living with serious parental mental illness and agile to these needs so that it can respond to fluctuations over time. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN36865046. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 24, No. 59. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

show abstract

Mental Health Literacy Content for Children of Parents with a Mental Illness: Thematic Analysis of a Literature Review

Cited by 41 publications

References 114 publications

Family understanding and communication about an adult relative’s mental health problem: A systematic narrative review

Family understanding and communication about an adult relative’s mental health problem: A systematic narrative review

The Child’s Voice in Determining Program Acceptability for a School-Based Mindfulness Intervention

An intervention to improve the quality of life in children of parents with serious mental illness: the Young SMILES feasibility RCT

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About