Coping Strategies, Stress, and Support Needs in Caregivers of Children with Mucopolysaccharidosis.

The mucopolysaccharidoses are a set of rare, inherited conditions that can have a catastrophic impact on those affected and their families. Because of the rarity of these disorders, little is known regarding the challenges faced by families of those affected and what coping mechanisms are commonly used. Coping is a way to manage demands that occur in one's environment or within oneself. Medical social workers historically have facilitated this process while providing support to patients who are responding to pressures of their diagnosis and the system.A questionnaire of demographics and qualitative questions, along with the Pediatric Inventory for Parents (PIP) and Brief COPE, was sent by electronic survey to caregivers of children with MPS. The results of Brief COPE showed that problem-focused coping was more frequently used than emotion-focused (p < 0.001) or dysfunctional coping (p < 0.0001). Acceptance was the most frequently used coping strategy (p < 0.05). The results of PIP showed that emotionally distressing events were the most difficult (p < 0.001), while events related to medical care occurred at the highest frequency (p < 0.001). Psychosocial support provided by medical social workers significantly increased acceptance of caregivers (p = 0.04). Guidance on what to expect provided by any member of the care team increased denial (p = 0.02) and the difficulty of emotional distress (p = 0.04). This study identified commonly used coping strategies and measured stress among caregivers of children with MPS, as well as access to and use of psychosocial support services. Results highlight the urgency to improve the coverage and quality of psychosocial support and other support services.

Strategies to Engage Men and Boys in Violence Prevention: A Global Organizational Perspective.

This study presents descriptive findings from in-depth interviews with 29 representatives of organizations in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and North and South America that engage men and boys in preventing gender-based violence. In particular, the findings suggest that strategies are responsive to the specific cultural, economic, and contextual concerns of the local community, with nuanced messages and appropriate messengers. In addition, respondents reported key principles informing their organizational strategies to deepen men and boys' engagement. Attention is also paid to respondents' caution about the risks of framing of engagement practices as separate from both women's organizations and women and girls themselves.

Global efforts to engage men in preventing violence against women: an international survey.

This research note expands on the limited body of knowledge about men's engagement in preventing violence against women. One hundred and sixty-five individuals representing organizations from around the world participated in a brief online survey about their efforts to engage men in violence prevention. This study reveals a large and diverse global community working to engage men in preventing violence against women. The level of involvement is broad, from locally contained organizations to global collaborations. This study is a first step toward building a comparative knowledge base to inform program design and implementation.

Virtual boundaries: ethical considerations for use of social media in social work.

In real life, we often use physical cues to help us identify our role and put the appropriate boundaries in place, but online it is more difficult to determine where our boundaries lie. This article provides and overview of various social media tools and uses along with personal and professional considerations to help in guiding the ethical use of social media tools. As the use of social media continues to grow, the importance of virtual boundaries will also rise. Therefore, proactive considerations that include policies and guidelines that encourage responsible and ethical use of social media are needed to help social workers mediate personal and professional boundaries.

Context, Challenges, and Tensions in Global Efforts to Engage Men in the Prevention of Violence against Women: An Ecological Analysis.

As gender-based violence prevention programs around the world increasingly include efforts to engage men and boys as antiviolence allies, both the profound benefits and the inherent complexities of these efforts are emerging. Acknowledging and exploring tensions associated with engaging men is an important element of thoughtfully fostering men's antiviolence ally movements so as to both respectfully invite men into anti-violence work and create effective, gender-equitable prevention programming. To this end, this study presents descriptive findings regarding challenges associated with men's engagement programming from in-depth interviews with twenty-nine representatives of organizations that engage men and boys in preventing violence against women and girls in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and North and South America. Programs reported negotiating complex issues related to gender, the intersectional nature of men's identities, and establishing legitimacy and sustainability within communities while maintaining ideological focus and consistency. Additionally, programs reported that these tensions manifest across ecological layers of analysis, and impact both the participation of individual men and the programs' experiences in community and national contexts.

Foster care transition services for youth with disabilities: findings from a survey of county service providers.

This study explores the transition services available for youth with disabilities in foster care and the collaboration among foster care transition programs with other types of providers. Findings from this survey of independent living coordinators working for child welfare agencies indicate that while youth with disabilities are being served through transition programs and these programs collaborate with other government agencies, there are few services targeted directly toward their needs, little collaboration with community-based agencies, and a need for more information sharing.