Working life for parents of young people with mental health problems

Abstract

The incidence of young people experiencing mental health problems are increasing. Often the parents may act as important informal caregivers. Combining work and informal care successfully depends on work and care-related features, which may result in conflicting responsibilities and strains for caregiving parents of mentally ill young people. The purpose of the article is to explore and exemplify the impact of informal caregiving responsibilities on the parents’ psychosocial work environment and mental health and suggest ways to promote organizational support and work-life balance. The article is based on qualitative interviews with parents, therapists, HR, and management representatives. The experiences of combining work and informal care are discussed in relation to concepts from the field of psychosocial work environment research. The parents’ task in the family can be described by high emotional demands, high unpredictability, loss of control, high effort (large workload), little recognition, and limited opportunities for social support. These strains can lead to experiences of inadequacy, both as parents and as employees, and accordingly cause stress and mental health problems. The workplace can play an important role in providing organizational support to caregiving employees. The workplace can provide a space for recognition and normality in the parents’ lives and support preventive efforts and work adaptations. The importance of vertical (between managers and employees) and horizontal social capital (between employees) is discussed in relation to prevention. Finally, system and workplace specific preventive initiatives are proposed.