Marcus Chiu

Many studies on informal caregiving experiences recruited samples from clinical settings or pre-existing datasets, resulting in suspected selection biases. There is also a limited understanding of how culture shapes the perceptions of positive caregiving beyond the Asian context. In Nigeria, existing studies on older adults' care primarily focus on young and middle-aged caregivers. This study fills existing gaps by investigating the experiences of informal caregiving among community-dwelling older carers in Nigeria.
Thirty in-depth interviews were conducted with community-dwelling older informal caregivers aged 54-88 years against the backdrop of a life expectancy of 53 years in Nigeria. Van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological design guided this study. We managed the qualitative data with QSR NVivo 12 software.
Our findings include themes of financial constraint, poor health, a crowded-out personal life, a mismatch between care recipients' expectations and caregivers' capacity, blessings from God, benefits elicited by reciprocity, and individuals' perception of the intrinsic worth of caregiving.
Our findings highlight both the challenging and rewarding aspects of informal caregiving. In the absence of formal support systems, the demands of caregiving may have a more pronounced impact on caregivers in Nigeria. Moreover, the nuances in our participants' experience of positive caregiving outcomes are shaped by their adherence to Afrocentric cultural norms. Our findings highlight the need to develop tailored support programs and a deeper level of work to fortify cultural norms that promote the wellbeing of older people in the family in Nigeria.

With a rapidly aging population and an increasing number of older people with cognitive impairment, a multitude of social problems could arise. The natural outdoor environments (NOEs) surrounding residential areas are important environments as they directly influence the residents’ quality of life and even physical health. A plethora of studies have suggested the definitive impact of NOE on the physical and mental health of older people. There have been very few studies, however, investigating the nexus between exposure to NOE, especially blue spaces, and cognitive competence among older populations. Our study aims to explore the effects of exposure to residential NOE on cognition by investigating the correlations between exposure to the county-level NOE (i.e., green and blue spaces) and cognitive competence of older Chinese adults. Using regression methods and stratified analysis, we demonstrate that there exists a positive relation between access to blue-green spaces and cognitive competence among older Chinese adults. The cognitive competence of older adults could benefit from increased exposure to NOEs with abundant blue-green spaces. Path analysis has been further conducted to investigate the pathways through which exposure to NOE affects cognitive ability and identify the mediating effects of population density and PM2.5 concentration. Under the person–environment framework, the findings of this study highlight the importance of well-designed NOEs for senior citizens and provide a strong theoretical foundation to support the building of age-friendly cities that could provide a healthier environment for aging in place. Finally, the limitations of this study and a few potential directions for future research are also discussed.

Globally, people with mental illness are more likely to present poor social, health and economic outcomes than the general population. While formal mental health services have been integral to the wellbeing of these vulnerable individuals, the relevance of kinship support in their lives cannot be overemphasized. Mental health practitioners play a crucial role in navigating the complex dynamics inherent in family relationships when mental illness is present. As such, their perspectives could shed light on the intricate dynamics of kinship care and emphasize the need for tailored interventions that address the diverse issues within familial contexts. In this qualitative study, the perspectives of twenty mental health professionals on kinship care for persons with severe and persistent mental illness in Ghana were explored. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews and were analyzed via content analysis. The mental health professionals mainly understood kinship care as nuclear and extended family members providing support to their ill relative, albeit mostly with reference to nuclear family support. While kinship was deemed relevant due to the bonds that tie family members, some drawbacks were noted. When working with patients and their families, mental health professionals are expected to assess the availability of kinship support from the patient's perspective in collaboration with the family members before deciding whether to integrate kinship into their support services.

Background and Objectives Because of the global population aging, more informal carers become older adults. In Nigeria, the African country with the largest population of adults aged 60 years and older, self-construal rooted in the African collectivist philosophy generally shapes informal caregiving for older adults. However, there is a general paucity of studies on older adults' informal caregiving roles, particularly about their motivations for caregiving. This study explored older adults' motives for informal caregiving to their care recipients in urban Southeast Nigeria.Research Design and Methods This study adopted a hermeneutic phenomenological research design. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 purposively selected older adults aged 54-88 who were the primary carers of other older adults in the family and community. The collected data were analyzed using van Manen's thematic analysis method, using QSR NVivo 12 software.Results A total of 4 main themes emerged from the participants' responses: reciprocity of kindness, altruism, a sense of moral responsibility, and eagerness for peaceful longevity. The findings generally showed that religion and culture were the latent factors ingrained in these motivations for informal caregiving.Discussion and Implications Although the African philosophy emphasizes altruism, reciprocity seems more prominent in specific traditional African communities, as observed in Southeast Nigeria. It serves as a means to prioritize family members' needs. The findings indicate the need for the government to establish sustainable programs and policies that support older people in their caregiving role. Doing so will enable carers to derive psychosocial gains from informal caregiving and sustain the caregiving culture of Nigeria.

