Wendy Mitchell

Bio: Wendy Mitchell is an academic researcher from University of York. The author has contributed to research in topics: Social work & Late modernity. The author has an hindex of 20, co-authored 42 publications receiving 1370 citations. Previous affiliations of Wendy Mitchell include Teesside University.

An exemplary scheme? An evaluation of the integrated children's system

Abstract: We outline selected central results from a formative evaluation of four pilot sites in England and Wales of the Integrated Children’s System (ICS) – one part of the UK’s eGovernment strategy. We concentrate on the aspiration of the ICS towards ‘integration’ and ‘systematization’ of services within children’s services, at local and national levels. We look in turn at, the use of the ICS as a foundation for aggregate statistical profiles; the experience and views of the social workers; and the implications of ICS for social work practice as exemplified in social workers’ use of time. The evidence suggests substantial problems in accomplishing government policy aspirations in each of these areas. We review the likely reasons for these problems, and recommend a review of the ICS on the grounds that the difficulties are inherent rather than transitory, and have arisen at least in part from uncertainty as to whether the ICS is fit for purpose. The authors seek to promote the open and thoughtful debate that a major innovation of this nature requires.

Contextualizing Risk and Danger: An Analysis of Young People's Perceptions of Risk

Abstract: Current debates about the nature of risk in late modernity suggest that changing social structures and a weakening, or increasingly global mediation of social constraints associated with the old order, have given rise to a new set of risks and opportunities. Social inequalities continue to impact upon people's lives but from within the contingencies of individualizing processes of ‘risk society’. Whilst it is acknowledged that there are differences between the production and perception of risks, there is a need for empirical evidence examining how risks are unequally distributed. The same study can provide illustration of how the solutions to social ills are often sought at an individual rather than a collective level through personal action. Drawing upon data from a three-year project, this paper explores young people's perceptions of risk. It is argued that since young people's experiences continue to be shaped by local social dimensions of class and gender, risk behaviour should continue to be analysed...

Care and support needs of children and young people with cancer and their parents

Abstract: The importance of psychosocial support services for children with cancer and their families is recognised but evaluation of such services is less well developed with little information available about different patterns of provision. This paper provides an overview of psychosocial support children and their families in the UK receive during and after treatment. It reports the results of a postal survey of 303 families, within which parents and children identified their satisfaction with support services and also areas of unmet need. Satisfaction was identified in a range of areas, including medical information and support from nurses and social workers. However, areas of unmet need were also highlighted, especially age appropriate facilities, emotional support and information in different formats. Although British government policy currently seeks to develop standards and guidelines of care throughout the National Health Service, this paper demonstrates that there is still a need to develop psychosocial support services and work towards recently established guidelines in order to ensure that families receive flexible but equitable packages of care and support, wherever treatment is received.

I'm Okay, You're Okay?: Reflections on the Well-Being and Ethical Requirements of Researchers and Research Participants in Conducting Qualitative Fieldwork Interviews:

Abstract: In this paper the authors present their reflections on a U.K. government–funded study exploring mental health and employment. Conducting research on a sensitive theme with a potentially vulnerable group gave renewed focus to some social research issues, including consent and control, rapport building, managing and responding to emotion, and offering appropriate longer term support. The researchers discuss their personal approaches and experiences (practical, methodological, ethical) during and after the fieldwork process. In the paper the authors highlight some of the challenges they faced and discuss how these were addressed and managed, sometimes differently, and not always resolved. They demonstrate the need for researchers to be aware of their “research footprint,” in particular the need to be reflexive and responsive to participants’ emotional well-being, and for funders and employers to also be sensitive to and mindful of the demands of social research, including impacts on researchers’ well-being.

