Oueensland THIS ARTICLE QUALITATIVELY EXPLORES women's experiences of choosing quality long day care in a regional community. The study complements recent quantitative research on the quality implications of increased for-profit childcare provision. It also adds to our understanding of current childcare policy by focusing on the experiences of women in a regional location. The women in this study associated the expansion of the corporate childcare sector with a decline in care quality and claimed that the 'market' approach to child care provision had diminished their choices. Corporate, one-size-fits-all child care services, managed in distant capital cities, were seen to be unresponsive to the needs of their regional community. These results challenge the Federal Government's rhetoric on child care choice and encourage policy-makers to reexamine the quality implications of a dominant corporate care sector.

There is limited qualitative research specifically exploring the experiences of young people living with cancer in nonmetropolitan Australia. This article reports on an in-depth qualitative study exploring young people's experiences of diagnosis, treatment and postcancer care and support, focusing on the impact of living in regional and remote Queensland, Australia. Thematically coded data from in-depth interviews was managed using NVivo 12 qualitative software. Connections with place, knowledge, people, support, lifestyle, and peers were key themes. Travelling for treatment interrupted these connections, with participants desiring treatment closer to home. Preventive social work in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas that supports maintaining connections for young patients from regional and remote areas is recommended. Further research, including the impact on young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with cancer and on the role of social workers, will inform improvements in social work practice. Implications Recognising the importance of connections for young people living with cancer from regional and remote areas can inform social work psychosocial assessments in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan settings, assisting social workers to respond appropriately to information young people share and supporting these valued connections. Enhancing preventive social work care with young people living with cancer from regional and remote areas will involve direct, regular communication at diagnosis, during and after cancer treatment using appropriate age-specific interventions.

In Ghana, a convicted person is not entitled to parole. The only hope for their return into the community is either completing the sentence or government amnesty. However, recidivists on life sentences are completely denied the chance of returning into the community. This coupled with the demand of adjusting to the country’s prison conditions affects the mental well-being of life-sentenced inmates. This study explored the mental health experiences of life-sentenced inmates. An interpretive phenomenological approach guided the analysis of qualitative data collected from 21 life-sentenced inmates who were serving terms in three selected prisons. We employed the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition ( DSM-5) and International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision ( ICD-11) mental disorder symptomologies to situate the participants’ narration of their experiences. The participants reported feeling sad, hopelessness, and having sleepless days and nights due to thinking about their perceived spoiled plight. They also experienced stress and were fearful of uncertainties due to perceived prison officer apathy and harsh prison conditions. Additionally, the participants resorted to drug use as a means to cope with their mental health experiences. The participants’ descriptions of their experiences were consistent with some symptomologies of mental disorders as provided in the DSM-5 and ICD-11 and call for the creation of mental health treatment services in the country’s prisons to improve the mental health of inmates.

The article investigates ex-convicts’ experiences of stigmatization and its effect on their well-being in selected prisons in Ghana. Qualitative data were collected from 20 male inmates who, after residing for a time in the community, were thereafter reincarcerated. Findings indicate that these men were subjected to stigmatization and degrading treatment in the community, which limited their chances of securing lawful employment, establishing romantic relationships, and even maintaining platonic and family ties. As a result, this negatively impacted upon their mental well-being, leading some to substance abuse and suicide ideation. The article thereafter discusses policy and future research implications that arise from these findings.

We conclude that carers are providing the bulk of post-discharge care of patients - a difficult role in which the difficulties are exacerbated when the patient or the carer or both is a long way from the home community.