Effects of Mental Disorders in Children on Parents in the Context of Differentiated Approaches to Psychosocial Interventions in Pediatric Psychiatry

Abstract

Objective. To identify the features of parental responses to the existence of mental disorders in their children to develop differentiated approaches to psychosocial family interventions. Materials and methods. The parents (mainly mothers) of 140 children with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, 100 children with autistic spectrum disorders, and 85 children with mental retardation were studied. Psychiatric investigations of parents were based on scales assessing the effects of the child’s emotional and behavioral problems on the parents (the Care Giver Strain Questionnaire, CGSQ) and the load imposed by the disease on the family (Experience of Caregiving Inventory, ECI). Results and conclusions. The emotional and behavioral features of parents’ responses to illness in their children were identified – both those common to all the conditions studied and those characteristic of individual forms of mental pathology in children. Factors (cognitive, emotional and behavioral) determining the targets for differentiated psychosocial interventions during work with parents were defined. Parent-orientated stress coping strategies were formulated.