Loss Of Friendships Research Articles

Responding to children's ambiguous loss in out‐of‐home care: The HEAR practice model

AbstractChildren in out‐of‐home care may experience multiple losses, from separation from birth parents and siblings to loss of friendships, culture, and sense of belonging and normality. The impacts of these significant losses on a child's development and wellbeing have typically been the subject of childhood trauma research. While understanding the impact is important, children's experiences of the losses and the ways adults can support them to grieve are less explored in research. Recently, out‐of‐home care researchers have begun to address this knowledge gap by applying the concept of ambiguous loss to capture and understand children's grief and loss. This article builds on this work and reports findings of a qualitative study that involved 30 out‐of‐home care practitioners. Constructivist Grounded Theory was applied to analyse the research data which resulted in the HEAR model that outlines the practice components that out‐of‐home care practitioners considered important in effectively responding to children's experience of ambiguous loss. These components are (1) Honouring ambiguous loss; (2) Establishing a care community; (3) Attuning to the lack of finality of ambiguous loss and (4) Reducing ambiguity. This article presents research findings that supported the development of the HEAR model, and discusses its implications for out‐of‐home care practice.

'They should show them love even if their status of being HIV positive is known': Youth and caregiver stigma experience and strategies to end HIV stigma in schools.

HIV stigma and discrimination is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa and is associated with poor clinical outcomes. Schools play a critical role in the life of youth and have been identified as a potentially stigmatising environment. We sought to explore school HIV stigma drivers, facilitators, manifestations and outcomes among youth living with HIV (YLH) as well as potential stigma reduction interventions in Kenya. Semi-structured in-depth qualitative interviews with 28 school-attending YLH aged 14-19 years and 24 caregivers of YLH were analysed using directed content analysis. Results were summarised using the Health and Stigma Framework. Drivers and facilitators of HIV stigma in the school environment included misconceptions about HIV transmission, HIV treatment outcomes and long-term overall health of people living with HIV. HIV stigma manifested largely as gossip, isolation and loss of friendships. Fear of HIV stigma or experienced stigma resulted in poor adherence to antiretroviral treatment-particularly among YLH in boarding schools-and poor mental health. Stigma also impacted school choice (boarding vs. day school) and prevented HIV disclosure to schools which was necessary for optimal support for care. Proposed interventions to address HIV stigma in schools included HIV education, psychosocial support for YLH, support for HIV disclosure to schools while ensuring confidentiality and building YLH resilience. There is an urgent need to develop interventions to address HIV stigma in schools to ensure optimised health and social outcomes for YLH. Future studies to understand the most effective and efficient interventions are needed.

How Do Adolescent Friendships End and How Do Adolescents Experience and Interpret This Development?

Friendships become much more important during adolescence. Although puberty leads to a more stable friendship by age, some adolescents maintain their friendships steadily, while others end their relationships in a short time. Despite the potential significance of friendship breakdowns, little is known about the nature of their dissolution. Since losing a friend, who is a source of both instrumental and emotional support for individuals, means losing an important person, it is important to evaluate why adolescents' friendships deteriorate and what happens in this process. The aim of this study is to deal with the conflict situation, which is one of the factors affecting the deterioration of adolescents' friendships. The rates of deterioration in friendships, especially close ones, indicate that many adolescents struggle with this challenging task. In this context; The importance of friendship for adolescents, its functions and loss of friendship, the development process of friendship and the maintenance of relationships, reasons for conflict, conflict resolution strategies and adolescents' experiences are mentioned. Concessions from important friendship obligations such as trust, betrayal, jealousy in other relationships, help and closeness in friendships of adolescents constitute the causes of conflict. This review study contributes to understanding the reasons for the deterioration of adolescents' friendship relations and the effects of this situation on adolescents.

Bouncing Back: Coping After Being Cut From A Team

Each new season, youth athletes show up to team tryouts in hopes of making the team. However, there are only so many spots on the roster, and sometimes athletes get cut. Deselection, or getting cut, is the elimination of an athlete from a competitive sport team based on a coach’s decision. Deselection is an aspect of competitive sport that many youth athletes experience, and it can result in negative psychological, social and emotional consequences such as a lost sense of self, loss of friendships, and feelings of anxiety, embarrassment, and sadness. This article presents a study looking at how athletes (and their parents) coped with deselection from sport teams. The results explain some of the coping strategies youth athletes and their parents used together and how athletes can bounce back after getting cut.

Are They Still Friends? Friendship Stability of Adolescents With Chronic Pain: 1-Year Follow-Up.

