Dear John, 

I attach some examples below. You did not specified the age of the members with psychiatric illnesses or disorders so I think you need references for any age of member with psychiatric conditions.

1. John Fitzgerald & Karma Galyer (2007) - paper is  concerning children and youth. There is good list of references encllosed to this paper. http://www.hdc.org.nz/media/199535/family%20inclusion%20in%20mental%20health%20services%20a%20child%20and%20youth%20focus%20nov%2007.pdf

2. My own case study shared on RG, concerned the family based case while supporting female with very-late-onset of schizophrenia. Take a look. Maybe you'll find some inspirations. : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265846054_International_Research_Journal_for_Quality_in_Education_A_Case_Study_of_Informal_Learning_in_the_Family_associated_with_Very-Late-Onset_of_Schizophrenia_in_Female

Article International Research Journal for Quality in Education: A C...

The Mental Health Commission of Canada released a set of guidelines on integrating family caregivers into mental health services. This may be a helpful starting point. You can find the summary in the attached link.

http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/document/8591/national-guidelines-comprehensive-service-system-support-family-caregivers-adults-ment

https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/handle/123456789/25184

Co-construction and collaboration in couple therapy for depression. (Dissertation)

Author: Eija-Liisa Rautiainen (2010)

Hope this is helpful!

/Monica

this looks at the barriers as well as the enables for family focused practice (but with a specific focus on involving children);

Maybery, D.J., & Reupert, A.E. (2009). Parental mental illness: A review of barriers and issues for working with families and children. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 16(9), 784-791.

Many thanks to all for your suggestions, I look forward to reading through each of them thoroughly but they look very interesting and useful. 

I think the work of Jakob Seikkula (Finland) on open dialogue would be relevant to your question.  It is being taught and practiced in the US by Mary Olson.

If you go the the sitewww.dialogicpractice.net/ you can see if this approach is of interest. Seikkula has researched this practice and there is much on the web about it.  It is aimed, however, at avoiding hospitalization by immediate responses and engagement with family and other community members.

Hi Sallyann, That really is fascinating and inspiring, thanks for the lead. Though not entirely coming at the same angle there is much usable material here.

An important topic, eg. including the children of mental health patients. Below a link to a publication on the Beardslee family intervention.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21900288

By chance, I had look at the following article, large focus, gives a conceptual foundation, worth checking:

Tew, Jerry et al. (2012). Social Factors and Recovery from Mental Health Difficulties: A Review of the Evidence. British Journal of Social Work. Apr2012, Vol. 42 Issue 3, p443-460. 

Abstract:

Although there is now increasing evidence as to the role played by social factors in contributing to the onset of mental health difficulties, there has been little systematic examination of the role that social factors can play in enabling (or impeding) recovery. This paper provides a review of the emerging international literature in this area, and is linked to a wider conceptual review undertaken as part of a major project researching recovery practice in the UK. Research findings are explored in detail in relation to three areas that had been identified by the wider review as central to recovery: empowerment and control over one's life; connectedness (including both inter-personal relationships and social inclusion); and rebuilding positive identities (often within the context of stigma and discrimination). Out of this emerges a clearer picture of the importance of particular social factors, which starts to define a more broad-based and proactive agenda for mental health social work—with an emphasis not just on working with individuals, but also on engaging with families and communities. However, there is a need for further research and development work in order to determine how to intervene most effectively in order to influence specific social factors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Thank you Lisa and Charles. Charles,this looks  perfect, just the type of literature to back up my aims. Lisa, I'll be sure to look up this link. Much appreciated!

what about checking the literature on resilience?

John, together with other colleagues i have been involved in a number of projects relating family work to inpatient units. A lot of this in secure units. Most recent was in Scotland - report attached. This has an extensive literature review. Check out the references in my name - at least one of these focuses on ideas for applying psychosocial family support in acute inpatient care. The recent work by Vicky Absalom-Hornby and coleagues is also very interesting.

Thanks very much or this Mick! Wow,this is going to keep me busy. So much literature in this area and so little time.Though I only have less than 1 year for this project, I think that I'm getting quite fired up about meaningful carer involvement and this could take me on quite a journey.  I found the work in Western Lapland very inspiring, have you come across this, like to know your thoughts on it? 

