Youth homelessness and housing stability: What outcomes should we be looking for?

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Gaetz ◽  
Ashley Ward ◽  
Lauren Kimura

In North America, the key performance indicator of success in community strategies to address homelessness is whether a homeless person is housed or not. In this article, we argue that for young people experiencing homelessness, we need to advance a broader consideration of outcomes to include a range of well-being indicators designed to understand the needs of developing adolescents and young adults and contribute to housing stability. We articulate that the positive outcomes of young people across life domains that include housing stability as well as their safety and security, health and well-being, social connections to peers, family and meaningful adults, connections to groups/neighbourhoods/communities, interests and recreation and leisure, and school and career/work aspirations and goals must be at the centre of these efforts. The Making the Shift project is designed to test this outcomes framework in order to enhance service and measurement capacity and ultimately improve outcomes for youth.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Beals ◽  
Melissa Birkett

Self-compassion and empathy are positively associated with mental health, physical health, and well-being. Caregivers higher in self-compassion and empathy show increased caring and supportive behavior. Cultivating self-compassion and empathy have been suggested to enhance positive outcomes, however descriptive information about these constructs is lacking for caregiver and comparison groups. The current study examined self-compassion and empathy among caregivers (self-identified parents of at least one child under 18 years of age; n=335) and a comparison group (n=215). Caregivers had higher scores of total self-compassion and empathy, with lower scores of self-judgement, isolation, and overidentification (self-compassion subscales), and personal distress (empathy subscale). Describing self-compassion and empathy in caregiver and comparison groups has implications for key health outcomes and highlights differences in self- and other-directed constructs in a diverse sample of adults.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Ferreira D’agostini Marin

In this article, we discuss the strategic measures adopted in Brazil to reduce the high rates of cesarean sections. We present specific programs for both public health and supplementary health and for improving maternal and child health. We hope that these governmental initiatives, coupled with a paradigm shift in the Brazilian society regarding childbirth and women's health, will reduce cesarean section rates in the short and medium run, leading to positive outcomes for maternal and children's health and well-being.


Author(s):  
Karolina Baras ◽  
Luísa Soares ◽  
Carla Vale Lucas ◽  
Filipa Oliveira ◽  
Norberto Pinto Paulo ◽  
...  

Smartphones have become devices of choice for running studies on health and well-being, especially among young people. When entering college, students often face many challenges, such as adaptation to new situations, establish new interpersonal relationships, heavier workload and shorter deadlines, teamwork assignments and others. In this paper, the results of four studies examining students' well-being and mental health as well as student's perception of challenges and obstacles they face during their academic journey are presented. In addition, a mobile application that acts as a complement to a successful tutoring project implemented at the authors' University is proposed. The application allows students to keep their schedules and deadlines in one place while incorporating virtual tutor features. By using both, the events from the student's calendar and his or her mood indicators, the application sends notifications accordingly. These notifications encompass motivational phrases, time management guidelines, as well as relaxation tips.


Author(s):  
Olivier Peyroux

Children and young people are often trafficked for financial gains as a consequence of trafficking for physical and sexual abuse. The number of such refugees and asylum seekers is almost impossible to determine accurately. Children can be used to smuggle drugs across countries. Although small networks for local crime built around drug dealing, cigarette sales, or the resale of stolen goods use children and young people, there are also highly evolved and structured organizations specializing in drug and sexual trafficking. These challenges require new and different ways of approaching them so that mental health and well-being of children and young people can be maintained. Furthermore, it will be helpful to change the terms of child protection, strengthening structures of support, creating community and street teams with appropriate linguistic competencies, better links between countries of origin and European countries, and better cooperation between police, justice, social workers, and non-governmental organizations. Better approaches are indicated.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 266
Author(s):  
Leandro Oliveira ◽  
Rui Poínhos ◽  
Francisco Sousa

Introduction: Functional foods are those that promote health and well-being and/or decrease the risk of certain chronic diseases. It is known that young people’ knowledge about functional foods is low. The aim of this study is to assess the psychometric proprieties of the “Attitudes towards Functional Foods Scale” in a sample of adolescents and, based on that analysis, adapting the scale for its use among this population group.Material and Methods: After a pre-test, the scale was applied to 340 students attending the 3rd cycle of basic education in Terceira island (Azores, Portugal), whose ages ranged between 11 and 19 years (mean = 14.0, standard deviation = 1.2). We analyzed the scale’s internal consistency and construct validity.Results: The study of the psychometric proprieties led to the exclusion of one item. Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.876) showed a good internal consistency of the scale, and factor analysis revealed that, as the original (adults) version, it presents an unifactorial structure.Discussion: The scale showed to be an instrument easy and quick to apply among adolescents. We emphasize that its application should be preceded by the clarification on the concept of functional foods in order to ensure the adequacy of the answers.Conclusion: This study has demonstrated the adequacy of the Attitudes Towards Functional Foods Scale to assess Portuguese adolescents’ perception regarding functional foods, highlighting the need of using its adapted version.


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