Parental alcohol use and resilience in young people: A study of family, peer and school processes

Funded by HSC R&D Division, Public Health Agency Parental alcohol misuse or ‘hidden harm’ presents a very significant challenge to public health policy and practice in the UK and internationally. A parent’s alcohol problems can have a profound impact on their children. Children depend on their family to meet their physical, psychological and social needs, their economic security and well-being, all of which can be jeopardised by parents misusing substances (NACD, 2011). The prevalence of parental alcohol misuse is extremely difficult to estimate, due to the ‘hidden’ nature of the problem within the family unit. Approximately 40,000 children in Northern Ireland are estimated to live with parental alcohol misuse (DHSSPS, 2008). In the UK, 30% of children (3.3 to 3.5 million) under 16 years, live with at least one binge drinking parent and 22% of children (2.6. million) with a hazardous drinker (Manning et al., 2009).  

Family Friendly Guide - May 2007 (PDF 550 KB)

Provides Details of Family Friendly Policies for Staff With Caring Responsibilities

Social inequalities in health. New evidence and policy implications

Health inequalities according to people's social standing are persisting, or even growing, in modern societies. Recent decades have revealed evidence of strong variations in life expectancy, both between countries and within them. This widening of social inequalities has developed despite considerable progress in medical science and an increase in health care spending. The reasons behind this are complex, and the implications considerable.   This book provides a summary of the major achievements of a five-year European Science Foundation (ESF) Programme on 'Social Variations in Health Expectancy in Europe'. The contributors are major figures in their subjects, and combine state of the art reviews with the latest results from interdisciplinary research in epidemiology, sociology, psychology and biomedicine.   Three conceptual frameworks of life course influences, health effects of stressful environments, and macro social determinants of health, are unified, while each chapter addresses the policy implications and recommendations derived from currently available evidence. The major topics covered include the role of family in early life, social integration and health, work stress and job security, successful ways of facing adversity, and the impact of the larger environment on health. Epidemiologists, public health research and policy makers, and students of related public health and sociology courses wlll find the results of this research fascinating.This resource was contributed by The National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

Growing up in Ireland. Key findings: infant cohort (at 3 years).

 The latest results from the study paint a picture of how these families are faring across a range of areas in their lives including their health, family life and financial and economic circumstances. In general the findings show that three-year-olds in Ireland are in good health with a few notable public health and related issues (including overweight and obesity), there is overall stability in family structures over the short term and that the recession has had a substantial effect on families with young children over the last number of years. These are the first longitudinal findings from the study. The first wave of fieldwork with the families of the Infant Cohort included approximately 11,100 nine-month-olds, their parents and carers. Interviews began in September 2008 and were completed in March 2009. Interviews for the second round of interviews with this cohort took place between January and August 2011. A total of 90% of the original sample of nine-month-olds were successfully re-interviewed. (A full download of the results released today, presented in three briefing documents can be found by clicking here. Key findings include: Health â?¢ Most of the children were described as being in good health; 75% were rated as very healthy and a further 23% were rated as healthy, but a few minor problems. Girls were more likely to be reported as very healthy (78%) compared with boys (72%). â?¢ One in four or almost one quarter of three-year-old children were overweight (19%) or obese (6%). â?¢ Childrenâ?Ts weight was related to household social class. 5% of children in families in the professional/managerial group were classified as obese at three years of age compared with 9% of those in the most disadvantaged social class group. However, at least one-fifth of children in every social class were overweight. â?¢ Childrens consumption of energy-dense foods such as crisps, sweets, chips, and non-diet fizzy drinks increased as parental education fell. 63% of children whose mother had a lower secondary education or less ate at least one portion of crisps compared with 36% of those from degree-level backgrounds, although consumption of biscuits/chocolates was over 70% for both groups of children. â?¢ Two-thirds (66%) of three-year-olds had received at least one course of antibiotics in the 12 months preceding the interview. Children with a full medical card (35% of the sample) or a GP-only medical card (5% of the sample) were more likely to have received a course of antibiotics than â?¢ Children with a full medical card received a higher number of antibiotic courses on average (2.6) compared with those without a medical card (2.1). â?¢ Just under 16% of three-year-old children were reported as having at least one longstanding illness, condition or disability. The most commonly reported illness types included Asthma (5.8%), Eczema/Skin allergies (3.9%) and Food/digestive allergies (1.2%) Family Life and Childcare â?¢ While the overall distribution of family structure was stable, there have been transitions from one-parent families to two-parent families and vice-versa over the 27 months between interview â?" approximately 2 to 3 percent in each direction. â?¢ 50% of three year olds were in some form of non-parental childcare for eight or more hours a week. The most common form used was centre-based childcare which almost tripled between nine months and three years, from 11% to 30%. â?¢ A similar percentage of grandparents were caring for children at both nine months and three years, 12% and 11% respectively. A total of 10% of three-year-olds were being minded by a childminder, an increase of 3 percentage points from when the children were nine months of age. â?¢ Children who were in some form of non-parental childcare were spending an average of 23 hours a week in their main type of childcare. â?¢ At time of interview the vast majority of mothers reported that they had regular contact with the Study Childâ?Ts grandparents (91%). In offering support to parents, grandparents were most likely to babysit (50%), and buy clothes (40%) at least on a monthly basis. One-parent families were more likely than two-parent families to receive financial support from grandparents with just under one-third (66%) of one-parent families receiving financial support from grandparents at least once every three months. â?¢ The most frequently used discipline technique was â?~discussing or explaining why the behaviour was wrongâ?T, with 63% of mothers saying they always did this. â?¢ 12% of mothers said they used â?~smackingâ?T as a form of discipline now and again and less than 1% used â?~smackingâ?T as a form of discipline more frequently. Over half reported that they never smacked the Study Child. Financial and Economic Circumstances â?¢ Just over half (53%) of mothers of three-year-olds worked outside the home, 38% said they were on home duties and 6% said they were unemployed. â?¢ The biggest change in terms of the work status of three-year-oldsâ?T parents was an increase in the percentage of unemployed fathers â?" 6% when the child was nine months rising to almost 14% when s/he was three years of age. â?¢ 61% of families of three-year-olds reported experiencing difficulties in making â?~ends meetâ?T. This was a substantial increase from 44% in the first round of interviews when the children were nine-months-old. â?¢ Almost two thirds (63%) of all families with three-year-olds reported that the recession had had a very significant or significant effect on them. â?¢ The most frequently recorded effects were: a reduction in wages (63%); canâ?Tt afford luxuries (54%), social welfare reduction (53%) and canâ?Tt afford/cut back on basics (32%). Growing Up in Ireland is a Government funded study tracking the development of two nationally representative cohorts of children: an Infant Cohort which was interviewed initially at nine months and subsequently at three years of age; and a Child Cohort which was interviewed initially at nine years and subsequently at 13 years of age. The study is being conducted by a consortium of researchers led by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and Trinity College Dublin. For Further Information Please Contact: Jillian Heffernan Communications Officer, Growing Up in Ireland Tel: 01 896 3378 Mobile: 087 9016880This resource was contributed to our repository by the National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

