Aspects of motherhood of women with mental disorders and their impact on children’s development

Abstract

Aspects of motherhood of women with mental disorders and their impact on children’s development. – The research focuses on the monitoring of aspects of motherhood of women with mental disorders and their impact on the early development of their children. The aspects of mothers with mental illness will be examined as individual experiences through interviews with women who have been diagnosed with a mental disorder and who currently take care of one or more children - infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers. Simultaneously, interviews will be done with 22 reference persons who have close relationships with these women (partners, parents, non-formal caregivers, and others) and the opportunity to observe the quality of these mothers’ interactions with their children, and who can evaluate the possible impact of the disease on the psychomotor and social development of these children and the possible origin of special needs at an early and pre-school age.

The research responds to the WHO appeal included in the European Mental Health Action Plan (2004), the European Parliament Resolution on the Situation of Women with Disabilities (2018), and the National Action Plan of Mental Health 2020-2030 of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic that calls for the preparation of the complementary support system for the children of parents with mental disorders in the Czech Republic (2019).