Family-focused practices among adult mental health professionals: a portrait of the situation in Quebec

Context Children living with a mentally ill parent are a vulnerable population, at higher risk of various psychosocial and mental health problems. They are overrepresented in youth mental health and child protection services. Adult mental health services that treat parents have the opportunity to identify and support children in these families. However, to date, there is still little knowledge on the extent of family-centered practices offered by professionals from different disciplinary fields in Quebec. Objective This study aims to document the family-focused practices of adult mental health professionals according to different disciplines (social work, nursing, psychoeducation, psychology, and special education). Method A total of 524 participants, from all regions of Quebec and working with adult mental health clients, responded to an online provincial survey. A subsample of 380 participants, members of a professional order or association, was retained for the present study. These come from five discipline: social work (n=127), nursing (n=99), psychoeducation (n=57), psychology (n=56) and special education (n=41) A MANCOVA analysis was performed to compare groups on the five subscales of the French version of the Family Focused Mental Health Practice (FFMHPQ-FR, Piche et al., in press), controlling for gender, years of experience working in mental health services and estimated proportion of clients with a parental role. Results Significant differences were found between social workers and psychologists in reported family-focused practices. Participants also reported very different levels of facilitating factors such as workplace support, openness to training, perceived knowledge and skills, and attitudes towards these practices. Discussion This study helps to increase knowledge on the use of family-focused practices by professionals from different disciplinary fields, in the context of adult mental health services in Quebec. The results allow to better support the adoption of such practices in mental health services.