Search results for ‘Subject term:"mental health problems"’ Sort:
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SCIE research briefing 23: stress and resilience factors in parents with mental health problems and their children
- Authors:
- SOCIAL CARE INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE, PARROTT Lester, JACOBS Gary, ROBERTS Diane
- Publisher:
- Social Care Institute for Excellence
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Place of publication:
- London
This briefing focuses on factors contributing to either stress or resilience in families where one or both parents have mental health problems. It considers the position of parents and children focusing upon issues of stress or resilience arising from individual and ‘informal’ sources. While recognising the role that services have in mediating either stress or resilience, the briefing does not consider service interventions or evaluations, as these are the subject of a SCIE systematic review to be published separately.
Exploring peer support as a strategy to reduce self-stigma for marginalised Children of Parents with Mental Illness (COPMI)
- Authors:
- PARKINSON Adele, KEDDELL Emily, WALKER Peter
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 51(3), 2021, pp.849-868.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Many children of parents with mental illness (COPMI) experience stigma, resulting in detrimental effects and the need for support. Peer support programmes are widespread interventions, commonly providing relational, psychological and educational support. Some evidence suggests that these programmes result in positive changes to COPMI experiences of self, peers and their families. This article adds to the evidence base, presenting findings from a primarily qualitative, mixed-methods programme evaluation of a COPMI service in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Formative evaluation data were gathered from a COPMI service which supports families adversely affected by chronic and severe parental mental illness, via interviews (N = 10) and four age-differentiated focus groups (N = 24) of child/youth service-users aged eight to eighteen years, and mixed-method surveys of adult service-users (N = 32). This article reports data from child/youth service-users who participated. Findings indicate that many participants experienced stigma outside the service, and self-stigma was reduced for many due to supportive peer relationships formed during service delivery. Further understanding of the relationship between peer support and self-stigma in these programmes is needed, and how positive changes to self-perceptions might translate to other spheres. The application of socio-ecological resilience theory to findings implies that COPMI service delivery should address differential needs in relation to marginalisation and promote sustained peer relationships for those who are marginalised. (Edited publisher abstract)
Helping children with the Steps to Cope intervention
- Authors:
- TEMPLETON Lorna, SIPLER Ed
- Journal article citation:
- Drugs and Alcohol Today, 14(3), 2014, pp.126-136.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to summarise the findings from two projects in Northern Ireland which investigated the feasibility of adapting an existing adult intervention, the 5-Step Method, for children affected by parental substance misuse and/or parental mental illness. The structured brief psychosocial intervention is called Steps to Cope and can be delivered as an individual or group intervention. Design/methodology/approach: The two projects recruited and trained 57 practitioners from across Northern Ireland, 20 of whom went on to use the Steps to Cope intervention with a total of 43 children. Findings: It appears possible to adapt the intervention for children; to train practitioners, some of whom are able to use the intervention with one or more children; and for the intervention to benefit children in line with the five steps of the intervention targeting areas such as health, feelings, information, coping, support, and resilience. However, there are organisational and practical barriers to delivery which need to be overcome for the intervention to be more widely implemented. Originality/value: Steps to Cope is a unique intervention for this population and the findings discussed here suggest that the model has potential in an area where support for children in their own right is lacking. (Publisher abstract)
Why do children placed out-of-home because of parental substance abuse have less mental health problems than children placed for other reasons?
- Authors:
- HAVNEN Karen Skaale, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Children and Youth Services Review, 33(10), October 2011, pp.2010-2017.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Parental substance abuse (PSA) is a well-established risk factor for a variety of negative psychosocial outcomes for children. However, some studies have suggested that children placed out-of-home because of PSA may have less mental health problems than other placed children. The aim of this study was to compare children placed out-of-home because of PSA with children placed for other reasons (NPSA), and to explore the association between PSA and mental health problems. The study participants were 109 6-12 year old children placed in out-of-home care in Norway between September 1998 and December 1999. The data was collected from teachers, child welfare workers and parents shortly after the placement. Several group differences were found related to the children themselves, their families and the Child Welfare case. The PSA children had less total difficulties, conduct problems and emotional problems than the NPSA children. However, both groups had far more mental health problems than children in general. The most important variable explaining the group difference in all subgroups of mental health problems was the extent of prosocial behaviour in the children. Variables like gender, discipline problems and socioeconomic conditions did not have a significant effect. The conclusion is that prosocial behaviour may be an important protective factor against mental health problems.
Practice wisdom on custodial parenting with a mental illness: a strengths view
- Authors:
- ZEMAN Laura D., BUILA Sarah
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Family Social Work, 10(3), 2006, pp.51-65.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
The social work principles of strengths, empowerment and consumer-centred care for people with mental illness are based on the notion that all individuals have a range of talents, capacities, skills, resources and aspirations, as well as the potential for continued growth. This study examines parents with mental illness as a sub-set of the wider population, and distils the findings of an exploratory qualitative study with 36 US social workers who have experience in engaging with this group. Discussions in focus groups were taped and analysed to identify recurrent themes. These include the role of the child’s attachment to the parent in facilitating resilience, the importance of the extended family as a source of support, issues in family functioning such as role reversal, the reaching out by parents for self-care resources within and outside their families, and the positive aspects of mental illness experienced by some parents. The implications for strengths-based practice with families containing a mentally ill parent are discussed. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580).
