Family Functioning in Families Affected by Parental Mental Illness: Parent, Child, and Clinician Ratings

Overview

Journal Int J Environ Res Public Health

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Environmental Health
Public Health

Date 2021 Aug 7

PMID 34360277

Citations 8

Authors

Marlit Sell

Anne Daubmann

Holger Zapf

Bonnie Adema

Mareike Busmann

Maja Stiawa

Sibylle M Winter

Martin Lambert

Karl Wegscheider

Silke Wiegand-Grefe

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Family functioning is often impaired in families with a parent with mental illness and is linked to child mental health. This study aims to gain a better understanding of family functioning in affected families by comparing ratings among family members and by analyzing associations with clinician-rated family functioning. The cross-sectional sample comprised 210 families with ratings of 207 patients, 139 partners, and 100 children. Parents with a mental illness as well as their partners and children completed the German version of the Family Assessment Measure (FAM). Clinician ratings were obtained by the Global Assessment of Relational Functioning Scale (GARF). We conducted several mixed models to compare ratings of family functioning while accounting for family cluster. Family dysfunction was consistently elevated compared to a normative sample. On several domains, parents with a mental illness perceived family functioning to be worse compared to their partners and children. Partners and children did not differ in their perceptions of family functioning. Ratings of family members were moderately associated with clinician ratings. We discuss the importance of multi-informant assessment of family functioning and the implementation of family-based interventions for families with a parent with mental illness.

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