Flourishing is a growing topic in positive psychology, and the positive influences of flourishing have been well documented. Although recent literature has shown that religion has an impact on one?s physical and psychological well-being in positive ways, the relationship between religiosity and flourishing has surprisingly not been studied. The present study aimed to explore the relationship of religious faith with flourishing and psychological distress. An online survey has successfully recruited 267 participants from UK and Taiwan. The survey used standardised inventories including the PERMA Profiler, the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire, and the Clinical Outcome in Routine Evaluation to measure flourishing, religious faith and psychological distress respectively. Results show that participants with strong religious faith do have higher levels of flourishing. Yet Path Analysis shows that participants who have stronger religious faith is indirectly related to lower psychological distress through the mediating effect of flourishing. Suggestions for future research and implications of the findings are discussed.

The aim of this study was to explore the self and identity perspectives among Chinese adolescents with severe mental illness (SMI), with a focus on their illness experience and subjective meaning of a formal diagnosis. Thirty-one Chinese adolescents were interviewed and the interview data were analysed strictly according to principles suggested by the constructivist grounded theory approach. Five theoretical codes emerged in this study, including changes of personal values and beliefs, accumulated persistent developmental challenges and personal stresses, ineffective coping strategies and development, symptoms and development of mental illness, and changed perceptions and understandings of self. A proposed model of "The dynamic interactions of Chinese adolescents' identity and mental illness", was constructed and visualized. The results revealed that adolescents' identity formation is a fluctuating and non-linear process, but tends to be predominantly negative. The negative self, as informed by long-term ineffective coping with accumulated persistent developmental challenges and stressful events, develops towards a more serious status of negative identity and contributes to relapse symptoms, although this impact occurs variably with perceived personal characteristics. Besides, some participants who had achieved a state of "Buddha-like numbness" made a conscious decision to live a seemingly normal life while coexisting with their illness. The study also highlighted the positive aspects of identity formation that can arise from the experience of illness, including an enhanced sense of realism and increased empathy. Our findings will imply much the need for person-centred treatment plan and services that take into account of individual situations.

Little is known about how social work supervisors can be equipped and supported. A qualitative evaluation of a supervision of supervisory practice (SOSp) training programme with nine supervisors with 2 years of experience was done. Benefits for the supervisors were the application of knowledge and skills that improved the supervisory practice, and the opportunity to receive feedback. However, lack of time was a major obstacle for quality supervision. Supervisees reported experiencing a more collaborative supervision and an increase in confidence and perception of competence in case management. This exploratory study highlights the importance of developing competencies in the education and support functions of supervision.

Children living with parental mental illness are referred to as an invisible population because mental health services rarely target them, as the focus is often on the parent who is ill mentally. The same situation occurs even in school where they are unnoticed. This study conducted in Ghana creates awareness about what these children think about their interactions at school in the context of parental mental illness. Data was collected through interviews and diaries with 13 children living with parental mental illness and analysed to attain the essential features through Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology. The children find the school as a happy space where they do not have to be worried about the parent’s mental illness. Ultimately, though, even at school, most of the children become concerned about the mental wellbeing of the parent due to their loyalty towards them. This results in the school paradox where the children are torn between having their own time at school and being worried about the parent’s condition back home, wanting to be there for the parent. The school paradox is an unhealthy cycle that could be addressed with coordinated efforts from mental health professionals, social workers, psychologists and teachers.

Background:
Parents of adults diagnosed with schizophrenia, have been reported to have higher levels of psychological distress than the general population, and parents whose offspring have other mental or physical illnesses.
Aim:
This study examines the comparatively new construct of flourishing, and its relationship to internalized stigma and psychological distress.
Method:
A cross-sectional survey was conducted between July 2021 and March 2022, with an international sample of 200 parents of adult sons or daughters diagnosed with schizophrenia. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and three standardized inventories. These were the PERMA Profiler, which measures flourishing, the CORE-10, which measures psychological distress, and a new parental Internalized Stigma Scale. Sample characteristics of individuals of schizophrenia and their parents were examined using descriptive statistics, and the contributing factors affecting stigma were assessed through regression analysis.
Results:
The initial hypothesis that parents scoring high on internalized stigma, would have significantly higher levels of psychological distress and lower levels of flourishing, than parents with low-level internalized stigma, was confirmed. Overall, the flourishing levels were lower and psychological distress higher in these parents, than those of the general population. Regression analysis identified psychological distress and hopefulness as the two major predictors of flourishing, though in different directions. Interestingly, stigma did not determine flourishing, in spite of their close relationship.