Suchergebnisse

Background  Care staff are an important source of information and support for people with intellectual disabilities following bereavement. The purpose of this study was to explore staff perceptions of service users' conceptualizations of death, reactions to bereavement, required levels of support and staff confidence in providing post‐bereavement support.Method  Forty‐two staff rated individuals with intellectual disabilities with whom they worked on a regular basis.Results  In general, staff believed that service users had a good concept of death, though staff tended to overestimate levels of understanding and possibly underestimate the potential for dysfunctional behaviour post‐bereavement. Although staff expressed confidence in their ability to recognize grief symptoms, they were less confident in their ability to provide post‐bereavement support.Conclusions  The overall picture was positive with good agreement between staff, though ensuring that staff consider the potential for psychopathology following bereavement is important in providing support. The implications for staff training and post‐bereavement support are considered.

Background  A range of factors have been suggested as determinants of staff behaviour in the context of working with people with challenging behaviour. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a typical challenging behaviour staff training course had an effect on staff feelings of efficacy, their negative emotional reactions to challenging behaviour, and their causal beliefs.Methods  Forty‐eight staff attending a 3‐day training course on understanding challenging behaviour and managing stress were assessed pre‐training and at a 3‐month follow‐up. Questionnaires assessing self‐efficacy, emotional reactions and causal beliefs were used.Results  Perceived self‐efficacy in dealing with challenging behaviours increased significantly from pre‐ to post‐training. There were no significant changes in either emotional reactions to challenging behaviours or causal beliefs.Conclusion  In common with previous research, there was a sizeable impact on staff confidence and efficacy after a 3‐day training course. Given the potential significance of emotional reactions both in terms of staff behaviour and their psychological well‐being at work, more research is needed to explore how these reactions might best be dealt with in staff training interventions.

The national Child and Family Agency in Ireland, in 2015, undertook an ambitious three-year programme of work to embed a child s right to be heard in its culture and operations. In parallel to its implementation, the authors of this paper were tasked with evaluating to what extent this intended outcome, that a child s right to be heard was embedded in the government agency s culture and operations, was achieved. The overarching evaluation design was a mixed methods baseline and follow up study. This paper reports on the development and implementation of the evaluation framework guiding the study. The framework comprised seven structural and process indicators adapted from the Council of Europe Child Participation Assessment Tool and five outcome indicators informed by the Lundy Model of participation. As well as reporting on the evaluation process, the paper critiques the value of the framework, its benefits, challenges and the pitfalls along the way to inform future evaluations. ; This research was conducted as part of the Development and Mainstreaming Programme for Prevention, Partnership and Family Support Study, which is supported by the Atlantic Philanthropies Ireland; Galway University Foundation; the National University of Ireland, Galway. ; peer-reviewed

Purpose
Participation is the active involvement of children and young people in decision-making regarding issues that affect their lives. It is crucial in the context of child protection and welfare systems and how they respond to the needs of children and young people. The purpose of this paper is to report on the evaluation of child and family participation in an early intervention and prevention programme implemented by the Irish Child and Family Agency. It provides an analysis of a comprehensive, "whole organization" approach to understand how participation is embedded in policy and practice.


Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports on a comparative qualitative case study of the perspectives of managers and practitioners about participation practice, identifying the facilitators and barriers, as well as their perspectives of the sustainability of participation within the agency and its partners. The authors draw on two complementary, theoretically informed studies evaluating participatory practice within the Agency using qualitative interviews with participants.


Findings
Overall, managers and practitioners had a positive attitude towards participation and identified examples of best practices. Facilitators included training, access to resources and the quality of relationships. Challenges for meaningful participation remain, such as the need to engage, hard to reach populations. Differences were identified regarding how embedded and sustainable participation was.


Originality/value
This paper provides a critical understanding of participation in practice and how to embed a culture of participation in child protection and welfare.