Historically, youth mental health has had a quiet voice in public fora. However there has been an increase in the number of leaders representing the child and adolescent mental…
Abstract
Historically, youth mental health has had a quiet voice in public fora. However there has been an increase in the number of leaders representing the child and adolescent mental health and addictions sector in the IIMHL over the past couple of years, including the inclusion of young leaders in 2007. In fact, it has been more than inclusion; we have had the opportunity to speak to hundreds of international mental health leaders and impact lots of people through what we do in our various roles. It is empowering, a privilege, and a responsibility to represent and present what's important for young people who utilise mental health services.
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The leadership of people with lived experience of mental health problems is underdeveloped, when it comes to leadership in one's own recovery, at the service level, and at the…
Abstract
The leadership of people with lived experience of mental health problems is underdeveloped, when it comes to leadership in one's own recovery, at the service level, and at the systemic level. Unlike the mental health system, the user/survivor movement has a values base of empowerment and equality. But the movement has not yet created an explicit model of leadership based on these values. Conventional models of leadership have little to offer but critiques of it provide a good framework for users and survivors to build its own model of leadership upon. If user/survivor leadership is to thrive, new roles, practices and competencies need to be developed. At a deeper level, there needs to be philosophical, psychological and political shifts in service systems if user/survivor leadership is to ever take root. Furthermore, the leadership of empowerment and equality should pervade all the leadership in service systems and beyond.
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Shona Robinson-Edwards and Craig Pinkney
Research pertaining to young people, frontline work and faith is fairly limited. This qualitative article proposes that often faith and “on road” youth work are intertwined. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Research pertaining to young people, frontline work and faith is fairly limited. This qualitative article proposes that often faith and “on road” youth work are intertwined. This paper aims to explore the experiences of nine frontline practitioners, those who work with young people in a range of settings. The crux of the discussion is focused on how the religious and cultural views of practitioners impact their frontline practice, as it relates to supporting the young person’s needs. The authors suggest that understanding frontline practice as it relates to faith is imperative to our ability to effectively engage with young people “on road”.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper took a qualitative approach, where semi-structured interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. This allowed the formation of the following three core themes: incarceration, religiosity and “on road” youth work; the nuances of religion and identity “on road”; and the “pains of ‘on road’ youth work”.
Findings
The findings within this paper suggest that faith and “on road” youth work are intertwined. In that frontline practitioners’ personal religious views, and importantly the understanding they have regarding the array of religious identities adopted by young people (YP) is helpful in engaging YP across the board. This paper highlights the complexities between identity, faith, faith-based support and hard-to-reach communities.
Research limitations/implications
This paper explores the complexities between faith on “on road” criminology/“on road” youth work. This area of study is fairly under-researched. This paper seeks to build on existing research surrounding YP, further exploring religiosity from a UK context.
Practical implications
This paper aimed to explore the lived experiences of frontline practitioners in Birmingham UK, many of whom work with YP from Black, Asian or minority backgrounds. Therefore the findings cannot be generalised.
Social implications
This paper’s intention is not to stereotype YP, but to raise awareness of the subjective experience of faith and religiosity on the frontline.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are few studies that explore the concept of “on road” criminology and “on road” youth work. Therefore, findings from this study are important to develop further understanding.
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Nicola Ann Cogan, Matthias Schwannauer and Sean Harper
The onset of psychosis typically develops during adolescence, a crucial period for beginning the transition from family to independence and developing a stable sense of self…
Abstract
Purpose
The onset of psychosis typically develops during adolescence, a crucial period for beginning the transition from family to independence and developing a stable sense of self. Recovery amongst adolescents experiencing early onset psychosis has not yet been investigated with reference to its influence on self-identity. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact living with early onset psychosis has on self-identity for adolescents in recovery.
Design/methodology/approach
A purposive sample of ten adolescents aged between 16 and 18 years from an Early Intervention Service in the Scottish National Health Service were recruited. All had experienced at least one episode of psychosis and were within three years of first contact with the service. Semi-structured interviews were adopted to capture adolescents’ perspectives concerning their experiences of recovery from psychosis and the impact on self-identity. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed.
