Parenting experiences of mothers living with a chronic mental illness

•Mental illness impacts on mothers' parenting skills and abilities requiring adequate parenting support from health care providers.•Mothers with chronic mental illness' parenting challenges and family support needs are often overlooked by mental health services.•A holistic family centred approach to care, treatment and rehabilitation could provide support to mothers with a chronic mental illness.

BackgroundIntrapersonal, interpersonal, social and economic factors associated with chronic mental illness influence mothers' parenting abilities which in turn influence childhood mental health.AimThe aim of the study was to explore and describe the parenting experiences of mothers with a chronic mental illness.MethodsAn explorative, descriptive and qualitative research design was used. Ten participants were purposively sampled until saturation occurred. Data was collected using in-depth individual interviews and a content analysis was carried out.ResultsMothers with a chronic mental illness experienced various challenges and expressed their family support needs.ConclusionA family-centred approach to mental healthcare, treatment and rehabilitation is proposed.