Children Living in Families with Parental Mental Illness and/or Substance Abuse. Participation, Competence Development and Support, 2018

This study is about children/adolescents who grow up with parents who have substance abuse or mental health problems, and consists of three sub-projects: 1) children's everyday lives and their perceptions of safety, well-being and support, 2) meeting points between children, parents and professionals helpers, and 3) correlations between different parental variables and the child's development. The data base is qualitative interviews with 32 children and adolescents, 16 parents, focus groups with professionals with various health and social work backgrounds, and participant observation in 7 conversation groups with more than 50 children. Sub-project 3 is based on quantitative data from 43 mother/child dyads where mother has substance abuse problems.