Family-Focused Practice for Families Affected by Maternal Mental Illness and Substance Misuse in Home Visiting: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Maternal mental illness is a major public health issue and can adversely affect the whole family. Increasingly, research and policy are recognizing the benefits of a family-focused approach to practice, an approach that emphasizes the family as the unit of care. This review was conducted with the aim of systematically analyzing the qualitative literature surrounding health visitors’ family-focused practice with mothers who have mental illness and/or substance misuse. Through the synthesis, we developed three main findings: (a) parents’ needs regarding health visitors’ family-focused practice, (b) the ambiguity of mental illness in health visiting, and (c) the challenges of family-focused practice in health visiting. Above all, health visitors, families, and mothers with mental illness experience many challenges in family-focused practice, even though it is both desirable and beneficial. This calls for a deeper understanding of how family-focused practice can be effectively practiced in health visiting.