Providing Care for Children: How Service Providers Define and Apply “Care” in Contemporary South Australia

While a wide array of service providers and academic scholars apply the use of “care” in their work, the concept of “care” itself remains largely undefined. This has widespread implications for applied work with children and young people (CYP), particularly since institutions such as schools and non-governmental organisations are increasingly being expected to care for or about children. In this paper, we use thematic analysis to report on interviews with representatives from four service providers and organisations responsible for the care of children. In our analysis, we explore both how care is defined by these organisations, and the implications for practice when working with CYP.

Download Full-text

Podrška i pomoć obiteljima djece s teškoćama u razvoju

Hrvatska revija za rehabilitacijska istraživanja ◽

10.31299/hrri.53.1.3 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 53 (1) ◽

pp. 22-34

Author(s):

Mia Lakatoš ◽

Lucija Vejmelka

Keyword(s):

Social Support ◽

Young People ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Thematic Analysis ◽

Daily Activities ◽

Therapy Dogs ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Children And Young People ◽

Lack Of Information ◽

Emotional Social Support

Therapy dogs, which play a central role in animal-assisted therapy, are trained to support daily activities and promote development of children and young people with disabilities. This qualitative study involved semi structured interviews in September 2016 with seven parents of children with disabilities who use therapy dogs. The interview, which was designed specifically for the purposes of this study, collected data on the types of social support and assistance that the therapy dogs provided, as well as the challenges that the use of such dogs presented. Thematic analysis of the interviews showed that therapy dogs provide instrumental and emotional social support as well as other types of assistance to families, and that the greatest challenges to using such dogs are taking care of them and dealing with lack of information about therapy dogs among users and the general public.

Download Full-text

HappyMaps: a single hub of resources on children and young people's mental health for parents and professionals

BJPsych Open ◽

10.1192/bjo.2021.125 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (S1) ◽

pp. S26-S26

Author(s):

Georgina Griffiths ◽

Jasmin Krischer ◽

Cara Roberts-Collins ◽

Elaine Lunts

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Young People ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Service Providers ◽

Waiting Times ◽

Health Issues ◽

Children And Young People ◽

Self Help ◽

The Uk ◽

Future Work

AimsMental health issues in children and young people are a growing concern and the benefits of intervening early are well established for many mental health problems, but existing Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are often over-stretched with variable waiting times for assessment. Many children also have problems which do not reach the referral thresholds and parents are left to find advice elsewhere. Existing resources for parents are scattered across many different websites and therefore difficult to access both for parents and professionals working with young people. With this in mind, and in consultation with CAMHS Bristol and many other stake-holders (including parents themselves) we designed an easily navigable website intended as a single comprehensive portal of resources for parents of children with mental illness and difficulties.MethodQualitative research methods were used to gather information about how the website should be designed and also to gather feedback once the website was live. Focus groups were performed with parents/carers and stakeholder discussions took place to inform the design of the website. Once the website was live, surveys via a Survey Monkey link on the website and Google Analytics were used to evaluate the website.Result60,000 users have utilised the website since the launch in March 2019. Two thirds of users are women and one third are men. Most popular webpages that are visited are primary, secondary, help-in -a-crisis and self-help for young people. Positive feedback has been collected from both parents/carers and service providers. The website has continued to develop and is now a registered charity and has received community lottery funding, which will allow for further evaluation and developments.ConclusionHappyMaps has been successful in providing a single hub of information for parents/carers, GPs, CAMHS workers and teachers. Future work involves evaluating the website and attracting interest from other CAMHS teams and professionals in other areas of the UK so that they can create HappyMaps sections for their populations.

