Whiting & Birch (E-Journals)
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Relationships and a relational understanding in mental health research: Building on the legacy of Peter Huxley
Full text linkIn engaging in this article with the far-reaching scholarly work of Peter Huxley, I focus on the foundations he has laid in developing a stronger social basis to understanding mental health and the forms of support that those experiencing mental health problems want and need. I will argue that mental health research and policy have barely embraced nor developed this foundation, let alone taken it to the core of knowledge in the way needed. To do this we need to follow the relational turn in scholarly work, a theoretical perspective I expand on in the article. Through these discussions I seek to lay directions for the development of mental health knowledge and policy to better understand the full social context of people’s experiences and of practice to support them
The roles of social workers and community volunteers in providing services to foster care children living with HIV in South Africa: A scoping review
Full text linkThis paper discusses the role of social workers and community volunteers in providing services to foster care children living with HIV in South Africa. A literature review was undertaken of 14 qualitative studies conducted in South Africa from 2012-2022. The review showed the prominent role played by social workers in foster care, despite factors which hindered service such as high caseloads, lack of knowledge on HIV and prioritisation of quantity over quality. Hence, several challenges were faced by foster carers. The studies also revealed that community volunteers were providing services to children living with HIV through linking them to care and providing educational support. The literature shows that the challenges faced by foster care parents and their children mostly resulted of social workers’ inability to provide comprehensive services. Community volunteers offered services where social workers were constrained. This paper concludes that social workers should work in collaboration with community volunteers to cater to the limitations facing the social work workforce in providing services to foster care parents and children living with HIV
The Irony of Child Protection: A qualitative analysis of social workers and police officers’ challenges in supporting the rights of victims of child marriage
No full textSocial workers and the police are key frontline workers providing intervention against the practice of child marriage. However, the challenges they experience have received little attention in the literature on child marriage. This paper seeks to contribute to emerging literature by exploring the challenges frontline workers face when intervening in a child marriage situation in Ghana. The study utilizes semi-structured interviews to collect data from six frontline workers and analyses the data thematically. The study found that frontline workers follow a common practice of prematurely reintegrating rescued victims back into the environment where child marriage is encouraged. This raises awareness of what we called the child protection irony which is inconsistent with the constitution and the child welfare policies in Ghana. As a result, the girls is left alone to battle their way out of child marriage while the perpetrators remain unpunished. The findings suggest a need for collaboration between child protection agencies to ensure that child welfare laws and resource allocations are implemented effectively to safeguard children’s rights
Resilience processes that enable better-than-expected outcomes for young care-leavers with intellectual disabilities and/or autism
Full text linkThis study focuses on young people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism in South Africa who entered care due to child welfare concerns and were aging out of care towards adulthood, an entirely unstudied population in South Africa and severely understudied globally. Although care-leavers typically experience poor outcomes, protective processes may enable them to bounce back from adversities. The aim of this paper is to describe the resilience enablers that facilitate better-than-expected outcomes among young care-leavers with intellectual disabilities and/or autism during their first 18 months out of care. Six care-leavers with intellectual disabilities and/or autism were purposively selected from residential care settings in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with care-leavers in five waves over eighteen months. COVID-19 lockdowns impacted participants’ care-leaving journey and the study. Interviews made use of Picture Exchange Communication Systems and communication facilitation by caregivers, depending on the participant’s impairment. Young care-leavers with intellectual disabilities and/or autism attained better outcomes in several domains, even though they were not (and were not expected to be) fully independent. Participants described personal, relational, and environmental enablers as enabling these resilience outcomes, with environmental enablers being particularly prominent. This is the first study on resilience processes among young care-leavers with disabilities in South Africa. Although leaving care (which involves a change of living environment and caregivers) and COVID-19 impacted the care-leavers’ transition, and notwithstanding challenges in living, better-than-expected outcomes were achieved by most study participants, thanks primarily to environmental resilience enablers.
Strengthening social work services in the health sectors of Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Taking lessons from social work actions/inactions in Covid-19 response in Nigeria
Full text linkThe social work profession is growing in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In Nigeria, the profession recently got backed by an act of law, yet with persisting grey areas about its roles and responsibilities in the health sector, as well as many other sectors. The relegation of social work in containing Covid-19, and generally in Nigeria’s health sector, is largely lamented by published studies. As similar countries to Nigeria face this same challenge, there is a need to reflect on the limited roles of social work in health and what can be done to address this. A global agenda in the ‘Health in All Policies’ (HiAP) aligns with the need to consolidate social care and justice in healthcare. This commentary, through a review of literature and contextual experience, recommends a tripartite approach (union, community presence, and documented protocol), in scaling up social work presence in contexts where they struggle for identit
Using an interprofessional decision-making model to determine the level of collaborative decision-making in a virtual learning environment: Using an interprofessional decision-making model
No full textMedicine and pharmacy students benefit from interprofessional education that supports the learning of collaboration skills for medicines management decision-making. However, if and how students undertake collaborative decision-making processes in interprofessional student teams has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to determine the level to which pharmacy and medical students collaborate to make medicines management decisions in a learning activity.
Eight pharmacy and 13 medical students completed a 9-item survey to evaluate a interprofessional learning activity. A secondary analysis of survey data using a deductive approach, according to the Model of Interprofessional Decision-Making was undertaken.
Different levels of collaboration were identified in the students’ responses ranging from the first and lowest level in the model, Individual Decision Making, to the fourth and highest level, Shared Decision. Most student responses were categorised as level three-Deliberation.
Findings from this study indicate that pharmacy and medical students collaborate to different levels with each other to make patient care decisions. Further examination is required to see if this is usual variation or related to the design of the learning activity
Historical applications of the Goldberg and Huxley Pathway to Psychiatric Care Model
Full text linkThe Pathway to Psychiatric care Model was published by David Goldberg and Peter Huxley in 1980, based on practice within the British NHS from 1948, and on epidemiological data mostly from Europe and the USA. The ‘filters’ in the model were derived from assumptions about practice, and levels of care, at that period. This paper explores the implications of applying the model historically to patterns of English psychiatric care firstly from 1834/1845 to 1959, with parallel public, philanthropic and private systems of healthcare; and secondly to patterns of care after c.2000. The model is a powerful conceptual tool for understanding how mental health systems function, and the central importance of referral and transition decisions. This analysis points to the influence of changing ‘regulatory cultures’, at one remove from the immediate clinical encounter, and to the implications of a much wider range of mental health practitioners than in 198
Web-based mindfulness course for staff working in care homes in Wales for older people with dementia: Stepped-wedge trial
Full text linkDesign and intervention: Before-and-after evaluation of web-based mindfulness trainingfor staff caring for people living with dementia in care homes. Stepped-wedge clusterrandomised design.Setting and participants: Random sample of 31 care homes for people living with dementia.Homes started mindfulness training at a random time over 35 weeks. From thesehomes 172 staff volunteered, 151 (88%) started training, and 111 (67%) completedquestionnaires after 20 weeks.Methods: Questionnaires completed at baseline, 8 and 20 weeks included job stress (WSI)and health and well-being (SF-12).Results: There were significant reductions in job stress of 0.07 (95% confidence interval[CI]: 0.02, 0.13) at 8 weeks and 0.06 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.11) at 20 weeks; and improvementsof 2.49 points (95% CI: 0.81, 4.17) in the SF-12 Mental Component Score at 8 weeksand 3.41 (95% CI: 1.88, 4.94) at 20 weeks.Conclusions: Web-based mindfulness training improved the psychological well-beingof care home staff and reduced their stress with small to moderate effects in both shortand medium ter
