Abstract:
Parenting with mental illness is associated with family conflicts, parenting difficulties, low parental confidence
and increased mental health and behavioural problems in children. Family focused interventions improve child
outcomes by about 40 %. However, such services are not available in Sri Lanka.A cross sectional descriptive
study was carried out in the general adult psychiatry follow-up clinics in a Teaching Hospital in Colombo, Sri
Lanka to assess the needs of parents with mental illness. A specifically designed interviewer administered
questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic details, difficulties with parenting and perceived care needs.
A specifically designed data extraction form was used to gather information from the clinic records, about the
parents’ illness.Our study revealed that 45.1 % of children knew that their parent had a psychiatric disorder. A
total of 67.3 % of parents believed that their mental illness had an impact on their parenting of which, 26.8 %
thought that this impact was marked. 67.8 % of parents believed that their illness was having an impact on their
children. A total of 36.4 % of parents reported having concerns about their children’s behaviour, emotions or
relationships but only 16.4 % of them said that they would discuss these with their treating doctor. Our study
showed that mental illness in parents had a substantial impact on parenting and their children. However, those
who sought professionals help in this regard were few and far between. Services aimed at the specific needs of
these parents should be developed.
