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The importance of engaging families in mental health care is recognised and endorsed by governments worldwide, however service users' perspectives of family involvement are not well understood. This study sought to summarise the literature regarding how service users view the involvement of family in their engagement with services and care. A search was conducted within the following databases for manuscripts published in the last 10 years: PsycINFO, CINAHLPlus, PubMed and Scopus. Of the 4251 eligible papers 17 met the inclusion criteria for review and were subjected to quality appraisal using the RATS (relevance, appropriateness, transparency, soundness) qualitative research review guidelines. Thematic analysis identified four primary themes: family involvement can be positive and negative; barriers to family involvement; family involvement is variable; and communication and collaboration among stakeholders. Identifying the barriers to family involvement and heterogeneity among service users' views were key findings of this review. Despite the widely reported benefits of including families in mental health care it does not always occur. A clearer and more nuanced understanding of service users' needs and preferences for family involvement is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systematic review of qualitative studies was conducted to explore how parents perceive sleep quality in their infants aged 0–24 months and the factors that influence these perceptions. A systematic search of the databases Scopus, Embase, Cinahl, PsycInfo and MEDLINE, was undertaken to identify eligible peer‐reviewed studies published between 2006–2021. Ten papers met inclusion criteria and were subsequently included in the review. Evaluation of papers with the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme qualitative checklist classified papers as weak, moderate or strong, with half considered strong. Thematic synthesis identified one superordinate theme, culture, and five interrelated subordinate themes regarding how parents perceive their infant's sleep and the factors that may influence these perceptions. These themes were: (1) Infants physical and emotional comfort; (2) Beliefs regarding safety; (3) Parental and familial wellbeing; (4) Perceived degree of infant agency; (5) Influence of external beliefs and opinions. The findings from this review may assist practitioners in providing parents with personalized and culturally sensitive information regarding infant sleep and may also inform antenatal and early intervention practices, subsequently minimizing parental distress regarding infant sleep patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Adult mental health clinicians face a range of challenges that hinder their use of family‐focused practices when working with consumers who are parents. The purpose of this study was (a) to examine clinicians' experiences when working with parents and (b) identify strategies they found to be effective when working with parents. Eleven Australian mental health clinicians were recruited who regularly worked with consumers who are parents. Semistructured interviews were conducted within a qualitative paradigm and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Themes were identified which related to (a) managing sensitive parenting conversations, (b) making decisions about child safety in unclear or unpredictable situations, and (c) working with child protection services. Participants had developed strategies for managing the challenges of the first two practice issues and suggested organizational changes that could facilitate collaboration with child protection services. The findings highlight that the challenges of working with parents with mental health issues cannot be addressed with a one‐size‐fits‐all approach. Initiatives to facilitate the effective support of parents and their children need to be informed by contextual factors, including clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]