Constructing the the school paradox in the lives of children living with parental mental illness

Children living with parental mental illness are referred to as an invisible population because mental health services rarely target them, as the focus is often on the parent who is ill mentally. The same situation occurs even in school where they are unnoticed. This study conducted in Ghana creates awareness about what these children think about their interactions at school in the context of parental mental illness. Data was collected through interviews and diaries with 13 children living with parental mental illness and analysed to attain the essential features through Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology. The children find the school as a happy space where they do not have to be worried about the parent’s mental illness. Ultimately, though, even at school, most of the children become concerned about the mental wellbeing of the parent due to their loyalty towards them. This results in the school paradox where the children are torn between having their own time at school and being worried about the parent’s condition back home, wanting to be there for the parent. The school paradox is an unhealthy cycle that could be addressed with coordinated efforts from mental health professionals, social workers, psychologists and teachers

Navigating peer relationships: What do friendships look like for children whose parents have mental illnesses?

Peer support programmes among children whose parents have mental illnesses have rarely focused on how these children relate with peers in the general population. Therefore, this phenomenological study in Ghana involved interviews with 13 children (ages 10 to 17) living with parental mental illness to learn about their peer relationships. Data were analysed to identify the phenomenon's essential features and constituents. The study finds that peer relations entail secrecy, peer victimisation and abuse. To these children, keeping secrets about parental mental illness ensures they have ‘normal’ peer relationships like others, as troubled peer relationships can develop when peers are informed about the parents' mental illness. Name-calling, teasing and withdrawal persists when peers are aware of one's parental mental illness. Although the children perceive that they may find comfort in children who are in a similar situation, the pros and cons of developing peer support out of these in-groups have to be verified rather than assumed. It is recommended that helping professionals educate school children and address myths they have about mental illness and its impact on their relationships

Norwegian Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Social and Communities Opportunities Profile-Mini for Persons with Concurrent Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders.

Persons with concurrent mental health and substance use disorders often do not participate actively in society and remain marginalized. The promotion of social inclusion is important for the care of persons with concurrent disorders. To measure social inclusion, the Social and Communities Opportunities Profile (SCOPE) was developed, followed by its mini version for English-speaking people in Singapore. In Norway, there is no instrument available to measure social inclusion. Thus, the aim was crosscultural adaptation of SCOPE Mini for persons with concurrent disorders. The Norwegian adaptation was performed using the systematic approach recommended by Beaton et al. After a forward–backward translation, the Norwegian SCOPE-Mini was pretested among 30 persons with a concurrent mental health and substance use disorder in three areas to check its psychometric properties. To evaluate comprehensibility and applicability, participants were asked five open questions. The Norwegian crosscultural adaptation of SCOPE Mini showed acceptable psychometric properties and was considered comparable to the original version. The results of the pre-test showed no linguistic inconsistency, but some indications of the necessity of semantic adaptation regarding the cultural context and persons with concurrent disorders. The Norwegian SCOPE Mini may be a practical tool for health professionals, social workers, and researchers to measure social inclusion among a vulnerable group such as persons with a concurrent mental health and substance use disorder. However, given the relatively small sample size in our study, further research on the validity and reliability of the instrument is recommended.publishedVersio

Norwegian Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Social and Communities Opportunities Profile-Mini for Persons with Concurrent Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders.

Persons with concurrent mental health and substance use disorders often do not participate actively in society and remain marginalized. The promotion of social inclusion is important for the care of persons with concurrent disorders. To measure social inclusion, the Social and Communities Opportunities Profile (SCOPE) was developed, followed by its mini version for English-speaking people in Singapore. In Norway, there is no instrument available to measure social inclusion. Thus, the aim was cross-cultural adaptation of SCOPE Mini for persons with concurrent disorders. The Norwegian adaptation was performed using the systematic approach recommended by Beaton et al. After a forward–backward translation, the Norwegian SCOPE-Mini was pre-tested among 30 persons with a concurrent mental health and substance use disorder in three areas to check its psychometric properties. To evaluate comprehensibility and applicability, participants were asked five open questions. The Norwegian cross-cultural adaptation of SCOPE Mini showed acceptable psychometric properties and was considered comparable to the original version. The results of the pre-test showed no linguistic inconsistency, but some indications of the necessity of semantic adaptation regarding the cultural context and persons with concurrent disorders. The Norwegian SCOPE Mini may be a practical tool for health professionals, social workers, and researchers to measure social inclusion among a vulnerable group such as persons with a concurrent mental health and substance use disorder. However, given the relatively small sample size in our study, further research on the validity and reliability of the instrument is recommended

Multistressed families in Singapore: A focus on transnational families

10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.04.014CHILDREN AND YOUTH SERVICES REVIEW101372-38

Understanding Pathophysiological Concepts Leading to Obstructive Apnea.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) results from a combination of several factors leading to the obstruction of the upper respiratory tract (URT). OSA represents a systemic pathophysiological entity and leads to many comorbidities such as hypertension, coronary ischemia, and stroke. Patients with this pathophysiological entity experience also an increased risk of postoperative complications. Obesity is certainly the main cause of developing OSA. However, many other predisposing factors influence the genesis of obstructive apnea. It is important to understand the complexity of the interactions between predisposing factors to understand the relationship between weight loss following obesity surgery and the improvement in the severity of OSA. In this narrative review, we expose the seven major categories of predisposing factors that interact to generate obstructive apneas in patients, namely the anatomic abnormalities of the URT, the mechanical and the metabolic responses of the upper airway musculature, the loop gain, the arousal threshold, and the hormonal abnormalities. The genesis of apnea is the result of a complex dynamic interaction between the anatomical risk factors and the compensatory neuromuscular reflexes. All of these points are integrally part of the perioperative care of the obese patients. Finally, we will discuss different options for weight reduction