Children of Parents with Mental Illness: Improving Identification and Support in Adult Mental Health Services in Denmark

Abstract: Children and adolescents of parents who have severe mental illness are prone to poor mental, physical, and emotional health, which can continue into adulthood. Additionally, they may have poorer well-being, and overall quality of life than those whose parents do not have mental health conditions. Thus, these children are an at-risk group, and their needs are likely significant; still, many receive little or no support and remain invisible to professional services. Recently, initiatives in Denmark have addressed this issue and national policies and regional clinical guidelines have been implemented to improve the early identification of these children and to support them in their need for knowledge.
Although policies and clinical guidelines may be seen as important tools, there is still a lack of adherence to these across different conditions and levels of care, and a paucity of knowledge about which factors affect their successful implementation. In addition, we have no systematic knowledge about whether families and children have their needs met.
To address these questions, we present a mixed-methods study. The study is conducted in the context of adult mental health services across the five regions of Denmark. The study received financial support from Helsefonden (grant number 23-B-0489).