scholarly journals “It is judgment by the people that have meant something to me that hurts the most”: Inter-discursive evidence synthesis incorporates the lived experience of adolescent mothers

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Dion ◽  
Aime Klevor ◽  
Amy Nakajima ◽  
Neil Andersson

Abstract Background Evidence synthesis without meaningful stakeholder engagement can overlook factors considered relevant and influential by stakeholders. This paper presents an inter-discursive approach to grounding conventional mixed methods evidence synthesis in stakeholder views of adolescent perinatal health in Canada. Methods A parallel-results convergent mixed review identified studies reporting on perinatal outcomes and experiences of adolescents during pregnancy to 12 months post-partum, in French or English, published in Canada after 2000. We summarized findings using thematic synthesis and descriptive statistics. We then extracted data from a provincial database of maternal and newborn outcomes and calculated relative risks for common perinatal risk factors and outcomes for adolescents compared to adult population within a local health region and across Ontario from 2012-2017. Two trained peer researchers contributed to our evidence syntheses. We shared syntheses with four service providers and 13 marginalized adolescent mothers, who identified and prioritized their areas of concern. A second literature review refocused around the priority issues identified by the women and was then expanded through semi-structured interviews.      Results Adolescent mothers face more poverty, higher rates of abuse, anxiety and depression than adult mothers. They also report experiencing negative judgments when accessing services, highlighting the need for more youth-friendly services. Adolescent women prioritized the experience of judgment in perinatal health and social services, and more specifically how they felt judgment contributed to them being identified as a child protection risk. Other priorities included inadequate housing, judgment around breastfeeding, loss of social support and inaccessibility of community resources. Judgment in the adolescent perinatal health literature was summarized around three themes: being invisible, incapable and at risk. Adolescent mothers adapted and added onto these categories, emphasizing organizational and social challenges, with important consequences for their mental health and accessing appropriate care. Conclusions Incorporating young women’s voices changed the focus of our research. Women’s priorities highlighted the way motherhood norms are embedded in social and institutional structures. Adolescent women’s experiences of care have important implications for ensuring the effectiveness of more targeted interventions to maximize benefit to women and newborns.

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Dion ◽  
Aime Klevor ◽  
Amy Nakajima ◽  
Neil Andersson

Abstract Purpose This study describes an interdiscursive evidence-based priority setting process with pregnant and parenting adolescents and their services providers. Methods A mixed methods literature review identified studies reporting on perinatal outcomes and experiences of adolescents during pregnancy to 12 months post-partum published in Canada after 2000. We also calculated relative risks for common perinatal risk factors and outcomes for adolescents compared to adult populations from 2012 to 2017 based on data from a provincial database of maternal and newborn outcomes. Two trained peer researchers identified outcomes most relevant to their peers. We shared syntheses results with four service providers and 13 adolescent mothers accessing services at a community service organization, who identified and prioritized their areas of concern. We repeated the process for the identified priority issue and expanded upon it through semi-structured interviews. Results Adolescent mothers face higher rates of poverty, abuse, anxiety and depression than do adult mothers. Adolescents prioritized the experience of judgment in perinatal health and social services, particularly as it contributed to them being identified as a child protection risk. Secondary priorities included loss of social support and inaccessibility of community resources. The experience of judgment in adolescent perinatal health literature was summarized around: being invisible, seen as incapable and seen as a risk. Adolescent mothers adapted these categories, emphasizing organizational and social barriers. Conclusions Young marginalized women are disproportionately affected by inequities in perinatal outcomes, yet their perspectives are rarely centered in efforts to address these inequities. This research addresses health inequities by presenting a robust, transparent and participatory approach to priority setting as a way to better represent the perspectives of those who carry the greatest burden of health inequities in evidence syntheses. In our work, marginalized adolescent parents adapted published literature around the experience and consequences of social stigma on perinatal outcomes, shifting our understanding of root causes and possible solutions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren A. Brooks-Cleator ◽  
Audrey R. Giles

The urban Indigenous older adult population in Canada continues to grow; however, there is a lack of understanding of how non-Indigenous health and social services and Indigenous-specific organizations are responding to and addressing the growth of this population. Therefore, in this research, we conducted a postcolonial discourse analysis of semi-structured interviews with six decision-makers (e.g., managers and directors of health and social services organizations) and seven service providers (e.g., program coordinators and social workers) from Indigenous and non-Indigenous health and social service organizations in Ottawa, Canada, to examine how they produce understandings of supporting urban Indigenous older adults to age well. The participants produced three main discourses: (a) non-Indigenous organizations have a responsibility to support Indigenous older adults, (b) culturally specific programs and services are important for supporting Indigenous older adults to age well, and (c) it is difficult for community stakeholders to support Indigenous older adults to age well because this population is hard to reach. The results demonstrate the complexities and tensions that community stakeholders face in supporting Indigenous older adults to age well within a sociopolitical environment informed by reconciliation and a sociodemographic trend of an aging population.


