Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Assessing parenting competency in individuals with severe mental illness: A comprehensive service

  • Articles
  • Published:
The journal of mental health administration Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Determining the parenting capabilities of individuals with severe mental disorders who are alleged perpetrators of child abuse or neglect is a profoundly difficult task. This article discusses the methodological shortcomings of some widely used assessment strategies and outlines the components of a comprehensive parenting competency evaluation for individuals with severe mental illness. Procedures identifying both risk factors associated with abuse or neglect and protective influences against child maltreatment are summarized. These procedures are illustrated by describing a Chicago-based parenting assessment team for parents with severe mental disorders.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Power C: The death of little Elisa.Newsweek, December 11, 1995, pp. 42–45.

  2. Marx G: Wallace case takes unusual turn.Chicago Tribune, January 6, 1995, pp. 1, 7.

  3. Gelles RJ:The Book of David. New York: Basic Books, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Apfel RJ, Handel MH:Madness and Loss of Motherhood: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Long-Term Mental Illness. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Rogosch FA, Mowbray CT, Bogat A: Determinants of parenting attitudes in mothers with severe psychopathology.Development and Psychopathology 1992;4:469–487.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Mowbray C, Oyserman D, Zemenick J, et al.: Motherhood for women with serious mental illness.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 1995;65:21–38.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Reder, P, Lucey C:Assessment of Parenting: Psychiatric and Psychological Contributions, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Grisso T:Evaluating Competencies: Forensic Assessments and Instruments. New York: Plenum, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Budd KS, Holdsworth MJ: Methodological issues in assessing minimal parenting competence.Journal of Clinical Child Psychology 1996;25:2–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Azar ST, Benjet CL: A cognitive perspective on ethnicity, race, and termination of parental rights.Law and Human Behavior 1994;18:249–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Steinhauer PD: Assessing for parenting capacity.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 1983;53:468–481.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Belsky J, Vondra J: Lessons from child abuse: The determinants of parenting. In: Cicchetti D, Carlson V (Eds.):Child Maltreatment: Theory and Research on the Causes and Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglec. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 153–202.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Kempe RS, Kempe H:Child Abuse, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Bowlby J:A Secure Base: Clinical Applications of Attachment Theory, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Azar ST, Robinson DR, Hekimian E, et al.: Unrealistic expectations and problem-solving ability in maltreating and comparison mothers.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1984;52:687–691.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Abidin RR:Parenting Stress Index (Short Form). Charlottesville, VA: Pediatric Psychology Press, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Barrera M: Social support in the adjustment of pregnant adolescents: Assessment issues. In: Gottlieb BH (Ed.):Social Networks and Social Support, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1981, pp. 69–95.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Caldwell BM, Bradley RH:Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment: Administration Manual. Revised ed. Little Rock: University of Arkansas Press, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Milner JS: Applications and limitations of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory.Early Child Development and Care 1989;42:85–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Crittenden PM: Relationships at risk. In: Belsky J, Nezworski T (Eds.):Clinical Implications of Attachment. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1988, pp. 136–174.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Main M, Solomon J: Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. In: Greenberg MT, Cicchetti D, Cummings M (Eds.):Attachment in the Preschool Years. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990, pp. 121–159.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Main M, Cassidy J: Categories of response with the parent at age six: Predicted from infant attachment classifications and stable over a one month period.Developmental Psychology 1988;24:415–426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Bayley N:Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second ed. San Antonio, CA: Psychological Corporation, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Mullen EM:Mullen Scales of Early Learning. Circles Pines, MN: American Guidance Service, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Mrazek DA, Mrazek P, Klinnert M: Clinical assessment of parenting.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 1995;34:272–282.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Fink LA, Bernstein D, Handelsman L, et al.: Initial reliability and validity of the Childhood Trauma Interview: A new multidimensional measure of childhood interpersonal trauma.American Journal of Psychiatry 1995;152:1329–1335.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Spitzer RL, Williams JBW, Gibbon M, et al.:Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R—Patient Edition. SCID-P, Version 1.0. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Nicholson J, Geller JL, Fisher WH, et al.: State policies and programs that address the needs of mentally ill mothers in the public secton.Hospital and Community Psychiatry 1993;44:484–489.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Blanch A, Nicholson J, Purcell J: Parents with severe mental illness and their children: The need for human services integration.Journal of Mental Health Administration 1994;21:388–396.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Astrachan BM: Report of the Mental Health Task Force Special Wallace Case Investigation Team, Chicago, May 20, 1994.

