What is the study about?
Mental illness has important implications for a family network. There are few in−depth studies which explore how such families themselves think about their relationships and parenting strategies.
This study aims to:
1) To understand how families with parental mental illness think about their relationships and parenting strategies through exploring processes commonly missed in other types of family research.
2) To collect data on interactions between family members and each individual's account of relationships, particularly bringing in the "voice" of children. To take into account the effects of the wider context such as stigma, isolation, poverty and racism.
3) To elicit parents' and children's perspectives regarding:
− the challenges involved when parents face episodic impediments to their parenting roles and the resources they utilise in response to this
− adaptations within family life, how families work to sustain their mutual responsibilities, elaborating notions of resilience as well as constraints on children's development
− the norms and expectations of 'good enough' parenting and of parent−child relationships, their influence on family transactions, parenting practices and their wishes and goals for family life.
What exactly are we doing?
We are interviewing family members together and then holding brief interviews with each individual family member. Our interviews will elicit narratives of everyday family life, the ways in which family members perceive and respond to their own and others’ expectations and how they account for their coping. This will include family members’ accounts of the particular dilemmas which arise from parental mental health difficulties.
What will the impact of the study be – how will it make a difference? Or how has it made a difference if the work has finished.
The study aims to inform therapists, other professionals and policy makers of the complexities of family living and to develop implications both for parenting and for sensitive and effective means of support for families. The study will contribute to the development of methods of family research.
Who is working on this study?
We are four experienced researchers who are also family systemic psychotherapists. Charlotte Burck, Gwyn Daniel, Bernadette Wren & Marta Costa-Caballero.
Contact Details:
Charlotte Burck: 020 8938 2298 or cburck@tavi-port.nhs.uk
Bernadette Wren: 020 8938 2282 or bwren@tavi-port.nhs.uk
Where are we currently with this study?
We are interviewing families at the moment, who we are recruiting through the professionals they are in contact with.