Wellbeing of Families in Future Europe

FAMILYPLATFORM’s aim was to develop and publish a European Research Agenda for Research on Families and Family Policy, in order to enable policy makers and others to respond to current and future challenges facing families. Four concrete steps were taken towards elaborating the Research Agenda: 1. Charting the contemporary field of research on families and family policy in the EU. 2. Critically reviewing existing research involving a wide range of stakeholders. 3. An innovative exercise to identify future challenges facing families, so as to highlight future policy issues and develop questions for future research. 4. Bringing together all of the work into a Research Agenda on Families and Family Wellbeing for Europe. Each of these areas has a dedicated chapter in this book, presenting the main results and findings of this work. More than 120 civil society representatives, policy makers, and scientific experts were involved in the work of FAMILYPLATFORM. The sharing and negotiating of sometimes contradictory perspectives and thoughts was an exciting challenge for everyone involved, resulting in a great deal of shared learning. We hope that this book passes on some of these rich experiences, thereby improving the wellbeing of families in Europe through research and policy.Wellbeing of Families in Future Europe – Challenges for Research and Policy presents the results of the FAMILYPLATFORM project, a social platform on research for families and family policy

Wellbeing of Families in Future Europe

FAMILYPLATFORM’s aim was to develop and publish a European Research Agenda for Research on Families and Family Policy, in order to enable policy makers and others to respond to current and future challenges facing families. Four concrete steps were taken towards elaborating the Research Agenda: 1. Charting the contemporary field of research on families and family policy in the EU. 2. Critically reviewing existing research involving a wide range of stakeholders. 3. An innovative exercise to identify future challenges facing families, so as to highlight future policy issues and develop questions for future research. 4. Bringing together all of the work into a Research Agenda on Families and Family Wellbeing for Europe. Each of these areas has a dedicated chapter in this book, presenting the main results and findings of this work. More than 120 civil society representatives, policy makers, and scientific experts were involved in the work of FAMILYPLATFORM. The sharing and negotiating of sometimes contradictory perspectives and thoughts was an exciting challenge for everyone involved, resulting in a great deal of shared learning. We hope that this book passes on some of these rich experiences, thereby improving the wellbeing of families in Europe through research and policy.Wellbeing of Families in Future Europe – Challenges for Research and Policy presents the results of the FAMILYPLATFORM project, a social platform on research for families and family policy

Eritema nudoso leproso persistente y enteropatía letal por clofazimina

Introduction. Clofazimine enterophathy is a serious complication of clofazimine when used at high doses for treatment of type 2 lepra or or erythema nodosum leprosum.Objective. A woman is presented who had a delayed diagnosis of leprosy, persistent type 2 lepra reaction and lethal clofazimine enteropathy.Materials and methods. A 31-year-old woman presented leprosy symptoms over a 16-year period without medical diagnosis of her disease. During this period, type 2 lepra episodes occurred, but were not accurately diagnosed. These episodes became more severe during her second pregnancy. The patient and her family were interviewed, and her clinical history reviewed.Results. After twelve years of medical consults, lepromatous leprosy was diagnosed, based on perforation of her nasal septum, with a bacterial index of 5. Her husband and a 12-year-old daughter have leprosy symptoms. During multidrug therapy, she presented with repeated type 2 lepra reaction episodes for which she received daily clofazimine 400 mg doses. Two months after this treatment, severe and frequent episodes of intense abdominal pain began to occur. These persisted for more than a year and were managed with in-hospital administration of several classes of painkillers and antispasmodic medication, including morphine. She also presented with sporadic diarrhea, constipation, nausea, weight loss and mesenteric adenopathies. She died finally due to this intestinal condition. No autopsy was performed.Conclusions The patient’s clinical presentation suggested a clofazimine-induced lethal enteropathy, a complication not previously seen in Colombia. This connection was not recognized by the medical officers that treated the patient.Introducción. La enteropatía por clofazimina es una complicación grave de este fármaco, cuando se usa a dosis altas para la reacción leprosa tipo 2 y otras enfermedades.Objetivo. Presentar una mujer de 31 años con síntomas de lepra, incluidos episodios de eritema nudoso leproso, agravados durante el embarazo, sin diagnóstico médico preciso. Relatar la evolución de su enteropatía letal por clofazimina.Materiales y métodos. Entrevista con la paciente y sus familiares, revisión de la historia clínica y de la literatura pertinente.Resultados. La paciente presentó lesiones cutáneas anestésicas y varios episodios de eritema nudoso, agravados durante sus embarazos. Luego de epistaxis repetidas y perforación del tabique nasal, se diagnóstico lepra lepromatosa, 12 años después de numerosas consultas médicas. Su esposo y su hija de 12 años presentaron signos de lepra para la cual se trataron.La paciente tuvo episodios de reacción tipo 2 durante la poliquimioterapia, para los cuales recibió 400 mg diarios de clofazimina. A los dos meses de este tratamiento comenzó a presentar dolor abdominal persistente durante más de un año, muy serio y episódicamente exacerbado, manejado con analgésicos y antiespasmódicos, incluida la morfina. Tuvo, además, diarrea, estreñimiento, náuseas, pérdida de peso y adenopatías mesentéricas. Falleció sin diagnóstico de su afección intestinal. No se hizo autopsia.Conclusiones. La clínica final de la paciente sugiere que se trata de un caso de enteropatía letal por clofazimina, una complicación que no se había reconocido previamente en nuestros pacientes. Es necesario aumentar el conocimiento de la lepra entre los médicos. &nbsp

