“We felt ready, even though we were weren’t ready, we were ready, we were as ready as we were going to be” – Exploring adoptive parents lived experience of agency supported adoption preparation using Interpretative Phenomenological analysis.

In the UK as of 31st March 2019 there were 78,150 looked after children. The number of children who were adopted between April 1st 2018 and March 31st 2019 was 3,570 (Department for Education, 2019). Research suggests that one in five placements are disrupted (Wright (2009; Rushton (2003) Research into looked after children has shown an increased prevalence of mental ill-health and Adverse Childhood Experiences (Department of Health/Department for Education, 2017) and these can impact enormously on learning, behaviour and health (Hughes, Lowey, Quigg, & Bellis, 2016). In addition, these children are impacted by numerous caregiver transitions (Fisher, 2015). Therefore, it is imperative that adults are adequately prepared to become adoptive parents. Statutory guidance on Adoption (DfE, 2013) is not explicit about what ‘Adoption Preparation’ should entail, and as a result the adoption agency or local authority can be flexible in what is delivered to adopters. This thesis seeks to explore the lived experiences of three adoptive parents, who were supported by their agency to become adoptive parents and aims to uncover their lived experience. Participants were recruited across two LA’s in the North of England. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was utilised as the methodology. Analysis generated three superordinate themes, a feeling of being nurtured, being in a position of knowing and the intense emotional nature of the process. Super-ordinate themes for a feeling of being nurtured explored the depths of the social work support experienced by the adopters, interactions with others who understand, and the sudden intensity of the transition to parenthood. Superordinate themes for being in a position of knowing explored the need to understand their child, their feeling probed and checked upon, and the uncomfortable feelings of rejection. Superordinate themes for the intense emotional nature of the process explored feeling emotionally overwhelmed, and developing and protecting our family. This analysis formulated a greater understanding of the lived experience of the adopters and promoted recommendations for educational psychology practice and future research. Recommendation for further research includes understanding the lived experiences of adopters specifically in relation to emotional well-being prior, during and post adoption, and the experiences of adopters and foster carers during transition into adoptive care. Implications for professional practice includes an increase in collaborative working between social work professional and EPs, which includes consultation opportunities to adoptive parents, and a training offer

The Skills to Pay the Bills: An Evaluation of an Effort to Help Nonprofits Manage Their Finances

This study examines a Wallace Foundation-sponsored initiative aimed at improving the financial management skills and practices of 25 Chicago afterschool providers through training and coaching. Two models for this professional development were provided and each produced long-lasting improvements. Moreover, organizations receiving the less-expensive group training and coaching improved almost as much as those receiving more intensive customized coaching

Commentaries on the Model Rules of Professional Conduct

This Fifth Edition of the ACTEC Commentaries continues the tradition of providing guidance on the Model Rules of Professional Conduct particular to estate and trust practitioners. The Fifth Edition update to the Commentaries takes account of amendments to the Model Rules adopted since the 2005 Fourth Edition, including those proposed by the American Bar Association Commission on Ethics 20/20 as adopted by the ABA in 2012 and 2013. It is current through August 31, 2015 as there have been no amendments to the Model Rules since 2013. In addition to these updates, we have added Commentary and Annotations to four more of the Model Rules: MRPC 1.10, 5.3, 7.1, and 8.5 after concluding that these rules have a special kind of impact on trust and estate practice that justified including them. This edition also takes into account related ABA developments beyond the Model Rules that affect estate and trust practitioners. In particular, we have updated the Commentaries and Annotations to take into account the work of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the ABA’s response to that work as they affect trust and estate practice.https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-books/1044/thumbnail.jp

A fault tree analysis strategy using binary decision diagrams

The use of Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) in fault tree analysis provides both an accurate and efficient means of analysing a system. There is a problem however, with the conversion process of the fault tree to the BDD. The variable ordering scheme chosen for the construction of the BDD has a crucial effect on its resulting size and previous research has failed to identify any scheme that is capable of producing BDDs for all fault trees. This paper proposes an analysis strategy aimed at increasing the likelihood of obtaining a BDD for any given fault tree, by ensuring the associated calculations are as efficient as possible. The method implements simplification techniques, which are applied to the fault tree to obtain a set of 'minimal' subtrees, equivalent to the original fault tree structure. BDDs are constructed for each, using ordering schemes most suited to their particular characteristics. Quantitative analysis is performed simultaneously on the set of BDDs to obtain the top event probability, the system unconditional failure intensity and the criticality of the basic events

Internet Treatment for Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Clinician vs. Technician Assistance

