What Parents of Mentally Ill Children Need and Want From Mental Health Professionals

Abstract

Child psychiatric hospitalization is a time of crisis for the parents of a child with a mental disorder. Prior to hospitalization, the child's problematic behavior has escalated. Parents have various types of contact with mental health professionals prior to, during, and after the hospitalization, which influence their ability to care for their child. This paper reports a qualitative descriptive study of what parents need and want from mental health professionals during this time frame. During the study, parents spontaneously talked about what they needed and wanted from mental health professionals, including nursing personnel. The perspectives of 38 parents of 29 hospitalized children were obtained through interviews. Parents identified needing informational, emotional, and instrumental support most often in the interviews. Specific examples from the data are included in this report.

The Described Experience of Primary Caregivers of Children With Mental Health Needs

“…The theme of worrying about the rest of the family is consistent with findings from previous studies in which caregivers shared concerns about the impact that the child's mental health needs had on the family (Lam & Mackenzie, 2002;Lefley, 1997;Lovenfosse & Viney, 1999). Also, the theme of being burdened and exhausted resonated with findings from other research studies (Goldberg-Arnold et al, 1999;Peters & Jackson, 2009;Scharer, 2002) in which caregivers reported being socially isolated due to caregiving demands, giving up employment in order to cope with their children's needs, and having multiple mental health appointments and calls from schools because of behavioral problems (Nelson, 2002;Peters & Jackson, 2009;Smith & Smith, 2000;Yantzi et al, 2006). Our study findings about the benefits of support groups with others going through similar experiences reinforce the work of other researchers who reported that access and participation in support groups helped to increase caregivers' ability to understand themselves and others, to talk and be listened to without judgment, to put their problems into perspective, and to make use of the group to provide an outlet for stress relief.…”

“…Like caregivers of children with physical disabilities, the caregivers in this study described a protracted, convoluted, and frustrating process of accessing care for their children (Jackson et al, 2008;Lutenbacher et al, 2005;Parminder et al, 2005;Rosenwald & Bronstein, 2008;Scharer, 2002;Smith & Smith, 2000). The theme of struggling with care systems mirrors findings from Scharer (2002), who reported that caregivers of children in a psychiatric inpatient unit experienced urgent needs for timely, accurate, and complete information regarding their children's illness and desired support from professionals, which they often did not get (Scharer, 2002).…”

“…They experience an urgent need for timely, accurate, and complete information regarding their child's illness and need the information to be repeated a number of times (Scharer, 2002). These parents desire support from both professionals and other parents with similar experiences (Lovenfosse & Viney, 1999;Scharer, 2002).…”

“…They experience an urgent need for timely, accurate, and complete information regarding their child's illness and need the information to be repeated a number of times (Scharer, 2002). These parents desire support from both professionals and other parents with similar experiences (Lovenfosse & Viney, 1999;Scharer, 2002). The caregivers of children with ADHD and ASD often share a mistrust of a health care system that they find to be insensitive, negative, and uncaring towards their child, although some also experience gratitude for individual professionals who provide support and take time to listen to them (Lam & Mackenzie, 2002;Lutenbacher, Karp, Ajero, Howe, & Williams, 2005).…”

Vulnerable Populations in the Caribbean: Exploring Women's Experiences of Pregnancy and Prenatal Care in St. Kitts and Nevis, West Indies

“…al, 1999;Brown & Jemmott, 2002;Boyer et. al, 2000;Scharer, 2002;Tarrant & Gregory, 2003). One study, which explored Hmong women's concerns about pregnancy and childbirth, documented culturally influenced issues of birth control and fear of miscarriage (Jambunathan & Stewart, 1995) and these findings supported continuing education programs for health workers.…”