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Background: Current research has identified how ethnic minority women experience poorer health outcomes during the perinatal period. In the United Kingdom, specialist perinatal mental health services provide mental health treatment for women throughout the perinatal period. Service users have previously highlighted that perinatal services are hard to access and lack cultural sensitivity, whereas healthcare professionals have described limited opportunities and resources for developing cultural competency. Objectives: We explored the experiences of ethnic minority women with National Health Service (NHS) specialist perinatal teams and identified what culturally sensitive perinatal mental health care means to this group. Design: Individual semi‐structured interviews were conducted, and an interpretative phenomenological analysis framework was used to analyse the interview transcripts. Setting and Participants: Participants were recruited from NHS specialist perinatal teams and online via social media. Results: Six women were interviewed. Four group experiential themes central to the experiences of participants emerged: (1) strengthening community networks and peer support; (2) valuing cultural curiosity; (3) making sense of how culture, ethnicity, race and racism impact mental health; and (4) tailoring interventions to ethnic minority women and their families. Discussion and Conclusions: The findings capture how ethnic minority women experience specialist perinatal teams and offer insights into practising culturally sensitive care. Perinatal mental health professionals can support ethnic minority women by strengthening their access to community resources and peer support; being curious about their culture; helping them to make sense of how culture, ethnicity, race and mental health interact; and applying cultural and practical adaptations to interventions. Patient or Public Contribution: A Lived Experience Advisory Group (LEAG) of women from ethnic minority groups contributed to the design and conduct of this study. The LEAG had lived experience of perinatal mental health conditions and accessing specialist perinatal teams. The LEAG chose to co‐produce specific aspects of the research they felt fit with their skills and available time throughout five group sessions. These aspects included developing the interview topic guide, a structure for debriefing participants and advising on the social media recruitment strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Problem‐solving skills (PSS) help to provide a systematic approach to dealing with and managing complex problems. The overall aim of this study was to assess the acceptability and feasibility of developing and adapting a prison‐based PSS workbook for adults within a medium‐ and low‐secure hospital. Method: We used the Medical Research Council framework in our participatory mixed methods study incorporating an adapted survey (to identify what types of problems people experience in secure hospitals), a series of three interactive workshops (to co‐produce two case study examples for a workbook) and we gathered feedback from patients and hospital staff on the acceptability and feasibility of the workbook. Data from the survey were used to inform the case study examples, and the feedback from patients and hospital staff was descriptively summarised and the results consolidated. Results: In total, 82 (51%) patients took part in the survey; 22 patients and 49 hospital staff provided feedback on the workbook. The survey results indicated that patients regularly experience problems while in the hospital. Patients reported problems relating to restrictions of freedom and boredom. The workshops produced two case studies for the workbooks, with mainly positive patient and staff feedback. More work is required to improve the visual representation of the characters in the case studies, the amount and content of the language and the mechanism of the intervention delivery. Conclusion: The adaptation process proved acceptable and feasible to both patients and staff. The co‐production methodology for the workbook and feedback from patients and staff was an effective way of iteratively refining the materials to ensure that they were both meaningful and acceptable to staff and patients. Subsequent work is required to develop the workbook and evaluate the feasibility of the intervention delivery, recruitment rates, uptake and adherence to the PSS using a randomised controlled trial. Patient or Public Contribution: At each stage of the project consultation with patients and/or hospital staff was involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The COVID‐19 pandemic had an unprecedented effect on those living and working in care‐homes for older people, as residents were particularly vulnerable to contracting the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus, associated with high morbidity and mortality. Often undervalued, care‐home nurses (RNs) are leaders, managing complex care while working in isolation from their professional peers. The pandemic made this more apparent, when care and treatments for COVID‐19 were initially unknown, isolation increased due to withdrawal of many professional health services, accompanied by staff shortages. Objective: To explore RNs' experiences of working in older people's care‐homes during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Design: Qualitative interview study. Setting: Care‐homes for older people in England and Scotland, UK. Methods: Recruitment via direct contact with care‐homes, social media, and links provided by national partners, then purposive sampling for age, gender, type of care‐home, and location. Data collected through one‐to‐one online interviews using topic guide developed collaboratively with care‐home nurses, focusing on how COVID‐19 impacted on nurses' resilience and mental wellbeing. Data analyzed thematically using Tronto's ethics of care framework to guide development of interpretative themes. Results: Eighteen nurses (16 female; 16 adult, and two mental health nurses) were interviewed March–June 2021; majority aged 46–55 years; mean time registered with Nursing and Midwifery Council: 19 years; 17 had nursed residents with COVID‐19. RNs' experiences resonated with Tronto's five tenets of ethical care: attentiveness, responsibility, competence, responsiveness, and solidarity. All nurses described being attentive to needs of others, but were less attentive to their own needs, which came at personal cost. RNs were aware of their professional and leadership responsibilities, being as responsive as they could be to resident needs, processing and sharing rapidly changing guidance and implementing appropriate infection control measures, but felt that relatives and regulatory bodies were not always appreciative. RNs developed enhanced clinical skills, increasing their professional standing, but reported having to compromise care, leading to moral distress. Broadly, participants reported a sense of solidarity across care‐home staff and working together to cope with the crisis. Conclusion: Care‐home nurses felt unprepared for managing the COVID‐19 pandemic, many experienced moral distress. Supporting care‐home nurses to recover from the pandemic is essential to maintain a healthy, stable workforce and needs to be specific to care‐home RNs, recognizing their unique pandemic experiences. Support for RNs will likely benefit other care‐home workers either directly through wider roll‐out, or indirectly through improved wellbeing of nurse leaders. Clinical relevance: The COVID‐19 pandemic, an international public health emergency, created many challenges for Registered Nurses (RNs) working in long‐term care facilities for older people, as residents were particularly vulnerable to the impact of the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus. Care‐home RNs faced challenges distinct from their hospital‐based nursing peers and non‐nursing social care colleagues due to their isolation, leadership roles, professional legal obligations, and ethical responsibilities, leading to psychological distress on the one hand, but also a newly found confidence in their existing and newly developed skills, and increased recognition by the wider health community of their specialisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adoption is the preferred form of permanence for young children in care in England who are unable to live with their birth family or relatives. However, there have been growing concerns about the use of adoption, particularly in cases where birth parents have not given their consent. Despite concerns, there has been little research into birth parents' views of consent in adoption. This article reports on the experiences of 12 birth mothers and 2 birth fathers whose children were adopted from care in England. Birth parents' views on consent changed throughout the adoption process. They reported that care proceedings could be traumatic, and they did not always understand what was happening. There was a disparity in the quality of legal advice and social work support that birth parents received. The findings raise questions for practice around the level of support birth parents receive during and after care proceedings and highlight the importance of good quality support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]