Bosch, Annick

Cavanaugh, Daniel

Grove, Christine

Riebschleger, Joanne

van der Ende, P.C.

Children of parents with a mental illness are at significant risk of developing a mental illness. This risk may be reducedif appropriate interventions are provided that include information and knowledge about mental illness. While there aresome interventions for children of parents with a mental illness, research is lacking about the type of mental healthinformation children need and why they need that knowledge. This study presents the perspectives of a purposivesample of international research experts in the field of parental mental illness about the kind of mental health literacyinformation children with parents with a mental illness need. Twenty-three participants completed a self-constructedshort answer questionnaire about the knowledge needs of children of parents with a mental illness. The qualitativedata indicates that ‘identifying information’, ‘making sense of parents behaviour’, ‘coping better’ and ‘respecting safety’are key knowledge needs of children. Given the views presented, these findings suggest that health care professionalsshould advocate for policies that support individual-, peer-, and family-focused programs driven by strong evaluationand rigorous research. If this is done, children of parents with mental illness may experience ‘myth busting’ of incorrectinformation about mental illness.<br/

Expert views of children’s knowledge needs regarding parental mental illness

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