A Tale of Two Cultures: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives in the Care of Older Adults with Combined Visual and Medical Disabilities

A comparison of the vision rehabilitation and medical rehabilitation systems suggests that, despite the distinct professional cultures that have evolved around them over the past 50 years, their commonalities are more notable than their differences. The older adult, who frequently develops simultaneous visual and medical disabilities, demands a greater degree of cooperation between these systems, than that required for the younger client who was the primary focus of the rehabilitation paradigm in the years following World War II. This article includes guidelines for practitioners that should help them achieve a more comprehensive approach to their elderly visually impaired clients.     

Autogynephilia in Women

Autogynephilia, an erotic interest in the thought or image of oneself as a woman, has been described as a sexual interest of some male-to-female transsexuals (MTFs); the term has not been applied to natal women. To test the possibility that natal women also experience autogynephilia, an Autogynephilia Scale for Women (ASW) was created from items used to categorize MTFs as autogynephilic in other studies. A questionnaire that included the ASW was distributed to a sample of 51 professional women employed at an urban hospital; 29 completed questionnaires were returned for analysis. By the common definition of ever having erotic arousal to the thought or image of oneself as a woman, 93% of the respondents would be classified as autogynephilic. Using a more rigorous definition of “frequent” arousal to multiple items, 28% would be classified as autogynephilic. The implications of these findings are discussed concerning the sexuality of women and the meaning of autogynephilia for MTFs.     

Reflecting on attention-deficient hyperactivity disorder and disablement in education with Eric Fromm

Drawing upon the thought of Eric Fromm, this paper argues that efforts to understand and counter behaviour that causes difficulties in education should begin in a critical and reflective engagement with both the conditions of human freedom and the character of educational institutions and society as a whole. Fromm’s critique of dominating ideas about good mental health within capitalistic societies is examined in relation to disablement and attention-deficient hyperactivity disorder. A study of a sixth-form college in the south of England elucidates connections between Fromm’s insights into social psychology and disablement as a process of oppression.     

DECONSTRUCTING PROBATION: RISK AND DEVELOPMENTS IN PRACTICE

This article aims to explore the effects of the transition toward risk analysis in terms of the work of practitioners within the criminal justice system, particularly the probation service of England and Wales, and allied professions such as social work. The focus here will be on the impact this shift from traditional casework methods to risk assessment has had in terms of the image of the organisation, the image of the offender, and the impact on practice and interventions. It will be argued that the main effect is the deskilling of the practitioner. During this process practitioners have lost their therapeutic role oriented to the whole person and their biography. They have lost the ability to tolerate ambiguity or suspend judgment. This article will argue that they have become ‘Taylorised’ deskilled or re‐skilled in order to accommodate those competencies embodied within risk assessment applying rules and criteria laid down by centralising bureaucracy. However this new practitioner's role will be shown to be full of contradictions.     

Oppositional Defiant Disorder: The Psy Apparatuses and Youth Resistance

This article, situated in Foucauldian, anti-psychiatry, and mad studies literature, provides a theoretical intervention into the practice complexities and complicities of working with young people marked with the diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder. Using a composite vignette as a proxy for social work practice, I map the particular harms of the deployment of the oppositional defiant disorder diagnosis, using Foucault and others to provide insight, in order to reorder and rethink work with young people marked as disorderly. Scholars effectively trace the manifold harms of the psychiatrization of young people; this article knits together the ways in which these harms operate, with the expressed intention of psychiatrizing youth resistance through multiple targets. The article concludes with tentative formulations for reconceptualizing youth resistance, in particular, using contributions from Sara Ahmed’s work on willfulness and Eve Tuck’s work on dangerous dignities. My aim is to use these emerging formulations to position our work with young people in alignment with their own resistance to injustice, rather than in concert with the efforts to psychiatrize their actions.     

