Do Mentally Ill Parents and Mentally Distressed Children Benefit From Joint Parent-Child Treatment? First Long-term Effects

This study investigated whether participation in the SEEK group program (Seelische Erkrankungen, Eltern und Kinder - Mental Illnesses, Parents and Children) for mentally ill parents in the context of inpatient parent-child treatment produces short-and long-term additive treatment effects with regard to parents' psychological symptoms (recorded with the Hopkins-Symptom-Checklist-25; HSCL-25), parental distress (recorded with the Parent Stress Inventory; EBI), and psychological and physical symptoms of the child (recorded with the Child Behavior Checklist; CBCL). The comparison group (CG; n = 26), which underwent the usual treatment program, and the intervention group (IG; n = 28), which additionally participated in SEEK, were compared at three measurement times (t1 at the beginning of the inpatient stay, t2 at the end of the inpatient stay, and t3 six months after the end of the inpatient stay). The sample was reduced at t3 because of dropouts (CG: n = 11; IG: n = 15). In the t1-t2 comparison of the reduced sample, there was, with regard to HSCL-25 and EBI, a significant decrease on more scales in the IG (HSCL anxiety, HSCL depression, HSCL overall value, EBI parent range, EBI child range, EBI overall value) than in the CG (HSCL depression, HSCL overall value, EBI child range). There were no significant differences between t2 and t3 in both groups, and the effects with regard to the EBI also remained in the t1-t3 comparison. For the HSCL-25, the effects remained mainly in the CG, while in the IG they were borderline significant only for HSCL depression. Overall, however, both groups were comparable in terms of their short-and long-term treatment success regarding parents' psychological symptoms and parental distress, as the effect strengths of both groups did not differ significantly on any scale. With regard to the child's psychological and physical symptoms (CBCL), a comparison of t1-t2 (sample without drop-outs; CG: n = 26; IG: n = 28) showed a significant decrease in values in both groups, but the children of the CG improved significantly more on the scales CBCL External problems and CBCL Overall abnormality. When comparing the effect strengths from t2 to t3 and from t1 to t3 (reduced sample), the two groups did not differ significantly. Initial acceptance data show that SEEK was predominantly experienced as helpful by the participating parents (78Fritz et al., 2018). However, additive effects of the group program could not be proven with this study in an extensive inpatient treatment setting. Both groups (with the exception of the two CBCL scales at the t1-t2 comparison) were comparable in terms of treatment success. Short-term effects of inpatient parent-child treatment as well as long-term effects in the 6-month follow-up period were observed.