Editor – I am moved by Professor Allan's elegy to bygone NHS virtues of ‘calm caring and gentle pace of clinical life… and all the time in the world to deliver compassionate care' ( Clin Med October 2009 p 407). One's immediate instinct would be to say ‘Ah, but times have changed' – only

Quality of care.

The well-being of parents is essential to the well-being of children with life-limiting illness. Parents are vulnerable to a range of negative financial, physical, and psychosocial issues due to caregiving tasks and other stressors related to the illness of their child. Pediatric palliative care practitioners provide good care to children by supporting their parents in decision-making and difficult conversations, by managing pain and other symptoms in the ill child, and by addressing parent and family needs for care coordination, respite, bereavement, and social and emotional support. No matter the design or setting of a pediatric palliative care team, practitioners can seek to provide for parent needs by referral or intervention by the care team.

Supporting Parent Caregivers of Children with Life-Limiting Illness.

Aim The concept of shared decision-making is poorly defined and often used interchangeably with related terms. The aim of this study was to delineate and clarify the concept of shared decision-making in the paediatric field. Method Rodgers and Knafl's evolutionary concept analysis was used to delineate and clarify the concept. Following a search of the CINAHL, PubMed and MEDLINE databases and online journals between 1995 and 2016, we included a total of 42 articles that referred to shared decision-making in the paediatric field. Results The attributes included active participation of the three: parents, children and health professionals; collaborative partnership; reaching a compromise; and common goal for child's health. Antecedents were existing several options with different possible outcomes; substantial decisional conflict; recognising child's health situations that decision-making is needed; and willingness to participate in decision-making. Finally, the consequences included decreased decisional conflict; mutual empowerment; improved child health status; and improved quality of paediatric health care. Conclusion This study provides a theoretical understanding of the concept of shared decision-making in the paediatric field; furthermore, by integrating this concept into paediatric practice, it may help to reduce the gap between theory and practice. The analysis could also provide nursing researchers with insight into paediatric decision-making and establish a foundation to develop future interventions and situation-specific theory for promoting high-quality decision-making in the paediatric field.

Shared decision‐making in the paediatric field: a literature review and concept analysis

Background: Cancer is one of the major causes of death in children and adolescents. About 4% of deaths in children of age less than 5 years and 13% of deaths in children of age 5-15 years are due to cancer in Iranian population. The disease can cause many problems, which are usually detected by a psychologist, for the children and their mothers. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the psychological challenges of the children with cancer and their mothers’ experience. Materials and Methods: This is a qualitative research conducted through thematic analysis approach. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data. Purposive sampling was conducted. The numbers of the children and their mothers participating in this study were 34 and 32, respectively. Results: Data analysis showed that the problems faced by children with cancer and their mothers fell into five main categories. These categories included spiritual, psychological (such as aggression, anxiety, depression), communicational problems, inadequate knowledge (about the disease, its treatment, and treatment complications), and care-related problems. Conclusions: The results showed that lack of awareness and spiritual problems were the most important problems of the patients and their mothers. If necessary knowledge about the disease and its treatment and complications is given to the children and their mothers at the time of diagnosis, and also, spiritual care interventions are administered during treatment, their psychological problems can be notably reduced.

http://www.ijnmr.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijnmr/article/download/1044/760

Challenges of children with cancer and their mothers: A qualitative research

Collaborative Medicine Case Studies: Evidence in Practice

This review focuses on parental decision making regarding the care and treatment of children with cancer Articles were abstracted from the following sources: Ovid Databases (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Review of Effects, Medline, and Social Work Abstracts) and EBSCOhost (Academic Search Premier and Academic Search Complete) using smart text The criteria for the search were publications between 2005 and 2012 and publication in peer-review journals The descriptors used were parents of children with cancer, decision making, decisions about childhood cancer, and parents The search yielded 59 references, but after duplicates, as well as dated and irrelevant articles were removed, 17 articles were identified that focused specifically on the decisions parents make regarding the care and treatment of children with cancer Coders agreed that the child's quality of life/well-being, parental hope/expectations, support/supportive care, communication, and information were important themes in considering the decisions parents made regarding the care and treatment of children with cancer These themes provide insight into the needs of parents in making decisions about the care and treatment of children with cancer

Perspectives of parents on making decisions about the care and treatment of a child with cancer: a review of literature.

