SCIE Systematic map report 1: The extent and impact of parental mental health problems on families and the acceptability, accessibility and effectiveness of interventions

By Salina Bates and Esther Coren

Published: June 2006

Key messages

The map provides an overview of research on parental mental health problems and the family. It is organised into sub sections on the extent and impact of mental health problems on intervention effectiveness, accessibility and acceptability.
The map is a research tool. It can be searched using key word and free text terms. Topics can be cross tabulated, and frequency data for all keywords obtained.
The map includes published research literature and so does not reflect practice that is not evaluated and published. Gaps in the map may reflect a lack of evaluation, or specific gaps in the evidence base.
Further analysis is available and should be conducted for any project drawing on the map.
No quality appraisal has been conducted on the reports in the map. It is always advisable to quality appraise research reports before using findings.

Context

This is SCIE's first systematic map and is a pilot in the use of this method at SCIE. It looks at the literature available on parental mental health as part of the SCIE's existing work on the Parental Mental Health and Child Welfare Network.

The map aimed to explore the literature relating to families and mental health. This focus is of particular interest because it has the potential to bring together two types of services which are now delivered separately, i.e. adult mental health and children’s and families’ services. The aims of the map were to explore:

the extent and detection of parental mental health problems (PMHP) in the UK
the impact of PMHP on the wider family
the accessibility, acceptability and effectiveness of available and potential service interventions for parents with mental health problems.

Purpose

Systematic mapping is a process originally developed by the Eppi Centre, to map out and categorise the existing literature on a particular topic. It is a tool that offers policy makers, practitioners and researchers an explicit and transparent means of identifying narrower policy and practice-relevant review questions. It also enables the contextualisation of in-depth systematic literature reviews within the broader literature, and identification of gaps in the evidence base.

This report is the product ofcomprehensive and systematic searches. It aims to identify and categorise research in parental mental health and to be a specific resource from which to commission further reviews and/or primary research by identifying gaps in the research literature.

Audience

This report will be useful for commissionees, practitioners, researchers, students and everyone with an interest in parental mental health.

Download map

See also The extent and impact of parental mental health problems on families and the acceptability, accessibility and effectiveness of interventions. This link takes you to a database on an external website, owned by the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating (EPPI) Centre. The database allows you to search for records within the systematic map, according to questions such as what type of setting an intervention used, and by freetext such as author names or particular topics. The questions relate closely to the particular research area being studied. The questions used are shown within the Search and Explore functions.