Inclusion of family and parenthood in mental health recovery
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-04-2018-0014 |
| Pages | 114-120 |
| Date | 11 June 2018 |
| Published date | 11 June 2018 |
| Author | Sue Holttum |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Social inclusion |
Inclusion of family and parenthood in
mental health recovery
Sue Holttum
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to highlight how mental health recovery may involve family members
and supporting the needs of parents who become mental health service users. Policies now recognise the
importance of family but how much are they implemented?
Design/methodology/approach –A search was carried out for recent papers (past 12 months) on mental
health services and the family.
Findings –Two papers summarise recent research on family involvement in mental health services. As well
as highlighting what prevents families being involved in mental health services and care planning, they discuss
what works and some challenges of involvement. A third paper highlights how parents who become service
users can have their parenting needs supported as part of their recovery.
Originality/value –All three papers highlight recent developments in relation to the family and recovery.
Despite policies about family involvement, there is a need for organisational change to fully incorporate
the social nature of mental health and recovery. The papers suggest ways forward based on examples of
what works.
Keywords Family, Mental health, Inclusion, Parents, Personal recovery
Paper type Viewpoint
In this paper I discuss three recent studies. Two are about inclusion of service users’families in
adult mental health services. The third study is about how parents who have a mental health
diagnosis can havetheir needs as parents supported as part of recovery. Doody et al. (2017) and
Martin et al. (2017) summariserecent research on how families experience mentalhealth services
when a family member is a serviceuser. Both papers point out that governmentpolicies in several
countries in the last 12 years have recommended the inclusion of service users’families in
supporting recovery. However, as they also point out, families often still feel excluded. This is
despite some evidencethat the involvement of families can support recovery (Doody et al.,2017).
Doody et al. (2017) describe recent studies on families’experienceof inclusion or exclusion from
care planning forthe service user. Martin et al. (2017) discusswhat is known about the things that
help and hinder family involvement in mental health services. Reupert et al. (2017) summarise
studies of support for parents who are service users to meet their recovery needs in relation to
being parents.
How involved are families in care planning?
Doody et al. (2017) discuss “family carers”(p. 413), as either a spouse or biological relative, and
they do not include friends or neighbours or people who are paid carers. When talking about the
inclusion of families in care planning, they mean helping to plan and make decisions about the
care of the service user. They exclude studies that are only about education or groups for parents
of service users. Doody et al. (2017) used a recognised method for summarising the studies
(Whittemore and Knafl, 2005). This method enables researchers to pull out themes from different
kinds of study, to highlight similarities and differences in the findings. They found 15 relevant
papers published in the past 12 years, covering 14 studies (one study had two papers published
on it). The studies came from a range of countries, but with five based in the UK.
Sue Holttum is Senior Lecturer
at the Salomons Centre for
Applied Psychology,
Canterbury Christ Church
University, Kent, UK.
PAGE114
j
MENTALHEALTH AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
j
VOL. 22 NO. 3 2018, pp. 114-120, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308 DOI 10.1108/MHSI-04-2018-0014
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