Most adolescents identify their best friend as their main source of social support. Adolescents with chronic pain (ACP) report the loss of friendships due to pain. Friendships protect against loneliness and depression, yet adolescents with pain experience increased levels of loneliness and depression compared to peers. This longitudinal study examines the friendship stability of dyads that included an adolescent with chronic pain compared to non-pain friendship dyads as well as the factors contributing to a friendship breakup. Eighty-three participants from 61 same-sex friendship dyads across 3 sites participated in a 1-year follow-up survey designed to capture friendship features, indices of social-emotional well-being, pain characteristics, and friendship stability. Chi-square, repeated measures ANOVA, and logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Dyads that included an ACP experienced higher rates of friendship breakup. The shorter length of friendship and having chronic pain predicted a friendship breakup at time 2. ACP continues to experience worse scores on indices of social-emotional well-being that are not predicted with a friendship breakup. Understanding what contributes to positive long-term friendships for those with pain may inform strategies to maintain and improve friendships for those with pain and who experience social challenges.

Anxious Solitude, Reciprocated Friendships with Peers, and Maternal Overcontrol from Third through Seventh Grade: A Transactional Model.

Guided by a Transactional Model of anxious solitude development, we tested friend and maternal influences on continuity and change in youth anxious solitude from 3rd through 7th grade, as well as the influence of youth anxious solitude on decreased friendship participation and increased maternal overcontrol over time. Participants were 230 American youth (57% girls) selected for longitudinal study from a public-school screening sample (n = 688). Peers reported on anxious solitude, both peers and youth reported on reciprocated friendship, and youth reported on their mother’s overcontrol annually. Stability and incremental change in youth, friend, and maternal factors were tested in an autoregressive cross-lagged panel analytic model. Having few mutual friendships predicted incremental increase in youth anxious solitude in mid-elementary school, then youth anxious solitude predicted the loss of friendships after the middle school transition. Additionally, youth anxious solitude in third grade evoked increased maternal overcontrol in fourth grade, but the reverse direction of effect was not supported. Youth’s participation in few friendships also evoked mothers’ overcontrol, which exacerbated their child’s loss of friendships in elementary school. Taken together, having few mutual friends contributed to youth anxious solitude and maternal overcontrol, and subsequently these factors further exacerbated youth’s loss of friendships.

The Lives, Friendship and Separation of Latency Girls: Loss and Development Depicted in the Film "The World of Us".

The film “The World of Us (2016)” shows the acquisition and loss of friendship that occur in the process of interpersonal shifts in latency school girls. Connection to the peer group helps compensate for the latency child’s loss of parent-child intimacy and the ensuing feelings of loneliness. The protagonists realize that the relationship is not for retaliation or for victory, but for playing together. However the reality that lies in front of them will not be so easy. Watching this film reminds one of childhood.

Content and network analysis of tweets tagged with #aphasia: an emergent community of practice

ABSTRACT Background: A reduced quality of life for people with aphasia is in part associated with their loss of friendships and social networks. Twitter offers people with communication disability a way to exchange information, develop and maintain their social networks and connections, and participate in society online. However, little is known about how Twitter is used to exchange information about aphasia or to build communities online that might support people with aphasia in their communication goals. Aims: To examine the network data and content of tweets tagged with #aphasia to understand more about how Twitter is used by people with aphasia, aphasia organisations, aphasiologists, clinicians, and the public. Method: A Twitter hashtag study was conducted to locate tweets highly relevant to aphasia. A daily tweet capture using the Twitter search bar was conducted for one month, November 2018, searching for publicly available tweets tagged with aphasia-related hashtags. The tweets collected were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Results: A sample of 2,519 tweets were included in the analysis. The sample comprised 865 original tweets and 1,654 retweets which included “quote tweets”, sent by 839 unique Twitter @Users. Tweet content reflected users discussing aphasia research, exchanging health information, advice and inspiration, providing personal stories, raising awareness about aphasia, and an emergent aphasia community online. Conclusion: The aphasia community in Twitter is relatively small compared to other communities focused on communication disability and is emergent in terms of its size and the strength of connections. The majority of people or organisations tweeting about aphasia, and hence influencing the network, were health professionals working in the field of aphasia. There was minimal conversational interaction evident. These results demonstrate that Twitter is underutilised as a platform for interaction and engagement in relation to aphasia, and further research is needed.