Findings
Qualitative analysis of adolescents’ accounts revealed how recovery from psychosis involves working with individual explanatory frameworks concerning uncertain identities and status ambiguity, a decrease in referent points and unfavourable social comparisons (emphasising loss, grief and self-criticism).
Research limitations/implications
Supporting adolescents experiencing early psychosis involves education, rebuilding relationships with self and others and providing access to psychotherapeutic interventions to aid self-identity development when needed.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper lies in the importance of identity, recovery, human reconnection, advocacy and community reintegration for adolescents experiencing psychosis. Public mental health campaigns to tackle the stigma surrounding psychosis are essential to assisting adolescents in developing their sense of self through their recovery journeys.
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Shona M. Bettany and Ben Kerrane
Using the family activity of hobby stock-keeping (“petstock”) as a context, this paper aims to extend singularization theory to model the negotiations, agencies and resistances of…
Abstract
Purpose
Using the family activity of hobby stock-keeping (“petstock”) as a context, this paper aims to extend singularization theory to model the negotiations, agencies and resistances of children, parents and petstock, as they work through how animals become food within the boundaries of the family home. In doing so, the authors present an articulation of this process, deciphering the cultural biographies of petstock and leading to an understanding of the emergent array of child animal food-product preferences.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from petstock-keeping parents through a mixture of ethnographic, in-depth interviewing and netnographic engagements in this qualitative, interpretive study; with parents offering experiential insights into animal meat and food-product socialization behaviours played out within the family environments.
Findings
The findings discuss the range of parental behaviours, motivations and activities vis-à-vis petstock, and their children’s responses, ranging from transgression to full compliance, in terms of eating home-raised animal food-products. The discussion illustrates that in the context of petstock, a precocious child food preference agency towards animal meat and food products is reported to emerge.
Research limitations/implications
This research has empirical and theoretical implications for the understanding of the development of child food preference agency vis-à-vis animal food products in the context of family petstock keeping.
Practical implications
The research has the potential to inform policy makers around child education and food in regard to how child food preferences emerge and can inform marketers developing food-based communications aimed at children and parents.
Originality/value
Two original contributions are presented: an analysis of the under-researched area of how children’s food preferences towards eating animal food products develop, taking a positive child food-choice agency perspective, and a novel extension of singularization theory, theorizing the radical transformation, from animal to food, encountered by children in the petstock context.
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Shingirai Stanley Mugambiwa and Joseph Rudigi Rukema
The purpose of this paper is to assess indigenous climate governance through climate change and variability discourse by a rural Zimbabwean community. In Zimbabwe, climate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess indigenous climate governance through climate change and variability discourse by a rural Zimbabwean community. In Zimbabwe, climate governance has largely been presented from a political angle as indicated in the current climate governance structure. Apparently, the structure does not directly involve rural communities who at the same time suffer the most from the effects of climate change. Hence, the study intends to demonstrate that the manner in which humans perceive climate change influences their responses and actions vis-à-vis climate governance.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study used 20 participants from a rural community in Zimbabwe. Their experiences were used as lances through which indigenous climate governance could be envisioned and executed. In-depth interviews were used to collect data and thematic content analysis was used to analyse data.
Findings
The study found that climate change perceptions and observations of weather conditions informs the community’s decisions on how to adapt to the impacts of climate change vis-à-vis indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) climate governance. The study also proposed a paradigm shift from a Western-oriented climate governance structure that currently exists in Zimbabwe to an indigenous model through a proposed IKS governance structure. This was considered significant because of the fact that it closely accommodates the community based on their lifestyle.
Originality/value
The study proposes a paradigm shift from a Western-oriented climate governance structure that currently exist in Zimbabwe to an indigenous model through a proposed IKS governance structure. This is arrived at by assessing climate change perceptions, narratives and experiences by community members. This is of particular importance because a few scholars have explored climate governance via IKS.
