Mothers with Serious Mental Illness: Their Experience of “Hitting Bottom”

Montgomery, Phyllis; Mossey, Sharolyn; Bailey, Patricia Hill; Forchuk, Cheryl

doi:10.5402/2011/708318

Cited by 28 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Parenting can be difficult for many parents, regardless of whether they have a mental illness or not, but parents with mental illness are victimized twice: as parents and as patients (Ackerson, ), and are afraid of being considered inadequate parents (Cremers, Cogan, & Twamley, ). Parents feel guilty about not coping with their children (Montgomery, Mossey, Bailey, & Forchuk, ), and children are obliged to rely on their own resources. Psychiatric services have a special responsibility in this regard, as in treating the adults, they are, or should be, aware of the situation of the children.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Families living with parental mental illness and their experiences of family interventions

Afzelius

Plantin

Östman

2017

Psychiatric Ment Health Nurs

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Introduction Although research has shown that evidence-based family interventions in research settings improve the communication and understanding of parental mental illness, there is a lack of knowledge about interventions in an everyday clinical context. Aim This study explores how families with parental mental illness experience family interventions in a natural clinical context in psychiatric services. Method Five families with children aged 10-12 were recruited from psychiatric services in southern Sweden and interviewed in a manner inspired by naturalistic inquiry and content analysis. Both family and individual interviews were performed. Results In striving to lead an ordinary life while coping with the parental mental illness, these families sought the support of the psychiatric services, especially in order to inform their children about the mental illness. Despite different family interventions, the family members felt supported and reported that the number of conflicts in the family had decreased. The parents were appreciative of help with child-rearing questions, and the children experienced a calmer family atmosphere. However, the partner of the person with mental illness experienced being left without support. Implications for practice Our study shows that psychiatric services, and especially mental health nurses, are in a position to more regularly offer family interventions in supporting the children and the healthy partners.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Families living with parental mental illness and their experiences of family interventions

Afzelius

Plantin

Östman

2017

Psychiatric Ment Health Nurs

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“…At the top of the hierarchy are a final series of obstacles to FFP that relate to engaging with clients on parenting issues. One of the most pervasive factors affecting parents' access to and participation in mental health services is the stigma accompanying mental illness (Khalifeh et al 2009, Montgomery et al 2011. Alongside public views about mental illness (associating mental illness with violence) and laws in some countries where having a mental illness is sufficient grounds for losing custody of children (Kaplan et al 2009), parents may be reluctant to talk about their children to mental health clinicians or to seek assistance for their family.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Worker, workplace or families: What influences family focused practices in adult mental health?

Maybery

Goodyear

Reupert

et al. 2016

Psychiatric Ment Health Nurs

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Accessible summaryWhat is known on the subject?• Family focused practice leads to positive outcomes for parents and children.• There are barriers and enablers for practitioners being family focused.What this paper adds to existing knowledge?• Worker skill, knowledge and confidence about family work are the most important factors associated with family focused practices.What are the implications for practice?• Mental health nurses require specific skill training in family focused practices, time to engage with clients on parenting issues and that there are adequate services to refer family members to. AbstractIntroduction: Family focused practice is thought to lead to positive outcomes for all family members. However, there are multiple barriers and enablers in adult mental health services to practitioners undertaking these actions. Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the relative importance of worker, workforce and family factors to predict family focused practices (FFPs) in adult mental health services. Method: Three hundred and seven adult mental health workers completed a 45 items family focused practice measure of 16 family focused practices. Thesis: It was found that worker skill and knowledge about family work and an ability to assess the degree of parental insight into the child's connections to other family members and the community were important predictors of FFP, along with the closely related-worker confidence. While aspects of the worker, workplace and family each contribute to FFPs, this study highlighted the importance of worker skill, knowledge and confidence as central issues for adult mental health workers. Implications for practice: Study implications include the need for training in specific FFPs, the provision of time to engage with clients on parenting issues and the need 5 to ensure that there are adequate services for workers to refer family members to.

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“…If parents perceive that they are unable to cope with their parenting role, it may have a profound impact on their mood, self‐esteem, and self‐efficacy (Montgomery et al . ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Predictors and enablers of mental health nurses’ family‐focused practice

Reupert

Maybery

Goodyear

2018

Int J Mental Health Nurs

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Family-focused practice improves outcomes for families where parents have a mental illness. However, there is limited understanding regarding the factors that predict and enable these practices. This study aimed to identify factors that predict and enable mental health nurses' family-focused practice. A sequential mixed methods design was used. A total of 343 mental health nurses, practicing in 12 mental health services (in acute inpatient and community settings), throughout Ireland completed the Family Focused Mental Health Practice Questionnaire, measuring family-focused behaviours and other factors that impact family-focused activities. Hierarchical multiple regression identified 14 predictors of family-focused practice. The most important predictors noted were nurses' skill and knowledge, own parenting experience, and work setting (i.e. community). Fourteen nurses, who achieved high scores on the questionnaire, subsequently participated in semistructured interviews to elaborate on enablers of family-focused practice. Participants described drawing on their parenting experiences to normalize parenting challenges, encouraging service users to disclose parenting concerns, and promoting trust. The opportunity to visit a service user's home allowed them to observe how the parent was coping and forge a close relationship with them. Nurses' personal characteristics and work setting are key factors in determining family-focused practice. This study extends current research by clearly highlighting predictors of family-focused practice and reporting how various enablers promoted family-focused practice. The capacity of nurses to support families has training, organizational and policy implications within adult mental health services in Ireland and elsewhere.

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Mothers with Serious Mental Illness: Their Experience of “Hitting Bottom”

Cited by 28 publications

References 48 publications

Families living with parental mental illness and their experiences of family interventions

Families living with parental mental illness and their experiences of family interventions

Worker, workplace or families: What influences family focused practices in adult mental health?

Predictors and enablers of mental health nurses’ family‐focused practice

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