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This paper employs a critical race theory (CRT) perspective to probe the experiences of skilled African migrants parenting Black children in Australia, a predominantly White country. Two key themes emerged from this study: (1) the need to explicitly teach children about race and racism and to foster positive racial identities and (2) the complexities of navigating tensions between 'African' and 'Western' cultural values. Participants demonstrated high levels of awareness of intercultural parenting approaches and a desire to blend the best aspects of African and Australian cultural values in their own parenting practice. A significant paradox was also apparent in the tension between parental desires to inculcate pride in African ancestry and culture, while simultaneously encouraging children to 'curate' their blackness to minimize experiences of racialization. Social workers in Australia often play a critical role in the lives of migrant families as they support them to negotiate transitions in parenting contexts. Although this paper only offers a perspective on the parenting experiences of skilled African migrants and how they creatively manage the tensions and change emerging from this process, we suggest that this understanding helps to expand knowledge on the complexity of parenting in multicultural, transcultural and intercultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African immigrant children and youth have some of the poorest social and mental health outcomes in Canada. Although parenting challenges have been widely documented as a key driver of these outcomes, limited systematic research has investigated this phenomenon. In this paper, we report the results of a study examining parenting challenges among a sample of African immigrant parents in Alberta, Canada. We relied on the theoretical lens of transnationalism to collect and analyse data from a purposive sample of African community leaders (n = 14), African immigrant parents (n = 32), and a range of stakeholders (n = 30). Our thematic data analysis revealed several intricately intertwined parenting challenges, organized around six overarching themes, namely, cultural incompatibility, family tension, state interference, limited social supports, poor access to services, and low socioeconomic status. We present these themes and the policy and service implications of our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While efforts have been made to understand the experiences of African students in predominantly white environments, the experiences of African students in clinical placement areas have rarely been explored. This paper is a report on a study designed to address the gap in educational research on the experiences of African health sciences students in clinical placements in predominantly white environments. Interviews adopting an open approach to conversations were conducted with nine African students from three health disciplines at one metropolitan university in Australia between 2012 and 2013. Interview transcripts were analyzed using philosophical hermeneutics, where shared meanings were arrived at by employing key Gadamerian hermeneutic components. Findings revealed a number of factors that had a direct effect on the meaning students derived from their clinical placement experiences. These, as revealed in the interlinked domains of body, space, relationships, and time included difference, acceptance, resilience, and cultural sensitivity. Insights from this study may lead to the adoption of strategies designed to improve the experiences of African students studying health sciences in predominantly white environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The recovery‐oriented care approach in mental health is recognised as the vision for mental health. People with a diagnosis of mental illness value the support and the individualistic approach emphasised in the recovery‐oriented mental health care approach as they believe it facilitates their recovery. However, as a developing country, Botswana has a long way to go in availing mental health care resources to people with mental illness, let alone adopting new mental health approaches such as recovery. Aim: The study aimed to explore the perceptions of nurses working in mental health care facilities of recovery‐oriented mental health care. Methods: Four mental health facilities from Botswana consented to participate in the study. A descriptive qualitative approach was utilised to explore nurses' views on how they perceive recovery from mental illness. Thirty nurses participated in the focus group discussions across the four study sites. All participants consented to participate and to be recorded. Tesch's (in Qualitative enquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. 3th ed. SAGE, 2013:198) thematic analysis was used for this study. Results: Three main themes were identified in participants' perceptions of recovery‐oriented care mental health: Recovery from mental illness is possible, the Meaning of recovery from mental illness and Factors facilitating recovery from mental illness. Public Contribution: The study offers a perspective into how nurses perceive recovery‐oriented approaches from a developing country and add to the gap existing in recovery‐oriented mental health care approach from the African context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Skog's theory of collective drinking behaviour implies that countries with a strict informal social control of drinking alcohol would not exhibit 'collective displacement' of consumption (a linear association between population mean consumption and percentile values across the full range of the distribution), as do countries with less informal social control. This paper aimed to test this hypothesis by examining the alcohol consumption distributions in African countries with a strong informal control of alcohol. Design setting, participants and measurements Data on alcohol consumption from the World Health Organization's general population surveys in 15 African countries were aggregated and analysed with respect to skewedness and collective displacement of the distribution. Findings The distribution of consumption was strongly positively skewed, with 10-15% of the drinkers consuming more than twice the mean consumption. There was also clear evidence of a collective displacement of the consumption distribution, and the consumption mean was a strong predictor of the distribution percentile values across the full range of the distribution. Correspondingly, consumption mean predicted the prevalence of heavy drinkers. Conclusion The distribution patterns