Parenting with mental illness among patients presenting to a teaching hospital in Sri Lanka: Challenges and perceived care needs

Abstract

Parenting with mental illness is associated with family conflicts, parenting difficulties, low parental confidence and increased mental health and behavioural problems in children. Family focused interventions improve child outcomes by about 40 %. However, such services are not available in Sri Lanka.A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out in the general adult psychiatry follow-up clinics in a Teaching Hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka to assess the needs of parents with mental illness. A specifically designed interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic details, difficulties with parenting and perceived care needs. A specifically designed data extraction form was used to gather information from the clinic records, about the parents’ illness.Our study revealed that 45.1 % of children knew that their parent had a psychiatric disorder. A total of 67.3 % of parents believed that their mental illness had an impact on their parenting of which, 26.8 % thought that this impact was marked. 67.8 % of parents believed that their illness was having an impact on their children. A total of 36.4 % of parents reported having concerns about their children’s behaviour, emotions or relationships but only 16.4 % of them said that they would discuss these with their treating doctor. Our study showed that mental illness in parents had a substantial impact on parenting and their children. However, those who sought professionals help in this regard were few and far between. Services aimed at the specific needs of these parents should be developed.