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The chapter is based on studies that explored the consideration of motherhood as a mitigating factor when sentencing women to imprisonment in criminal courts in England and Wales…
Abstract
The chapter is based on studies that explored the consideration of motherhood as a mitigating factor when sentencing women to imprisonment in criminal courts in England and Wales. Drawing upon two studies I conducted, it examines the way in which motherhood has been constructed by the courts and the difficulties in centring women's experiences within sentencing. It demonstrates how only by moving to a focus on children's rights has it been possible to ensure sentencers consider the implications of a defendant's motherhood.
The chapter outlines the parameters within which a sentencer can consider motherhood and explores some of the findings from the qualitative research I undertook with Crown Court judges, as part of a larger study in which I also interviewed children whose mother was at the time of interview in prison and the adults providing care to the children in her absence. The studies found that there was inconsistent understanding of a sentencer's duty to consider the impact of any sentence upon dependent children, coupled with a lack of understanding of the consequences of maternal imprisonment for a child. The ways in which this contravenes the Human Rights Act, 1998 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 are identified.
The resources which have been developed for sentencing professionals as a consequence of that work are discussed before considering the lack of concern for women's motherhood when imprisoning women on remand or recall. The chapter concludes with a call for motherhood, and not just children's rights, to be centred in sentencing decisions.
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James Woodall, Jenny Woodward, Karl Witty and Shona McCulloch
The purpose of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of a toothbrushing intervention delivered in primary schools in Yorkshire and the Humber, a Northern district of England…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of a toothbrushing intervention delivered in primary schools in Yorkshire and the Humber, a Northern district of England. The toothbrushing intervention was designed with the intention of improving the oral health of young children. The paper reports the effectiveness of the intervention and explores process issues related to its co-ordination and delivery.
Design/methodology/approach
The evaluation had three data gathering approaches. These were: in-depth case studies of three selected schools participating in the toothbrushing programme; interviews with oral health promoters responsible for the programme in the district; and a small scale questionnaire-based survey which was sent to the 18 schools participating in the intervention.
Findings
The intervention was accepted by children and they enjoyed participating in the toothbrushing scheme. Children had often become more knowledgeable about toothbrushing and the consequences of not regularly cleaning their teeth. The scheme was contingent on key staff in the school and the programme was more successful where school's embraced, rather than rejected the notion of improving children's health alongside educational attainment. Whether the intervention made differences to brushing in the home requires further investigation, but there is a possibility that children can act as positive “change agents” with siblings and other family members.
Practical implications
This paper suggests that schools can be an effective setting for implementing toothbrushing interventions.
Originality/value
Toothbrushing in schools programmes are a relatively new initiative that have not been fully explored, especially using qualitative approaches or focusing on the views of children. This paper makes a particular contribution to understanding the process and delivery of toothbrushing interventions delivered in primary schools. The implications for programmes outside of the UK context are discussed.
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Mirika Flegg, Maggie Gordon-Walker and Shona Maguire
The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a third-sector community review into peer-to-peer best practices in mental health service provision in Sussex. This…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a third-sector community review into peer-to-peer best practices in mental health service provision in Sussex. This community initiative was funded by the Big Lottery to explore the benefits of the peer-led approach on individual and public health outcomes and identify avenues for partnership working.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 131 participants who had engaged with peer-to-peer services both as receivers and providers of support were invited to share knowledge and best-practice expertise via a survey, focus groups and a public consultation day.
Findings
This case study review suggests peer-to-peer support services as an innovative approach to reducing suicide, self-harm, reliance on public health services (GPs, hospital stays, etc.) and engaging with drugs, alcohol and criminal activity. In addition to offering a holistic and social approach to mental health, it further identifies that engagement in peer-to-peer activities potentially provide long-term benefits by reducing the stigma associated with mental health conditions and treatment. This review highlights the importance of third-sector groups in providing peer-to-peer mental health support services. It recommends a network of Peer-to-Peer services to share best practices and improve partnership working.
Originality/value
Conducted by and for people with personal or family experiences with mental health challenges, this review captures the often inaccessible ideas of a highly marginalised group. It communicates how they would prefer to work in partnership with academic institutions, public and statutory service to improve individual and community health outcomes.