Prevalence of parents and children living with parental severe mental illness: A scoping review

Abstract

The care of patients with severe mental illness (SMI) is often narrowed down to the treatment of biological symptoms of the disease, whilst other psychosocial factors supporting mental health are often neglected. One of these factors influencing disease progression, compliance, self-concept, and motivation for treatment is parenthood. The first step to turning attention to this issue is to be aware of the prevalence of children living with a parent with SMI and the prevalence of parenting among SMI patients. This review aims to assess the current state of knowledge regarding methodological approaches, the prevalence rates of parenthood, the number of children living with a parent with SMI, and the sociodemographic characteristics of these families.A total of 1,156 records were retrieved from EBSCO Discovery in December 2021, and fifteen published studies addressed the review questions. The studies took various approaches to measure prevalence ̶ an epidemiological approach, a census approach, a design in which data from national registries were analysed, or cross-sectional studies in a clinical population. Nine studies investigated the prevalence of parenthood among patients with SMI, and six studies quantified the number of children living with a parent with mental illness. 1/3 of mental health service clients were parents, and 1 to 2 children out of 10 have a parent with mental illness.Parents with SMI face lower education, lower employment, lower income, higher rates of comorbid substance abuse, and higher rates of single parenthood. The aim of the review is not to give a definitive answer to the question of prevalence as much as to point out that there is not a marginal number of children living with a parent with a psychiatric disorder.