ЧИННИКИ ВИНИКНЕННЯ ПСИХОТРАВМИ В ДОРОСЛОМУ ВІЦІ

The article is devoted to the problem of psycho-traumatization of an adult personality. The most urgent issues of psycho-trauma research, in particular in Ukraine, are related to hostilities and traumas (casualties) experienced by direct combatants and the affected civilians, as well as internally displaced persons. This determined our interest in the problem of the factors of origin and peculiarities of experiencing psycho-traumas in adulthood, in particular, in the conditions of hostilities in the east of Ukraine.The purpose of the article is to empirically identify and analyze main causes of psycho-trauma in adults. To achieve this goal and to fulfil the empirical objectives of the study, a questionnaire was developed and tested to determine the factors of traumatization of the adult personality. The interview method and the observation method (both included and extraneous) were also used in the study; as well as methods of quantitative and qualitative processing of the received data.The features of the effects of traumas experienced on the emotional state and subsequent life of the survivors of the loss were also analyzed. According to the empirical research, the most critical factors for traumatization are irreversible physical (death of a loved one), existential (loss of the self) and social and psychological (divorce, loss of friendship, etc.) losses. In general, the types of losses named by the investigators that lead to emotional traumatization were grouped as follows: psychological losses; material and physical losses; personal losses; social losses; spiritual losses.Thus, the results of the study indicated that the overwhelming number of respondents considered the loss (trauma) experienced as the cause of further or repeated more pronounced emotional traumatization. This has a detrimental effect on the quality of their social and personal life and deteriorating health (psychosomatic disorders) and requires immediate psychological assistance. Therefore, our further research will address a more in-depth study of the problem of the relationship between losses, their emotional living and positive assimilation in the context of further individual and personal development.

Who gets custody of the friends? Online narratives of changes in friendship networks following relationship breakdown

This article explores online narratives of the loss or change of friendships following an intimate partner relationship breakdown. Drawing on internet forum discussions, we explore individuals’ transitions from coupled to single, and the multiple ways in which this affects their friendship ties. Forum users struggled to reconcile friends’ abandonment or distance with cultural representations of friendship as providing intense emotional support during critical life transitions. Users also reflect on the impact of their recent singlehood on friendships established and maintained while coupled, with relationship breakdown illuminating previously unacknowledged couple privilege. We argue that the loss of friendships exacerbated and became part of the break-up experience, illustrating the embedded nature of relationships (Smart, 2007). Relationship breakdown is perceived as acting as an ‘ordeal’ for friendship, revealing the depth and quality of existing ties, as users reflect on their own neglect of friendships while they were coupled.

Characterizing computer-mediated communication, friendship, and social participation in adults with traumatic brain injury

ABSTRACTBackground: Adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) report loss of friendship and reduced social participation after injury, but there is limited information regarding quantity of friends and methods of communication. Our objective was to characterize friendship networks, social participation, and methods of communication, including computer-mediated communication (CMC), used by adults with TBI compared to uninjured adults. Methods: Participants were 25 adults with TBI and 26 uninjured healthy comparisons (HC) adults, who completed the Participation Assessment with Recombined Tools-Objective (PART-O) and the Social Network Questionnaire (SNQ). Results: Adults with TBI had significantly fewer total friends and significantly lower levels of productivity and overall social participation. Face-to-face interaction was the preferred method of contact for both groups. Adults with TBI were significantly less likely to use texting as a primary method of communication than their uninjured peers, but used other methods of communication at similar rates. Conclusion: Our study supports prior findings of reduced friendships and reduced social participation after TBI and adds new information about similarities and differences in communication methods between adults with and without TBI.

Sex work, social support, and stigma: Experiences of transgender women in the Dominican Republic

Background: Transgender populations, and especially those in resource-limited settings, are at an elevated risk of experiencing stigma and discrimination.Aims: This study sought to examine the relationship between parental, familial, and other social support, experiences of stigma and discrimination, quality of life, and sex work in a national sample of transgender women in the Dominican Republic (n = 291).Methods: Descriptive analyses for the outcome variable, sex work, as well as for measures associated with socio-demographics, social support, stigma, quality of life, and experiences of abuse and violence were performed. Bivariate analysis examined differences between respondents involved in sex work and those not involved in sex work.Results: We found that participation in sex work was associated with low social support and quality of life and increased experiences of stigma, discrimination, and abuse. Specifically, Dominican transgender women involved in sex work received less social support than their non-sex working peers; they experienced heightened arguments and problems with non-parental family members, professors or bosses, classmates, and close friends, as well of loss of friendships. Involvement in sex work was also associated with higher levels of stigma and discrimination, lower quality of life, and experiences of sexual abuse, torture, and experiences of attempted murder on one’s life.Discussion: Transgender women participating in sex work require more rather than less social support from family members and loved ones, especially in areas where workplace discrimination policies that affect transgender individuals are nebulous, such as the Dominican Republic.