  31. Rab K. Hornstra, personal communication, November 1996.

  32. Rudolph B, Larson GL, Sweeny S, et al.: Hospitalized pregnant psychotic women: Characteristics and treatment issues.Hospital and Community Psychiatry 1990;41:159–163.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Mills M, Puckering C, Pound A, et al.: What is it about depressed mothers that influences their children's functioning?Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 1985; Monograph Supplement 4.

  34. Walker E, Emory E: Infants at risk for psychopathology: Offspring of schizophrenic parents.Child Development 1983;54:1269–1285.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Persson-Blennow I, Näslund B, McNeil TF, et al.: Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: Mother-infant interaction at three days of age.Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 1984;70:149–159.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Grunbaum L, Gammeltoft M: Young children of schizophrenic mothers: Difficulties of intervention.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 1993;63:16–27.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Juliana P, Goodman C: Children of substance abusing parents. In: Lowinson JH, Ruiz P, Millman RB (Eds.):Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook. Second ed. Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins, 1992, pp. 808–815.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Kaufman J, Zigler E: The intergenerational transmission of child abuse. In: Cicchetti D, Carlson V (Eds.):Child Maltreatment: Theory and Research on the Causes and Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 129–150.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Quinton D, Rutter M: Parents with children in care: I. Current circumstances and parenting.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 1984;25:211–229.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Egeland B, Jacobvitz D, Papatola K: Intergenerational continuity of abuse. Paper presented at the Social Science Research Council Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, York, ME, May 20–23, 1984.

  41. Altmeier WA, O'Connor S, Vietze P, et al.: Antecedents of child abuse,Journal of Pediatrics 1982;100:823–829.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Frommer EA, O'Shea G: Antenatal identification of women liable to have problems in managing their infants.British Journal of Psychiatry 1973;123:149–156.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Crnic K, Greenberg M, Ragozin A, et al.: Effects of stress and social support on mothers and premature and full term infants.Child Development 1983;54:209–217.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Elmer E:Children in Jeopardy: A Study of Abused Minors and their Families. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Straus M: Ordinary violence, child abuse and wife beating: What do they have in common? In: Finkelhor D, Gelles RJ, Hotaling GT, et al. (Eds.):The Dark Side of Families: Current Family Violence Research, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1983, pp. 213–234.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Stewart D, Gangbar R: Psychiatric assessment of competency to care for a newborn.Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 1984;29:583–589.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Newberger CM, Cook SJ: Parental awareness and child abuse: A cognitive-developmental analysis of urban and rural samples.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 1983;53:512–524.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Kropp JP, Haynes OM: Abusive and nonabusive mothers' ability to identify general and specific emotion signals of infants.Child Development 1987;58:187–190.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Crittenden PM, DiLalla DL: Compulsive compliance: The development of an inhibitory coping strategy in infancy.Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 1988;16:585–599.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Abidin RR: The stresses of parenting,Journal of Clinical Child Psychology 1990;19:298–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Pianta R, Egeland B, Erickson MF: The antecedents of maltreatment: Results of the Mother-Child Interaction Research Project. In: Cicchetti D, Carlson V (Eds.):Child Maltreatment: Theory and Research on the Causes and Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglec, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 203–253.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Main M, Goldwyn R: Predicting rejection of her infant from mother's representation of her own experience: Implications for the abused-abusing intergenerational cycle.Child Abuse and Neglect 1984;8:203–217.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  53. Karwath R, Kiernan L, Fountain JW: Each call may be a child’s last hope: Burden grows on DCFS hot line.Chicago Tribune, March 6, 1994, p. 16.

