Mothers as Consumers of Mental Health Services: Resource Utilization and Parenting Behaviors

Abstract

Mental health services with mothers with mental illnesses can help to mitigate the effects that the mother’s symptoms have on the children in the home. Parenting classes for mothers with mental illnesses can teach positive parenting behaviors. Mothers with a mental illness may not have been exposed to coping strategies that help manage symptoms while with their children. Resources and services that contribute skills or information can have a substantial impact on the wellbeing of the mother and her child. However, parenting is an area of service that is overlooked in programming for many places. This cross sectional study is a collaboration with DePaul Personal Recovery Program (PROS), The Wellness Coalition, and the National Association of Mental illness. The targeted sample consists of 30 mothers with mental illnesses from each site. The self-administered survey contains Likert scale questions that will assess common positive parenting behaviors. In addition data will be collected pertaining to mother’s use of parenting services, programs, and social supports. This study hypothesizes that the number of resources that are used by mothers can positively impact their parenting behaviors. By collecting this data, the study will determine which supports and services are used and frequency of positive parenting behaviors such as expressing feelings to family members, considering the child’s feelings when making plans, and bringing the child to the doctor. Results from this study will further our understanding of how resource utilization can impact parenting behaviors among mothers with a mental illness.