Reports

 

Children Of Parents with a Mental Illness: Systems Change in Australia Report

The document Principles and Actions for Services and People Working with Children of Parents with a Mental Illness (AICAFMHA, 2004) provides a range of actions to assist systems and organisations to identify how they are, or potentially could be, involved in the provision of quality services to children of parents with a mental illness and their families (Chapter 4:  pages 13-17).

In 2008 Dr Susanne Owen was contracted by AICAFMHA to undertake a critical analysis of systems changes implemented within Australia in the last 10 years that have aimed to enhance the mental health and well-being outcomes of children of parents with a mental illness and their families.

The study was qualitative in nature, drawing upon information provided by participant interview and documents of relevance to individual systems change processes. A wide range of organisations and individuals in the Australian states and territories and nationally were consulted as part of the study between June and September 2008.

In line with Dr Owen’s key recommendation, in early 2009 the COPMI Team will meet with nominees of State and Territory mental health departments to discuss the possible applications of Dr Owen’s change management and sustainability matrix. It is hoped that resultant documentation and case studies will assist organisations to assess their current progress and plan for future systems changes to better support children of parents with a mental illness and their families.

Report Cover and Executive Summary

Full report

Separate sections : Ch 1 Introduction · Ch 2 Copmi National State and Territory Directions · Ch 3 Systems Change Models and Copmi Consultation Themes · Ch 4 Big Picture Context and Leadership · Ch 5 Policy and Strategy · Ch 6 People Culture and Management · Ch 7 Structures Systems Processes · Ch 8 Resources · Ch 9 Copmi Change Futures · Ch 10 Conclusion · Glossary and Notes · Appendices · References

 

National COPMI Research & Evaluation Projects

National Research &/or Evaluation Projects from around Australia, relating to children of parents with a mental illness can be listed here.

To add a project to this list, please send details.

In Phase 2 of the national COPMI initiative an invitation was extended to people undertaking research and evaluation in Australia relating to children of parents with a mental illness to share their research and evaluation findings. A number of reports are now available (see below).

In March 2007, AICAFMHA participated in a forum entitled 'Developing a national evaluation strategy for inter-agency and inter-sectorial initiatives for children who have a parent with mental illness (COPMI)'. The forum, led by Professor David Hay of Curtin University in Perth, involved presentations from colleagues in the USA and Canada and from initiatives in Australia. Links to most of the presentations from the forum can be found below.

A group of researchers and evaluators (in association with the COPMI Reference Group and other stakeholders) have since contributed to the development of a draft framework for possible progression of the evaluation and research agenda pertaining to COPMI in Australia within the national initiative.

 

Presentations from Sydney Forum 24 March 2007

Introduction to Forum: David Hay

Joanne Nicholson : USA Perspective - COPMI Evaluation (Professor of Psychiatry, Uni of Massachusetts)

Rob Lees : Canadian Perspective - COPMI Evaluation (British Columbia)

Elizabeth Fudge : Australian Perspective - COPMI Evaluation (National COPMI Project Officer)

Stefan Greunert : Parents with Substance Dependency & Evaluation (Executive Manager, Odyssey House Victoria)

Darryl Mayberry : Issues & Evaluation & Vic COPMI Evaluation (Charles Sturt Uni, Wagga Wagga, NSW)

South Australia:
Adult Mental Health Nurses? Beliefs and Practices when Nursing Clients who are Parents of Children Under 18
While many people who have a mental illness are also capable parents, mental health problems can affect parent-child interactions in a variety of ways. For example, parents with depression, when ill, are less able to be affectionate and responsive (Kowalenko et al.1999), and parents who have schizophrenia may have unusual or inappropriate affective responses to their child (Pope 1998). In addition, when a parent is affected by a mental illness, the family is at greater risk of experiencing relationship discord, discontinuity of care, poor general parenting skills, social isolation, and poverty and its sequelae, such as poor housing and lack of transport (Kowalenko et al. 1999). However, many families in which a parent is affected by mental illness are, or can be supported to parent their children effectively. These findings were catalysts for this research project.

This collaborative study between Flinders University?s School of Nursing and Midwifery and the Australian Infant, Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health Association (AICAFMHA) used both quantitative and qualitative research methods to gather information from registered psychiatric/mental health nurses working in in-patient and community adult mental health settings in South Australia, about their beliefs and practices in relation to assisting their clients, who had enduring mental illness, to address parenting roles and family issues. It also sought to determine the nurses? level of factual knowledge and practices related to that knowledge with regard to their statutory obligations pertaining to their clients? children.

View/download brief report (75kb) here...
View/download full report (370kb) here...

Mental Health Liaison Project Final Report
The Australian Centre for Child Protection conducted an action-research evaluation of the Mental Health Liaison Project (MHLP) at Families SA (formerly Children, Youth and Family Services, CYFS), Aberfoyle Park District Centre during 2006. The evaluation examined the views of workers, supervisors, managers and parents about what worked well, and what could be done differently, when including a mental health worker with child protection services. Using action research methods the information and recommendations from the first stage of the evaluation were used to inform and enhance the practice of the MHLP.

View/download full report (490kb) here...

Queensland
The Developing Best Practice at the Intersection of Child Protection and Mental Health Services project is a three-year (2002-2004) National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded research project. The project aims to identify and examine current practices of mental health workers and child protection workers in cases where there are protection concerns for children and a parent has either a diagnosed mental illness or a mental health problem.
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