Cudjoe, Ebenezer and Tam, Cherry HL and Chiu, Marcus YL (2023) Constructing the the school paradox in the lives of children living with parental mental illness. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 28 (4). pp. 1480-1494. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/13591045231154112
Cudjoe, Ebenezer and Tam, Cherry HL and Chiu, Marcus YL (2023) Constructing the the school paradox in the lives of children living with parental mental illness. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 28 (4). pp. 1480-1494. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/13591045231154112
Cudjoe, Ebenezer and Tam, Cherry HL and Chiu, Marcus YL (2023) Constructing the the school paradox in the lives of children living with parental mental illness. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 28 (4). pp. 1480-1494. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/13591045231154112
Abstract
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.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | Children; Parental mental illness; parent; school; phenomenology |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 25 Jan 2023 16:40 |
Last Modified: | 07 Aug 2024 20:18 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/34705 |
Available files
Filename: 13591045231154112.pdf
Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0