Home visits in the Danish High Risk and Resilience Study - VIA 7: assessment of the home environment of 508 7-year-old children born to parents diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder

TY - JOUR

T1 - Home visits in the Danish High Risk and Resilience Study - VIA 7

T2 - assessment of the home environment of 508 7-year-old children born to parents diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder

AU - Gantriis, D. L.

AU - Thorup, A. A. E.

AU - Harder, S.

AU - Greve, A. N.

AU - Henriksen, M. T.

AU - Zahle, K. K.

AU - Stadsgaard, H.

AU - Ellersgaard, D.

AU - Burton, B. K.

AU - Christiani, C. J.

AU - Spang, K.

AU - Hemager, N.

AU - Uddin, Md. J.

AU - Jepsen, J. R. M.

AU - Plessen, K. J.

AU - Nordentoft, M.

AU - Mors, O.

AU - Bliksted, V.

PY - 2019/8

Y1 - 2019/8

N2 - OBJECTIVE: The home environment provided by the caregivers of a child is an influential single factor for development and well-being. We aimed to compare the quality of the home environment of children at familial high risk of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder with population-based controls.METHODS: Danish nationwide registers were used to retrieve a cohort of 522 7-year-old children of parents diagnosed with schizophrenia (N = 202), bipolar disorder (N = 120) or none of these diagnoses (N = 200). The home environment was assessed using the Middle Childhood-Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory (MC-HOME Inventory).RESULTS: The proportion of children living in home environments that were evaluated not to meet the needs of a 7-year-old child was significantly larger in the two familial high-risk groups. This was true for 21% of the children with familial predisposition for schizophrenia and 7% of children with familial disposition for bipolar disorder.CONCLUSION: Children born to parents diagnosed with schizophrenia and to a lesser extent bipolar disorder are at an increased risk of growing up in a home environment with an insufficient level of stimulation and support. Identifying families with inadequate home environments is a necessary step towards specialized help and support to at-risk families.

AB - OBJECTIVE: The home environment provided by the caregivers of a child is an influential single factor for development and well-being. We aimed to compare the quality of the home environment of children at familial high risk of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder with population-based controls.METHODS: Danish nationwide registers were used to retrieve a cohort of 522 7-year-old children of parents diagnosed with schizophrenia (N = 202), bipolar disorder (N = 120) or none of these diagnoses (N = 200). The home environment was assessed using the Middle Childhood-Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory (MC-HOME Inventory).RESULTS: The proportion of children living in home environments that were evaluated not to meet the needs of a 7-year-old child was significantly larger in the two familial high-risk groups. This was true for 21% of the children with familial predisposition for schizophrenia and 7% of children with familial disposition for bipolar disorder.CONCLUSION: Children born to parents diagnosed with schizophrenia and to a lesser extent bipolar disorder are at an increased risk of growing up in a home environment with an insufficient level of stimulation and support. Identifying families with inadequate home environments is a necessary step towards specialized help and support to at-risk families.

U2 - 10.1111/acps.13057

DO - 10.1111/acps.13057

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31155701

SN - 0001-690X

VL - 140

SP - 126

EP - 134

JO - Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica

JF - Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica

IS - 2

ER -