Most of the thematic scientific literature explores the conditions in which a person is forced to care for an adult mentally ill person. In contrast, Wilson’s work has linked the problem of perception and adaptation of mental illness with families: it has shown how parents can be affected by a child’s disorders. Wilson evaluated previously proposed models of effective interaction between children and parents and confirmed a theoretically sound model of maternal adaptation. Wilson demonstrated which potential factors had a more significant influence on the degree of adjustment (Wilson, 2002).
In her work, the author found a connection between family income and difficulties with parental adaptation: in particular, there is a threshold below which the family is at risk. Wilson concluded that further research into such models contributes to a better understanding of how parents’ adaptation to mentally ill children works.
The Wilson article is quite extensive, but in it, I found out the issues that aroused my interest to a greater extent. The academic questions for this article are related to the methods used by Wilson. In particular, it used parent surveys to assess the level of stress, which is a somewhat subjective assessment. Besides, what, by the way, was indicted by the author in the section concerning restrictions, the results on this sample may not be distributed, because only mothers in a strictly defined place were chosen for the survey (Wilson, 2002).
Fathers of children with mental disabilities are also stressed, and a survey among them should have been conducted, although this may be the subject of another case study. The literature selected by the author meets the demands of the year 2002, in which the article was published so that the information is up-to-date at that time. The studies available today most likely cover a much more comprehensive range of related issues.
The main issue raised by the author concerns the expansion of the model theoretically available at that time, describing a mother’s adaptation device for a child with a mental disorder. Specifically, Wilson examines a group of different stress-related factors: income level, gender characteristics, age differences, education, and ethnic diversity (Wilson, 2002). Also, the author raises the issue of the impact of a child’s behavior on parents (Wilson, 2002). In the Conclusions, Wilson mentions the perspective of the study: she writes about issues that require careful refinement.
Reference
Wilson, L. (2002). Risk and resistance factors and adjustment in maternal caregivers of children with serious mental disorders. (Doctoral dissertation). The Fielding Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA.