Impact of household composition and family functioning on health of Hispanic mothers in mental health treatment: A secondary analysis study.
Young-Ju Kim, Victoria B Mitrani
PMID 30291760WHAT IT FOUND
Living with at least one adult was linked to better physical and mental health in Hispanic mothers receiving mental health services, but more adults were linked to more fatigue and depression.
More family hassles were linked to worse fatigue, sleep, anxiety and depression.
Key findings
01Living with at least one adult in the household was associated with better physical function, less fatigue, less sleep disturbance, less pain and less depression after controlling for age, years in the United States, employment and income.
02As the number of adults in the household increased, fatigue and depression increased significantly.
03More family hassles were associated with increased fatigue, sleep disturbance, anxiety and depression.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The analysed sample was 137 Hispanic mothers, and 35 non-Hispanic mothers were excluded from the 172 baseline participants. The analysis used baseline data from a clinical trial and was not designed to test these household and family associations. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that household composition or family hassles caused better or worse health. No sample size calculation was done. The sample was Hispanic mothers from one metropolitan area who were already receiving mental health or substance abuse services, so the findings may not apply to other mothers or to mothers not in treatment. The mothers had a wide range of mental health problems, from substance use or affective disorders to addiction or psychosis, and the analysis did not separate Hispanic subethnicities. The study did not measure the type or amount of support provided by household members.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that adding adults to a household will improve a mother's health. These are cross-sectional associations from baseline data, and more adults were linked to higher fatigue and depression.