Author(s):  
Carl Purcell

This chapter highlights the political drivers of Labour’s structural reforms to English local government through an examination of the Every Child Matters Green Paper and the subsequent passage of the Children Act 2004. It is argued that the initiation of the Green Paper chaired by Paul Boateng, then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, was not a response to the Victoria Climbié Inquiry. Safeguarding and child protection policies did not receive the explicit prioritisation that Lord Laming had called for. Labour’s structural reforms were designed to address concerns relating to the delivery of a broader range of policy priorities incorporating health, education and crime and anti-social behaviour. Moreover, social services and social work were largely overlooked under the new structural arrangements with the focus being primarily on the early intervention and preventative responsibilities of universal services including schools and health service providers. The chapter also discusses the involvement of children’s sector NGOs in the development of Labour’s reforms and how opposition to structural reform was ultimately ignored.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Macias-Konstantopoulos

Emergency department (ED) physicians must familiarize themselves with all mandatory reporting laws that apply to those whom they suspect of being the victims of human trafficking. Furthermore, ED physicians must be aware of when to require a forensic evaluation and when to enlist social services to help with the process of documentation, keeping in mind the medical, legal, and safety considerations of the patient. Subspecialty consultation should proceed in accordance with typical practice. Following the identification of a trafficked patient, a comprehensive interdisciplinary response should ensue: in addition to social workers, other hospital-based health professionals whose knowledge and skills may be needed include addiction service providers, child protection specialists, forensic and sexual assault nurse examiners, mental health providers, case managers, hospital legal counsel, and risk management specialists. Despite ED physician and related professional intervention, little is known regarding the outcomes of human trafficking. This review contains 1 figure, 3 tables and 13 references Key words: forensic evaluation, mandatory reporting laws, medical record documentation, neutral language, reported human trafficking, suspected human trafficking, trafficking in persons  


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-59
Author(s):  
Silvia Barnová ◽  
Viola Tamášová

Abstract Introduction: A certain degree of stress is present in everyone’s life and young people are not an exception. Most of them show a certain degree of resilience and can cope with stressful situations without any difficulties, however there is a group of youth who live in toxic environments and need help. If there is a risk of failure due to the intensity of stressors; external formal and informal support have a great role to play as they have the potential to prevent negative developmental outcomes. Purpose: The authors’ intention was to make a review of available literature on the current issues of resilience research with a focus on the importance of protective factors in young people’s lives – especially when they are exposed to adversity. An emphasis is placed on the vital role of social support to individuals provided by schools as well as social services. Methods: In the presented literature review, multiple formal search methods including hand searching of key journals; electronic searching of journal databases and subject specific websites; reference scanning; and citation tracking were used. Conclusion: Individuals commonly demonstrate some level of resilience, yet most of them are able to deal with stressful situations without any harm. On the other hand, if the adversity is too high, the presence of social support provided by their social environment is important. In this context, good relationships in general and sufficient external protective factors provided by their social environment (schools, school psychologists, institutional social and health service providers) are important.


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanusha Raniga ◽  
Barbara Simpson ◽  
Ntokozo Mthembu

In contemporary South Africa, partnerships between service providers in government, non-governmental organisations, the private sector and community based organisations have been identified as a means to strengthen communities and the sustainability of social services. However, the unequal power relations that exists between and within these organisations often leads to fragmentation, duplication, and lack of coordination of social services. Using Fowler’s (1998) conceptualisation of authentic partnerships, this qualitative phase of a larger study explored the challenges of building authentic partnerships in Bhambayi, a predominantly informal settlement in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Individual interviews and a focus group held with nine service providers revealed that intraorganisational challenges, cross-boundary and inter-organisational relations as well as political influences were obstacles to the development of authentic partnerships. The article suggests that open communication, clarity of roles and mutual trust between service providers is vital.


Author(s):  
Luis De-Bernardi-Ojuel ◽  
Laura Torres-Collado ◽  
Manuela García-de-la-Hera

This scoping review aims to describe occupational therapy interventions carried out with multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients in occupational therapy. A peer review of the literature was conducted in different databases: Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science and Embase, and in some occupational therapy journals. A search of the literature published was carried out before December 2019. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) articles evaluating the intervention of occupational therapy in MS or ALS including experimental, randomized, nonrandomized and exploratory studies; (2) written in English or Spanish; (3) adult population (over 18 years old). The initial search identified 836 articles of which we included 32 divided into four areas of intervention: fatigue-targeted interventions, cognitive interventions, physical interventions and others. Only 16 studies were carried out exclusively by occupational therapists. Most occupational therapy interventions are aimed at fatigue and physical rehabilitation. The majority of the studies in our review included MS patients, with little representation from the ALS population. These interventions have shown an improvement in perceived fatigue, manual dexterity, falls prevention and improvement in cognitive aspects such as memory, communication, depression and quality of life in the MS and ALS populations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-172
Author(s):  
David J Gilbert ◽  
Raja AS Mukherjee ◽  
Nisha Kassam ◽  
Penny A Cook

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is one outcome from prenatal alcohol exposure. Social workers are likely to encounter children with the condition, due to the greater likelihood of prenatal alcohol exposure among children in social services settings. This study explores the experiences of social workers in working with children suspected of having FASD and the support offered to social workers, the children and their families. Semi-structured interviews followed by qualitative framework analysis were conducted with seven child and family social workers along with one child protection solicitor who had experience of handling FASD cases. The two main themes that emerged from the data were a lack of knowledge about FASD and the paucity of diagnosis. Lack of knowledge among the social workers was linked to difficulty in managing children suspected to have the condition, feelings of frustration and normalisation of challenging behaviours. The paucity of diagnosis led to an under-emphasis of FASD in assessments, a dearth of specialist services and confusion about its specific effects in contexts of multiple substance misuse and harmful socio-environmental factors. The need for increased FASD awareness within social services and the development of FASD-targeted support for children and families is highlighted. Social workers would benefit from the inclusion of FASD-focused training in their curricula and professional development plans. Improving the diagnostic capacities of health institutions would address the paucity of diagnosis and raise the profile of FASD, especially in the social services setting.


2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-41
Author(s):  
Sarah Needham ◽  
Vaughn I. Rickert ◽  
Mariam Chacko ◽  
Constance M. Wiemann

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document