Here are a few citations from my collection:

Goddard, E., Raenker, S., Macdonald, P., Todd, G., Beecham, J., Naumann, U., . . . Treasure, J. (2013). Carers' assessment, skills and information sharing: theoretical framework and trial protocol for a randomised controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of a complex intervention for carers of inpatients with anorexia nervosa. European Eating Disorders Review: The Journal Of The Eating Disorders Association, 21(1), 60-71. doi: 10.1002/erv.2193

Wood, V. J., Curtis, S. E., Gesler, W., Spencer, I. H., Close, H. J., Mason, J., & Reilly, J. G. (2013). Creating ‘therapeutic landscapes’ for mental health carers in inpatient settings: A dynamic perspective on permeability and inclusivity. Social Science & Medicine, 91(0), 122-129. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.09.045

Tas, F. V., Guvenir, T., & Cevrim, E. (2010). Patients' and their parents' satisfaction levels about the treatment in a child and adolescent mental health inpatient unit. Journal Of Psychiatric And Mental Health Nursing, 17(9), 769-774. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2850.2010.01612.x

Stanbridge, R. (2012). Including families and carers: an evaluation of the family liaison service on inpatient psychiatric wards in Somerset, UK. Mental Health Review Journal, 17(2), 70-80. doi: 10.1108/13619321211270399

Kjellin, L., & Östman, M. (2005). Relatives of psychiatric inpatients--Do physical violence and suicide attempts of patients influence family burden and participation in care? Nordic Journal Of Psychiatry, 59(1), 7-11. doi: 10.1080/08039480510018850

Heru, A. M. (2004). Basic Family Skills for an Inpatient Psychiatrist: Meeting Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Core Competency Requirements. Families, Systems, & Health, 22(2), 216.

Haas, G. L., Glick, I. D., Clarkin, J. F., & Spencer, J. H. (1988). Inpatient family intervention: A randomized clinical trial: II. Results at hospital discharge. Archives Of General Psychiatry, 45(3), 217-224.

Geraghty, K., McCann, K., King, R., & Eichmann, K. (2011). Sharing the load: parents and carers talk to consumer consultants at a child and youth mental health inpatient unit. International Journal Of Mental Health Nursing, 20(4), 253-262. doi: 10.1111/j.1447-0349.2011.00730.x

Frank, F., Rummel-Kluge, C., Berger, M., Bitzer, E., & Holzel, L. (2014). Provision of group psychoeducation for relatives of persons in inpatient depression treatment - a cross-sectional survey of acute care hospitals in Germany. BMC Psychiatry, 14(1), 143.

And a systematic review:

Eassom, E., Giacco, D., Dirik, A., & Priebe, S. (2014). Implementing family involvement in the treatment of patients with psychosis: a systematic review of facilitating and hindering factors. BMJ Open, 4(10), e006108-e006108. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006108

Helen, thank you! This paper will be a great help.

Hi John, I work with an inpatient unit for adolescents' and we started a family support group for the parents that was built by questionning them on what they think a family with a child that is hospitalized in psychiatry needs. We built our group interventions with what they told us in our survey to increase their involment in the treatment.

Great approach, Stephan. I would love to hear what the families told you about their needs and what interventions/supports you came up with. I have created a website at https://caringtogetherproject.com which promotes exactly this kind of communication between families and services.

The goup for parents finished in early May and we are in the process of assessing the results that we've got. If you like I could forward to you the feedback that we got. The majority of the parents had a child with anorexia and had been through at least 3 hospitalisation in child psychiatry. They had an enormous need to share with other parents their experience as often the mental illness of their child had isolated them from friends and family. Adaptation to the illness had an impact on all family members and the functionning of the family in general. I can transmit our findings when finish our process

Thanks Stephan - I would love to see the results when they come in. What you have said fits exactly with my experience and what I have heard from other families. The stories are incredibly important for breaking down barriers and helping people feel less alone. Down the track, if any of the families want to share parts of their de-identified stories please let them know they are welcome to contribute to my website. There are a couple of family/carer stories there already relating to eating disorders (from a sibling and a mother), and I have more to put up. Equally, if you would like to share some suggestions about working with families there on a slightly more informal basis please feel free to do so!