Mordoch Elaine
Faculty of Nursing, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
J Can Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2010 Feb;19(1):19-25.
To understand how children living with parental mental illness (PMI) understand mental illness (MI) and what they want to tell other children.
The study design was a secondary analysis of a grounded theory study exploring Canadian children's perceptions of living with PMI. Interviews from 22 children, ages 6 - 16, living with a parent with depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia receiving treatment for the MI, were re-read, coded and analyzed along with data categories, their properties, field notes and memos from the original data.
Children revealed that they had limited understanding of MI and received few factual explanations of what was happening. Limited information on MI caused undue hardship. Younger children worried about their parent dying, while older children also were concerned about developing MI. Children offered suggestions for other children in similar circumstances.
This study raises awareness of children living with PMI and identifies them as a population requiring services. It incorporates children's perceptions of what they know and need to know. Children require assistance to understand and to respond to PMI. Mental health and primary health care clinicians have opportunities to assist these children within collaborative care models developed in conjunction with school services.
了解父母患有精神疾病（PMI）的儿童对精神疾病（MI）的理解，以及他们想对其他儿童讲述的内容。
本研究设计是对一项扎根理论研究的二次分析，该研究探讨了加拿大儿童对与父母患有精神疾病共同生活的看法。重新阅读、编码并分析了22名年龄在6至16岁之间、父母患有抑郁症、双相情感障碍或精神分裂症且正在接受精神疾病治疗的儿童的访谈内容，以及原始数据中的数据类别、属性、现场记录和备忘录。
儿童表示他们对精神疾病的理解有限，且很少得到关于所发生事情的事实性解释。关于精神疾病的有限信息造成了不必要的困难。年幼的儿童担心父母死亡，而年长的儿童也担心自己会患上精神疾病。儿童为处于类似情况的其他儿童提供了建议。
本研究提高了对父母患有精神疾病的儿童的认识，并将他们确定为需要服务的人群。它纳入了儿童对他们所知道和需要知道的事情的看法。儿童需要帮助来理解和应对父母的精神疾病。心理健康和初级卫生保健临床医生有机会在与学校服务联合开发的协作护理模式中帮助这些儿童。
