Mental health professionals’ family-focused practice with families with dependent children: a survey study

Abstract

BackgroundMany people with a mental illness are parents caring for dependent children. These children are at greater risk of developing their own mental health concerns compared to other children. Mental health services are opportune places for healthcare professionals to identify clients’ parenting status and address the needs of their children. There is a knowledge gap regarding Thai mental health professionals’ family-focused knowledge and practices when working with parents with mental illness and their children and families.MethodsThis cross –sectional survey study examined the attitudes, knowledge and practices of a sample (n = 349) of the Thai mental health professional workforce (nurses, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists) using a translated version of the Family-Focused Mental Health Practice Questionnaire (FFMHPQ).ResultsThe majority of clinicians reported no training in family (76.8%) or child-focused practice (79.7%). Compared to other professional groups, psychiatric nurses reported lower scores on almost all aspects of family-focused practice except supporting clients in their parenting role within the context of their mental illness. Social workers scored highest overall including having more workplace support for family-focused practice as well as a higher awareness of family-focused policy and procedures than psychiatrists; social workers also scored higher than psychologists on providing support to families and parents. All mental health care professional groups reported a need for training and inter-professional practice when working with families.ConclusionsThe findings indicate an important opportunity for the prevention of intergenerational mental illness in whose parents have mental illness by strengthening the professional development of nurses and other health professionals in child and family-focused knowledge and practice.

Predictors of family focused practice among health visitors: A mixed methods study

“…Most ( N = 200, 87%) of social workers in this study also had no training to support mothers, beyond those with perinatal mental illness. While others have also found that limited skill and knowledge and training hinder mental health professionals’ capacity to engage in FFP (Grant et al, ; Maybery, Goodyear, Reupert, & Grant, ; Tungpunkom et al, ), this study suggests that health visitors have different needs in relation to training than other professionals. For instance, while they may have knowledge and skills to support children, they have deficits in knowledge and skill in relation to supporting mothers with severe mental illness.…”

“…While Maybery et al () established the content and construct validity of the FFMHPQ in Australia, subsequent studies have found varying degrees of reliability in the scale inferring inconsistencies when used across disciplines, services and countries (Grant et al, , ; Laletas, Goodyear, & Reupert, ; Lauritzen & Reedtz, ; Tungpunkom et al, ). Consequently, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to determine scale validity in the current population of health visitors (Leonard, Linden, & Grant, ).…”

“…A study of mental health nurses in Ireland found that the most significant predictors of FFP included skill and knowledge, own parenting experience and work setting; with nurses practicing in the health setting exhibiting more FFP than those in acute in‐patient units (Grant, Reupert, Maybery, & Goodyear, ). Tungpunkom, Maybery, Reupert, Kowalenko, and Foster () examined FFP in a multidiscipline sample (social work, mental health nurses and psychiatry) and found that those who had received training around supporting the family, or working with the family as a whole, were more family‐focused than those who had not (Tungpunkom et al, ). In a similar study incorporating multiple disciplines in NI, time and workload and skill and knowledge were reported as significant predictors of FFP (Grant et al, ).…”

Adult mental health practitioner beliefs about psychosis, parenting, and the role of the practitioner: A Q methodological investigation

“…Twelve participants felt ambivalent about their training in this area, eight felt inadequately trained, and one felt sufficiently trained. As is emerging in the wider literature (Goodyear et al ., 2017; Lauritzen, Reedtz, Van Doesum, & Martinussen, 2015; Maybery et al ., 2016; Tungpunkom, Maybery, Reupert, Kowalenko, & Foster, 2017), self‐assessed skill and knowledge, as well as a perceived need for further training, may be influential in adult mental health practitioners adopting family‐focused approaches. The current findings suggest most practitioners are amenable to incorporating parenting interventions into their work, but this may be dependent on training and management support to encourage and maintain confidence.…”

A multi-perspective exploration of health visitors’ family focused practice with mothers who have mental illness and their families: a mixed methods study protocol

“…HMR allows the investigator to specify a fixed order of entry for variables in order to control for the effects of covariates, and to test the effects of certain predictors, independent of the influence of others (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2006). Previous studies have found that; available services; skill and knowledge; co-work support (Maybery et al, 2016); own parenting; work setting (Grant et al, 2018a); practitioner experience (Grant et al, 2018a;Goodyear, Maybery, Reupert, Allchin, Fraser, Fernbacher, & Cuff, 2017); training (Tungpunkom et al, 2017;Goodyear, Maybery, Reupert, Allchin, Fraser, Fernbacher, & Cuff, 2017); and time and workload (Grant et al 2018b), were significant predictors of FFP. These predictors will act as variables of interest within the analysis.…”