Child custody issues and co‐occurrence of intimate partner violence and child maltreatment: controversies and points of agreement amongst practitioners

The situation of families undergoing separation in a context of co‐occurrence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment raises certain issues related to child custody. The results presented in this paper were collected and analysed within the framework of a qualitative study aiming to identify the principal points of agreement and the main controversies amongst practitioners in several different types of organizations. Focus groups were held with a total of 43 practitioners from six different settings concerned with child custody in cases of co‐occurrence of IPV and child maltreatment. Although they agreed on the importance of ensuring the safety of victims of violence, their views diverged on three points: (1) the importance of preserving the father–child relationship; (2) collaboration between voluntary organizations and semi‐voluntary or legal agencies; and (3) consideration of cultural differences.     

'I made some mistakes . . . but I love them dearly' the views of parents of children in informal kinship care

In-depth semi-structured interviews with 30 parents of children living with relatives in informal kinship care arrangements revealed the parents' views of the reasons for the informal kinship care arrangements, quality of their relationships with the children and their caregivers, their current and future roles in their children's lives, feelings experienced when with and away from the children, positive and negative aspects of kinship care, future goals and dreams for their children, and their assessments of their own strengths and challenges. Results of these interviews suggest several implications for social work practice and research.     

A longitudinal study of depressiveness in children in public care

Rajhvajn Bulat L. A longitudinal study of depressiveness in children in public care Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 412–423 © 2009 The Author, Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. The aim of this article is to analyse the challenges involved when making longitudinal observations of depressiveness in children raised in public care. The first measurement comprised 375 children from children's homes and foster families; however, most of the results are based on an analysis of the 139 children who participated in both parts of the research. We used the Child Depression Inventory and the anxiety/depression subscales of Youth Self Report and Child Behaviour Checklist as measures of depressiveness. The comparison of results from the first and second measurements showed that depressiveness in children in public care decreased over time. Children who grew up in children homes were, in the first measurement, more depressed than those living in foster families, but after five years that difference had disappeared. Furthermore, decrease in depressiveness is predominantly associated with less frequent delinquent, aggressive or hyperactive behaviour, less withdrawal and better control over uncomfortable emotions.     

Palliative care patients' experiences of healthcare treatment

Kennett C, Payne M. Palliative care patients' experiences of healthcare treatment Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 262–271 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article reports on a thematic analysis of the opinions of 34 palliative care patients about medical and healthcare treatment expressed in comments, narratives and discussions during a series of facilitated group discussions undertaken as part of training events for medical students. Palliative care patients often have long healthcare careers, which enables them to compare different professionals and services, thus offering a more powerful and complex analysis of patient experience than that obtainable from analysis of complaints or satisfaction surveys, and permits some understanding to be obtained of the attitudes that condition evaluations of services. The patients balanced negative views with positive experiences. They appreciated open, listening, equal and friendly relationships with professionals in which careful explanation fostered their confidence in the overall service. They criticised inflexible services that did not consider their broad needs, and in which relationships with professionals were characterised by busy‐ness and professional distance.     

Contractual audit and mental health rehabilitation: a study of formulating effectiveness in a Finnish supported housing unit

Saario S, Raitakari S. Contractual audit and mental health rehabilitation: a study of formulating effectiveness in a Finnish supported housing unit Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 321–329 © 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. Mental health NGOs in Western Europe are increasingly managed by contractual audit procedures. This article concerns how contractual audit and its emphasis on effectiveness of care impact on the practices of long‐term mental health rehabilitation. To demonstrate this, a case study of a Finnish NGO that provides supported housing is presented. The study looks at how service purchasing practices, as stated in the contract between the municipality and the NGO, are reflected in the meetings among practitioners. Documentary and meeting data were utilised together with Mitchell Dean's notion of technologies of agency. It was found that practitioners actively sought to show the effectiveness of their everyday work in terms of contractual audit by demonstrating both the economic and progressive aspects of care. Thus, professional competency in mental health rehabilitation appears to entail both the skills of care interventions and the ability to perform these interventions as efficient and financially accountable activities.     

城市中小学生家庭心理健康教育调查研究——以广州市为例

本研究采用自编问卷,从家长具备的心理健康教育意识、心理健康教育知识以及心理健康教育方法三个层面对广州市中小学生家庭心理健康教育的现状进行了调查,结果表明：（1）大多数家长（84．8％）在对待孩子的心理问题上态度是恰当的,但仍有部分家长,没有有意识地对孩子进行过心理健康教育;（2）家长的心理健康教育知识水平参差不齐,大部分家长（79．6％）对心理健康教育知识的了解比较肤浅;（3）家长的职业、受教育程度、对心理教育的看法、心理健康知识水平都是影响心理健康教育方式的重要因素。针对研究结果,文章从树立心理健康教育意识、建立家校协调的心理健康教育网络、提高家长的心理健康教育水平等方面提出了建设性的意见。     

大学生自我和谐与心理健康的关系研究

探讨大学生自我和谐与性别、专业之间的关系,自我与经验、自我刻板性因子与心理健康各因子之间的关系,有助于我们有针对性地开展学校心理健康教育,提高大学生的心理健康水平。     

癌症如何被呈现？——基于优酷网肺癌视频的内容分析

网络视频已成为重要的内容传播方式,但现有研究少有关注其对疾病的呈现方式与呈现特征。通过确定入选标准和内容编码,对优酷网跨度10年的220个肺癌视频进行分析。研究表明,视频普遍存在信息不权威、不科学与不充分现象。自媒体和非专业的个体是视频发布主体,科学的筛查建议、社会支持、患者实际生存状态等内容极少出现,不同发布来源在健康信念模式要素呈现上存在显著差异。为此,建议加强对媒介平台的融合使用,强化信息呈现形态与内容设计,加强网络平台的内容审核等。     

Humanitarian response and stress in Kenya: gendered problems and their implications

ABSTRACT

Stress-related conditions such as burnout and post-traumatic stress disorder are a growing concern in the humanitarian sector. Aid workers themselves report not only that mental health problems are common, but that the support they receive from their employers is insufficient. Problematically, the experience of the international aid worker – particularly those who are white and from the global North – is often foregrounded in explaining what constitutes stress and related mental health problems. This indicates a wider problem of what is required of ‘the perfect humanitarian’ – a personality that is gendered and racialised – and how this influences the different experiences and treatment of national and international staff from aid agencies. This article explores the organisational culture and working conditions of humanitarian settings and their impact on the mental health and well-being of staff. It argues that there is a structural dimension to stress that is less to do with external security threats and more to do with the specific infrastructure, policies, and practices of humanitarian operations, with implications for aid workers which cut across dimensions of race, gender, and nationality.     

Open spaces for dialogue promoting mental health as a social work education methodology

ABSTRACT

The authors discuss service user involvement as a key approach regarding training of social workers. In many European Union countries this is a stable practice with a lengthy tradition in research and application. However, in Poland it is almost entirely absent and marginalized. This article presents the results of a participatory action research project conducted at the Institute of Sociology of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, the objective of which was to identify and critically analyze the key substantive and formal aspects of training of social workers with the participation of individuals with experience of mental illness. This research project adopted an open approach to cognizing reality based on qualitative co-participatory methods. In the conclusion, the authors emphasize that the fundamental criterion for the success of this particular form of training is voluntary and differentiated participation of students—both in the role of people sharing their own experience and as learners—as well as shaping a culture of open dialogue, educational alliances of recognition and recovery, the foundation of which is axiological experience.