Search results

Approximately 20 per cent of Australian children live with a parent who experiences mental illness. These children have poorer health and psychosocial outcomes than their peers. While family-focused practice (FFP) can improve these outcomes, family-focused service provision is inconsistent. The purpose of this paper is to understand clinicians’ experiences of FFP and associated workplace factors.

In-depth interviews were conducted with ten community mental health clinicians. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

A global theme of “navigating rocky terrain” captured clinicians’ experiences of working with families. The rocky terrain encompassed both family complexity and workplace barriers to FFP. Clinicians navigated this terrain by using multiple strategies to support families, working in partnership with families and other clinicians and services, and drawing on personal resources. Interactive approaches to enhancing knowledge and skills were preferred over paper-based information. While an organisation-wide approach to support FFP was beneficial, clinicians continued to feel challenged in implementing FFP.

Working with families in which parents experience mental illness is affected by systemic issues at the family and organisational levels. Systemic approaches to both delivering and supporting this work are required. Partnership working and organisation-wide capacity building strategies emphasising interactive approaches to learning appear to have positive effects.

This study explores the challenges of FFP in a real-world multidisciplinary context where there has been a systemic approach to enabling this work. It highlights the challenges clinicians face in family-focused practice in spite of substantial organisational supports and suggests some approaches that might be effective. This is a topic which has received minimal attention in the literature.

A case study is reported of a relationship-based early intervention (EI) service for children with complex needs in New Zealand. The purpose of this paper is to explore parent and professional views and perceptions about the key characteristics of a relationship-based EI service.

This qualitative study involved interviews and observations with 39 participants (10 children, 11 parents and 18 professionals).

Parents appreciated the knowledgeable, well-trained professionals who invested time in getting to know (and love) children and families and family practices, worked together in harmony and valued the contribution that parents made to their child’s progress and achievement. Professionals described the key characteristics of the service in terms of the range of therapies offered by the service, the focus on a strengths-based and family-focussed approach, play-based assessments, acceptance and value of family practices (including responsiveness to Maori and bi-culturalism), appropriate and respectful places to meet and greet families and work with children, and recruitment and retention of humble professionals who identified with the ethos of the model. Observable social processes and structures within the delivery of the model include respectful professional interactions and relationships with children and families, integrated professional working, effective and timely communication between professionals and families, pedagogy of listening, waiting and personalisation, engaged families and actively participating children.

This case study emphasises the significance of professional love and relational pedagogy to EI services and the value of this to improving parent-child relationships and children’s long-term outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences of staff during the development and implementation of an Australian-first, family-focussed service addressing the mental health needs of young people (aged 12–25 years) with an intellectual disability. This study aims to understand the challenges and successes of the staff team when navigating their way in a new program working with a complex client group.

This study used a thematic analysis on data collected from focus groups at two time points in the implementation phase of the new program. Thematic analysis of the data was conducted to identify important themes relating to the staff’s challenges, successes and learning.

The findings showed that there was a lot of adaptation needed for staff members trained in either mental health, or disability, but not both. Another key finding was the importance of working with the young person’s family system as well as their existing system of support services. This major focus of the work for staff could be challenging due issues arising in the family unit and a lack of collaboration between services. Working with this complex client group was viewed as challenging and stress inducing; however, the motivation and attitudes of staff were found to be positive factors in the running of the program.

This paper makes an original contribution to the field, as it provides a unique look at staff experiences when needing to adapt to a new and challenging workplace that was the first-of-its-kind in Australia.

The purpose of this paper is to review and summarise a small but growing body of literature demonstrating that by embedding intervention within a family context offers the greatest promise of success in working with families caring for a child with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The approach takes the form of a literature review.

The current family-centred evidence-based research indicates the potential benefits for the delivery of family focused interventions following childhood TBI.

The paper adds to the paediatric TBI literature as being of the few papers to incorporate a number of novel family-centred behavioural interventions into the one review paper.

The purpose of this literature review is to describe how eating disorders among adolescents affect family relationships and the family’s daily living conditions and to describe the family’s experienced need for professional support.

An integrative literature review based on the method of Whittemore and Knafl. In all, 15 articles with both qualitative and quantitative approaches were reviewed.

The results are presented in two main themes: a disharmonic family and the need for input from healthcare professionals. The results are discussed using Callista Roy’s adaptation model and the adaptive modes: group identity mode, role function and interdependence.

This review paper will be of interest to clinical nurses and other professionals who encounter families to clarify how the relationships and roles change within the family. To the authors knowledge, no integrative review has paid attention to how the relational aspects of the family members, their social roles and role constructions within the family affect daily living.

This paper aims to provide a snapshot of K-12 Latino families’ beliefs about education, their awareness and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers and their perceived educational challenges. It builds on the existent body of literature by dispelling pervasive notions that Latino parents do not value education. It contributes to the field by providing evidence of Latino parents’ beliefs, awareness and interest in STEM careers for their children.

This study reports the results of a focus group needs assessment conducted with Latino parents, surveys and interviews collected for three years during Latino family-focused events.

