Predictors of family-focused practices among mental health workers in Quebec

Geneviève Piché; Aude Villatte; Marie-Ève Clément; Marie-Hélène Morin; Darryl Maybery; Andrea Reupert; Stéphane Richard-Devantoy; Marianne Fournier-Marceau

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1380001

Predictors of family-focused practices among mental health workers in Quebec

Front Psychiatry. 2024 May 13:15:1380001. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1380001. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Geneviève Piché^{1

2

3}, Aude Villatte^{2

4}, Marie-Ève Clément¹, Marie-Hélène Morin⁵, Darryl Maybery⁶, Andrea Reupert⁷, Stéphane Richard-Devantoy⁸, Marianne Fournier-Marceau¹

Affiliations

¹ Département de psychoéducation et de psychologie, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Saint-Jérôme, QC, Canada.
² Centre de Recherche Universitaire Sur les Jeunes et les Familles (CRUJEF), Québec, QC, Canada.
³ Réseau de recherche en santé des populations du Québec (RRSPQ), Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁴ Unité de Formation et de Recherches (UFR) de Psychologie, Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Laboratoire Psychologie de la Socialisation - Développement et Travail (PSDT), Toulouse, France.
⁵ Département de travail social, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Rimouski, QC, Canada.
⁶ Department of Rural and Indigenous Health, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁷ School of Educational Psychology and Counseling, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry and Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.

Abstract

Context: Engaging family members in the ongoing care of individuals with mental illness is a practice known to bolster the client's recovery journey and enhance the overall wellbeing of both children and families involved. Despite its potential benefits, there remains a dearth of understanding surrounding the implementation of family-focused practices (FFP) by mental health professionals serving adults, as well as the factors that could either promote or hinder such practices. This knowledge gap is particularly pronounced within North American settings.

Goal: The goal of this study was to identify potential hindering and enabling factors of FFP used in adult mental health services.

Methods: A sample of 512 professionals working with adult mental health clients, from all regions of Quebec, Canada, with a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and working in different work settings, completed the Family Focused Mental Health Practice Questionnaire (FFMHPQ). Multinominal logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the impact of several factors - organizational, professional, and personal - on the degree of family-based practices of mental health workers.

Results and discussion: Findings of this study show that the strongest predictors for the adoption of higher FFP levels among adult mental health professionals in Quebec, are being employed on a full-time basis, perceiving a higher level of skills, knowledge, and confidence toward FFP, and having a supportive workplace environment. Results underscore the need to address both organizational and worker-related aspects to effectively promote better FFP in mental health services.

Keywords: children of parents with a mental illness; family-focused practice; mental health professionals; mental health services; parental mental illness; parenting.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The authors thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for their financial support to the project (#435-2020-1092). We are also grateful for the financial support that we received from the Centre de recherche universitaire sur les jeunes et les familles (CRUJeF).