Young carers as social actors: Coping strategies of children caring for ailing or ageing guardians in Western Kenya

Skovdal, Morten; Ogutu, Vincent; Aoro, Cellestine; Campbell, Catherine

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.06.016

Cited by 128 publications

(158 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Even women who appeared stronger or weaker than others in their cohort (based on mental ill health scores), shared stories of success alongside those of significant struggle or failures. Furthermore our findings often stood in contrast to accounts of AIDSrelated coping that emphasise the exercise of agency (understood as the exercise of active resistance to negative circumstances) as a core component of successful coping, with the ability to exercise agency seen as a core component of sound mental health (Skovdal et al, 2009(Skovdal et al, , 2012Lee, 2012). For many women in our sample, in many situations, acceptance of the inevitability of their dire social circumstances was the only response available to them in the face of the often insoluble life challenges they faced, and the severe limitations that their poverty and lack of education or confidence placed on their life possibilities.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 82%

Contextualising women's mental distress and coping strategies in the time of AIDS: A rural South African case study

Burgess

Campbell

2014

Transcult Psychiatry

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Increasing attention is paid to impacts of HIV/AIDS on women's mental health, often framed by decontextualized psychiatric understandings of emotional distress and treatment. We contribute to the small qualitative literature extending these findings through exploring HIV/AIDS-affected women's own accounts of their distress -focusing on the impacts of social context, and women's efforts to cope outside of medical support services. Nineteen indepth interviews were conducted with women experiencing depression or anxiety-like symptoms in a wider study of services in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Thematic analysis was framed by Summerfield's emphasis on contexts and resilience. Women highlighted family conflicts (particularly abandonment by men), community-level violence, poverty and HIV/AIDS as drivers of distress. Whilst HIV/AIDS placed significant burdens on women, poverty and relationship difficulties were more central in their accounts. Four coping mechanisms were identified. Women drew on indigenous local resources in their psychological re-framing of negative situations, and their mobilisation of emotional and financial support from inter-personal networks, churches and HIV support groups. Less commonly, they sought expert advice from traditional healers, medical services or social workers, but access to these was limited. Though all tried to supplement government grants with income generation efforts, only a minority regarded these as successful. Findings support on-going efforts to bolster strained mental health services with support groups which often offer valuable emotional and practical support. Without parallel poverty alleviation strategies however, support groups may sometimes offer little more than encouraging passive acceptance of the inevitability of suffering --potentially exacerbating the hopelessness underpinning women's distress

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 82%

Contextualising women's mental distress and coping strategies in the time of AIDS: A rural South African case study

Burgess

Campbell

2014

Transcult Psychiatry

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“…10. One partial exception is research about young carers of people with HIV/AIDS in Africa (Skovdal, Ogutu, Aoro, & Campbell, 2009). This focusses on cases where the middle generation is missing and therefore has little to say about intergenerational bargaining.…”

Section: Family Responsibilities In Mexico and Peru 15mentioning

confidence: 99%

Allocating Family Responsibilities for Dependent Older People in Mexico and Peru

Lloyd‐Sherlock

Mayston

Acosta

et al. 2017

The Journal of Development Studies

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This paper applies different analytical frameworks to explore processes of family bargaining about providing care for dependent older people in Mexico and Peru. These frameworks include cultural norms, life course effects and material exchange. The paper is based on 19 in-depth qualitative family case studies, which are linked to a wider set of quantitative survey data. Care arrangements and bargaining processes are revealed to be highly gendered, and largely conform to prevailing cultural norms. Rather than neutral and objective, the selfidentified role as main carer is found to be subjective and potentially ambiguous. The few men who self-identify as main carers are more likely to play an indirect, organisational role than engage directly in daily care. As such, bargaining mainly relates to which woman performs the main care role, and large family networks mean that there is usually more than one candidate carer. Bargaining can occur inter-generationally and conjugally, but bargaining between siblings is of particular importance. Bargaining is framed by the uncertain trajectory of older people's care needs, and arrangements are sometimes reconfigured in response to changing care needs or family circumstances. Taking the narratives at face value, the influence of life course effects on bargaining and care arrangements is more obvious than material exchange. There are, however, indications that economic considerations, particularly inheritance, still play an important behind the scenes role.

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“…Sustainable and meaningful action is most likely to result from approaches that seek to identify and strengthen the 'portfolio of assets' available even within poor communities (Moser, 1998). We will illustrate this with examples from Skovdal's recent research in western Kenya (Skovdal, Ogutu, Aoro, & Campbell, 2009). Furthermore, we argue that the solutions need to come from the orphans, their fostering households and host communities themselves, rather than being generated and imposed by outsiders, who often have very limited understandings of the dynamics and resources that determine children's vulnerabilities (Schenk, Ndhlovu, Tembo, Nsune, Nkhata, Walusiku et al, 2008).…”

Section: Institute Of Social Psychology London School Of Economics Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orphan competent communities: A framework for community analysis and action

Skovdal

Campbell

2010

Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies

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Vulnerable children in Africa have traditionally been absorbed and supported by their communities. However, in the context of AIDS and poverty, communities are increasingly stretched, compromising the quality of care available to children affected by AIDS. This calls for an understanding of the processes that best facilitate the capacity of communities to provide good quality care and support. In the interests of furthering debate and practice in this area, we seek to develop an analytical framework that builds on two interlinked strands. Firstly, we emphasise the need to acknowledge the active coping and resilience of children affected by AIDS, rather than seeing them as passive victims. It is through taking account of children's and communities' indigenous coping strategies, and the complex dynamics between children and fostering families, that interventions have the best chance of supporting communities so that they can best facilitate resilience and well-being of AIDSaffected children under their guardianship. Secondly, we highlight six psychosocial resources that we argue should be promoted in communities to improve the quality of support available to children affected by AIDS, and thereby enhance the coping and resilience of children.

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Young carers as social actors: Coping strategies of children caring for ailing or ageing guardians in Western Kenya

Cited by 128 publications

References 33 publications

Contextualising women's mental distress and coping strategies in the time of AIDS: A rural South African case study

Contextualising women's mental distress and coping strategies in the time of AIDS: A rural South African case study

Allocating Family Responsibilities for Dependent Older People in Mexico and Peru

Orphan competent communities: A framework for community analysis and action

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