Family Neglect and Perspectives on Patients Living with Mental Health Disorders on the Street.

In Ghana, some persons living with mental illness end up on the street. Whereas most instances have resulted from family neglect, the paucity of effective social services to cater for neglected persons with mental health disorder persons is disturbing. The present study explored family caregivers' perspectives on reasons why families neglect persons living with mental illness to be homeless and their suggestions on how families and society could prevent such occurrences. Using a qualitative approach, individual interviews were conducted with twenty family caregivers of persons living with a mental health disorder. Results revealed multifactorial causation to family neglect and provide directions for future research. Findings highlight the need for mental health rehabilitation programmes to consider family caregivers' perspectives on the causes of neglect and ways to improve mental health rehabilitation, which must be factored into policies for effectiveness. Suggestions on family and society's role to prevent such occurrences are discussed.

"It Is Not Something You Can Easily Forget": Ghanaian Parents' Experiences of Child Loss.

The loss of a child comes with trauma, which affects parents and the entire family. Yet, there is limited support for parents who lose their child and little empirical research has been devoted to the experiences of parents who lose a child in the Ghanaian context. Based on interviews with 20 participants purposively sampled from the Accra Metropolis, this study explored parents' psychosocial experiences of child loss using a qualitative approach. The study's findings indicated that bereaved parents showed signs of complicated grief and experienced spousal neglect, self-blame, and emotional pain. Bereaved parents may become sensitive to child comments years after child loss. The quality of interaction after child loss influences how parents experience the loss. Findings underscore the need for a joint effort by government and other stakeholders in the health sector to address issues related to child loss and provide improved services to those who suffer child loss.

Examining the intersection between marriage, perceived maturity and child marriage: perspectives of community elders in the Northern region of Ghana.

Child marriage is a widespread global phenomenon that is prevalent in many developing countries including Ghana. The practice of child marriage has its roots in how marriage, adolescence and readiness for marriage are construed in practising communities. This study presents the views of community elders towards the practice and examines constructions of marriage and maturity and their influence on child marriage. Data were collected from seven elders from selected communities in the Northern region of Ghana. Individual in-depth interviews were used to gather participants' perceptions of constructions of marriage and markers for determining maturity of girls for marriage. An inductive qualitative method was used to analyse transcribed data. Elders' views indicated that early marriage was strongly influenced by community constructions of marriage and social indicators of readiness for marriage. The main indicators of maturity for marriage for men were economic independence and an awareness of sexual desire while the overt markers of physiological development and mastery of domestic tasks were indicators for girls. Knowledge about the cultural construction of marriage and readiness for marriage is helpful to influence policy making and interventions on early marriage.

Patterns of Spiritual Connectedness during Adolescence: Links to Coping and Adjustment in Low-Income Urban Youth.

Religiosity and spirituality are influential experiences that buffer adverse effects of stressors. Spirituality typically declines during adolescence, although not universally. Using Latent Class Growth Analysis, we examined changes in spiritual connectedness among 188 early (52% female; M age = 10.77, SD = 0.65 years) and 167 middle (56% female; M age = 13.68, SD = 0.82 years) predominantly African American adolescents participating in a 4-year longitudinal study. Three distinct profiles of spiritual connectedness emerged: low and steady, moderate with declines over the study period, and high and steady. Profile distributions varied across developmental level: there were more early adolescents in the high and steady profile and more middle adolescents in the decliner profile. Youth in the high and steady profile evidenced more goal-directedness and life satisfaction and more effective emotion management and coping strategies than youth in other profiles. Contributions to the positive development literature are discussed.

Adjustment Profiles of Low-Income Caregivers from the United States and South Africa: Contrasts and Commonalities.

Although low-income parents living in under-resourced communities in the United States and around the world face challenges, many do well while others struggle in one or more areas of functioning. The present study examined patterns of adjustment among maternal caregivers living in the United States (US) (N = 320) and South Africa (SA) (N = 324). Cluster analyses across four domains of functioning representing both positive and negative adjustment and conducted within country revealed similar patterns of adjustment, with a majority of caregivers (37.8% in the US; 47.5% in SA) landing in a "holding steady" pattern, exhibiting good but not exceptional adjustment. Other patterns of adjustment (three additional in the US sample; two additional in the SA sample) showed elevated impairment in somatic complaints, problems with alcohol, or life satisfaction. In both the US and SA, support from family, friends, and neighbors differentiated the adjustment profiles. Further, both current stressors within and outside of the family and previous stressors including direct and indirect exposure to violence discriminated caregivers who were "holding steady" from those who were struggling in one or more domains. Additionally, across both countries, caregivers who were "holding steady" evidenced less avoidant coping. Implications of this work for fostering resilience among caregivers and their children are discussed.

Care-'less': exploring the interface between child care and parental control in the context of child rights for workers in children's homes in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: This study explored how employed caregivers experience the interface between child care, parental control and child rights in the context of Children's Homes in Ghana. The focus was on investigating caregiver perceptions of proper child care, their experiences with having to work with child rights principles and the implication of these for their relationships with the children and the care services they deliver. METHODS: Adopting a qualitative approach with phenomenological design, data were collected from 41 caregivers in two children's homes in Ghana using focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. RESULTS: It emerged that caregivers experienced frustrations with perceived limitations that child rights principles place on their control over the children describing it as lessening and, at the same time, complicating the care services they provide. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest a need for a review of the implementation strategies of the child rights approach in that context. A re-organization of the children's homes environment and re-orientation of caregivers and children regarding their relationship is also suggested.