Psychiatric nurses' attitudes towards children visiting their parents in psychiatric inpatient units

The provision of care for children of parents with a mental health problem is an area that is frequently neglected by health-care practitioners.

The aim of the overall study was to explore psychiatric nurses' knowledge of, attitudes and practice towards the support needs of children whose parent has a mental health problem. This paper specifically addresses the views of psychiatric nurses towards children visiting their parent in a mental health inpatient facility.

This study employed a self-completion survey design with a sample of 114 registered psychiatric nurses from one integrated mental health service in Ireland.

The majority of participants were in favour of children visiting their parent when in hospital, but were of the view that the visiting areas should be away from the main ward location and designed to be child-friendly. Many expressed concerns about the standard of visiting facilities and worried about the potentially negative impact of a visit on the child's well-being. In relation to education on child-care issues, a significant majority of the participants reported not having received any education in the child-care issues identified and, as a likely consequence, rated their knowledge as insufficient.

This study highlights the need for further work in the areas of practitioner education, child-friendly visiting facilities, and the development of policy and practice guidelines around children whose parents experience a mental health problem.