SynthesisBMJ mental health2025
Systematic review with qualitative meta-synthesis of parents' experiences and needs in relation to having a child or young person with a mental health difficulty.
Synthesis in BMJ mental health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Psychological well-being and needs of parents and carers of children and young people with mental health difficulties: a quantitative systematic review with meta-analyses.BMJ mental health · 2024Pooled it
- Development of a web-based resource for parents to support youth mental health: An exploratory sequential mixed methods approach.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Healthcare Cost Associated with an Acute Mental Healthcare Bundle in Pediatric Emergency Departments.PharmacoEconomics - open · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
questionWhat are the experiences and needs of parents of children and young people (CYP) aged 5-18 with diagnosed mental health difficulties, particularly in relation to the parents' own well-being? STUDY SELECTION AND ANALYSIS: A systematic review with thematic meta-synthesis was conducted, including qualitative studies published in English. Seven databases were searched (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL Ultimate, AMED, EMBASE, Web of Science and Cochrane Library) from inception to September 2024. Studies focused on parents of CYP aged 5-18 years, where the CYP had a confirmed mental health diagnosis.
findingsOf 75 862 screened studies, 46 met inclusion criteria. Six overarching themes were identified: support needs and gaps; impact on everyday life; altered family dynamics; parental worries and fears; emotional experience of caregivers and self-care paradox. Parents face significant challenges, including unmet support needs from healthcare and education systems, substantial impacts on daily life and altered family dynamics. Emotional experiences such as worry, guilt and stigma were pervasive, compounded by systemic gaps in information and resources. Parents often prioritise their child's needs over their own, creating barriers to self-care. These challenges were consistent across diagnoses but heightened in cases of life-threatening conditions like eating disorders and depression.
conclusionsThe findings highlight support needs for parents of CYP with mental health difficulties. Tailored interventions, better professional training and family centred care are needed. Future research should focus on developing theoretical models of parental distress to guide interventions and inform support mechanisms that mitigate these broad impacts on parents' well-being.
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.