Young people
A qualitative study of young people, drawing out the factors influencing their transition to adulthood.
This is an excellent example of qualitative research practice. It has clearly been carried out by people who know their subject well and this report of the research project is essential reading for anyone interested in the subject area or in research methods.
Its style is compact and thoroughly engaging. Following an introductory section setting out the theoretical and policy context for the research and research methodology, we are introduced to “six cameos of youth transition”, chosen from the larger sample. These grip the reader and set the tone for the following discussions, which are lively, informed, critical and ultimately optimistic.
Undoubtedly, one of the strongest aspects of this work is the level of the critical discussion. The authors identify key themes from the cameos and set them against sound frameworks of knowledge. For example, they comment on the relationship between personal agency and structural constraints in the careers of young people.
They consistently focus on the inescapable tensions which exist between different aspects of the field personal narratives or biographies, culture (including history, language and transition), location, career pathways, and the wider socio-political arena that includes the economic conditions that bear upon the lives of the subjects.
The summarised findings are followed by a discussion of policy implications. Here again, we find a compact discussion of
complex and wide-ranging issues presented with clarity, nicely illuminated by extracts from some of those involved in the research.
Three brief appendices summarise some of the data graphically: this is always helpful, although the publishers might have given a little more thought to the colour schemes of the graphs. This is a minor point, however, and should in no way detract from what is essential reading for anyone involved in working with young people.
Source: Les Johnston, Robert MacDonald, Paul Mason, Louise Ridley and Colin Webster, Snakes and Ladders: Young People, Transitions and Social Exclusion, The Policy Press, 2000 (01235 465500).
Tom Chubb is an independent tutor and trainer.
Mental health day care
A census study into clients’ views and experiences of mental health day centers.
This study was a one-week census on four local authority day centres to establish their usage and role. All catered for clients with long-standing mental health problems and were were funded by social services, but run by the Family Welfare Association (FWA) and the local branch of Mind.
The centres differed in the range of activities offered and although group programmes were newly implemented, a predominantly drop-in culture still prevailed.
The key findings of the study were as follows:
- Interviewed clients had been in contact with services for an average of 17.8 years.
- Most were not working and just over half lived alone.
- The commonest diagnoses were schizophrenia (40 per cent) and depression (20 per cent).
- Average attendance was 24 clients per day per centre.
- Sixty seven per cent were in the care of community mental health team and most reported seeing their key-worker regularly.
- The most popular aspect of the day centres described was the company, followed by the food and the group activities, art and music being the most popular.
- More than half were happy with staff contact and the time available to talk to staff.
- Some 66 per cent reported physical health problems, some of them unknown to those in the mental health system. Lack of knowledge about physical health problems was more noticeable for clients in the community than those in in-patient wards.
Day centres appeared to be highly valued by clients, provided a “sense of belonging” and were able to cater for a wide range of needs. A study is under way to distinguish between day centres and day hospitals, as differences between the two are not always clear.
Further research needs to be done to investigate the needs of this client group to inform service planners.
Source: Jocelyn Catty and Tom Burns, “Mental Health Day Centres - Their Clients and Role” Psychiatric Bulletin (25), 2001.
Joanne Sherlock is a research associate at the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health.
