Experiences of adult children living with a mentally ill mother

Abstract

Parental mental illness has been described as one of the major life events with negative effects that a person can experience. Mental illness affects roles and functioning among family members. The objective of the study is to explore and describe the experiences of adult children living with a mentally ill mother. This study followed a descriptive qualitative design with a purposive sampling method. The sample comprised of five adult children (n=5) living with mentally ill mothers, whose mothers are admitted at a Specialist Psychiatric Hospital using semi-structured interviews. Thematic content data analysis was used to analyse data. Findings revealed that adult children of the mentally ill mothers experience various emotions about living with a mentally ill mother. Concerns regarding taking care of the mentally ill mother, time spent taking care of the mother and the effects the mother’s mental illness has on relationships were the reported experiences. It is recommended that the assessment of needs, identification of the resources, education on relapse management and provision of support groups be done by mental health care nurses to better the experiences of living with a mentally ill mother among the adult children.