Many parent carers of children with special educational needs or disability struggle with their mental health. In this study, we want to find out whether parent carers in England are more likely to have mental health problems than other parents, and whether this problem has become worse since the start of the pandemic. We also want to learn what it is about their situations or caring roles that might particularly impact their mental health. We want to see whether parent carers who struggle with their mental health are being identified by the health or social services that they are in contact with, and what kinds of support or treatment they are getting.
We have been looking at information from surveys and health data that already exist to learn about how many parent carers have mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and addiction. We are also investigating whether things like parent carers’ income, ethnicity, or physical health mean that they are more likely to need support for their mental health. We are looking at how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected parent carers’ mental health by comparing data from before and after 2020.
We have surveyed parent carers to ask them about whether they have been asked about their mental health and if they have been signposted or referred for any help. We have also asked professionals how they identify and support parent carers who may need help for their mental health. Some parent carers have taken part in interviews to tell us more about their experiences accessing mental health support and treatment in detail.
We are using this information to learn about whether many parent carers in England might not be getting the support or treatment that they need for their mental health, as well as learning about where there are examples of services providing good support for parent carers.
In our follow-on project, we are exploring the systemic factors within and across the health, social care, and education systems that affect parent carer mental health. In our surveys and interviews, parent carers and professionals told us that the services system itself can have a negative effect on parent carer mental health. We are analysing these messages and using them to create an initial model showing where we might target areas for system improvement.
We plan to use the information from this research to develop ideas about how we can improve identification of mental health needs in parent carers, to better meet the needs of families, and to prevent further negative effects on mental health.
