Suchergebnisse

El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar la situación de los acogimientos en familia ajena con visitas entre el acogido y su familia biológica en las provincias de Málaga, Granada y Jaén; y examinar la evolución de dichas visitas y posibles variables asociadas. Los participantes fueron 212 menores, 140 madres y 155 padres biológicos, y 156 familias acogedoras. El instrumento empleado fue la Ficha de recogida de datos. Los resultados muestran: a) 98.1% de los menores había sido víctima de maltrato; b) alto porcentaje de progenitores con drogadicción; c) mayor diversidad familiar de las familias acogedoras; d) 93.8% de los acogidos tenía visitas con su familia nuclear; e) el 57.6% de los casos, las visitas no mostraron ningún cambio significativo; f) una evolución positiva de las visitas se asocia a un elevado cumplimiento del régimen de visitas, una frecuencia mensual o semanal y a un grado de supervisión medio. Los resultados señalan la necesidad de mejorar la calidad de las visitas.

Summary This study aims to give voice to parents and gather their views about contact visits in foster care. Participants were 23 birth families who had contact visits with 35 children in non-kinship foster care. Semistructured individual interviews were conducted in order to explore two key aspects: the parents' opinions regarding the contact visits and the main areas they felt needed improving. The interviews were transcribed and the transcripts were examined using an inductive method by Atlas.ti. Findings The main themes to emerge concerned their general view of contact visits, the input and support from social workers, the contribution of foster families, the contact venue, and the organization of visits. In general, the birth families' comments were positive about the support and treatment received from social workers. However, they also mentioned certain aspects should be improved, such as supervision during visits. Applications The results suggest several ways to improve social work practice. Social workers should aim to involve birth families more in the process of drawing up contact arrangements and offering birth families adequate preparation prior to visits. Child protection agencies also have a role to play in relation to improving the facilities in which visits are held, as well as their overall organization, such as, the venue should provide a space that enables everyday family relationships to take place, and in the absence of this, attempts should be made to organize visits outside the official meeting place.

Contact between a foster child and birth parents play an important role in relation to the foster child's wellbeing. The main aim of this study is to give voice to social workers and foster families about contact visits. This research is part of a project financed by the regional government of Andalusia (Spain) (SEJ-7106) regarding contact visits in foster care. Two focus groups were organized, one with 8 social workers from four foster care agencies and another with 8 foster carers (4 were recruited through the Association of Foster Families in Andalusia and 4 through fostering agencies). Access to foster care agencies and foster families was obtained through the official Andalusian Child Protective Services (SPM). The focal groups were audio-recorded. Transcripts (of the two focus groups gave rise to primary documents for the hermeneutic unit under study. All this information was exported from an Excel database to the ATLAS.ti v7.0 software. The transcripts were examined using an inductive method of open coding in order to identify themes among participants' responses. Results show that both groups agreed on the utility of visits to maintain the children's attachment to their birth family, to bring a greater sense of continuity to the children's life story, to enhance the psychological wellbeing of the foster children and to know the real situation of their birth family. In relation to the difficulties remarked in the course of the visits, one of the issues mentioned by both groups refers to a lack in the coordination among the social workers, the SPM and the foster families involved. The other issue brings together several complaints to the SPM, such as the fact of not providing information about taking decisions regarding the future of the child; the lack of support and preparation of the foster carers, the children and the birth families about visits; as well as the shortage of social workers and economic aids provided by the SPM. The conclusions of this study highlight the need to improve contact visits by ...

In foster care, contact visits with birth families play an important role in relation to the child's wellbeing, and they may impact on placement outcomes. However, the views of birth parents with respect to such visits have largely been unexplored. This research is part of a project financed by the regional government of Andalusia (SEJ-7106) regarding contact visits in foster care. This study aims to give voice to parents and gather their views about contact visits, including how they might be improved. Participants were 23 birth families who had contact visits with 35 children in non-kinship foster care. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted in order to explore two key aspects: the parents' opinions regarding the contact visits and the main areas they felt needed improving. The interviews were transcribed and the transcripts were examined using an inductive method of open coding to identify themes among participants' responses. The main themes to emerge concerned their general view of contact visits and the organization of visits. The paper discusses the study's implications of the findings for practice. ; Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech.

Evidence-based sexual and reproductive health is a global endeavor without borders. Inter-sectorial collaboration is essential for identifying and addressing gaps in evidence. Health research funders and regulators are promoting patient and public involvement in research, but there is a lack of quality tools for involving patients. Partnerships with patients are necessary to produce and promote robust, relevant and timely research. Without the active participation of women as stakeholders, not just as research subjects, the societal benefits of research cannot be realized. Creating and developing platforms and opportunities for public involvement in sexual and reproductive health research should be a key international objective. Cooperation between healthcare professionals, academic institutions and the community is essential to promote quality research and significant developments in women's health. This cooperation will be improved when involvement of citizens in the research process becomes standard. ; Spanish Government

Synthetic hormone-disrupting chemicals may play a role in the increased frequency of cryptorchidism observed in some studies. We used a spatial ecological design to search for variations in orchidopexy rates in the province of Granada in Spain and to search for relationships between these differences and geographical variations in exposure to pesticides. Orchidopexy rates were estimated for the period from 1980 to 1991 in all municipalities and health care districts served by the University of Granada Hospital. A random sample of males of the same age (1-16 years) admitted for any reason during the same period was used to estimate inpatient control rates. Each municipality was assigned to one of four levels of pesticide use. We used Poisson homogeneity tests to detect significant differences in rates of orchidopexy between districts and between levels of pesticide use. Poisson and logistic regression models were also used to estimate the strength of association between orchidopexy and level of pesticide use. Orchidopexy rates tended to be higher in districts near the Mediterranean coast where intensive farming is widespread. The city of Granada, where the reference hospital is located, also had higher figures both for orchidopexy and inpatient control rates. Regression models showed that the strength of association between orchidopexy and level of pesticide use tended to increase with higher levels of use, with the exception of level 0 (mainly in the city of Granada). Our results are compatible with a hypothetical association between exposure to hormone-disruptive chemicals and the induction of cryptorchidism. Several methodological limitations in the design make it necessary to evaluate the results with caution. ; This work was partially supported by the Health Council, Andalusian Regional Government through grant no. 94/556-140.