TY - JOUR

T1 - Constructing the school paradox in the lives of children living with parental mental illness

AU - Cudjoe, Ebenezer

AU - Tam, Cherry Hl

AU - Chiu, Marcus Yl

PY - 2023/10

Y1 - 2023/10

N2 - Children living with parental mental illness are referred to as an invisible population because mental health services rarely target them, as the focus is often on the parent who is ill mentally. The same situation occurs even in school where they are unnoticed. This study conducted in Ghana creates awareness about what these children think about their interactions at school in the context of parental mental illness. Data was collected through interviews and diaries with 13 children living with parental mental illness and analysed to attain the essential features through Husserl's transcendental phenomenology. The children find the school as a happy space where they do not have to be worried about the parent's mental illness. Ultimately, though, even at school, most of the children become concerned about the mental wellbeing of the parent due to their loyalty towards them. This results in the school paradox where the children are torn between having their own time at school and being worried about the parent's condition back home, wanting to be there for the parent. The school paradox is an unhealthy cycle that could be addressed with coordinated efforts from mental health professionals, social workers, psychologists and teachers.

AB - Children living with parental mental illness are referred to as an invisible population because mental health services rarely target them, as the focus is often on the parent who is ill mentally. The same situation occurs even in school where they are unnoticed. This study conducted in Ghana creates awareness about what these children think about their interactions at school in the context of parental mental illness. Data was collected through interviews and diaries with 13 children living with parental mental illness and analysed to attain the essential features through Husserl's transcendental phenomenology. The children find the school as a happy space where they do not have to be worried about the parent's mental illness. Ultimately, though, even at school, most of the children become concerned about the mental wellbeing of the parent due to their loyalty towards them. This results in the school paradox where the children are torn between having their own time at school and being worried about the parent's condition back home, wanting to be there for the parent. The school paradox is an unhealthy cycle that could be addressed with coordinated efforts from mental health professionals, social workers, psychologists and teachers.

KW - parental mental illness

KW - school

KW - parent

KW - phenomenology

KW - Children

U2 - 10.1177/13591045231154112

DO - 10.1177/13591045231154112

M3 - Article

C2 - 36689762

VL - 28

SP - 1480

EP - 1494

JO - Clinical child psychology and psychiatry

JF - Clinical child psychology and psychiatry

SN - 1461-7021

IS - 4

ER -