Community support groups for men living with depression: barriers and facilitators in access and engagement with services

Objective: This study explored stroke survivors’ experiences of altered body perception, whether these perceptions cause discomfort, and the need for clinical interventions to improve comfort. Design: A qualitative phenomenological study. Setting: Participants’ homes. Participants: A purposive sample of 16 stroke survivors were recruited from community support groups. Participants (median: age 59; time post stroke >2 years), were at least six-months post-stroke, experiencing motor or sensory impairments and able to communicate verbally. Interventions: Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were analysed using an interpretive phenomenological approach and presented thematically. Results: Four themes or experiences were identified: Participants described (1) a body that did not exist; (2) a body hindered by strange sensations and distorted perceptions; (3) an uncontrollable body; and (4) a body isolated from social and clinical support. Discomfort was apparent in a physical and psychological sense and body experiences were difficult to comprehend and communicate to healthcare staff. Participants wished for interventions to improve their comfort but were doubtful that such treatments existed. Conclusion: Indications are that altered body perceptions cause multifaceted physical and psychosocial discomfort for stroke survivors. Discussions with patients about their personal perceptions and experiences of the body may facilitate better understanding and management to improve comfort after stroke.

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Predicting and testing a silo-free delivery system

Healthcare Management Forum ◽

10.1177/0840470418793910 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 31 (5) ◽

pp. 200-205 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Eileen Florence Pepler ◽

Joy Pridie ◽

Steve Brown

Keyword(s):

Support Groups ◽

Community Support ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Policy Makers ◽

New Ways Of Working ◽

Working Together ◽

Increasing Demand ◽

Time To Learn ◽

Free Environment ◽

Future Population

Given the scale and complexity of the challenge of addressing the aging population, increasing demand for complex and integrated care, this article sets out potential opportunities to predict a future without silos, based on international learnings. Examining another country’s health and delivery systems, it is interesting to see the similarities and differences, so we offer some reflections applicable to Canada. These models are breaking down the silos. Imagine a setting where you could collaboratively co-design scenarios, debate, refine policy, and predict future population needs. Using a transformation lab setting, governments and policy-makers, providers, patients, families, and community support groups could collaboratively take the time to learn new ways of working together in a risk-free environment before becoming accountable for delivering targeted outcomes. It is time to implement provincial transformation labs to test local strategies and operational plans to co-design scenarios, use simulation, and test the choices using evidence-based tools.

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Rasch analysis of positive changes following adversity in cancer patients attending community support groups

Psycho-Oncology ◽

10.1002/pon.1713 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 98-105 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Tsair-Wei Chien ◽

Wen-Chung Wang ◽

Chih-Chiang Chien ◽

Wei-Shou Hwang

Keyword(s):

Cancer Patients ◽

Support Groups ◽

Rasch Analysis ◽

Community Support

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Impact of Community Collaboration in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sushruta Journal of Health Policy & Opinion ◽

10.38192/14.1.4 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 1-7

Author(s):

Cielito Caneja

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Public Relations ◽

Support Groups ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Significant Proportion ◽

Community Support ◽

Well Being ◽

Work Related ◽

Phone Calls

Background: SARS-COV-2 the cause of COVID-19 has sparked a global pandemic with devastating consequences on health, wellbeing, and the economy. Healthcare workers from the frontline of defence, yet, the pandemic affects not only healthcare workers but also their families. There is growing awareness of the benefits of COVID-19 support groups, for professionals and for the wider community. Migrant professionals make up a significant proportion of the human resources in delivering health care globally, as in the UK. Therefore any such initiative, should be culturally tailored to address their needs. Aim: To outline the development of a community support initiative, in the form of a non-profit organisation, for migrant minority Filipino healthcare professionals and their communities. Method: A mixed-method study with retrospective data collection. A dedicated helpline was set up during the pandemic. A Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) method was adopted. The cohort was divided into two groups, health care professionals and non-healthcare group, with interventions delivered by four divisions, which were health care, non-healthcare, information governance and public relations - social media divisions. Interactive focus group and webinars were facilitated and data collected via Emotions Behind the Mask questionnaire. Results: PDSA outcomes, the dedicated helpline responded to 40 phone calls in 6 weeks, calls were linked to basic needs of daily living or work-related issues. In 5 months, the organisations collaborated with 25 local, national, and international organisations delivering community and professional support. The online platform audience reached an audience of 27,795. Conclusion: The combined professional healthcare and community support initiative demonstrated an impact on healthcare staff with possible benefits in workforce retention. Further studies are required in a larger population exploring mental health and well-being specific to minority ethnic groups.

