Focus Group With Parents of Children With Mental and Behavioral Health Concerns

Scholars from multiple fields have shown that parents raising a child with mental and behavioral health concerns (MBHC) need additional support. We need parents to self-identify necessary supports as a basis for intervention planning.

In this study, we examined what parents say they need from professionals to support their families.

Occupational therapy faculty and students employed a strengths-based coaching approach to conduct a focus group with five parents. We conducted qualitative thematic analysis and used inductive coding to identify themes related to unmet self-identified needs of families. We refined themes through an iterative process and achieved 93% agreement after three rounds of coding.

Four themes emerged from the transcript analysis: External Control, Internal Competence, Relating to Others, and Role of Self-Care.

Professionals must consider the unique needs identified by parents who have children with MBHC when planning interventions within our education and health care systems.