ReviewBMJ open2017
Why involve families in acute mental healthcare? A collaborative conceptual review.
Review in BMJ open, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 95 citations in OpenAlex.
- Next of kin involvement in mental health care services - a systematic participatory overview of evidence syntheses.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Trends, challenges, and priorities for shared decision making in mental health: The first umbrella review.The International journal of social psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Family Recovery Interventions with Families of Mental Health Service Users: A Systematic Review of the Literature.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Understanding Identity Changes in Psychosis: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2021Pooled it
- Barriers and facilitators when implementing family involvement for persons with psychotic disorders in community mental health centres - a nested qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2022Trial
- "I Hope She'll Feel Happier To Be alive": A Qualitative Study of Hope among Family Members of Individuals with Mental Illness.Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- Coping Strategies To Enhance Mental Health and Wellbeing of Ethnic Minority Populations in the United Kingdom: A Scoping Review.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2026Article
- From mechanisms to meanings: toward a content-sensitive psychiatry.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Self-Reported Burden Among Informal Caregivers of Patients Receiving Psychiatric Hospital Treatment: A National Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of mental health nursing · 2025Article
- The uneven triad: a qualitative study of perspectives of relatives, patients, and professionals on (not) involving relatives in mental health.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Triadic shared decision making in emergency psychiatry: an explorative study.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Nurses' perceptions of involving family members in the care of mental health care users.Curationis · 2024Article
- Care considerations in medical assistance in dying for persons with mental illness as the sole underlying medical condition: a qualitative study of patient and family perspectives.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Quality of life among people with mental illness attending a psychiatric outpatient clinic in Ethiopia: a structural equation model.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Perspectives of Hospitalized Mental Health Care Users Concerning the Involvement of Family Members in Their Care: A Qualitative Study.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2023Article
- Walking Alongside: Views of Family Members on Medical Assistance in Dying for Mental Illness as the Sole Underlying Medical Condition.Qualitative health research · 2023Article
- Family therapy for persons with schizophrenia: neglected yet important.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2023Article
- Clinicians' perceptions of family involvement in the treatment of persons with psychotic disorders: a nested qualitative study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- "The most important thing is that those closest to you, understand you": a nested qualitative study of persons with psychotic disorders' experiences with family involvement.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesFamily involvement is strongly recommended in clinical guidelines but suffers from poor implementation. To explore this topic at a conceptual level, a multidisciplinary review team including academics, clinicians and individuals with lived experience undertook a review to explore the theoretical background of family involvement models in acute mental health treatment and how this relates to their delivery.
designA conceptual review was undertaken, including a systematic search and narrative synthesis. Included family models were mapped onto the most commonly referenced underlying theories: the diathesis-stress model, systems theories and postmodern theories of mental health. Common components of the models were summarised and compared. Lastly, a thematic analysis was undertaken to explore the role of patients and families in the delivery of the approaches.
settingGeneral adult acute mental health treatment.
resultsSix distinct family involvement models were identified: Calgary Family Assessment and Intervention Models, ERIC (Equipe Rapide d'Intervention de Crise), Family Psychoeducation Models, Family Systems Approach, Open Dialogue and the Somerset Model. Findings indicated that despite wide variation in the theoretical models underlying family involvement models, there were many commonalities in their components, such as a focus on communication, language use and joint decision-making. Thematic analysis of the role of patients and families identified several issues for implementation. This included potential harms that could emerge during delivery of the models, such as imposing linear 'patient-carer' relationships and the risk of perceived coercion.
conclusionsWe conclude that future staff training may benefit from discussing the chosen family involvement model within the context of other theories of mental health. This may help to clarify the underlying purpose of family involvement and address the diverse needs and world views of patients, families and professionals in acute settings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.