Helping children adapt to the psychiatric hospitalization of a parent.

Abstract

Previous research has shown that the psychiatric illness and hospitalization of a parent is an event about which children are relatively uninformed. Children typically receive little support from family members and often display disturbances in sleeping, eating, school performance, and interpersonal relationships. In this study, 20 families were interviewed periodically throughout a parent's psychiatric hospitalization to discover how parents describe mental illness and hospitalization to children, children's reactions to those events, and ways parents help their children. Analysis of the data suggests that difficulties for parents and children ease when the hospital supports connections between parents and family members. Staff and parents emphasize that honest communication, listening, visiting the hospitalized parent, dealing with guilt, and consistent caregiving are most helpful. The strong influence of Appalachian culture also promotes care for one's children and kin, and creates tolerance for variations in behavior.