Recasting research into children's experiences of parental mental illness: beyond risk and resilience
- Authors:
- GLADSTONE Brenda McConnell, BOYDELL Katherine M., McKEEVEY Patricia
- Journal article citation:
- Social Science and Medicine, 62(10), May 2006, pp.2540-2550.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Children who live with a mentally ill parent are viewed primarily as being ‘at risk’ of developing a mental illness themselves and those who remain well are considered extraordinarily resilient. This particular risk/resilience discourse is embedded within larger contemporary discourses about risk and childhood. Childhood is seen as a critical period of development during which children need protection due to their physical and psychological vulnerabilities. In this paper, the implications of this dominant casting of children are explored and it is argued that the conceptual repertoire about those living with a mentally ill parent should be expanded. A critique of the literature that established the risk/resilience discourse is followed by a discussion of research about parenting with a mental illness within which children are surprisingly absent. Recent thinking about children arising out of the ‘new’ social studies of childhood is summarized to illustrate its resistance to the hegemonic image of children as passive, developing, ‘unfinished’ persons. A recasting of children as complex young persons who have competencies as well as vulnerabilities linked to their developmental stages, would lead to different lines of inquiry about children's experiences of mental illness in a parent.
A lot on their minds
- Author:
- OGDEN Joy
- Journal article citation:
- 0-19, April 2006, pp.20-21.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business
Parental mental illness is a severe test of the resilience of any child. This article examines the support children in this position require. It includes a brief account of one families experience.
Building a bridge between attachment and religious coping: tests of moderators and mediators
- Author:
- GRANQVIST Pehr
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Religion and Culture, 8(1), March 2005, pp.35-47.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Coping studies show that people often involve God in coping. Attachment studies suggest this should be particularly true for people with an insecure history, who use God as a surrogate figure to regulate distress (compensation hypothesis). The present questionnaire study is the first investigation of perceived attachment history and religious coping. It was tested if an insecure history is linked to involving God in coping, if parental religiousness moderates the association, and if religious coping mediates the link between an insecure history and compensatory religiosity characteristics. Results from 197 participants, from different religious and non-religious groups in the central parts of Sweden, supported the compensation hypothesis (i.e., an insecure history was linked to involving God). This support was moderated by parental religiousness. At low parental religiousness, religious coping mediated the association between an insecure history and compensatory religiosity characteristics. The Discussion proposes further cross-fertilization of attachment and religious coping.
Well being, depressive symptoms, and burden among parent and sibling caregivers of persons with severe and persistent mental illness
- Authors:
- CHEN Wan-Yi, LUKENS Ellen
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work in Mental Health, 9(1-6), 2011, pp.397-416.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Caregiving for a family member with severe and persistent mental illness is associated with exhaustion, distress, depression and burden. Yet caregivers may also report personal rewards from the experience. The aim of this article is to examine the impact of a common set of risk and protective factors that contribute to functional and dysfunctional forms of emotional response among parent and sibling caregivers. The study used data from the 1992-1993 Family Impact Study for a sample of 137 parent and sibling caregivers. Multiple regression analyses compared risk and protective factors for well-being, subjective burden, and depressive symptoms among the participants. The findings showed that siblings reported greater well-being than parents. Grief and family stress functioned as risk factors for decreased well-being, more depressive symptoms, and increased subjective burden. Pride for the relative contributed to depressive symptoms but protected against burden. Both informal social support and formal support from providers offered a buffer against depressive symptoms for all caregivers. Intervention strategies to promote resilience and address challenges for caregivers are discussed.
Children's understanding of mental ill health: implications for risk and resilience in relationships
- Author:
- WALSH Judi
- Journal article citation:
- Child and Family Social Work, 14(1), February 2009, pp.115-122.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Research shows that having a parent with a mental health problem has associated risks for children, but some families seem very resilient and do not always suffer these difficulties. In order for social workers to be able to support the development of resilience in families who appear to be at risk, we need to understand what factors may ameliorate some of these risks. Research seems to suggest that children who can conceptualize their parent's mental health problem as something 'outside' their representation of that parent as an attachment figure are likely to have better outcomes than children who see the mental-health problem as part of, and embedded within, their representation of that parent. However, in order to develop an understanding of how this conceptualization affects attachment relationships and outcomes, we need to know what children understand by mental ill health. We also need to consider how this conceptualization might be changed, and it appears that parents, other attachment figures and other support figures may play a key role here. This paper provides a selective review of the research area and discusses the mechanisms which may govern this complex process. The review concludes with recommendations for future research and practice.