Recognising Ecological Contexts of Diverse Ethnic Groups: Experiences of British-Indian Adult Children of Divorce

The process of divorce as a family change process including outcomes and consequences has received considerable research attention in the western context. However, the experience of divorce for children within specific ethnic contexts has been rather limited leading to poor planning and practice provision with diverse families. By drawing upon an empirical qualitative study of British Indian adult children, this paper will make a case for recognising diverse needs within specific historical, socio-cultural and developmental contexts. There is a need to acknowledge these contexts in policy design to establish practice that is flexible, accessible and relevant to the needs of different and diverse communities. Results indicate that areas of impact may be similar to those identified by other studies within the literature review. However, the experiences, expressions, implications and larger consequences of impact are located within specific socio-cultural contexts. In support of this, major findings of the study (outlined below) will be discussed - Context: patriarchy, stigma, immigration; Impact: economic, social, emotional, career/education, physical; Coping: psychological strategies, physical strategies, social strategies, sources of support.

Living through the death of a child: A qualitative study of bereaved parents’ experiences

Design: Cross-sectional qualitative study.

Data sources: Interviews with purposeful sample of 25 recently bereaved parents.

Methods: Semi-structured in-depth interviews.

Results: Four analytically distinct processes were identified in the responses of parents to the death of a child. These are referred to as ‘piloting’, ‘providing’, ‘protecting’ and ‘preserving’. Regardless of individual circumstances, these processes were integral to all parents’ coping, enabling an active ‘doing’ for their child and family throughout the trajectory of their child's illness and into bereavement.

Conclusions: Facilitating the capacity of parents to ‘do’ is central to coping with the stress and uncertainty of living through the death of a child. The provision of informational, instrumental and emotional support by health care professionals in the context of ‘doing’ is core to quality palliative care.

Keywords: Bereaved parents; Cancer; Dying child; End-of-life; Palliative care; Non-malignant

Resilience, Risk and Protective Factors for British-Indian Children of Divorce

This paper considers resilience as a dynamic concept by looking at risk and protective factors for children of divorce in British-Indian Hindu and Sikh families using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model for human development. The paper draws from a qualitative study which is based on data collected on experiences of twentyone British-Indian Adult Children of Divorce to illustrate risk and protective factors within cultural ideology, community and macro contexts. The paper concludes that resilience in individuals and communities needs to be considered as a process that is influenced by the interaction of the ecological systems. Risk and protective factors cannot be categorically identified and dynamic processes need to be acknowledged within particular contexts. This is particularly important for practitioners working with minority ethnic children and families towards understanding diversity of experiences and perspectives within minority cultures.

Review of Legislation and Policy Guidance relating to Adult Social Care in Northern Ireland

Introduction and Background

This research was undertaken by an international team of academics from Queen’s University, Belfast, Leeds University and Penn State University (USA) who have examined models of adult social care provision across thirteen jurisdictions. The aim of this research is to present the Commissioner for Older People in Northern Ireland (COPNI) with possible options for legal reform to adult social care provision for older people in Northern Ireland.

Project Objectives

The agreed objectives of this research were to provide:
• Identification of gaps and issues surrounding the current legislative framework including policy provision for adult social care in Northern Ireland.
• Comparison of Northern Ireland with best practice in other jurisdictions to include (but not be limited to): England and Wales, Republic of Ireland, Scotland and at least two other international examples; Recommendations, based on the above, as to whether there is a need for legislative reform – provision of suggestions other than legislative change (if applicable).
• Recommendations or options based on the above, on how to best change the current framework in Northern Ireland to provide better support outcomes for older people.
• Stakeholder engagement via roundtable event to discuss outcomes/ recommendations.

Structure of Report

The findings from this research are based on an international review of adult social care in the local, national and international contexts. The report will, therefore, firstly present the key recommendations for Northern Ireland which have emerged from a systematic examination and review of adult social care in diverse jurisdictions. Each jurisdiction is then examined in the context of legislative and policy provision and examples of best practice are provided. The final section of the report then compares Northern Ireland to best practice from each of these aforementioned jurisdictions and the discussion entails the background to the report’s final Recommendations. The recommendations in this report are thus directly linked in with the evidence we have gathered across different countries with contrasting systems of welfare.

Family Focused Practice in Mental Health Care: An Integrative Review

While mental health services are increasingly encouraged to engage in family-focused practice, it is a nebulous and poorly understood term. The aim of this paper was to examine and synthesize evidence on the concept and scope of family-focused practice in adult and child and youth mental health care settings. An integrative literature review method was used. Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycInfo and Proquest electronic databases were systematically searched forabstracts published in English between 1994-2014. Data were extracted and constant comparative analysis conducted with 40 included articles. Family-focused practice was conceptualised variously depending on who was included in the „family‟, whether the focus was family of origin or family of procreation, and the context of practice. As a finding of the review, six core and inter-related family-focused practices were identified: family care planning andgoal-setting; liaison between families and services; instrumental, emotional and social support; assessment; psychoeducation; and a coordinated system of care between families and services. While family is a troubled concept, „family‟ as defined by its members forms a basis for practice that is oriented to providing a „whole of family‟ approach to care. In order to strengthen familymembers‟ wellbeing and improve their individual and collective outcomes, key principles and practices of family-focused practice are recommended for clinicians and policy makers across mental health settings.