Needs, expectations and consequences for children growing up in a family where the parent has a mental illness.
The lack of pan-European guidelines for empowering children of parents with mental illness led to the EU project CAMILLE - Empowerment of Children and Adolescents of Mentally Ill Parents through Training of Professionals working with children and adolescents. The aim of this initial task in the project was to analyse needs, expectations and consequences for children with respect to living with a parent with mental illness from the perspective of professionals and family members. This qualitative research was conducted in England, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland and Scotland with 96 professionals, parents with mental illness, adult children and partners of parents with mental illness. A framework analysis method was used. Results of the study highlighted that the main consequences described for children of parental mental illness were role reversal; emotional and behavioural problems; lack of parent's attention and stigma. The main needs of these children were described as emotional support, security and multidisciplinary help. Implications for practice are that professionals working with parents with mental illness should be aware of the specific consequences for the children and encourage parents in their parental role; multi-agency collaboration is necessary; schools should provide counselling and prevent stigma.
Institute of Applied Psychology, Academy of Special Education.|Department of Child and Adolescent Health, Institute of Mother and Child, Warsaw, Poland.
Izabela
I
Tabak
Institute of Applied Psychology, Academy of Special Education.
Lidia
L
Zabłocka-Żytka
Department of Mental health, Social work and Interprofessional Learning, Middlesex University, London, England.
Peter
P
Ryan
Mental Health Department, Local Health Authority, Rovigo, Italy.
Stefano Zanone
SZ
Poma
School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
Katja
K
Joronen
Synergia - Social Research Institute and Department of Decision Sciences, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy.
Giovanni
G
Viganò
School of Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland.
Wendy
W
Simpson
School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.|EteläPohjanmaa Hospital District, Seinäjoki, Finland.
Eija
E
Paavilainen
Department of Addiction Medicine and Addictive Behaviour, LVR Hospital Essen, Hospital of the University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
Norbert
N
Scherbaum
Department of Mental health, Social work and Interprofessional Learning, Middlesex University, London, England.
Martin
M
Smith
Nordland Hospital Trust, Bodo, Norway.
Ian
I
Dawson
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D005060:Europe; D017144:Focus Groups; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012380:Role; D013240:Stereotyping
child development; family; mental illness; parenting; qualitative research