Constructing the sick child: the cultural politics of children's hospitals

Drawing on an ESRC funded study of children's experiences of hospital space this article explores the cultural politics of contemporary English childhood. Using the words and commentaries provided by both children and young people, the article argues that although, as patients, children and young people share the same hospital spaces, their experiences of them are quite different. Through mundane material and symbolic practices, a number of experiential continuities are created for the youngest children between life in hospital and life at home, continuities that work to downplay their identities as children who are sick. For young people, however, these practices are more problematic since the discourses of childhood that are recreated have little resonance with young people's own experiences and sense of self and identity. Thus this article provides evidence of the need for a more nuanced understanding of not only young people's needs in relation to hospital services, but also of the significance of understanding the ways in which particular constructions of ‘the child’ and ‘childhood’ are threaded through public discourses and come to be realized in institutional settings.     

Integrating a Trauma Lens into a Family Therapy Framework: Ten Principles for Family Therapists

This paper aims to show how a trauma lens can be incorporated into existing family therapy practices, changing how therapists perceive presenting problems and therefore the issues and sites of intervention. After reviewing the family therapy literature concerning trauma and defining different types of trauma, the paper discusses how traumatic memories differ from ordinary memories. Ten principles for practice are described to guide therapists in integrating the trauma lens into their family therapy practice. Three case studies are used to illustrate these principles.     

Supporting people with intellectual disabilities to take part in focus groups: reflections on a research project

This paper discusses how support offered to people with intellectual disabilities who take part in research might affect the resultant data. People with intellectual disabilities from a long‐stay hospital, a day centre and a self‐advocacy group, all in the UK, participated in focus groups during a research project on nurse advocacy. Their supporters were staff employed by those services who were familiar with and to the group members. The support given to participants reflected the ethos of the services involved, relating either to the medical or the social model of disability. The paper argues that the philosophy of care influencing supporters of research participants with intellectual disabilities may have profound effects on the support provided. It may facilitate or inhibit open exchange of information. It may also aid clarification or cause contamination of the resultant data.     

Families who adopt children with special needs

This study explores the type of family who adopts children with special needs. Fifty-six families who adopted special needs children were interviewed. Many of the interview questions were based upon a cognitive social learning framework. These questions assessed such areas as parent expectations, competencies, and sense of responsibility and attachment. This framework, along with demographic characteristics and an assessment of parents' discretionary and support resources, resulted in a profile of adoptive parents. Implications are discussed for recruitment of adoptive parents for children with special needs and suggestions are given for future research.     

Maximum entropy extreme‐value seasonal adjustment

Some economic series in small economies exhibit meagre (i.e. non‐positive) values, as well as seasonal extremes. For example, agricultural variables in countries with a distinct growing season may exhibit both of these features. Multiplicative seasonal adjustment typically utilises a logarithmic transformation, but the meagre values make this impossible, while the extremes engender huge distortions that render seasonal adjustments unacceptable. To account for these features, we propose a new method of extreme‐value adjustment based on the maximum entropy principle, which results in replacement of the meagre values and extremes by optimal projections that utilise information from the available time series dynamics. This facilitates multiplicative seasonal adjustment. The method is illustrated in the New Zealand agricultural series.     

The Measurement of Socio-Economic Status: Investigation of Gender-and Age-Specific Indicators in Australia: National Health Survey 1995

Objective: To investigate thecorrelations between age- and gender-specificmeasures of socio-economic status versus healthstatus as measured by the SF-36. Design: Population based study. Participants: 38187 people aged between18 to 79 years who participated in the NationalHealth Survey in 1995. Results: Factor analysis producedconsistent results that were interpreted interms of five conceptually meaningful domains(employment, housing, migration, family unitand education). The relative rank of thefactors differs between groups and in somecases factor composition requires items to beadded or deleted from the conceptual domains. Conclusions: Age- and gender-specific SESscores based on these factors had strongerassociations with the physical and mentalcomponents of SF-36 than either an area basedindex or scores derived from males aged 40–44years. Overall the results supported thehypothesis that SES measures composed of socialand demographic items exhibit important age-and gender-specific differences which arerelevant for health.     

依恋,孩子成长的营养

正今天,我想和大家谈谈依恋。很多人都听过"依恋"这个词,但其实并不清楚依恋是什么。简单地说,依恋是一种连接,当你依恋某个人时,就好像有一条无形的纽带连接着你们,无论他去了哪里,无论他是生是死。依恋不仅关乎爱,还关乎生存,因为依恋就是归属感和受重视,为婴儿未来的人际关系、成人后与人相处的能力奠定基础。孩子出生时,母子之间的连接已经存在。孩子睁开眼睛,会寻找妈妈的眼睛;妈妈也会寻找孩子,和他肌肤相亲。有的妈妈觉得,孩子不仅是在看我,更     

Understanding knowledge transfer in an ergonomics intervention at a poultry processing plant

This case study reviews the knowledge transfer (KT) process of implementing a knife sharpening and steeling program into a poultry processing plant via a participatory ergonomics intervention. This ergonomics intervention required stakeholder participation at the company level to move a 'train-the-trainer' program, developed in Québec, Canada, into action on the plant's deboning line. Communications and exchanges with key stakeholders, as well as changes in steeling and production behaviours were recorded. The intervention was assumed to be at least partially successful because positive changes in work operations occurred. Ergonomic-related changes such as those documented have been cited in the academic literature as beneficial to worker health. However, several components cited in literature that are associated with a successful participatory ergonomics intervention were not attained during the project. A Dynamic Knowledge Transfer Model was used to identify KT issues that impacted on the success of train-the-trainer program. A debriefing analysis reveals that a failure to consider key participatory ergonomics factors necessary for success were related to capacity deficits in the knowledge dissemination strategy.