Surveyed parents thought children should attend college to prepare for a better future and career decisions should be dependent on their preference and vocation. They believed STEM careers were important for the Latino community and reported talking to their children about having a job in STEM. Parents perceived several challenges for their children’s education, such as cost, immigration status, lack of information and language barriers.

Stereotypes regarding Latino family’s beliefs about education have implications for how school systems, educational gatekeepers and stakeholders perceive these students’ opportunities. This paper discredits the perception that Latino parents are not interested in their children attending college or pursuing STEM careers.

There is a dearth of information about Latino families’ perceptions of their children’s educational goals, knowledge of STEM careers and their interest in such fields. This paper provides a fundamental step toward filling that gap.

This paper aims to argue that contextual safeguarding complements existing theoretical models and approaches. Its successful integration with dominant thinking and practice in safeguarding potentially offers new insights to improve system-wide practice.

A theory synthesis design was used to purposively identify, summarise and compare selected safeguarding theoretical models and approaches to establish both convergence and divergence.

The arguments provided in this paper suggest that synthesising theory offers a confluence of perspectives that promise to develop a more eclectic and holistic approach to safeguarding practice. The paper demonstrates how contextual safeguarding can be integrated with existing theoretical models and approaches.

This is a conceptual paper and therefore is not based on empirical data.

This paper's conceptual insights include that integrating contextual safeguarding with existing theoretical models and approaches can broaden the knowledge base to whole system-wide safeguarding practice in the UK. The paper also confirms that the methodology used is feasible, although more work is required to test its efficacy on a larger scale. The conceptual paper argues for synthesis of contextual safeguarding and commonly used child safeguarding theoretical models and approaches to deal with both intra and extra familial forms of risk of harm to children effectively.

The neglect and abuse of children is a topical issue; hence, this paper has social implications regarding understanding of how the issue child abuse and neglect in the UK and globally should be dealt with.

There is a dearth of studies that have gone beyond binary comparisons of contextual safeguarding and other theoretical models and approaches, which leaves a significant knowledge gap that has prompted the purpose of this paper.

The research sought to assess perceived barriers to enrolment in parenting programmes by different ethnic groups in a deprived inner‐city community. In study one, parents of children attending pre‐school services targeted with outreach strategies were assessed using a Barriers Checklist to identify factors influencing uptake. In study two, a larger sample completed the checklist and SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) to test associations between intention and parent‐rated behavioural difficulties. Study one found no significant differences in individual perceived barriers or levels of behavioural difficulty between ethnic groups. In study two, Pakistani, Asian British and African families showed the highest levels of interest in attending groups, and White British and Black British the lowest. There was no significant correlation between interest and behavioural difficulties. Higher parent education was associated with interest. The research shows that barriers to attendance are diverse, and finding further ways of enhancing the uptake of community‐based group programmes across different ethnic groups would be valuable.

The Centre for Community and Lifelong Learning (CCLL) at the University of Wales, Newport has been offering a Summer School Scheme for community based students since August 2008. This, as an intervention strategy within a widening access framework, offers a “university experience”, whereby students and their families are given the opportunity to study and enjoy a short experience on a university campus – some families being offered residential places. The aim of the paper is to introduce data collected which shows how this summer school challenges the barriers that are often associated with campus provision.

In this paper the authors will introduce data collected through an ethnographic, mixed methods approach which shows how this summer school challenges the barriers that are often associated with campus provision, such as perception of academic institutions and personal ability.

The Summer School also offers many community students a significant opportunity to realise self potential within a campus context but within a supportive and familial framework. What continues to make this event all the more “unique” is that, from the developments of the first event, there is a growing recognition of the importance of the family dimension to the summer school.

Gorard et al. suggest that the early experiences of families can deeply imbed a reluctance to enter into post‐school learning and as such can be transmitted across the family and through generations. This is supported by Chowdry et al. who suggest that “poor attainment in secondary schools is more important in explaining lower HE participation rates amongst students from disadvantaged backgrounds than barriers arising at the point of entry into HE”.

Shadow organizing refers to the emergence of parallel arrangements that sit alongside and imitate mainstream or conventional ways of organizing. It can be a response to challenges that require new ways of working without abandoning what is valuable about conventional arrangements. However, the processes through which shadow organizing is accomplished are not well understood; there is a need to go beyond traditional notions of mimicry and metaphor. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper demonstrates how a Tardean approach to imitation can address this gap. It deploys imitation as an explanatory concept, based on contemporary readings of Tarde, as well as understandings of organizing as an unfolding process. Child and Family Centres in Tasmania (Australia), are used as an example of shadow organizing, delivering integrated health and education services in an emerging parallel arrangement.

The analysis highlights an imitation dynamic which is far from straightforward mimicry. Rather, it comprises repetition and generation of difference. This dynamic is conceptualized in Tardean fashion as three patterns: the imitation of ideas before expression; the selective nature of imitation; and insertion of the old alongside the new.

The paper moves beyond metaphors of shadow organizing, and understandings of shadow organizing as mimicry. Conceptualizing imitation in an alternative way, it contributes fresh insights into how shadow organizing is accomplished. This enriches and expands the conceptual apparatus for researchers wishing to understand the betwixt and between of shadow organizing.