At the Edge of Care: A Systematic Review and Thematic Synthesis of Parent and Practitioner Views and Experiences of Support for Parents with Mental Health Needs and Children’s Social Service Involvement

Table 1

Eligibility criteria for included papers.

Search concept	Inclusion criteria	Exclusion criteria
Condition/domain being studied	(i) Studies with a focus on the views/experiences of support for parents	(i) Studies without a primary focus on the views/experiences of support or interventions; (ii) Studies where it is not possible to disentangle the views/experiences of different stakeholders
Perspective	(i) Parents meeting formal diagnostic criteria for mental health difficulties, receiving high scores on screening tools, or self-reporting mental health difficulties AND with current or past children’s social services involvement; (ii) Practitioners or professionals who support these parents	(i) Studies not including the views/experiences of eligible parents or practitioners; (ii) Studies that do not allow the differentiation of eligible parents/practitioner views from those of noneligible participants
Phenomenon of interest	(i) Studies with an explicit focus on experiences of support or interventions for parents, where “support” is taken as any professional support including mental health, social work, parenting, or practical support	(i) Support or interventions not aimed at parents, e.g., aimed at children or wider family members
Type of study	(i) Studies using a qualitative research design; (ii) Studies using a mixed methods design if qualitative data are reported separately; (iii) Studies published in peer-reviewed journals or published articles or reports	(i) Studies not including analysis of data, e.g., reflective/commentary pieces; (ii) Studies using a quantitative design; (iii) Alternative formats such as book chapters, conference papers, editorials, letters, blogs, websites, theses, general comment studies; (iv) Studies not published or available in English