Background Internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) for depression is effective when guided by a clinician, less so if unguided. Question: Would guidance from a technician be as effective as guidance from a clinician? Method Randomized controlled non-inferiority trial comparing three groups: Clinician-assisted vs. technician-assisted vs. delayed treatment. Community-based volunteers applied to the VirtualClinic (www.virtualclinic.org.au) research program, and 141 participants with major depressive disorder were randomized. Participants in the clinician- and technician-assisted groups received access to an iCBT program for depression comprising 6 online lessons, weekly homework assignments, and weekly supportive contact over a treatment period of 8 weeks. Participants in the clinician-assisted group also received access to a moderated online discussion forum. The main outcome measures were the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Item (PHQ-9). Completion rates were high, and at post-treatment, both treatment groups reduced scores on the BDI-II (p<0.001) and PHQ-9 (p<0.001) compared to the delayed treatment group but did not differ from each other. Within group effect sizes on the BDI-II were 1.27 and 1.20 for the clinician- and technician-assisted groups respectively, and on the PHQ-9, were 1.54 and 1.60 respectively. At 4-month follow-up participants in the technician group had made further improvements and had significantly lower scores on the PHQ-9 than those in the clinician group. A total of approximately 60 minutes of clinician or technician time was required per participant during the 8-week treatment program. Conclusions Both clinician- and technician-assisted treatment resulted in large effect sizes and clinically significant improvements comparable to those associated with face-to-face treatment, while a delayed treatment control group did not improve. These results provide support for large scale trials to determine the clinical effectiveness and acceptability of technician-assisted iCBT programs for depression. This form of treatment has potential to increase the capacity of existing mental health services.9 page(s

The process of coping and self-management in the experience of recovering from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)

A hermeneutical model of doing research is adopted to investigate the process of coping and self-management in the experience of recovering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Three research participants who consider themselves as recovering or recovered from CFS were interviewed to obtain data for analysis. The findings are that once the participants cope with the uncertainty about the meaning of the onset of symptoms by defining themselves as ill in somatic terms, the participants use external social and treatment resources to cope with the onset of symptoms and being chronically ill with CFS. As a consequence of feeling stigmatised in relation to social and professional scepticism about initially being ill and subsequently, being chronically ill with CFS, the participants become uncertain about the meaning of having CFS. Coping shifts to using internal resources by adopting self-management practises. In this process, firstly, existing self-management shifts in such a way that the participants view themselves as recovering or recovered from CFS, and secondly, the participants come to the understanding that difficulties with self-management cause and maintain CFS. The findings are discussed to conclude that CFS may be a misdiagnosis of difficulties with self-management. CFS itself may not be an 'objective' disorder, but a constituent of social processes. Becoming diagnosed with CFS arises as a consequence of the search for meaning in relation to the lay and professional assumption that psychological illness does not constitute 'real' illness, operating at both the levels of popular society and the doctor-patient relationship. Difficulties with self-management rather than the diagnosis of CFS provide a more adequate understariding of the participants' illnesses.KMBT_363Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-i

Normative indications for Xhosa-speaking unskilled workers on the trail making test and the stroop test

The aim of the study was to produce preliminary normative indications for the Trail Making Test and the Stroop Test, administered in English, on a non-clinical sample of black, Xhosa-speaking, unskilled individuals (N = 33), with an educational level of 11 – 12 years, in two age categories (18 –29 and 30 – 40 years). The sample was equally distributed for gender and level of education. Participants, who were required to have a basic proficiency in English, were from traditionally black township schools with relatively disadvantaged quality of education. Within-sample age and gender effects were investigated. There were no significant age effects on the Trail Making Test, whereas there was one significant difference between age groups on the Stroop Test with respect to the Color-Word task, and a result that strongly approached significance on the Word task, with the younger group performing better than the older group. There were no significant gender effects on the Trail Making Test, whereas there was one significant difference between genders on the Stroop Test with respect to the Word task, and a result that approached significance on the Color task, with females performing better than males. Normative indications for both measures were compared to available normative data on western populations with higher levels and more advantaged quality of education. This comparison revealed consistently poorer performances for both the Trail Making Test and the Stroop Test, confirming the need for localised normative datasets to facilitate accurate neuropsychological diagnoses on culturally disadvantaged individuals

Anxiety and Depression During Childhood and Adolescence: Testing Theoretical Models of Continuity and Discontinuity

The present study sought to clarify the trajectory (i.e., continuous vs. discontinuous) and expression (i.e., homotypic vs. heterotypic) of anxiety and depressive symptoms across childhood and adolescence. We utilized a state-of-the-science analytic approach to simultaneously test theoretical models that describe the development of internalizing symptoms in youth. In a sample of 636 children (53% female; M age = 7.04; SD age = 0.35) self-report measures of anxiety and depression were completed annually by youth through their freshman year of high school. For both anxiety and depression, a piecewise growth curve model provided the best fit for the data, with symptoms decreasing until age 12 (the “developmental knot”) and then increasing into early adolescence. The trajectory of anxiety symptoms was best described by a discontinuous homotypic pattern in which childhood anxiety predicted adolescent anxiety. For depression, two distinct pathways were discovered: A discontinuous homotypic pathway in which childhood depression predicted adolescent depression and a discontinuous heterotypic pathway in which childhood anxiety predicted adolescent depression. Analytical, methodological, and clinical implications of these findings are discussed