An exploration of the experience of attending the Kidstime programme for children with parents with enduring mental health issues: Parents’ and young people’s views

Abstract

The Kidstime programme is an innovative attempt to address the particular needs of children and young people who have parents with mental illnesses. It comprises a monthly psycho-educational workshop involving discussions about the meaning of mental health, dramatizations of stories constructed by the children (often filmed), and concurrent parents’ groups, as well as joint seminars and review sessions. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of interviews with young people (n=6) and parents (n=5) attending the groups and interviews with former service users (n=9). Five themes emerged from the thematic analysis: initial engagement, sharing with others, learning about mental health, opportunity for fun and impact on family relationships. Areas for further development were identified including the formation of a distinct adolescent Kidstime workshop to better meet their age-specific needs, and adjustments to the system for introducing new families to established workshop groups. Given the positive experience of the groups by those attending, a rigorous evaluation of the approach is suggested.