Child Talks+ – preventive intervention for children of parents with mental health problems

About this project

<p>The 1st Faculty of Medicine of Charles University, in cooperation with partners, will bring to the Czech Republic and verify the methodology ChildTalks+, which supports the mental health of children and adolescents from families affected by the mental illness of their parents. According to current research, roughly one in six children live in families with parents' mental illness. These children often suffer in silence from their parents' emotional instability caused by their mental illness, the stigma of psychiatric diagnosis, and the social isolation of the family. Studies show a close link between parents' mental illness and an increased incidence of mental health problems in their children. Lower school success, risky behavior, increased risk of addiction, and lower socioeconomic status, are reported. This is therefore a high-risk group of children who have not yet received attention in the Czech society. The goal of ChildTalks+ is to prevent the development of psychopathology in these children and help them understand their parents' mental illness. ChildTalks+ was developed in 2008 in the Netherlands, introduced and tested in Portugal and Norway. It contains 4 structured sessions with a therapist. Through medical, social, and school facilities, we will offer participation to 80 families from the Czech Republic with children aged 6-18, in which one or both parents suffer from any mental illness. The specialization of the partners (Czech non-profit E-clinic, z.ú. and the Icelandic ADHD Association) allows us to further adapt the methodology to the specific areas of eating disorders and ADHD in adulthood. After the training by the Norwegian partner Voksne for Barn, nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, addictologists, special pedagogues or social workers can work with the program. We will verify the effectiveness of ChildTalks+ in improving children's mental health by a study based on a research proposal by The Arctic University of Norway.</p>

Bilateral cooperation results

Experiences from the implementation process were shared with Voksne for Barn, and their expert trainer, the author of the ChildTalks+ methodology, conducted training sessions for therapists from the Czech Republic, Norway, and Iceland. Collaboration with The Arctic University of Norway focused on consulting for the evaluation study and co-authoring publications, with plans to continue this work in the future. ADHD Iceland was highly active during the early stages of the project. Icelandic therapists received training, but the organization and its partners in Iceland faced significant challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to staff layoffs. Despite these difficulties, they successfully met the partnership agreement requirements and key indicators. The methodology has been translated into Icelandic and is now ready for further use in Iceland. Project partners actively participated in the conference held in Prague and attended project meetings. Thanks to the expertise provided by the partners and shared experiences with the methodology and work with families with specific diagnoses, methodological materials have been developed for use by current therapists. These materials also enable the training of new therapists after the project's conclusion. One of the joint outcomes of the project is the publication of a scientific article in BMC Psychiatry, and further publications are being developed beyond the project's end.

Project partners

• University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway Donor project partner· Norway
• ADHD Association Donor project partner· Iceland
• Adults for Children Donor project partner· Norway
• E-clinic Project partner· Czechia