TY - JOUR
T1 - Developing family rooms in mental health inpatient units: An exploratory descriptive study Healthcare needs and demand
AU - Isobel, Sophie
AU - Edwards , Clair
AU - FOSTER, Kim
N1 - Funding Information:
The study was funded by a NSW Health Innovations Grant. The authors would like to acknowledge Louise O’Brien for input with study design and critical review of the paper, Louise Acret for research assistance, and the Project Advisory group for their input into the study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Isobel et al.
PY - 2015/6/19
Y1 - 2015/6/19
N2 - Background: Family-friendly spaces for children and families to visit inpatient mental health units are recommended in international mental health guidelines as one way to provide service delivery that is responsive to the needs of parent-consumers and families. There is a lack of evidence on the implementation of family-friendly spaces or Family Rooms. This study aimed to explore the development, role, and function of Family Rooms in four mental health inpatient units in a local health district in NSW Australia. Methods: An exploratory descriptive inductive-deductive design using multiple data sources was employed. Methods included Family Room usage and parental status data over a 12 week period, an open-ended questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews with 20 nurses. Results: Available parental status data indicated that between 8-14 % of inpatients were parents of dependent children under 18. Family Room usage was multipurpose and used specifically for children families 29 % of the time. As spaces in the units, Family Rooms were perceived as acknowledging of the importance of family, and providing comfortable, secure spaces for parent-consumers and their children and family to maintain connections. Units did not have local policies or guidelines on the development, maintenance, and/or use of the rooms. Conclusions: Despite long-standing recognition of the need to identify consumers' parental status, there remains a lack of systematic processes for identifying parents in mental health inpatient services nationally. Family Rooms as spaces within inpatient units acknowledge the importance of families and are a step towards provision of family-focused mental health care. Recommendations for establishing and maintaining Family Rooms are outlined.
AB - Background: Family-friendly spaces for children and families to visit inpatient mental health units are recommended in international mental health guidelines as one way to provide service delivery that is responsive to the needs of parent-consumers and families. There is a lack of evidence on the implementation of family-friendly spaces or Family Rooms. This study aimed to explore the development, role, and function of Family Rooms in four mental health inpatient units in a local health district in NSW Australia. Methods: An exploratory descriptive inductive-deductive design using multiple data sources was employed. Methods included Family Room usage and parental status data over a 12 week period, an open-ended questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews with 20 nurses. Results: Available parental status data indicated that between 8-14 % of inpatients were parents of dependent children under 18. Family Room usage was multipurpose and used specifically for children families 29 % of the time. As spaces in the units, Family Rooms were perceived as acknowledging of the importance of family, and providing comfortable, secure spaces for parent-consumers and their children and family to maintain connections. Units did not have local policies or guidelines on the development, maintenance, and/or use of the rooms. Conclusions: Despite long-standing recognition of the need to identify consumers' parental status, there remains a lack of systematic processes for identifying parents in mental health inpatient services nationally. Family Rooms as spaces within inpatient units acknowledge the importance of families and are a step towards provision of family-focused mental health care. Recommendations for establishing and maintaining Family Rooms are outlined.
KW - Children
KW - Family focused care
KW - Family rooms
KW - Parental mental illness
KW - Therapeutic space
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84935013657&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12913-015-0914-0
DO - 10.1186/s12913-015-0914-0
M3 - Article
SN - 1472-6963
VL - 15
SP - 1
EP - 8
JO - BMC Health Services Research
JF - BMC Health Services Research
IS - 1
M1 - 238
ER -