  54. Lyons-Ruth K, Connell DB, Zoll D: Patterns of maternal behavior among infants at risk for abuse: Relations with infant attachment behavior and infant development at 12 months of age. In: Cicchetti D, Carlson V (Eds.):Child Maltreatment: Theory and Research on the Causes and Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 464–493.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Zeanah CH, Benoit D: Clinical application of a parent perception interview in infant mental health.Infant Psychiatry 1995;3:539–554.

    Google Scholar 

  56. George C, Solomon J: Representational models of relationships: Links between caregiving and attachment.Infant Mental Health Journal 1996;17:198–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Magaña AB, Goldstein MJ, Karno DJ, et al.: A brief method for assessing expressed emotion in relatives of psychiatric patients.Psychiatric Research 1987;17:203–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Stubbe DE, Zahner EP, Goldstein MJ, et al.: Diagnostic specificity of a brief measure of expressed emotion: A community study of children.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 1993;34:139–154.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  59. Holmes J:John Bowlby and Attachment Theory. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  60. Jacobsen T, Huss M, Ziegenhain U: Maternal attitudes of criticism and overinvolvement related to children's responses to an imagined separation experience. Poster presented at the 14th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behaviour Development, Quebec, August 15, 1996.

  61. Hibbs ED, Rapaport JL, Kruesi MJP, et al.: Determinants of expressed emotion in families of disturbed and normal children.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 1991;32:757–770.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  62. Miller L, Jacobsen T: Maternal Interview Regarding Pregnancy and Attitudes towards Infant. Unpublished manuscript, University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Psychiatry, 1995.

  63. Hibbs ED, Hamburger SD, Kruesi MJP, et al.: Factors affecting expressed emotion in parents of ill and normal children.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 1993;63:103–112.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  64. Nicholson J, Blanch A: Rehabilitation for parenting roles for people with serious mental illnessPsychosocial Rehabilitation Journal 1994;18:109–119.

    Google Scholar 

  65. Denise Kane, Inspector General, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, personal communication, July 1994.

  66. Solnit AJ, Norhaus BF, Lord R:When Home Is No Haven. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  67. Miller LJ, Finnerty M: Sexuality, pregnancy, and childrearing among women with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.Psychiatric Services 1996;47:502–506.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  68. Burr WA, Falek A, Strauss LT, Brown SB: Fertility in psychiatric outpatients.Hospital and Community Psychiatry 1979;30:527–331.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  69. Bacharach LL: Deinstitutionalization and women: Assessing the consequences of public policy.American Psychologist 1984;39:1171–1177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  70. Coverdale JH, Aruffo JA: Family planning needs of female chronic psychiatric outpatients.American Journal of Psychiatry 1989;146:1489–1491.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  71. Silverman MM: Children of psychiatrically ill parents: A preventive perspective.Hospital and Community Psychiatry 1989;40:1257–1264.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Juvenile Research, University of Illinois at Chicago, 907 S. Wolcott, 60612, Chicago, IL

    Teresa Jacobsen Ph.D. (Assistant Professor of Psychology)

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA

    Laura J. Miller M.D. (assistant professor)

  3. Parenting Assessment Team, Thresholds Mothers’ Project, Chicago, IL

    Kathleen Pesek Kirkwood M.E.d (child development specialist)

Authors
  1. Teresa Jacobsen Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Laura J. Miller M.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kathleen Pesek Kirkwood M.E.d
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jacobsen, T., Miller, L.J. & Kirkwood, K.P. Assessing parenting competency in individuals with severe mental illness: A comprehensive service. The Journal of Mental Health Administration 24, 189–199 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02898513

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02898513

Keywords

Search

Navigation