Family Care and Mental Health Delivery to Improve Welfare of Children and Parents

Dear Colleagues,

Improving the welfare of children and parents through family care and mental health delivery is essential for creating a healthy and supportive environment for families.

This Special invites submissions of original articles and reviews that address the following aspects related to child welfare.

1. Accessible Mental Health Services

Ensure that mental health services are readily available and accessible to both children and parents. This includes affordable therapy, counselling, and psychiatric services.

2. Early Intervention

Implement early intervention programs to identify and address mental health issues in children and parents at an early stage. This can prevent problems from worsening over time.

3. Parental Support

Offer parenting programs that provide support and education to parents. These programs can help parents to develop effective parenting skills, manage stress, and create a nurturing environment for their children.

4. Family-Centred Care

Strengthen psychological care programs of medical services from a family-centred approach to improve the mental health of children and parents.

5. Integrated Care

Develop integrated healthcare systems where mental health services are seamlessly integrated with primary care. This can improve early detection and treatment of mental health issues for both parents and children.

6. Community-Based Services

Establish community-based mental health programs and support networks that families can easily access. These programs can include peer support groups, community centres, and crisis hotlines.

7. Trauma-Informed Care

Train healthcare providers, educators, and social workers in trauma-informed care to better understand and address the effects of trauma on children and parents.

8. Crisis Intervention

Establish training programs that aims at the intervention of psychological crisis in the event of a traumatic event (in children and parents) for psychology, medicine and social worker personnel from health services.

9. Supportive Policies

Advocate for policies that support family-friendly workplaces, affordable childcare, and parental leave. Reducing stressors on parents can positively impact family mental health.

10. Telehealth and Digital Resources

Leverage telehealth and digital platforms to provide mental health resources and support, especially for families in remote or underserved areas.

Dr. Leonor Rivera-Rivera
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.