Parenting as a focus of recovery: A systematic review of current practice

The first aim of this article was to systematically identify and review interventions that had incorporated parenting as a focus of recovery-orientated practice in adult mental health services. The second aim was to assess the strength of the extant evidence that including parenting as a focus of recovery practice was effective in terms of improving parent, child and family wellbeing.

An online search was conducted through Scopus, PsycINFO, Ovid MEDLINE, Cochrane library, and the Australian Family & Society Abstracts, for articles published between 2006 and 2015. Inclusion criteria involved articles that described and/or evaluated interventions that incorporated parenting as a focus of recovery in adult mental health services. A framework, drawn from the literature, was used to delineate the identified interventions in terms of recovery.

Three interventions were identified and evaluated. Only 1 intervention had been evaluated using randomized controlled trials. The limited evaluation data available tentatively suggested that recovery-orientated parent interventions may positively impact on a range of parent, child, and family outcomes. The interventions varied considerably in terms of intensity, scope, and reach.

There is an emerging evidence base demonstrating that including parenting as a focus of recovery practice is effective in improving parental, child and family wellbeing. However, more rigorous research in this area is a priority. Given that parenting is a valued life role for many people with a mental illness, there is an opportunity to integrate parenting as a central component of recovery-orientated approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record