of alcohol consumption in African countries are consistent with those observed previously in industrialized countries. These findings seem to counter Skog's theory of collective drinking behaviour and support the universality of the observation that the prevalence of problem drinking is linked closely to mean consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MAPEDZAHAMA V, RUDGE T, WEST S and PERRON A. Nursing Inquiry 2012; 19: 153-164 [Epub ahead of print] Black nurse in white space? Rethinking the in/visibility of race within the Australian nursing workplace This article presents an analysis of data from a critical qualitative study with 14 skilled black African migrant nurses, which document their experiences of nurse-to-nurse racism and racial prejudice in Australian nursing workplaces. Racism generally and nurse-to-nurse racism specifically, continues to be under-researched in explorations of these workplaces; when racism is researched, the focus is nurse-to-patient racism and racial prejudice. Similarly, research on the experiences of migrant nurses from a variety of ethnicities in Australia has tended to neglect their experiences of the social dynamics of the workplace, thus reinforcing their racialisation. When racialised, the migrant nurse becomes 'the problem' through a focus on English language competency and ensuing communication barriers. This paper applies Essed's framework of 'everyday racism' to theorise narratives of racism by black African migrant nurses in Australia. In so doing, it not only brings to the fore silenced discussions of nurse-to-nurse racism in Australia, but also exposes the subtle, mundane nature of contemporary racism. For this reason, while the data we present must be read within their context, that is, the Australian nursing workplace, it has significance for advancing a critical analysis of racialised minority groups' experiences of racism within seemingly 'race-less' nursing workplaces internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The arrival of unaccompanied minors from Africa in Spanish territory has been a constant since the last decade of the twentieth century. This migratory phenomenon has forced the child welfare system to attend to thousands of migrant children. The transition to adult life is a decisive stage in overcoming the situation of social exclusion. This research aims to analyse which socio‐educational intervention strategies are effective during the process of transition to independent living with unaccompanied minors of African origin. We designed a qualitative research according to the grounded theory, which we divided into two phases. Twenty‐nine young people (26 men and 3 women) participated. In phase 1, we performed two focus groups (N = 11), and in phase 2, we conducted longitudinal follow‐ups (N = 18) for 24 months through 180 interviews. The results indicate the effectiveness of designing socio‐educational accompaniment, prioritizing spaces of trust from which to attain the goals of emancipation. Young people consider effective those strategies that favour their knowledge of the social, labour and legal reality of the host society, designed considering each minor's individualized situation. We concluded that professional involvement acts as a buffer, reducing the bureaucratic obstacles implemented by the Spanish government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on migrant children and young people has often focused on the global North and less on South–South migration. This article discusses language and its effect on how young migrants access Ghanaian schools. Through interviews with 68 pupils, 21 parents and 40 teachers and principals from 30 schools across Accra, we found that children and young people from francophone countries were placed in lower than age‐appropriate grades due to their lower command of English. Our study highlights the complex linguistic barriers facing migrant youth in an anglocentric educational system. The article discusses the relevance of our results in other postcolonial multilingual nations in the global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of Black African‐born nurses (BABN) with non‐native accents regarding their nursing career advancement in the United States. Data were collected using individual interviews. Fifteen nurses originally from three sub‐Saharan African countries were included in the study. The findings were reported under six themes: perceived low level of intelligence, not suitable to lead, making fun of/belittling, prejudging without evidence, downgrading, and accent modification. The finding indicated that participants believed that their race and accent influenced their professional nursing opportunities. These results are relevant to BABNs, nurse educators, and healthcare organization leaders. BABNs are capable of participating in nursing leadership and education despite their non‐native accent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Evaluating the participatory opportunities for service users within social welfare institutions is a pressing issue. In this article, we explore a group of ethnic minority parents' experiences with child welfare services (CWS) in Norway. A strong narrative theme was deficiency positioning—how lacking a Norwegian normative set of knowledge and skills challenged the parents' opportunities to participate. We analysed how deficiency positioning was perceived, negotiated, and contested in the parents' accounts, and 4 themes emerged: (a) learning to parent, (b) contesting expert knowledge, (c) learning to be a client, and (d) constructing CWS deficiency. Nancy Fraser's concept of “participatory parity” was applied to explore how current institutional structures may enable and limit parents' participation. The analysis provides insight into agencies and informants' sense‐making processes as well as the diverse resources and strategies that parents draw upon in the CWS encounter. Furthermore, we argue that an interplay between a strong focus on “parenting skills” and bureaucratic and economic structures positions ethnic minority parents as deficient, thus providing powerful mechanisms for marginalization. Implications for case work and institutional levels are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International child protection work has undergone a paradigm shift, moving from addressing issues such as trafficked children, street children and child labour separately to a more integrated systems approach. As a young nation still marked by conflict, South Sudan offers insight into how the interplay between a fragile national child protection system in a conflict‐affected country and the efforts of