Prevention in families affected by parental mental illness: Evidence from the SAFIR Family Talk trial

Public defence of PhD thesis by Signe Sofie Nielsen.

 

Many children grow up with a parent experiencing mental illness, highlighting the need for preventive, family-focused support within adult psychiatric services. This thesis investigates the Family Talk preventive intervention, drawing on the SAFIR trial conducted in routine adult mental health services in the Capital Region of Denmark. The thesis includes three papers: a protocol, a randomised controlled trial comparing Family Talk with service as usual, and a qualitative interview study of parents’ experiences. Together, the studies examine Family Talk in routine care and explore change processes and contextual conditions that may shape families’ engagement with the intervention.

 

Assessment committee

  • Professor Karen-Inge Karstoft, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (chair)

  • Professor Geneviève Piché, Department of Psychoeducation and Psychology, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Canada

  • Professor Rudolph Uher, Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Canada

Supervisors

  • Associate Professor Anne Ranning, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (principal supervisor)

  • Anne Dorothee Müller, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark (co-supervisor)

  • Professor Merete Nordentoft, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Denmark (co-supervisor)

After the defence, there will be a reception in the foyer of building 35.