Family support and quality of community mental health care: Perspectives from families living with mental illness.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: Describe patients' and family members' perceptions of family support from nurses and other mental healthcare professionals, and quality of care in community mental healthcare service. Further, compare the perceptions of patients and family members. BACKGROUND: While patients value family involvement, family members feel unprepared and lack the necessary skills to be supportive. Since healthcare professionals predominantly focus on patients, they may fail to understand the complex needs of families. Family perceived support and quality of community mental health care may vary across patients and family members. DESIGN AND METHODS: Cross-sectional study with patients suffering from mental illness and family members in community mental healthcare services in Norway. Altogether 86 participants, of whom 33 patients and 33 family members had a family relationship-paired samples. Participants filled in the translated version of the Iceland Family Perceived Support Questionnaire (FPSQ-N) and Quality in Psychiatric Care-Community Out-Patient (QPC-COP) and Community Out-Patient Next of Kin (QPC-COPNK). STROBE checklist was used. RESULTS: Family members scored family perceived support and quality of community mental health care lower than patients. Family members feel the loss of support. Patient and family members found the Patient-healthcare professionals' relationship to be of high quality, while family members gave low score to being respected and invited to take part in care by nurses and other mental healthcare professionals. CONCLUSION: Family members' unmet need of support highlights the need for nurses and other community mental healthcare professionals to assess complex family needs and to intervene. Barriers to collaboration exist, and family members need to be respected and invited into community mental health care. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Contributes knowledge of how to meet the family's needs and provides a basis for further care and treatment development in similar contexts nationally and internationally.

Young adults suffering from mental illness: Evaluation of the family-centred support conversation intervention from the perspective of mental healthcare professionals.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To explore how mental healthcare professionals' experience and evaluate the use of Family-Centred Support Conversation Intervention. BACKGROUND: Mental health professionals working in the community mental health service provide treatment, care and support to young adults suffering from mental illness. Young adults suffering from mental illness are dependent on other family members and live close to the family. The Family-Centred Support Conversation promotes healing and alleviates the suffering of the family. DESIGN AND METHODS: A qualitative explorative design was used. Individual interviews with health professionals (n = 13) were conducted in Norway and analysed using a phenomenographic approach. The COREQ checklist was used. RESULTS: Three descriptive categories emerged: A new tool in the toolbox, the family as a conversational partner and Implementing the intervention, with seven conceptions. The mental health professionals had no previous routine for family support. The conversations helped them to structure the involvement of family members. Having the family as a conversational partner together with the patients was considered both somewhat new and rewarding but also challenging. The mental health professionals described a need to adjust the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The Family-Centred Support Conversation was described as a complement to care, as usual, structuring the involvement of families. The knowledge exchange between the families and the mental health professionals may create a context of changing beliefs, strengths and resources. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Clinical practice is challenged to work on establishing a mindset; whereby, the family is regarded as a resource with important skills and life experience. The family should be offered individualised support and follow-up, and FCSC may be a relevant intervention.

It's Not a Race, It's a Marathon! Families Living with a Young Adult Suffering from Mental Illness.

The aim of this study is to explore families' perceptions of everyday life when living with a young adult suffering from mental illness. Findings include: 1) Families balance between letting go and enabling the young adult to become independent while remaining close to help him/her complete education, work and have a social life. 2) Young adults try to deal with symptoms of mental illness by themselves and not be a burden, although longing for family members to understand them and the situation. 3) Healthcare professionals still hold back information although young adults have consented to giving family members insight.

Young Adults and Their Families Living With Mental Illness: Evaluation of the Usefulness of Family-Centered Support Conversations in Community Mental Health care Settings.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of Family-Centered Support Conversations (FCSC) offered in community mental health care in Norway to young adults and their families experiencing mental illness. The FCSC is a family nursing intervention based on the Calgary Family Assessment and Intervention Models and the Illness Beliefs Model and is focused on how family members can be supportive to each other, how to identify strengths and resources of the family, and how to share and reflect on the experiences of everyday life together while living with mental illness. Interviews were conducted with young adults and their family members in Norway who had received the FCSC intervention and were analyzed using phenomenography. Two descriptive categories were identified: "Facilitating the sharing of reflections about everyday life" and "Possibility of change in everyday life." The family nursing conversations about family structure and function in the context of mental illness allowed families to find new meanings and possibilities in everyday life. Health care professionals can play an important role in facilitating a safe environment for young adults and their families to talk openly about the experience of living with and managing mental illness.