Health & social care in the community
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Health Soc Care Community · May 2017
Depression and discrimination in the lives of women, transgender and gender liminal people in Ontario, Canada.
This article uses an intersectionality lens to explore how experiences of race, gender, sexuality, class and their intersections are associated with depression and unmet need for mental healthcare in a population of 704 women and transgender/gender liminal people from Ontario, Canada. A survey collecting demographic information, information about mental health and use of mental healthcare services, and data for the Everyday Discrimination Scale and the PHQ-9 Questionnaire for Depression was completed by 704 people via Internet or pen-and-paper between June 2011 and June 2012. Bivariate and regression analyses were conducted to assess group differences in depression and discrimination experiences, and predictors of depression and unmet need for mental healthcare services. ⋯ Everyday discrimination was the strongest predictor of both depression and unmet need for mental healthcare. The results suggest lower income and intersections of race with other marginalised identities are associated with more depression and unmet need for mental healthcare; however, discrimination is the factor that contributes the most to those vulnerabilities. Future research can build on intersectionality theory by foregrounding the role of structural inequities and discrimination in promoting poor mental health and barriers to healthcare.
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Health Soc Care Community · Jan 2017
General practice and specialist palliative care teams: an exploration of their working relationship from the perspective of clinical staff working in New Zealand.
With the future focus on palliative and end-of-life care provision in the community, the role of the general practice team and their relationship with specialist palliative care providers is key to responding effectively to the projected increase in palliative care need. Studies have highlighted the potential to improve co-ordination and minimise fragmentation of care for people living with palliative care need through a partnership between generalist services and specialist palliative care. However, to date, the exact nature of this partnership approach has not been well defined and debate exists about how to make such partnerships work successfully. ⋯ However, their working relationship was based primarily on trust and personal liaison, with limited formal systems in place to enable partnership working. Tensions between the cultures of 'generalism' and 'specialism' also provided challenges for those endeavouring to meet palliative care need collaboratively in the community. Further research is required to better understand the factors associated with successful partnership working between general practices and specialist palliative care in order to develop robust strategies to support a more sustainable model of community palliative care.
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Health Soc Care Community · Nov 2016
Formal intergenerational mentoring at Australian Men's Sheds: a targeted survey about mentees, mentors, programmes and quality.
Intergenerational mentoring enables a purposeful exchange of skills and knowledge to enhance individual and social outcomes for sub-groups at risk of health and social disparities. Male intergenerational mentoring may be an approach to help address these disparities in young men. Over 1000 Men's Sheds operate in Australia with 39% providing some form of mentoring mainly to youth. ⋯ Promoting social and emotional well-being of the mentees was the primary focus in more than half of the programmes, and working on a shared construction project was the most common activity. Respondents rated the three most important factors that influenced programme effectiveness as being: (i) meaningful activities; (ii) mentors' approach; and (iii) a safe environment. Univariate analyses revealed that mentoring programmes that had a system in place for screening mentors, trained mentors and evaluated the programme were most likely to rate highly against the AYMN quality benchmarks.
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Health Soc Care Community · Nov 2016
Willingness to complete advance directives among low-income older adults living in the USA.
This study explored low-income older adults' willingness to (i) complete advance directives, legal documents, whereby an individual designates decision-makers in the event that they cannot make their own decisions about end-of-life treatment preferences, and (ii) the role of social support and other predictors that impact their willingness. This study was conducted as part of a larger study exploring behaviours of advance care planning among low-income older adults. Out of a total of 255 participants from the original study, this study included 204 participants who did not complete an advance directive for data analysis. ⋯ The findings suggest the importance of ongoing support from healthcare professionals in end-of-life care planning. Healthcare professionals can be a source of support assisting older adults in planning end-of-life care. Initiating ongoing communication regarding personal value and preference for end-of-life care, providing relevant information and evaluating willingness to complete as well as assisting in the actual completion of advance directives will be necessary.
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Health Soc Care Community · Sep 2016
Exploring the health visiting service from the view of South Asian clients in England: a grounded theory study.
The fact that health inequalities disproportionately affect the minority ethnic population is not new and projections are that the minority ethnic population will continue to increase. The importance of early intervention and the key role that health visitors can play in attempting to reduce health inequalities is well documented as is the requirement for health providers to establish culturally sensitive services. To date, much of the research has focused on the perspectives of healthcare professionals caring for minority ethnic clients in hospital-based settings and little is known about the perspectives of minority ethnic clients regarding the health visiting service (HVS). ⋯ While clients valued one-to-one support from health visitors, there was some evidence of poor communication and ethnocentric tendencies within the service. It was found that South Asian clients distinguish between health and parenting advice, being more likely to accept health advice from their health visitor and more likely to accept parenting advice from their family. The findings, although limited in their generalisability, offer important insights into how South Asians perceive the service and will equip health visitors with a better understanding of how best to improve the experience of South Asian clients accessing the health visiting.