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

This study explores how families with parental mental illness experience family interventions in a natural clinical context in psychiatric services. MethodFive 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. ResultsIn 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 practiceOur 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.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Source: Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing - Category: Nursing Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research