Loss of friendship following traumatic brain injury: A model grounded in the experience of adults with severe injury

ABSTRACT Relationships make important contributions to wellbeing and maintenance of self-worth. For those who sustain traumatic brain injury (TBI), life is frequently characterized by declining interpersonal relationships. The aim of this study was to understand the post-injury experience of friendship from the perspective of adults with severe TBI. Participants were 23 adults who had sustained severe TBI on average 10 years earlier; the majority was between 25 and 45 years old. The experience of friendship was explored using a convergent mixed methods design (quantitative self-report measures and in-depth interviews). Qualitative analysis of interview transcripts employed open and focussed coding to reveal themes and categories. Participants nominated on average 3.35 (SD 2.19) friends. When paid carers and family members were excluded, the mean dropped to 1.52 (SD 1.38). Exploratory correlations between number of friends and quality of life, depression and strong-tie support revealed significant associations of moderate to large effects. The post-injury experience of friendship was broadly conceptualized as “going downhill” with four overlapping phases: losing contact, being misunderstood, wanting to share and hanging on. Participants’ stories illustrated how rehabilitation can focus on friendship by supporting established relationships and facilitating access to activities that afford interpersonal encounters and opportunities to share experiences.

Adaptation and immersion in the life trajectories of women engaged in prostitution

The author considers adaptation and immersion as parts of the life trajectory of women engaged in prostitution. This trajectory includes five stages: approach, entry, adaptation, immersion, and exit. The research aims at describing adaptation and immersion on the example of women engaged in prostitution in Saint Petersburg and Orenburg. The research had a mixed-method design consisting of a survey of 896 respondents and 10 semi-structured interviews (based on the ‘snowball’ sample). The article presents a descriptive analysis of the survey data and a thematic analysis of interviews. The study allowed to identify two trends in the respondents’ social environment: the loss of friendship and parent-child relationships, distancing and unwillingness to reveal their activities; the partnerships accompanied by the separation of activities in and out of prostitution. Women engaged in prostitution are subject to all forms of violence; therefore, an integral part of their adaptation and immersion is the recognition of clients’ behavior patterns and the development of safe interaction and conflict prevention strategies. The study also revealed the initiation and/or abuse of alcohol and drugs consumption in the course of activities in prostitution, and during immersion the severity of alcohol and drugs use tends to increase. Moreover, many women engaged in prostitution are in the poor psychological condition. Thus, it is necessary to further study prostitutes’ interaction with clients, sex business organizers, and the closest social environment not involved in sex business at all stages of the life trajectory in prostitution.

Secrecy versus disclosure of mental illness among adolescents: I. The perspective of adolescents with mental illness

Background: Many adolescents with mental illness (MI) struggle with the decision whether to disclose their condition. They may decide to keep their MI secret, whether due to fear of public stigma or due to self-stigma and shame. Secrecy may protect against discrimination, but has often negative long-term consequences such as social isolation.Aim: To explore personal views of adolescents with MI on secrecy and disclosure of their MI.Method: Six focus groups consisting of 39 adolescents with MI were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by qualitative content analysis to identify major themes deductively and inductively.Results: Participants described MI as a stigmatized condition and stressed both the benefits and risks of secrecy. Disadvantages included fear of stigma and loss of friendships, benefits included emotional support and relief. Adolescents underlined the importance of individual disclosure decisions (DDs). The majority preferred selective disclosure. Additionally, the role of other adolescents with and without MI was emphasized.Conclusions: DDs are individual and depend on social factors since stigma and fear of discrimination remain significant concerns for adolescents with MI. Implications for future interventions to support adolescents with MI are discussed.

The Emotional and Psychological Experiences of Drag Performers: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACTTo better understand psychological experiences of drag queens, the authors conducted interviews with 12 cisgender, gay male drag queens from a midsouth state. Participants were age 22 to 54 years (M = 34) and reported participating in drag for 2 to 33 years (M = 13). The authors used consensual qualitative analysis to identify five main themes: motivation, effects, protective factors, stressors, and involvement. Results indicate that participants in drag may benefit from social support, a creative outlet, and empowerment. Participants also reported experiences of discrimination, performance anxiety, and loss of friendships. We discuss implications for counseling lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people who may perform in drag.

