[Support for families with a mentally ill parent : Which forms of help do mentally ill parents utilize and which would they like to have?] / Unterstützung für Familien mit einem psychisch erkrankten Elternteil : Welche Hilfen nehmen psychisch erkrankte Eltern in Anspruch und welche wünschen sie sich?

BACKGROUND: In Germany different offers of social support are available for families that are provided by different sectors, e.g., the youth welfare and the healthcare systems. OBJECTIVE: Documentation of the utilized help, child-related factors that are associated with the utilization and the parental desires for support. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Survey of 160 parents undergoing (partial) inpatient treatment in psychiatric hospitals via an oral interview using standardized and semi-standardized instruments. RESULTS: The results show that nonprofessional help by family and friends as well as support offers provided by the healthcare system are used most frequently. Families that perceived their children as more burdened receive more help than families with children judged as being less burdened. There are regional differences especially in the utilization of high-threshold help by the healthcare system. DISCUSSION: Support offers seem to reach families with mental illnesses, especially those that are particularly burdened; however, there are regional differences regarding the utilization of support as well as the wishes for specific support offers.

[Intervention programs for psychological stress in children of military personnel in the USA - Results of a systematic literature review with regard to transferability to Germany]. / Interventionsprogramme bei psychischen Belastungen von Kindern von Militärangehörigen in den USA.

Intervention programs for psychological stress in children of military personnel in the USA - Results of a systematic literature review with regard to transferability to Germany Abstract. Military personnel who have been deployed in war zones or other unstable regions are at an increased risk to develop mental health disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder. Likewise, their children are at high risk to develop mental health problems as well as emotional and behavioral difficulties. Most research on prevalence of mental health problems as well as on interventions within this group was conducted in the USA. In Germany, no systematic intervention for children of military members focusing on their experiences of deployment exist. The systematic literature review aimed to analyze existing intervention programs in the USA, in particular for children of military members regarding evidence, type and addressed target group (parents, children, both). Compared to the social welfare and health care systems in the USA, the German systems are different. Hence, a second aim was to examine the transferability of these programs to the specific needs of children of German military members (Bundeswehr). 27 intervention programs could be included in the review. Programs, directly or indirectly, are addressing the needs of children of a deployed parent. They are usually focusing on the "emotional cycle of deployment" (phase of preparation of deployment, separation phase of deployment and the return of the deployed parent). The programs mainly focused on parenting skills, family reactions to stress, coping strategies of families, and the feeling of coherence within the family. Only 20 % of the interventions could be assigned to the type of indicated prevention. Nine interventions have shown positive effects (either in RCT or non-experimental designs). Several elements of the programs are transferable to the German situation of children of military members. In particular, contents which address the specific situation of families with a military member are desperately needed in Germany. Transferability is limited by the non-comparability of health care and social welfare systems in the USA and in Germany.

[Using attachment measures in the context of providing expert witness through psychiatric assessment in family court proceedings]. / Einsatz von Bindungsdiagnostik bei familiengerichtlicher Begutachtung in der Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie.

Prognostic evaluation of child development in the context of his/her actual family situation plays an important role in family law disputes. However, there is a lack of empirically validated instruments to assess socio-emotional development in very young children. Attachment research provides instruments which could be utilized in clinical practice. At this, the focus should be on assessing the quality of parent-child-relationship and the occurrence of risky parenting behaviour. The article illustrates the use of attachment measures in the context of a family court proceeding according to subsection 1666 German Civil Code. Risk assessment is carried out through direct observation of the quality of interaction between mother and ten months old infant as well as through evaluation of the attachment representations of both parent caregivers. Instruments used are the Strange Situation Test (to assess infant attachment), the CARE-Index (to assess parental sensitivity), the Adult Attachment Interview, and the Adult Attachment Projective (to assess parental attachment representations).

[Risk assessment of neglect and maltreatment in infants and toddlers. Chances of early preventive intervention]. / Risikoeinschätzung bei Vernachlässigung und Kindeswohlgefährdung im Säuglings--und Kleinkindalter--Chancen früher beziehungsorientierter Diagnostik.

The German child protection system lacks of interdisciplinary and standardized procedures for screening and diagnosing child maltreatment as well as for service delivery. Evidence based assessments of risk-screening in combination with consensus-based models for risk-judgement seem to predict the best possible results. A central part of determining whether an infant is at risk is to evaluate various domains of parental competencies and skills. In particular assessment procedures based on attachment research have proven to be practically and methodologically relevant. These include interactive and video-based observational methods as well as parental representations as sources of information for risk assessment. Attachment based intervention and treatment programs are effective, especially with regard to enhancing paternal sensitive behavior. However, these programs need to be adapted to delivery for specific risk groups. Overall an interdisciplinary approach with regard to the programs as well as to the training of the professionals has to be taken into account.