Beardslee's Preventive Family Intervention for Children of Mentally Ill Parents: A Swedish National Survey

Abstract

Beardslee's family intervention (FI) is a preventative method for children of depressed parents and included among evidence-based methods in the US. In Finland and Sweden the FI has been used in families with varying parental diagnoses, although research is lacking for other parental diagnoses than depression. The aim of this questionnaire study is to investigate the introduction and implementation of the FI in Sweden, its safety and its feasibility in clinical services. Professionals in adult psychiatry using FI recruited 103 families who had participated in FI during 2007, regardless of parents’ diagnosis. Children between the ages of eight and 18 years were included. Parents and children were generally satisfied with FI and predominantly reported a positive impact of FI. No differences in responses were found between diagnostic groups. The study lends support to the assumption that FI is safe and feasible for use in general psychiatric populations.

Keywords:

• parental mental illness
• intervention
• prevention
• implementation