Abstract
Parents have a primary responsibility for the physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing
of their children, and they are meant to create and maintain a caregiving environment for them.
Coping with parental mental illness in families can be challenging for children and parents,
and the children of parents living with a chronic mental illness may experience higher levels
of emotional, psychological and behavioural problems. With early access to the right
interventions, adult children with a parent living with a chronic mental illness can develop
resilience and have good outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe
adult children’s experiences with a parent living with a chronic mental illness in Giyani, and to
describe specific recommendations to facilitate these children’s mental health.
A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design with a
phenomenological approach was utilised in this study to capture the essence of the
experiences of adult children with a parent living with a chronic mental illness. The research
study was conducted over two phases. In Phase One, the experiences of adult children with
a parent living with a chronic mental illness were explored and described. A purposive
sampling method was used to select participants for the study. Data were collected using
telephonic, individual, in-depth phenomenological interviews until data saturation was
reached. Tesch’s method of thematic data analysis was utilised to analyse data. Three themes
emerged from the data analysis: Participants experienced having a parent living with a chronic
mental illness as a difficult and painful journey filled with confusion. 2. Participants
experienced support as both negative and positive from the people around them. 3.
Participants experienced acceptance with the realisation that their parent has chronic mental
illness. In Phase Two, specific recommendations were made to facilitate the mental health of
adult children with a parent living with a chronic mental illness based on the findings from
Phase One.
Lincoln and Guba’s framework of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability
was adopted to ensure trustworthiness. The ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence
and justice were also adhered throughout in the study to safeguard the rights of
the adult children with a parent living with a chronic mental illness.
KEYWORDS: Experiences, Adult, Children, Parent, Chronic, Mental illness