A phenomenological exploration of parenting after birth trauma: Mothers perceptions of the first year

ProblemWhile perinatal mental health issues are considered to have an impact on a mother’s parenting capacity, there is limited research exploring mothers’ perceptions of their relationship with their child following traumatic birth experiences and how these might affect their parenting capacity.BackgroundBirth trauma is a well-recognised phenomenon which may result in ongoing physical and perinatal mental health difficulties for women. This may impact on their attachment to their children, their parenting capabilities, and their self-identity as mothers.AimsTo explore maternal self-perceptions of bonding with their infants and parenting experiences following birth trauma.MethodsIn-depth interviews with ten mothers were undertaken using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology.FindingsWomen who experienced birth trauma often described disconnection to their infants and lacking confidence in their parental decision making. Many perceived themselves as being ‘not good enough’ mothers. For some women the trauma resulted in memory gaps of the immediate post-partum period which they found distressing, or physical recovery was so overwhelming that it impacted their capabilities to parent the way they had imagined they would. Some women developed health anxiety which resulted in an isolating experience of early parenthood.ConclusionsWomen who have suffered birth trauma may be at risk of increased fear and anxiety around their child’s health and their parenting abilities. Some women may experience this as feeling a lower emotional attachment to their infant. Women who experience birth trauma should be offered support during early parenting. Mother-Infant relationships often improve after the first year.     

Online psychoeducation with parent management training: Examining the contribution of peer support

Psychoeducation is an empirically based intervention that is increasingly delivered online to individuals and groups. Low participation has been a problem for online designs that include peer support. New technology designs have been called for, and in response, we developed a model that synchronized the delivery of individual and group‐based psychoeducational activities for parent management training. We used a problem‐based learning strategy delivered to caregivers of youth demonstrating oppositional behaviours to encourage the development of helping processes and peer support. This mixed methods intervention study had high rates of participant retention and positive measurable changes for two of its three psychoeducational outcome measures. When we merged the study data, we observed that mutual aid—a frequently sought goal of group‐based interventions—contributed to participant outcomes.     

Midwives’ practices and knowledge about fear of childbirth and postpartum posttraumatic stress disorder

BackgroundWomen suffering from fear of childbirth and postpartum posttraumatic stress disorder are often not recognised by health care professionals.AimTo evaluate practices, knowledge and the attitudes of midwives towards women with fear of childbirth and postpartum posttraumatic stress disorder.MethodsA cross-sectional study was performed amongst midwives who work in community practices and hospitals in the Netherlands with the use of a questionnaire purposefully designed for this research aim.Findings257 midwives participated in the study, of whom 217 completed all items in the questionnaire. Midwives were better equipped to answer knowledge questions concerning fear of childbirth than posttraumatic stress disorder (regarding symptomatology, risk factors, consequences and treatment). When tending to women with fear of childbirth or (suspected) postpartum posttraumatic stress disorder, most midwives referred to another caregiver (e.g. psychologist). Most midwives expressed a positive and compassionate attitude towards women with fear of childbirth and postpartum posttraumatic stress disorder.DiscussionThe majority of midwives are well informed with respect to fear of childbirth, but knowledge of important aspects of postpartum posttraumatic stress disorder is often lacking. Midwives report no crucial issues related to their attitudes towards women with fear of childbirth and posttraumatic stress disorder. Most midwives provide adequate organisation of care and support.ConclusionMidwives should acquire more in depth knowledge of fear of childbirth and postpartum posttraumatic stress disorder. This can be achieved by including the two conditions in the program of midwifery education.     

Adult women and ADHD: On the temporal dimensions of ADHD identities

This paper uses conceptual resources drawn from psychosocial process thinking (Brown & Reavey, 2015; Brown & Stenner, 2009; Stenner, 2017) and from G.H. Mead in particular, to contribute to an emerging body of work on the experiences of adult women with ADHD (Horton‐Salway & Davies, 2018; Quinn & Madhoo, 2014; Singh, 2002; Waite & Ivey, 2009). It has a particular focus on how ADHD features in the construction of women's identities and life‐stories and it draws upon findings from a qualitative investigation of adult women diagnosed or self‐diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). A theoretically informed ‘thematic decomposition’ of 16 depth interviews reveals how complex processes of identity transformation are mediated by the social category of ADHD. Through this process, troubled pasts are reconstructed from the perspective of an ‘emergent’ identity that offers participants the potential for a more enabling and positive future.