Role plays have served an instrumental role in social work education by providing opportunities for students to acquire interaction skills. This project tested various online video conferencing tools to facilitate role plays for students who live in different locations and who are unable to be at the same place at the same time. Key features of the technology included the ability to facilitate real-time interaction, compatibility with laptops and Wi-Fi connections, and the ability to record sessions for later viewing and feedback. Method: Case study design. Results: Students were able to use the videoconferencing software with minimal support. Video quality was not always ideal with contributing factors being the time of day students used the software. There were no distinguishable time and effort demands associated with the online video conferencing compared to classroom role plays. Some students found use of the technology caused them to feel disconnected from their peers compared to face-to-face encounters, while other students found the encounter more intimate in that the pressure to perform in front of others was not felt. Implications: Video conferencing is a promising tool to facilitate social work role plays. Future research needs to assess the acquisition of specific skills compared to traditional classroom students.

/pdf/facilitating-social-work-role-plays-in-online-courses-the-1hytoy8d84.pdf

Facilitating social work role plays in online courses: The use of video conferencing

Missouri did not expand Medicaid, leaving about 500,000 Missourians without health insurance To address community needs and provide additional social work training opportunities, a free integrated behavioral health clinic was established This article discusses the need, describes the clinic, and presents 1-year evaluation results Sixty-nine clients received services, and 30 students received intensive training during the first year Almost half of the clients were diagnosed with depressive disorders, and more than half had comorbid medical conditions Psychiatric symptoms were lower following treatment Quality of life increased in physical and psychological domains Collaborative clinics with social work and medical students are a viable option for experiential learning and providing quality care for uninsured or underinsured people with comorbid medical conditions

Integrative Behavioral Health Clinic: A Model for Social Work Practice, Community Engagement, and In Vivo Learning

This article presents results from an evaluation of learning outcomes in a social work skills class between online and in-person students. Students were compared on background and academic factors,...

Evaluating Learning Outcomes and Assessing Social Work Skill Development: Comparing Online vs. In-Person Education

PURPOSE
Suicide prevention and intervention in prisons is a challenge. Prisons were not designed to be clinical facilities, yet with the growing numbers of people who face mental health challenges in prisons, staff require knowledge and skills to adequately address mental health crises, especially suicide. This study aims to: describe trends in suicide attempts and completions within one state's prison system and measure staff knowledge and preparedness to address suicide.


DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH
This research uses a nonexperimental research design and two data sources. Administrative data from 2000 to 2017 on serious suicide attempts and completions were analyzed, and all correctional staff employed in the state's Department of Corrections were surveyed at one point in time. Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted.


FINDINGS
The number of serious suicide attempts trended up but completed suicides decreased. Correctional staff demonstrated high suicide knowledge of risk factors and warning signs of suicide. Staff who viewed a media-based suicide training displayed significantly more knowledge of suicide and perceived greater preparedness compared to staff who did not or did not recall viewing the training.


ORIGINALITY/VALUE
Corrections staff play a key role in preventing suicides in prison. Innovative intervention is needed to increase suicide awareness, improve communication and enhance prevention skills.

Rebekah Freese

Papers

Perspectives of parents on making decisions about the care and treatment of a child with cancer: a review of literature.

Facilitating social work role plays in online courses: The use of video conferencing

Integrative Behavioral Health Clinic: A Model for Social Work Practice, Community Engagement, and In Vivo Learning

Evaluating Learning Outcomes and Assessing Social Work Skill Development: Comparing Online vs. In-Person Education

Suicide in prisons: describing trends and staff knowledge and preparedness to address suicide.