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Impact of a natural disaster on access to care and biopsychosocial outcomes among Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors

10.1101/19009704 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Mary Rodriguez-Rabassa ◽

Ruthmarie Hernandez ◽

Zindie Rodriguez ◽

Claudia B. Colon-Echevarria ◽

Lizette Maldonado ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Cancer Survivors ◽

Support Groups ◽

Inflammatory Cytokines ◽

Barriers To Care ◽

Community Support ◽

Well Being ◽

Health Care Facilities ◽

Post Traumatic ◽

The Impact

AbstractCancer is the leading cause of death in Puerto Rico (PR). Hurricane Maria (HM) and its aftermath lead to widespread devastation in the island, including the collapse of the healthcare system. Medically fragile populations, such as cancer survivors, were significantly affected. The goal of this study was to assess the impact of HM on barriers to care, emotional distress, and inflammatory biomarkers among cancer survivors in PR. This exploratory longitudinal study was conducted in health care facilities and community support groups from PR. Cancer survivors (n=50) and non-cancer participants (n=50) completed psychosocial questionnaires and provided blood samples that were used to assess inflammatory cytokines levels. Data were analyzed through descriptive, frequencies, correlational, and linear regression analyses. Cancer survivors that were affected by HM reported increased barriers in accessing medical care, which were directly associated with anxiety, perceived stress, and post-traumatic symptomatology. Moreover, being a cancer survivor, along with closeness in time from HM predicted more barriers to receiving health care. Several inflammatory cytokines, such as CD31, BDNF, TFF3, Serpin E-1, Vitamin D BP, VCAM-1, Osteopontin, Chitinase 3 like 1, MMP-9 and MIF were significantly upregulated in cancer survivors while BDNF, MMP9 and Osteopontin had significant positive correlations with barriers to care. HM significantly impacted Puerto Ricans psychosocial well-being. Cancer survivors had significant barriers to care and showed increased serum inflammatory cytokines, but didn’t show differences in anxiety, stress and post-traumatic symptoms compared to non-cancer participants.

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Exploring community support on safe motherhood: A case of Lilongwe District, Malawi

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine ◽

10.4102/phcfm.v13i1.2907 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mercy Pindani ◽

Idesi Chilinda ◽

Janet Botha ◽

Genesis Chorwe-Sungani

Keyword(s):

Antenatal Care ◽

Pregnant Women ◽

Support Groups ◽

Community Support ◽

Safe Motherhood ◽

Community Members ◽

Group Discussions ◽

Maternal Deaths ◽

Health Committee ◽

Village Health

Background: Malawi is grappling with a high maternal mortality of 439 per 100 000 live births. It is estimated that 80% of maternal deaths can be prevented by actively engaging the community in the country. However, community support on safe motherhood remains unknown.Aim: This study, therefore, explored community support rendered to mothers and babies during antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum periods.Setting: This study was conducted in the Lilongwe District, Malawi.Methods: This was a qualitative study that collected data from 30 village health committee members through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). Data were analysed using thematic analysis.Results: This study found that community support on safe motherhood rendered to women varied. The following five themes emerged from FGDs data on community support on safe motherhood: antenatal support, intrapartum support, postpartum support, bylaws reinforced by chiefs in the community and safe motherhood support groups. Community members encourage pregnant women to attend antenatal care, escorted pregnant women to the hospital for delivery and assisted women to care for a child and go for postpartum checkups. Community bylaws were considered as a necessary tool for encouraging women to attend antenatal care, deliver at the health facility and attend postpartum checkups.Conclusion: This study suggests that community members play a crucial role in providing support to women and newborns during antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum periods.

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Using Administrative Data to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Home Visiting Programs for Improving the Well-Being of First Nations Children and Parents

International Journal for Population Data Science ◽

10.23889/ijpds.v3i4.686 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Mariette Chartier ◽

Marni Brownell ◽

Nathan Nickel ◽

Rhonda Campbell ◽

Wanda Phillips-Beck ◽

...

Keyword(s):

First Nations ◽

Social Services ◽

Support Groups ◽

Administrative Data ◽

Home Visiting ◽

Community Support ◽

Well Being ◽

Study Program ◽

Physician Visits ◽

Children And Parents

IntroductionThe province-wide Families First Home Visiting Program (FFHV) provides home visiting to families with children living in conditions of risk. It remains unknown if First Nations families are benefiting from the program. Using existing administrative and population-wide data is an innovative practice to evaluate programs that have been scaled up. Objectives and ApproachThe objective is to determine FFHV’s effectiveness at improving outcomes for First Nations children and parents. The partnership with First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba facilitated access to First Nations identifiers and provided guidance in conducting the study. Program data from 4,010 First Nations children and parents were linked at an individual-level to administrative data housed at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy. We compared the predictive probability of outcomes of program and non-program families. Inverse probability of treatment weights were used to adjust for confounders related to both entry into FFHV and the outcomes under study. ResultsThe cohort of First Nations children and parents was successfully linked through an individual scrambled health identifier. FFHV was associated with higher rates of child immunization at age one (71% versus 66%) and age two (47% versus 41%) and parental involvement in community support groups (21% versus 17%). It was also associated with lower rates of being in care of child welfare at age one (10% versus 14%) and age two (15% versus 19%); maltreatment-related hospitalizations at age three (0.4% versus 1.0%); and child victimization as measured by justice system records (1.7% versus 3.0%). However, there were no differences in being “not ready for school” between the two groups of children, nor between the groups of mothers in physician visits for mental health reasons. Conclusion/ImplicationsHome visiting services can play a role in supporting healthy development of First Nations children by providing support to parents and connecting children to health and social services, however, there also remains an urgent need for long term strategies to address structural inequality and the ongoing effects of colonization.