Remarkable lives: Spencer Insley in conversation with Jerome Carson

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Spencer Insley. Design/methodology/approach – Spencer gives a short biographical account and is then interviewed by Jerome. Areas covered in the narrative are the misery of mental illness, the prodromal signs of illness, hospital admission and discharge to supported accommodation. Findings – Apart from the losses resulting from a diagnosis of major mental disorder, Spencer also talks about the loss of friendships. His admission to hospital was especially traumatic, leaving him frightened and confused and feeling he was treated like an animal. Research limitations/implications – While Spencer's is only one story of many, his experiences have a sorry familiarity to them. Practical implications – Too long denied in the history of psychiatry, service user narratives help us understand the nature of mental suffering and the often inadequate nature of service responses to mental distress. Social implications – Involuntary admissions to hospital need to be handled in a more therapeutic manner. Originality/value – So often it is nurses and occupational therapists who have the most impact on the lives of those with lived experience. Psychiatrists were felt not to be interested in Spencer, whereas his community mental health nurse “Had a genuine interest in what I was doing and how I was getting along”.

Family carers' perspectives on post‐school transition of young people with intellectual disabilities with special reference to ethnicity

School leavers with intellectual disabilities (ID) often face difficulties in making a smooth transition from school to college, employment or more broadly to adult life. The transition phase is traumatic for the young person with ID and their families as it often results in the loss of friendships, relationships and social networks. The aim of this study was to explore the family carers' views and experiences on transition from school to college or to adult life with special reference to ethnicity. Forty-three families (consisting of 16 White British, 24 Pakistani, 2 Bangladeshi and one Black African) were interviewed twice using a semi-structured interview schedule. The carers were interviewed twice, Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2), T2 being a year later to observe any changes during transition. The findings indicate that although transition planning occurred it was relatively later in the young person's school life. Parents were often confused about the process and had limited information about future options for their son or daughter. All family carers regardless of ethnicity, reported lack of information about services and expressed a sense of being excluded. South Asian families experienced more problems related to language, information about services, culture and religion. The majority of families lacked knowledge and awareness of formal services and the transition process. Socio-economic status, high levels of unemployment and caring for a child with a disability accounted for similar family experiences, regardless of ethnic background. The three key areas relevant for ethnicity are interdependence, religion and assumptions by service providers.

Parenting a child with phenylketonuria or galactosemia: implications for health‐related quality of life

Parents of children with chronic disorders have an impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL) compared to parents of healthy children. Remarkably, parents of children with a metabolic disorder reported an even lower HRQoL than parents of children with other chronic disorders. Possibly, the uncertainty about the course of the disease and the limited life expectancy in many metabolic disorders are important factors in the low parental HRQoL. Therefore, we performed a cross-sectional study in parents of children with phenylketonuria (PKU, OMIM #261600) and galactosemia (OMIM #230400), metabolic disorders not affecting life expectancy, in order to investigate their HRQoL compared to parents of healthy children and to parents of children with other metabolic disorders. A total of 185 parents of children with PKU and galactosemia aged 1–19 years completed two questionnaires. Parents of children with PKU or galactosemia reported a HRQoL comparable to parents of healthy children and a significantly better HRQoL than parents of children with other metabolic disorders. Important predictors for parental mental HRQoL were the psychosocial factors emotional support and loss of friendship. As parental mental functioning influences the health, development and adjustment of their children, it is important that treating physicians also pay attention to the wellbeing of the parents. The insight that emotional support and loss of friendship influence the HRQoL of the parents enables treating physicians to provide better support for these parents.

Predicting health‐related quality of life of parents of children with inherited metabolic diseases

The aim of this study was to examine medical, socio-demographic and psychosocial determinants of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of parents of children with metabolic diseases. A survey among parents of children with metabolic diseases (children aged 1-19 years, diagnosed >1 year before the start of the study, living at home). Parents were approached through the Emma Children's Hospital, and through a national parent and patient association. HRQoL was assessed using the TNO-AZL Questionnaire for Adult's Health Related Quality of Life (TAAQOL), describing 12 domains of HRQoL. Predictor variables were taken from a self-report questionnaire. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to predict which parents were at risk for HRQoL impairment. Mainly psychosocial determinants were predictive for parental HRQoL. Emotional support was protective for parental HRQOL while loss of friendship was a risk factor for HRQoL impairment. Medical and socio-demographic variables did not consistently predict parental HRQoL. Psychosocial determinants appeared more important in predicting parental HRQoL than medical and socio-demographic variables. Interventions should be focused on supporting parents combining the care for their children with a social life. Further research on this subject is necessary. In the meantime, involved medical specialists should pay structural attention to parental functioning.