Download Full-text

Exploring the Outcomes That Matter Most to Young People Treated for Chronic Pain: A Qualitative Study

Children ◽

10.3390/children8121170 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (12) ◽

pp. 1170

Author(s):

Rhiannon Joslin ◽

Maggie Donovan-Hall ◽

Lisa Roberts

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Chronic Pain ◽

Young People ◽

Thematic Analysis ◽

Turning Points ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Young Person ◽

Role Functioning ◽

Children And Young People ◽

Perfect Storm

Global and national policies state that all children and young people should be part of decision making and that outcomes that matter to them should take priority, yet patient-centred outcomes have been identified as a gap in the paediatric chronic pain literature. This study gave youths experiencing chronic pain a platform to have their views heard. Using novel methods, twenty-one young people, aged 11 to 18 years old, completed a semi-structured interview in which they constructed a timeline drawing to symbolise their treatment. They identified when aspects of their life changed (outcomes) and described the importance of these changes. Thematic analysis identified four themes that emerged at different stages of the treatment: “perfect storm”; “turning points”; “disconnect”; and; “free”. “Turning points” were points in time when the narrative of the young person took a turn in a different direction. At these points, the outcomes important to them also changed. Youths initially prioritised outcomes related to pain, then during treatment the focus became their emotional functioning, with role functioning and “going out” becoming the focus at the end. The stage of treatment as perceived by the young person impacted which outcomes mattered most.

Download Full-text

The Family and Baby Program: Becoming More Accountable

Australian Journal of Primary Health ◽

10.1071/py00045 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 126

Author(s):

Julie Jordan ◽

Lola Bishop ◽

Robynne Hunt

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Health Service ◽

State Government ◽

South Australia ◽

Family Health ◽

Support Service ◽

Health Needs ◽

Children And Young People ◽

Primary Health ◽

The Family

The aim of this paper is to discuss briefly Child and Youth Health's (CYH) Family and Baby Program (FAB). CYH is a statewide community health service for young South Australians funded by the State Government. The organisation has a primary health care focus and works in partnership with individuals, families and communities to enhance the health status of children and young people in South Australia, focusing on the promotion of health and the prevention of ill health. CYH has two divisions, the Child and Family Health Service (which offers health services to families of children aged 0 to 12 years) and The Second Story (which serves the health needs of young people aged 12 to 25 years). It also has a Parent Helpline, a statewide telephone information and support service for parents of both children and young people.

Download Full-text

Visualising linked data using GIS: Western Australian Child Development Atlas

International Journal for Population Data Science ◽

10.23889/ijpds.v3i4.850 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Scott Sims

Keyword(s):

Child Development ◽

Young People ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Service Providers ◽

Child Outcomes ◽

Children And Young People ◽

Australian Child ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Poor Outcomes ◽

Western Australian

IntroductionWhere people live can strongly influence their level of exposure to health-damaging factors, their vulnerability to poor outcomes, and the consequences of experiencing those poor outcomes. Geographical mapping of child outcomes is therefore an important component of monitoring the health and wellbeing of children and young people. Objectives and ApproachThe Western Australian Child Development Atlas (CDA) maps population-level administrative, census, registry, and survey data, aggregated at various levels of geography. The project utilises geographic information system (GIS) technologies to identify and investigate spatial patterns in key health, social, learning and development indicators, overlaid by service locations. The CDA is an online, interactive platform that provides policy developers, service providers, communities, and government with access to quality and easily comprehendible spatial data on the outcomes of children and young people. This information helps to identify geographic areas of highest need and priority, and patterns in service distribution relative to need. ResultsThe CDA maps linked and non-linked de-identified aggregated data on children and young people (0-18 years) born or residing in Western Australia from 1990 until 2016. Key indicators from health, social, education, and welfare datasets are mapped at various levels of geography. Using a case example of a WA community, we demonstrate how the CDA can enable policy-makers, service providers, and researchers to better identify priority areas for improved child health and wellbeing, and implement place-based approaches to service delivery. Conclusion/ImplicationsMapping population data on children’s health and wellbeing can help identify areas of highest need and priority, and facilitate a targeted focus for service delivery within jurisdictional areas, including rural and remote regions. Outcomes can be monitored over time, enabling evaluation of the effectiveness of changes to service and policy.

Download Full-text