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Time away from “smelling the roses”: where do mothers raising children with disabilities find the time to work?
- Author:
- BRANDON Peter
- Journal article citation:
- Social Science and Medicine, 65(4), August 2007, pp.667-679.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Using the Australian Time Use survey (TUS), this study examined time allocation among working parents raising children with disabilities. Findings showed that raising children with disabilities reduced the time working mothers had for leisure activities, but increased the time for socializing activities. Consistent with the literature, the latter effect probably reflects the special need of working mothers raising children with disabilities for strong social networks offering regular support. While a mother's time for personal care was reduced by a child with a disability, a father's time for personal care was unaffected. Thus, mothers were relatively more disadvantaged than fathers in terms of total time for themselves. This study offers new knowledge on the impact of childhood disability on working parents’ time for personal care and leisure, activities that can improve their psychological and physical well-being.
Disability in pregnancy and childbirth
- Editors:
- MCKAY-MOFFAT Stella, (ed.)
- Publisher:
- Churchill Livingstone
- Publication year:
- 2007
- Pagination:
- 219p.
- Place of publication:
- Edinburgh
This title is directed primarily towards health care professionals outside of the United States. No other book advises midwives on the special needs of mothers with disabilities. Although an increasing number of women with disabilities are having children, the needs of this minority group are not always being effectively met. Disability in Pregnancy and Childbirth provides essential practical information to healthcare professionals working with this group. Contents include: social construction of disability and motherhood; women's health and disability; maternity services and women's experiences; the role of the midwife in maternity service provision; women with intellectual disabilities; midwives skills, knowledge and attitudes; sensory impairment; the interaction between specific conditions and the childbirth continuum.
Neither seen nor heard: children and homecare policy in Canada
- Authors:
- PETER Elizabeth, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Social Science and Medicine, 64(8), April 2007, pp.1624-1635.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Changes in public policy have led to increasing numbers of children with disabilities and complex medical needs being cared for in the homes of Canadians. Little work, however, has explored the ethical implications of these policies. This paper focuses on some of the shortcomings of current policy and describes a developing method for policy analysis with an explicit focus on ethics that could be adopted in other nations. Three forms of analyses—descriptive, conceptual and normative—conducted on Canadian homecare policy documents describe various dimensions of Canadian homecare policy. The descriptive analysis demonstrated that the jurisdiction of homecare services is dispersed across numerous programs and ministries with no single structure for policy implementation and accountability. The needs of children and youth are rarely mentioned in home healthcare policies, but instead are addressed under broader social policies that are focused upon children and family. The conceptual analysis revealed four over-arching themes that represent the predominant elements of a value-structure that underlie homecare policy. They include: (1) home and community care as ideal; (2) the importance of independence and self-care of citizens; (3) family as primary care provider; and (4) citizenship as entitlement to rights and justice. Overall, these themes tend to reflect a neoliberal ideology that shifts the responsibility of care from the state to the individual and his/her family. A normative framework based on critical healthcare ethics is used in the paper to make recommendations to redress the current imbalance between state and family support. For example, including homecare services within the Canada Health Act (CHA) or the development of separate legislation consistent with the principles of the CHA would make it possible to ensure that the principles of universality, accessibility, portability and public administration, as opposed to principles that reinforce competitive individualism, direct the provision of homecare services in Canada.
The health of caregivers for children with disabilities: caregiver perspectives
- Authors:
- MURPHY N. A., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Child: Care, Health and Development, 33(2), March 2007, pp.180-187.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
There are an estimated 5.9 million children with severe disabilities in the USA, and most of them are cared for at home by their parents and families. Indirect evidence suggests that poor caregiver health may contribute to recurrent hospitalizations and out-of-home placements for children with chronic conditions and disabilities. Greater knowledge of caregiver health-related needs would allow for the improvement of existing services and the development of new strategies to sustain caregivers in their vital roles. This study explores caregiver perspectives of the health implications of long-term informal caregiving for children with disabilities. Forty parents/caregivers of children with disabilities residing in urban, suburban and rural regions of Utah completed questionnaires and participated in focus groups that explored their feelings regarding their current physical and emotional health and the factors that they viewed as either impairing or promoting their health. The sessions were audiotaped and transcribed. Summary statistics were generated for the questionnaire responses. Focus group content was analysed according to emerging themes and patterns in clusters of information. The caregiving experience was captured by five themes: (i) stress of caregiving; (ii) negative impact on caregiver health; (iii) sharing the burden; (iv) worry about the future; and (v) caregiver coping strategies. Forty-one per cent of the caregivers reported that their health had worsened over the past year, and attributed these changes to a lack of time, a lack of control and decreased psychosocial energy. Caregivers of children with disabilities describe negative physical, emotional and functional health consequences of long-term, informal caregiving. They have important insights regarding those aspects of caregiving that have positive and negative influences on their health. Interventions that address these issues may have the potential to positively impact caregiver health.
What are the care needs for people with motor neurone disease and how can occupational therapists respond to meet these needs?
- Author:
- FOLEY Geraldine
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 70(1), January 2007, pp.32-34.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Motor neurone disease is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder and from disease onset health care intervention is palliative in nature. Numerous studies on wellbeing in motor neurone disease are consistent with the palliative care literature, where the values assigned to non-physical life domains increase with disease progression. Occupational therapists should consider all components of wellbeing for people with motor neurone disease and not physical disability alone. It is argued that a better understanding of motor neurone disease and an awareness of the service needs important to this client group are necessary to improve the quality of care and to assist occupational therapists in meeting care needs.