Experiences of single fathers whose children have used mental health services
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Experiences of single fathers whose children have used mental health services
IRAS ID
151410
Contact name
Laura Williams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of East London
Research summary
Although single parent families represent about 25% of all UK families, most research has been with single mothers and hardly any research has been done with single fathers. This makes it difficult to know how to support single fathers and their children. One example of when it is particularly important to know how to help is when children are finding things difficult with their emotions or behaviour.
Children who need help with their emotions or behavior often go to a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). This is sometimes called a Child and Family Consultation Service, or a Children and Young People’s Service. Unfortunately, these services see many more mothers than fathers, so the problem of not knowing how best to support fathers continues.
This project aims to understand what it is like to be a single father parenting a child who is finding things difficult with their emotions or behaviour. Hopefully, finding this out will help services to know how to better support other fathers in similar situations in the future.
The research involves fathers being interviewed for between 45 minutes to an hour. During this time, they will be asked questions about being a single father and what it has been like to seek help from CAMHS.
REC name
London - Stanmore Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/1164
Date of REC Opinion
29 Jul 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion