Identifying Researchers’ and Professionals’ Priorities for Interventions and Outcomes with Families with Parental Mental Illness

Children in families where a parent has a mental illness (FaPMI) have increased risk for a range of negative outcomes. Despite increasing recognition of the need for support for these families, there is still little consensus regarding the goals and outcomes services should work towards. This paper reports on a cross-sectional online survey, analysed using template analysis, exploring the perspectives of an international sample of academic (n = 33) and practice (n = 17) experts as to the most important goals and outcomes for interventions for FaPMI. Findings indicate that these experts prioritize a holistic and family-centred approach, with more importance placed on subjective and relational factors beyond individual symptom reduction. This encompasses whole-family communication and relational factors; meaning and hope for family members; social connectedness; understanding of mental health across the family; impacts of intergenerational trauma; and the family-service alliance. The findings have implications for the development of priorities for interventions and measurement of outcomes in social work and allied professions, which include a central recognition of the importance of the conceptualisation of family relationships, communication and family recovery.