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Caring for children of parents with mental health problems - a venture into historical and cultural processes in Europe
- Authors:
- SOLANTAUS Tytti, PURAS Dainius
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 12(4), November 2010, pp.27-36.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This article discusses the European initiative Work Package 5 (WP5), a part of the CAMHEE programme, which was designed to bring children and families with parental mental illness onto the European agenda. Parental mental health problems are a major risk for children’s adverse development. Intergenerational mental health issues often leads to social marginalisation and exclusion, which constitutes a serious social problem. WP5 participants included Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Lithuania, Norway and Romania. The WP5 emphasised that it is important for every country to learn what the legal, human rights, and service and life situation is for these children and families and to take preventive and promotion action. The paper suggests that, to avoid further stigmatisation, awareness campaigns and training of professionals should capitalise on resilience and support for children and parenting rather than on risks. Psychiatric services for adults should respond to the needs for care and support of the patients' children. Finally, changes in society are needed, including redirecting legislation from restrictive measures towards promotion and prevention.
The effective family programme: preventative services for the children of mentally ill parents in Finland
- Authors:
- SOLANTAUS Tytti, TOIKKA Sini
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 8(3), August 2006, pp.37-44.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The Effective Family Programme was initiated in Finland in 2001 to provide methods for health and social services to support families and children of mentally ill parents. The methods are implemented and clinicians are trained in psychiatric services and primary health care. The methods include the Beardslee Preventive Family Intervention, a parent-focused Let's Talk about Children Discussion and the Network Meeting. This article describes the EF Programme with reference to the development of services in the national health care system.
The Effective Family Programme II: clinicians' experiences of training in promotive and preventative child mental health methods
- Authors:
- TOIKKA Sini, SOLANTAUS Tytti
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 8(4), November 2006, pp.4-10.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
For this programme, mental health clinicians in Finland were trained to master interventions and to become trainers for promotion of development and prevention of mental health problems in children with mentally ill parents. A multi-professional group of 45 clinicians were involved in the training, including eighteen nurses, nine social workers, six medical doctors, six psychologists and six public health nurses. The trainees' experiences of the impact of the training on their professional skills and work satisfaction, on one hand, and implementation of the methods, on the other, were examined. The data was collected by a questionnaire. The 30 respondents (response rate 83%) reported an increase in their professional skills as well as in work-related joy and motivation. Most of them had trained others, and implementation of the new working methods had started. The success factors of the Effective Family training for first phase of the implementation are discussed.
Coping and resilience of children of a mentally ill parent
- Authors:
- POLKKI Pirjo, ERVAST Sari-Anne, HUUPPONEN Marika
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work in Health Care, 39(1/2), 2004, pp.151-163.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This paper examines the needs and stress reactions of children of mentally ill parents, as well as coping and resilience. The study is based on the interviews of six 9-11 years old children and narratives of seventeen female grown up children of mentally ill parents. The younger and older children of the mentally ill parents had not been informed about their parent's illness. The illness of the parent aroused a variety of emotions in them. The children used both practical problem solving and emotional coping mechanisms. Informal social support was available to them but seldom from the public services. It is recommended that professionals in mental health and child welfare services clarify their roles when working with mentally ill parents. The best interest of the child and the parenting they need should be carefully assessed. Open care measures should be offered to families early enough to prevent serious child welfare and mental problems. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580)
Safety, feasibility and family experiences of preventive interventions for children and families with parental depression
- Authors:
- SOLANTAUS Tytti, et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 11(4), November 2009, pp.15-24.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Depression is frequent among parents, and children with depressed parents have an elevated risk for psychiatric disorders. This report describes and details one phase of the development and implementation of a country-wide preventive programme for children of parents with depression in Finland. This national effort first focused on developing programmes for children with depressed parents, and was later expanded to include families with parents who have a variety of mental and other health conditions. Using a sample of 119 single and dual parent families, the preventive interventions aims were ‘to support positive self-understanding in the parents’, ‘to support mutual understanding in the family’, ‘to support positive parenting’, ‘to support future orientation in the family’, and ‘to identify children who need additional services’. Concluding that parents in treatment for depression are relieved if they are offered opportunities to discuss their children and learn how to support them, despite depression, and that clinicians in psychiatric services to adults can be trained to conduct discussions about parenting and children, the authors demonstrate that child-centred preventive interventions can be carried out in real-life conditions in psychiatric services for adults.
Removing children from the care of adults with diagnosed mental illnesses - a clash of human rights?
- Author:
- PRIOR Pauline
- Journal article citation:
- European Journal of Social Work, 6(2), 2003, pp.179-190.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Health and social services providers throughout Europe are increasingly aware of the possibility of litigation from service users arising from the application of a human rights perspective to public service provision. Presents an analysis of ECHR cases related to breaches of human rights that occurred when children were taken into care from families in which one or both parents had a diagnosed mental illness. The issues raised by these cases include the following: how to ensure that the right to family life is protected for adults with mental illnesses: how to ensure access and opportunities for parents to continue bonding with children in care; and how to avoid damaging children while giving time for a proper assessment of the care situation.