[Mental Disorders and Parenting: Challenges and Opportunities for Adult Mental Health Services]

Childhood experiences and needs of offspring living with paternal and maternal severe mental illness: A retrospective study in China

OBJECTIVE

Parental mental illness is considered one of the strongest risk factors for the development of children. This study aimed to describe the adverse childhood experiences and needs of offspring living with parental severe mental illness (SMI) in China and to compare the differences in needs between offspring living with maternal SMI and those living with paternal SMI.

METHOD

Overall, 381 participants, including 76 living with paternal SMI, 104 living with maternal SMI, and 201 living without parental mental illness, were enrolled. Data were collected using questionnaires from five sites in China. Differences among the three groups were compared using analysis of variance and chi-square test. Factors were extracted using exploratory factor analysis, and differences in factor scores between the paternal and maternal SMI groups were compared using the rank sum test.

RESULTS

The percentages of poverty, family care, and housework were significantly higher in the paternal SMI group and maternal SMI group, compared with the control group, and those of school dropout and relationship with friends were significantly higher in the maternal SMI group (p < 0.0167). The need for stigma reduction in the maternal SMI group was significantly higher than that in the paternal SMI group (p = 0.015).

CONCLUSION

Our findings highlight the importance of considering the impact of maternal and paternal SMI on child development. There is an urgent need to develop a national program to assist families with mentally ill parents to provide services for children living with parental SMI.

[Fatherhood and Depression: Dealing with Depression in the Family from the Fathers' Perspective - A Qualitative Study]

OBJECTIVE

Investigation of the experiences of depressed fathers in dealing with their depressive disorder in the family.

METHODS

17 semi-structured narrative interviews were conducted and analyzed following a Grounded Theory Approach.

RESULTS

Fathers describe individual coping strategies in dealing with their depressive disorder that aim at independently coping from their family (self-management, [non])disclosure of the disorder).

CONCLUSION

Fathers should be supported in (the decision-making process of) disclosing their illness to the family and developing coping strategies that take family needs further into account.