A systematic review on the causation issue of parental alienation
Eivind Meland (presenter), David Jahanlu, Sophie Roswall, Lena Hellblom Sjögren and Björn Cedervall.
Eivind Meland.
Background and objectives: Parental alienation (PA), a process characterized by excluding a child from the care and contact with a parent on unfounded grounds, may have detrimental effects on the health and wellbeing of children and parents. We performed a systematic review with qualitative reports of results from epidemiological observation studies and intervention studies to examine the association between exposure to PA and health consequences. We applied Hill’s list to examine if the associations were causally linked.
Data sources: Study eligibility criteria; Participants and interventions; Appraisal and synthesis; and limitations will be presented.
Results: Most studies were prone to bias. Consistent associations between PA and impaired health were documented in all but one study. Intervention studies confirmed that health and behavioral problems improved when families were counselled with family therapy often in combination with court ordered temporal suspension of contact between the alienating parent and the child. The causal relation was strengthened by temporality, dose-response relationship, specificity, and findings from coherent and analogous situations.