Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programmes reduced stress in mothers of children with disabilities in community sample RCT

mindfulness_shutterstock_64976824-150x150

Mindfulness is increasingly recognised as an effective way to reduce stress and improve well-being

Here Kate van Dooren looks at a randomised controlled trial of a mindfulness based stress reduction programme with mothers of children with autism and other developmental delays to look at its impact on levels of distress over time.

[read the full story...]

'Strategies for Relatives': improving mental health for family carers of people with dementia

shutterstock_107292635

In her latest blog, Clarissa Giebel examines research into the effectiveness of the ‘Strategies for Relatives’ psychological and educational training programme for family carers of people with dementia and explores what the findings might mean for wider programme implementation.

[read the full story...]

Community treatment orders and the limits of freedom

Erstwhile Mental Elf blogger, Ian Cummins, Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Salford University, joins the Social Care Elf to examine a study on the perspectives of service users, psychiatrists and carers on community treatment orders.

[read the full story...]

Eating disorders: how can we care for carers?

shutterstock_210886192

Helen Bould summarises a meta-analysis of interventions for caregivers of someone with an eating disorder, which highlights a lack of high quality primary research.

[read the full story...]

Carers policy and practice: What about ‘former carers’?

shutterstock_153888044

In her debut blog, Mary Larkin, Senior Lecturer in Health and Social Care at the Open University, examines a piece of qualitative research exploring the experiences of former carers and discusses what it might mean for policy and practice.

[read the full story...]

Advance care planning for people with advanced dementia

It's important that practitioners don't let dementia get in the way of other health problems, such as depression or anxiety. 

Clarissa Giebel, Researcher and PhD student at the University of Manchester, writes her debut Elf blog on a qualitative study about the experiences of advance care planning amongst family caregivers of people with advanced dementia.

[read the full story...]

Parenting skills support programme effective for some parents, but must be tailored to individual circumstances

family_shutterstock_80950111 (2)

Parents of children with learning disability and/or autism in seeking support with parenting skills, may have need of support with specific skills relevant to supporting their child with a disability.

Here, Kate van Dooren looks at a ‘pragmatic non-randomised’ study which evaluated a parent programme called ‘Riding the Rapids’ to see what happened to those parents who followed the programme.

[read the full story...]

Major barriers implementing family involvement for patients with psychosis

shutterstock_46154587

Raphael Underwood summarises a recent systematic review looking at implementing family involvement in the treatment of patients with psychosis.

[read the full story...]

Equipping family carers with better information about in-patient assessment and treatment for people with learning disabilities

getting it right cover

We know that access to accurate information is crucial if people are to make good decisions about the support they get from services. If someone with a learning disability is admitted to a hospital unit for assessment or treatment for a mental health issue or in response to behaviour that is challenging support services, this can be a particularly difficult and confusing time for all concerned.

In her debut blog, Alison Giraud-Saunders, along with co-author Angela Cole, describes a booklet that she co-authored with the involvement of family members which has lots of key information on the law and people’s rights.

[read the full story...]

Mindfulness based stress reduction for parents also impacted on child behaviour

Stress associated with being the parent of a child with learning disabilities is well documented. Mencap’s Breaking Point campaign has highlighted this very clearly. Their survey of families found more than 9 out of 10 family carers reported high levels of stress with over half of family carers either having given up, or considering giving [read the full story…]