How young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds experience mental health: some insights for mental health nurses

This article reports on a part of a study which looked at the mental health of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) young people. The research sought to learn from CALD young people, carers, and service providers experiences relevant to the mental health of this group of young people. The ultimate goal was to gain insights that would inform government policy, service providers, ethnic communities and most importantly the young people themselves. To this end, qualitative interviews were undertaken with 123 CALD young people, 41 carers and 14 mental health service providers in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. Only one aspect of the study will be dealt with here, namely the views of the young CALD participants, which included risk factors, coping strategies and recommendations about how they could be supported in their struggle to maintain mental health. One of the most important findings of the study relates to the resilience of these young people and an insight into the strategies that they used to cope. The efforts of these young people to assist us in our attempts to understand their situation deserve to be rewarded by improvements in the care that we provide. To this end this article sets out to inform mental health nurses of the results of the study so that they will be in a position to better understand the needs and strengths of their CALD clients and be in a better position to work effectively with them

Medullary thyroid cancer in a 9-week-old infant with familial MEN 2B: Implications for timing of prophylactic thyroidectomy

BACKGROUND: Patients with Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 2 (MEN 2) are at high risk of developing aggressive medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) in childhood, with the highest risk in those with MEN type 2B (of whom >95% have an M918T RET proto-oncogene mutation). Metastatic MTC has been reported as young as 3 months of age. Current guidelines recommend prophylactic thyroidectomy within the first year of life for MEN 2B. PATIENT FINDINGS: We report a 9-week-old infant with MTC due to familial MEN 2B. A full-term male infant, born to a mother with known MEN 2B and metastatic MTC, had an M918T RET proto-oncogene mutation confirmed at 4 weeks of age. He underwent prophylactic total thyroidectomy at 9 weeks of age. Pathology showed a focal calcitonin-positive nodule (2.5 mm), consistent with microscopic MTC. SUMMARY: This case highlights the importance of early prophylactic thyroidectomy in MEN 2B. Although current guidelines recommend surgery up to a year of life, MTC may occur in the first few weeks of life, raising the question of how early we should intervene. In this report, we discuss the risks, benefits and barriers to performing earlier thyroidectomy, soon after the first month of life, and make suggestions to facilitate timely intervention. Prenatal anticipatory surgical scheduling could be considered in familial MEN 2B. Multidisciplinary collaboration between adult and pediatric specialists is key to the optimal management of the infant at risk

Sex differences in eye gaze and symbolic cueing of attention

Observing a face with averted eyes results in a reflexive shift of attention to the gazed-at location. Here we present results that show that this effect is weaker in males than in females (Experiment 1). This result is predicted by the ‘extreme male brain’ theory of autism (Baron-Cohen, 2003), which suggests that males in the normal population should display more autism-like traits than females (e.g., poor joint attention). Indeed, participants′ scores on the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Stott, Bolton, & Goodyear, 2001) negatively correlated with cueing magnitude. Furthermore, exogenous orienting did not differ between the sexes in two peripheral cueing experiments (Experiments 2a and 2b). However, a final experiment showed that using non-predictive arrows instead of eyes as a central cue also revealed a large gender difference. This demonstrates that reduced orienting from central cues in males generalizes beyond gaze cues. These results show that while peripheral cueing is equivalent in the male and female brains, the attention systems of the two sexes treat noninformative symbolic cues very differently

What do we know about transgender parenting?: Findings from a systematic review

Transgender issues are under‐explored and marginalised within mainstream social work and social care professional practice. The experience of gender transition has a profound impact on the individuals who have diverse gender identities and their family members. We present findings from a systematic review of studies concerning the experiences of transgender parenting conducted during January–September 2017. We took a life course approach, examining the research studies that investigated the experience of people identifying as transgender, who were already parents at the time of their transition or who wished to be parents following transition. The review evaluated existing findings from empirical research on transgender parenting and grandparenting to establish how trans people negotiate their relationships with children following transition, and sought to consider the implications for professional practice with trans people in relation to how best to support them with their family caring roles. We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) method. Empirical studies published from 1 January 1990 to 31 April 2017 in the English language, and which had transgender parenting as a significant focus, were included in the review. Twenty‐six studies met the criteria. Key themes reported are: how trans people negotiate their relationships with children following disclosure and transition; the impact of parental transitioning on children; relationships with wider families; trans people's desires to be parents; and the role of professional practice to support trans families. We discuss how the material from the review can inform social work education and practice, including to help identify future research, education and practice priorities in this area

