Overview
A study of the effect of poor environments on parenting. The authors explore what professionals and policy-makers can do to assist families living in poverty. They examine community-level poverty and its relationship to familial and individual problems such as low income, mental ill-health and child behavioural difficulties - problems that those working with poor families need to understand. Assessing the wider help parents receive, both through formal support services and the informal network of family and friends, the work shows how service-users' views of the resources available to them can be applied to the improvement of service provision. Presenting the findings of a Policy Research Bureau report to the Department of Health, and including data from in-depth interviews with parents living in especially difficult circumstances, this volume provides a guide to family support services in the United Kingdom.
Full Product Details
Author: Deborah Ghate ,
Neal Hazel
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Imprint: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Edition: illustrated edition
Dimensions:
Width: 15.40cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 23.20cm
Weight: 0.500kg
ISBN: 9781843100690
ISBN 10: 184310069
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 05 July 2002
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
The authors have made great efforts to bring the data to life by presenting the views of the family in a readable format whilst still providing the necessary statistical analysis. Direct quotes are used frequently which provide a pleasant contrast from the tables and figures... This in-depth book would be of use to occupational therapy practitioners who are investigating the issues which affect the uptake of their service in poor environments for two main reasons. Firstly, it provides a useful insight into the perceptions of parents about formal and semi-formal support; secondly, it suggests some new ways of tackling active participation and engagement from families who do not take up an occupational therapy service even though the need has been identified. -- Napot Journal This is a welcome and timely work, given the continued interest in social capital, and offers a UK perspective on the role of both community ecology and statutory services in the task of child-rearing. -- Social Policy Vol. 33/2 The strengths of this book lie both in its structure and in the quality of the quantitative data. The introduction sets out the aims of the study and clearly guides the reader to the content of each chapter. The book is divided into five parts, each with an introduction to the main theme and the issues discussed. The survey design appears rigorous and well constructed, with extensive appendices explaining sampling process, data collection and data analysis. The section dealing with issues of coping was of particular interest for two reasons. First, the authors critically engage with the concept of 'coping', acknowledging the lack of a clear, and at times partial, definition. They point out that in relation to child welfare the concept tends to focus on outcomes, i.e. the inability, or ability, to cope. An important part of this study is to broaden the concept to understand the process of coping, by exploring both outcomes and strategies parents use to adapt to stress. Second, suggesting that many parents do cope in difficult circumstances raises a political question: why should governments intervene if parents are able to deal with the stresses they encounter? The authors do not lose sight of potential for misuse of their findings, concluding that material poverty underpinned so many other risk factors in this study (p.237). -- Child & Family Social Work This volume reports crucial findings from the Department of Health's children's research initiative which document how poverty and stressors undermine parents' capacity to parent. This is a valuable book for practitioners in Sure Start, child day care, residential work and social work with children. -- Community Care Parenting in Poor Environments reports on a research study with parents that are living in objectively poor environments ... The nature of the study means that the book has a large volume of quantitative data to convey, however it manages to do so in a digestible way which is aided by a style of writing that re-iterates key messages throughout. -- Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law Policy-makers and practitioners seeking to focus on the ecology of parenting will find much in this well-written study to inform their knowledge base and daily work. -- Research and Policy Updates
The authors have made great efforts to bring the data to life by presenting the views of the family in a readable format whilst still providing the necessary statistical analysis. Direct quotes are used frequently which provide a pleasant contrast from the tables and figures... This in-depth book would be of use to occupational therapy practitioners who are investigating the issues which affect the uptake of their service in poor environments for two main reasons. Firstly, it provides a useful insight into the perceptions of parents about formal and semi-formal support; secondly, it suggests some new ways of tackling active participation and engagement from families who do not take up an occupational therapy service even though the need has been identified. -- Napot Journal This is a welcome and timely work, given the continued interest in social capital, and offers a UK perspective on the role of both community ecology and statutory services in the task of child-rearing. -- Social Policy Vol. 33/2 The strengths of this book lie both in its structure and in the quality of the quantitative data. The introduction sets out the aims of the study and clearly guides the reader to the content of each chapter. The book is divided into five parts, each with an introduction to the main theme and the issues discussed. The survey design appears rigorous and well constructed, with extensive appendices explaining sampling process, data collection and data analysis. The section dealing with issues of coping was of particular interest for two reasons. First, the authors critically engage with the concept of `coping', acknowledging the lack of a clear, and at times partial, definition. They point out that in relation to child welfare the concept tends to focus on outcomes, i.e. the inability, or ability, to cope. An important part of this study is to broaden the concept to understand the process of coping, by exploring both outcomes and strategies parents use to adapt to stress. Second, suggesting that many parents do cope in difficult circumstances raises a political question: why should governments intervene if parents are able to deal with the stresses they encounter? The authors do not lose sight of potential for misuse of their findings, concluding that material poverty underpinned so many other risk factors in this study (p.237). -- Child & Family Social Work This volume reports crucial findings from the Department of Health's children's research initiative which document how poverty and stressors undermine parents' capacity to parent. This is a valuable book for practitioners in Sure Start, child day care, residential work and social work with children. -- Community Care Parenting in Poor Environments reports on a research study with parents that are living in objectively poor environments ... The nature of the study means that the book has a large volume of quantitative data to convey, however it manages to do so in a digestible way which is aided by a style of writing that re-iterates key messages throughout. -- Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law Policy-makers and practitioners seeking to focus on the ecology of parenting will find much in this well-written study to inform their knowledge base and daily work. -- Research and Policy Updates
Author Information
Deborah Ghate was formerly Director at the Policy Research Bureau (PRB), an independent not for profit centre specialising in applied social policy research in the area of children, young people and families. She has since become a Principal Research Officer at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London. Her recent work has included a national evaluation of services for parents provided through the youth justice system, research on how fathers use family support services, a major review of the international research evidence on `what works' in parenting support, and a number of evaluations of community-based initiatives supporting parents and children in high need communities. Neal Hazel was a Senior Research Fellow at the Policy Research Bureau. Since 2003 Neal Hazel has been a lecturer in criminology at the University of Salford, UK.