Spotlights on Contemporary Family Life

Spotlights on Contemporary Family Life covers four issues of cross-cutting importance to families Structures and forms of families: issues relating to a diversification of families away from the ‘traditional nuclear family form’ are relatively uncontroversial from an academic perspective, but much more so for policy makers and family associations. Chapter 1 provides a thorough overview of the state of contemporary European families. Solidarities in families: too often the issue of an ‘ageing society’ is simply reduced to the problem of over-burdening social care systems, but longevity also represents opportunities for new kinds of solidarities inside families and family networks, and new relations between family members – not to mention the satisfaction felt by people who can continue to live fulfilling and rewarding lives long after they’re considered ‘elderly’. Chapter 2 gives voice to authors who identify these new opportunities and challenges. Demographic change: women are having fewer children and having them later in life. Having children is now a conscious decision and fertility rates have declined below the level required to sustain our current populations. At the same time we witness the ‘greying’ of Europe, which brings with it a whole host of opportunities and challenges. Chapter 3 raises important issues for policy makers today. Volunteering: inspired by family associations who could not survive without the support of volunteers, this chapter gives an overview of what’s known - and what isn’t - about volunteering. Coinciding with the European Year of Volunteering 2011, this chapter takes a timely look at the efforts that families put into volunteering across Europe and the important benefits that Europe gains from all of this combined voluntary effort. Linden Farrer and William Lay work for the Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union (COFACE). This publication was produced by FAMILYPLATFORM, a project funded by the European Commission

Spotlights on Contemporary Family Life

Spotlights on Contemporary Family Life covers four issues of cross-cutting importance to families Structures and forms of families: issues relating to a diversification of families away from the ‘traditional nuclear family form’ are relatively uncontroversial from an academic perspective, but much more so for policy makers and family associations. Chapter 1 provides a thorough overview of the state of contemporary European families. Solidarities in families: too often the issue of an ‘ageing society’ is simply reduced to the problem of over-burdening social care systems, but longevity also represents opportunities for new kinds of solidarities inside families and family networks, and new relations between family members – not to mention the satisfaction felt by people who can continue to live fulfilling and rewarding lives long after they’re considered ‘elderly’. Chapter 2 gives voice to authors who identify these new opportunities and challenges. Demographic change: women are having fewer children and having them later in life. Having children is now a conscious decision and fertility rates have declined below the level required to sustain our current populations. At the same time we witness the ‘greying’ of Europe, which brings with it a whole host of opportunities and challenges. Chapter 3 raises important issues for policy makers today. Volunteering: inspired by family associations who could not survive without the support of volunteers, this chapter gives an overview of what’s known - and what isn’t - about volunteering. Coinciding with the European Year of Volunteering 2011, this chapter takes a timely look at the efforts that families put into volunteering across Europe and the important benefits that Europe gains from all of this combined voluntary effort. Linden Farrer and William Lay work for the Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union (COFACE). This publication was produced by FAMILYPLATFORM, a project funded by the European Commission