The Relationship Between Low Family Income and Psychological Disturbance in Young Children: An Australian Longitudinal Study

Objective This study examines the relationship between low family income (LFI) experienced at different points in time, chronic low income status and its impact on child behaviour measured at 5 years of age. Method Longitudinal data from the Mater University Study of Pregnancy were used to measure LFI in families at three points in time (the antenatal period, 6 months post birth and at 5 years of age). Outcome variables were three independent groups of behaviour problems labelled as externalising, social, attentional and thought (SAT) problems, and internalising problems. These groups were developed from the Child Behaviour Checklist. An analysis based on logistic regression modelling was carried out examining the relationship between LFI and a range of intermediate variables known to be associated with child behaviour problems. Results The more often families experienced low income, the higher the rate of child behaviour problems at age 5. Low family income was still independently associated with SAT behaviour problems after controlling for smoking in the first trimester, parenting styles, maternal depression and marital disharmony at age 5. The association between LFI and internalising and externalising behaviour problems was largely mediated by maternal depression. Conclusion Low family income is a significant factor in the aetiology of a variety of child behaviour problems. The mechanisms involved in the link between LFI and childhood internalising and externalising behaviours involve the exposure of the children to maternal depression. However, the relationship between LFI and SAT behaviour problems remains to be elucidated

School violence, school differences and school discourses

This article highlights one strand of a study which investigated the concept of the violenceresilient school. In six inner-city secondary schools, data on violent incidents in school and violent crime in the neighbourhood were gathered, and compared with school practices to minimise violence, accessed through interviews. Some degree of association between the patterns of behaviour and school practices was found: schools with a wider range of wellconnected practices seemed to have less difficult behaviour. Interviews also showed that the different schools had different organisational discourses for construing school violence, its possible causes and the possible solutions. Differences in practices are best understood in connection with differences in these discourses. Some of the features of school discourses are outlined, including their range, their core metaphor and their silences. We suggest that organisational discourse is an important concept in explaining school effects and school differences, and that improvement attempts could have clearer regard to this concept

Absence of association between behavior problems in childhood and hypertension in midlife

Background It is known that behavior in childhood is associated with certain physical and mental health problems in midlife. However, there is limited evidence on the role of childhood behavior problems in the development of hypertension in adulthood. The present study aimed to examine whether behavior problems in childhood influenced the risk of hypertension in midlife in the United Kingdom 1958 birth cohort. Methods The 1958 British birth cohort comprised 17,638 individuals born in the first week of March 1958 in the United Kingdom. Behavior problems were assessed at 7, 11, and 16 years of age by parents and teachers. At age 45, blood pressure was measured and hypertension was recorded if blood pressure was ≥140/90 mm Hg or if the participants were informed by their health professionals that they had high blood pressure. Behavioral information was reported according to the Rutter Children's Behaviour Questionnaire (RCBQ) and the Bristol Social Adjustment Guide (BSAG). Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to examine behavior problems in childhood in relation to hypertension at 45 years of age according to logistic regression analysis, with adjustment for sex, social class in childhood and adulthood, childhood cognition, birth weight, gestational age at birth, body mass index (BMI), smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity. Results Behavior problems reported by parents at 7, 11, and 16 years were not associated with hypertension in midlife (OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.81, 1.07; OR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.81, 1.11; OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.85, 1.12, respectively). Similarly, teacher-reported behavior problems at 7, 11, and 16 years were not associated with hypertension in midlife (OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.72, 1.18; OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.84, 1.02; OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.92, 1.15, respectively). Further separate analyses showed similar results for males and females. Conclusion There is no association between behavior problems in childhood and hypertension in midlife

EQUIPT: protocol of a comparative effectiveness research study evaluating cross-context transferability of economic evidence on tobacco control

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Tobacco smoking claims 700 000 lives every year in Europe and the cost of tobacco smoking in the EU is estimated between €98 and €130 billion annually; direct medical care costs and indirect costs such as workday losses each represent half of this amount. Policymakers all across Europe are in need of bespoke information on the economic and wider returns of investing in evidence-based tobacco control, including smoking cessation agendas. EQUIPT is designed to test the transferability of one such economic evidence base-the English Tobacco Return on Investment (ROI) tool-to other EU member states