Cherry Orchard Community Garden

Community garden project and allotments aims to increase community involvement, participation and activity in the locality.  We have a number of family groups (parents and children) working together. It is a lot of fun and a great way to meet new people from the area, get out of the house a few hours a week and be part of a really nice community group. We see our garden somewhat like a Co-op. Everyone is welcome to join us, we meet up at least three times a week and do the jobs around the garden together – mainly around vegetables and some fruit trees but we are interested in flowers and other things as well. We have a garden sale every Thursday between 12pm-2pm. We sell all organic produce grown in the garden and make our own jams to sell weekly also. At the end of the season we all share the crops, vegetables and fruits if there is any left after the sale on Thursday. Contact: Kevin Dunne, 087 272 4537. Email: communitygardens@ballyfermotpartnership.ie   Dublin City Council via Cherry Orchard Regeneration Board Initiative Type Community Food Growing Projects Location Dublin 10 Target Groups Children ( 4-12 years) Children (0-4 years) Children (13-18 years) Lone parents Men Older people Unemployed Funding Dublin City Council via Cherry Orchard Regeneration Board Website https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxED179ZBWiRa251UQh4l1A Connect with this Initiative Facebook

Dementia, lesbians and gay men: Alzheimer's Australia

This paper was commissioned by Alzheimer's Australia to promote an informed discussion about the issues affecting lesbians or gay men with dementia or caring for someone with dementia. It addresses the issues associated with the interaction between service providers and lesbian and gay men with dementia and their family carers, including the complexity of family relationships and barriers that may affect care provision and quality of life.The focus of this paper is on lesbian and gay seniors, including their same-sex partners. Not all people with dementia are seniors; however younger lesbians and gay men living with dementia may have a number of similar concerns and needs to those of lesbian and gay seniors. This paper also includes information about the needs of younger lesbians and gay men who are supporting a heterosexual family member living with dementia.Some issues and concerns identified in this paper are shared by transgender people, as well as additional specific issues such as the impact of medical interventions on ageing, including surgical changes and hormone treatments over a long period of time. This paper encompasses the needs of those members of the transgender community to the extent to which they identify themselves as gay or lesbian, but does not address the specific needs of transgender people.This paper seeks to contextualise the issues involved and inform readers by way of discussion and case examples.Full paper available at: http://www.apo.org.au/node/23373