international humanitarian actors can promote or undermine systems strengthening. From June to August 2012, 52 semi‐structured key informant interviews with international‐, national‐ and community‐level actors were completed. Eight community‐level focus group discussions were also conducted separately with men, women, boys and girls. Interview guides were designed to explore participant perceptions of child protection system functioning. Data were analysed using a grounded theory approach. Four dimensions emerged as crucial pillars for child protection systems strengthening: coordination, capacity, funding and community inclusion. These factors were found to have taken root in unequal measure. Respondents at all systemic levels indicated that child protection systems strengthening efforts operated largely in isolation from the quotidian realities of children, families and communities. The humanitarian apparatus — marked by short‐term funding and accountability to the international community — will require significant reform to situate humanitarian efforts in a systems strengthening framework. If the objective is to strengthen national child protection systems, emergency response activities must better align with household‐ and community‐level efforts to protect children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores access to information through an analysis of sources and strategies as part of workplace learning in a medical context in an African developing country. It focuses on information practices in everyday patient care by a team of senior and junior physicians in a university teaching hospital. A practice-oriented, interpretative case study approach, in which elements from activity theory, situated learning theory, and communities of practice framework, was developed to form the theoretical basis for the study. The qualitative data from observations and interviews were analyzed with iterative coding techniques. The findings reveal that physicians' learning through everyday access to medical information is enacted by, embedded in, and sustained as a part of the work activity itself. The findings indicate a stable community of practice with traits of both local and general medical conventions, in which the value of used sources and strategies remains relatively uncontested, strongly based on formally and informally sanctioned and legitimized practices. Although the present study is particular and context specific, the results indicate a more generally plausible conclusion; the complementary nature of different information sources and strategies underscores that access to information happens in a context in which solitary sources alone make little difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Killing and abuse of children with disabilities are covert phenomena, occurring in some developing regions, such as in some African countries. Similar to the practice of ritual killing of spirit children in Ghana, the phenomenon of the snake child in Cote d' Ivoire (known as Ivory Coast), is the ritual abandonment or killing of children with intellectual disability ( ID). Method This study is a qualitative ethnographic investigation into understanding this phenomenon. Three major questions were of interest: (1) Who are the snake children? (2) How are these children viewed and treated? (3) What are ways of changing negative attitudes towards children with developmental disabilities? Results The practices of killing, abandonment and abuse of children with disabilities take place in Cote d' Ivoire today, although the extent is not known. Conclusion Killing and abuse of children with ID are explained within the context of indigenous African religions, animism and folk culture. The concept of disability 'otherness' and inferiority is also explored as a framework for reflection and ethical debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background US healthcare facilities have addressed nursing shortages in part by recruiting internationally educated nurses ( IENs), and studies suggest IENs may make up a significant percentage of the nursing workforce in urban hospitals. Despite the economic recession of 2008-2012, international nurse migration is expected to continue. Little is known about IENs in the southeastern USA, and no studies have compared their perspectives to those of their US counterparts. Objective The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding about the experiences of IENs compared to those of US registered nurses ( RNs) practising in two urban hospitals in southeastern USA. Methods This study involved two rounds of semi-structured interviews of 82 IENs and US RNs. Interviews focused on themes relating to education, barriers to practice, intent to stay in nursing and IENs' migration experiences. Findings and Discussion Most IENs interviewed migrated to the USA after 1990 to join their family and do not plan to return to their home countries to practise. Most IENs initially received their Associate Degree in Nursing; many have obtained their Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. IENs and newly licensed US RNs faced similar barriers when they began practising in the USA, but IENs faced additional challenges adjusting to the attitudes of US patients, the perceived lack of respect for nurses and delivering total patient care. Conclusions IENs would benefit from orientation regarding the cultural differences in the USA. In other ways, their challenges are similar to those of US RNs; policies regarding education, recruitment and retention could target both groups together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although HIV-prevalence and fertility rates in sub-Saharan Africa are among the highest in the world, little is known about how HIV infection affects the fertility preferences of men and women in the region. A quasi-experimental design and in-depth interviews conducted in rural Malawi are employed to examine how and through what pathways learning that one is HIV positive alters a person's childbearing desires. Among rural Malawians, particularly men, the desire to have more children decreases after receiving a positive HIV-test result. The motivations underlying this effect are greatly influenced by gender: women fear the physical health consequences of HIV-positive pregnancies and childbearing, whereas men see childbearing as futile because they anticipate their own early death and the deaths of their future children. Considerable ambivalence remains, nevertheless, particularly among women who strategize to live normal lives in spite of their infection, but whose definitions of "normal" vary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]