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Invisible diaspora: A scoping review of migrant caregivers’ social integration trajectory

International Health Trends and Perspectives ◽

10.32920/ihtp.v1i1.1419 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 44-60

Author(s):

Oona St-Amant ◽

Mandana Vahabi ◽

Josephine Pui-Hing Wong ◽

Bukola Salami ◽

Kenneth Fung ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Integration ◽

Support Groups ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Elder Care ◽

Community Support ◽

Migrant Women ◽

Employment Practices ◽

Exclusion Criteria ◽

Economic Exploitation ◽

Domestic Labour

Background: The Canadian Caregiver program, initiated in 1992, functions to conceal the inadequate public policy and programs on child and elder care in Canada. Consequently, migrant caregivers have become an invisible diaspora filling a domestic labour gap with few protections. Aim and Methods: This scoping review aims to identify the systemic barriers that undermine social integration of migrant caregivers. We searched ten publication index databases from 2001-2020. We retrieved 1,624 articles, after accounting for exclusion criteria, 22 peer-reviewed articles were selected for this review representing migrant women across Canada who are and/or were part of the program. Results: Four key barriers were identified: economic exploitation, deskilling and downward occupational mobility, asymmetrical accountability, and social isolation. Conclusion: Discriminatory policies and hidden exploitative employment practices of the Canadian Caregiver program perpetuate a cycle of marginalization. This review also found that community support groups and alliances function to promote resilience among migrant caregivers through community advocacy.

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Analyzing the Communication Interchange of Individuals With Disabilities Utilizing Facebook, Discussion Forums, and Chat Rooms: Qualitative Content Analysis of Online Disabilities Support Groups (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.12667 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Nichole E Stetten ◽

Kelsea LeBeau ◽

Maria A Aguirre ◽

Alexis B Vogt ◽

Jazmine R Quintana ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Support ◽

Support Groups ◽

Comparative Method ◽

Online Communication ◽

Community Support ◽

The United States ◽

Online Support ◽

Discussion Forums ◽

Chat Rooms ◽

Persons With Disabilities

BACKGROUND Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the United States are currently living with a form of disability. Although the Americans with Disabilities Act has published guidelines to help make developing technology and social networking sites (SNS) more accessible and user-friendly to people with a range of disabilities, persons with disabilities, on average, have less access to the internet than the general population. The quality, content, and medium vary from site to site and have been greatly understudied. Due to this, it is still unclear how persons with disabilities utilize various platforms of online communication for support. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to qualitatively explore and compare the interactions and connections among online support groups across Facebook, discussion forums, and chat rooms to better understand how persons with disabilities were utilizing different SNS to facilitate communication interchange, disseminate information, and foster community support. METHODS Facebook groups, discussion forums, and chat rooms were chosen based on predetermined inclusion criteria. Data collected included content posted on Facebook groups, forums, and chat rooms as well as the interactions among group members. Data were analyzed qualitatively using the constant comparative method. RESULTS A total of 133 Facebook posts, 116 forum posts, and 60 hours of chat room discussions were collected and analyzed. In addition, 4 themes were identified for Facebook posts, 3 for discussion forums, and 3 for chat rooms. Persons with disabilities utilized discussion forums and chat rooms in similar ways, but their interactions on Facebook differed in comparison. They seem to interact on a platform based on the specific functions it offers. CONCLUSIONS Interactions on each of the platforms displayed elements of the 4 types of social support, indicating the ability for social support to be facilitated among SNS; however, the type of social support varied by platform. Findings demonstrate that online support platforms serve specific purposes that may not be interchangeable. Through participation on different platforms, persons with disabilities are able to provide and receive social support in various ways, without the barriers and constraints often experienced by this population.

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Breastfeeding as the Foundation of Care

Food and Nutrition Bulletin ◽

10.1177/156482659501600405 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 1-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Helen C. Armstrong

Keyword(s):

Support Groups ◽

Community Support ◽

Small Scale ◽

Parental Responsiveness ◽

Effective Strategies ◽

Adequate Care ◽

Mother And Child ◽

Child Spacing ◽

Second Year ◽

High Risk Infants

Breastfeeding, which unites food, health, and care, enhances the child's abilities to elicit good care through superior attachment, rhythmic synchrony, and vision and brain development. Parental responsiveness is increased by bonding, child spacing, and time with the baby Breastfeeding and other forms of care for nutrition share the aspects of interaction, cultural mediation, erosion of traditions, endemic misinformation, small-scale decision-making, and vulnerability to institutional mismanagement. Breastfeeding differs in requiring continuity of the caretaker and in facing social and profit-motivated opposition. Research is needed on adequate care for siblings, effective help for high-risk infants, improved duration, and nutrition of both mother and child in the second year of breastfeeding Despite effective strategies, such as the baby-friendly hospital initiative and community support groups, the challenge remains to move from motivating women to ensuring access to practical and confidence-building support.

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