Description
Book SynopsisSocial workers and allied professionals will find this book to be a valuable tool, highlighting ways of improving the cultural sensitivity of disability services and parental and family support. Combining a wide-ranging survey and in-depth interviews, the authors build a rich picture of the lives of South Asian families with a child with severe disabilities and place their experiences in the wider context of how culture and ethnicity can impact on a family's experience of disability.
The authors offer clear ideas for practical improvements in:
* awareness and mobilisation of formal support services
* parental and extended family acceptance of the child's disability
* availability of support groups and other informal support
* parents' physical and mental health
* the child and family's social life
linking their findings to recent policy initiatives to improve the information and support offered to all carers.
Policy makers, academics and practitioners in health, social work and education will find the authors give an invaluable insight into the cultural, religious and language needs of ethnic minority families coping with disability.
Trade ReviewThis is an interesting and important addition to an already charted field of research, made so predominantly by the extensive representation of the views and experiences of the parents involved. -- Children and Society
Any professional or organisation whose work, through practice or policy, is related to this particular area should find this book helpful. A good foundation from which to build social health care policies and practices for South Asian families with children with severe disabilities. What makes this study particularly unique, and hence valuable, is the participatory approach in the research design through the inclusion of the family members, who are also service users. -- Child and Family Social Work
This book is a tool for social work practitioners, allied professionals and policy makers to set standards of culturally sensitive practice in disability services. -- British Journal of Social Work
Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables. Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction: The Research and Policy Context. 2. The Families. 3. The Child. 4. Information. 5. Informal Support. 6. Formal Support. 7. Family Social Life. 8. Parental Health. 9. Making Connections. 10. Conclusions. Appendix 1. Probe Questions for Phase 1 Interviews. Appendix 2. Interview Schedules Used in the Phase 2 Interviews. Appendix 3. Probe Questions for Phase 3 Interviews. References. Subject Index. Author index.
