Authors: Linda Byrne, John McGrath, Jenny Hearle, Karen Plant, Jo Barkla, Linda Jenner
Year: 1998
Event: 1998 TheMHS Conference
Subject: book of proceedings
Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers
Abstract: The Queensland Centre for Schizophrenia Research has targeted the needs of parents with a psychotic disorder as a priority research area over the next 10 years. Parents with a psychotic disorder are vulnerable in many ways and are therefore likely to be accessing services from a range of community agencies. The differing agendas and philosophies of various government and non-government services can result in suboptimal management of these families. This study surveyed 77 service providers from a range of government and non-government services (e.g. Community Mental Health, Family Services etc.) targeting their attitudes, what they perceived were difficulties for this population, interventions required to meet the needs of this group and finally barriers to effective service delivery. We found that service providers concur with results from our earlier survey of parents with a psychotic disorder, that current services are inadequate in meeting the needs of parents. Service providers believe that both parents and children face many difficulties due to the parents’ psychotic disorder. Parent based interventions such as support at the time of hospitalisation were seen as being more beneficial than those interventions targeting children. Perhaps the strongest finding was that despite most service providers having to collaborate with other agencies, lack of liaison and lack of coordinated service provision was seen as the single biggest barrier in effective service delivery. The results highlight the need for policy planners and service providers to develop strategies to ensure effective coordination between services that work with this population.
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