'I don't know what I'd do without our Mam' motherhood, identity and support networks

Abstract: This paper explores the role and importance of kinship within the lives of 14 working class women as they seek to make sense of motherhood and their own self-identity as a young mother. Within late modernity, numerous discourses suggest that kin networks and the role and importance of kinship are in decline as ‘the family’ changes and adapts. Indeed, the idea of extended family support and networking is frequently viewed as a historically cozy image rather than an everyday reality as we enter the twenty-first century. However, this paper demonstrates that the situation is far from straightforward. The young mothers' discourses and everyday experiences remain firmly grounded in relations of class, gender and the locality within which they live. Hence, although many of the young women are increasingly individualised, self-reflexive actors seeking to make sense of intimate relations and kinship in an ontologically insecure world, kin networks, especially female kinship continue to play a pivotal role in thei...

Parenthood, Childlessness, and Well-Being: A Life Course Perspective.

Abstract: This article reviews recent research (1999 – 2009) on the effects of parenthood on wellbeing. We use a life course framework to consider how parenting and childlessness influence well-being throughout the adult life course. We place particular emphasis on social contexts and how the impact of parenthood on well-being depends on marital status, gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. We also consider how recent demographic shifts lead to new family arrangements that have implications for parenthood and well-being. These include stepparenting, parenting of grandchildren, and childlessness across the life course.

Grandparental investment: past, present, and future.

Abstract: What motivates grandparents to their altruism? We review answers from evolutionary theory, sociology, and economics. Sometimes in direct conflict with each other, these accounts of grandparental investment exist side-by-side, with little or no theoretical integration. They all account for some of the data, and none account for all of it. We call for a more comprehensive theoretical framework of grandparental investment that addresses its proximate and ultimate causes, and its variability due to lineage, values, norms, institutions (e.g., inheritance laws), and social welfare regimes. This framework needs to take into account that the demographic shift to low fecundity and mortality in economically developed countries has profoundly altered basic parameters of grandparental investment. We then turn to the possible impact of grandparental acts of altruism, and examine whether benefits of grandparental care in industrialized societies may manifest in terms of less tangible dimensions, such as the grandchildren's cognitive and verbal ability, mental health, and well-being. Although grandparents in industrialized societies continue to invest substantial amounts of time and money in their grandchildren, we find a paucity of studies investigating the influence that this investment has on grandchildren in low-risk family contexts. Under circumstances of duress - for example, teenage pregnancy or maternal depression - there is converging evidence that grandparents can provide support that helps to safeguard their children and grandchildren against adverse risks. We conclude by discussing the role that grandparents could play in what has been referred to as Europe's demographic suicide.

Hybridizing Habitus and Reflexivity: Towards an Understanding of Contemporary Identity?

Abstract: This article initially summarizes two dominant tropes in the sociology of identity in recent years, centred on the concepts of self-reflexivity and habitus, followed by an overview of extensive critical debate to which both have been subjected. It is claimed that the key criticisms of the extended reflexivity thesis gather around accusations of excessive voluntarism in accounting for contemporary identity, while critiques of Bourdieu's conceptualization of habitus deem it overly deterministic. In an attempt to move beyond the conceptual stalemate of two distinct approaches to identity, a number of hybridized accounts have emerged in social theory.The remainder of the article discusses a number of these accounts in relation to social change, and offers an initial consideration of their strengths and limitations. It is argued that the importance of post-reflexive choice must remain integral to any attempt at hybridization of these important terms, particularly in relation to the contemporary workings of soc...

Bilingual Parenting as Good Parenting: Parents' Perspectives on Family Language Policy for Additive Bilingualism.

Abstract: This paper investigates how parents explain, frame and defend their particular family language policies. We focus here on 24 families who are attempting to achieve additive Spanish-English bilingualism for their children, an aim which in many cases requires parents to use and to teach a language that is not their first language, nor the primary language of the home or wider community. We explore how parents make these decisions; how parents position themselves relative to ‘expert’ advice and other members of their extended families; and how these decisions are linked to their identities as ‘good’ parents. Our data suggest that parents draw selectively from expert advice and popular literature, using it to bolster their decisions in some cases while rejecting it in others. Extended families, in contrast, generally were raised in the interview discourse as points of (negative) contrast. Overall, we find that parents primarily relied on their own personal experiences with language learning in making decision...