Browsing by Subject "Vulnerable children"

Objective: Posttraumatic stress due to trauma exposure in childhood disconnects the mind and body, producing a chronic state of anxiety and ill health that worsens into adulthood. In order to mitigate the harmful effects of trauma experienced by children living in low-resource settings worldwide, evidence-based research on the effect of feasible mind-body interventions to reduce trauma-related symptoms among this vulnerable population is needed. The complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practice of yoga holds promise as a mind-body approach to child mental and physical wellbeing. The purpose of this preliminary study was to evaluate the effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of an 8-week yoga intervention to reduce trauma-related symptoms and emotional and behavioral difficulties among children living in orphanages in Haiti.

Methods: The study design is a case-control study with random assignment to yoga or aerobic dance plus a non-randomized wait-list control group. The UCLA PTSD Reaction Index and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire measured trauma-related symptoms and emotional and behavioral difficulties, respectively. A supplementary questionnaire evaluated participants' experience in the yoga program.

Results: Our main findings include that participation in either 8-weeks of yoga or aerobic dance classes predicted a reduction in trauma-related symptoms and emotional and behavioral difficulties, though not statistically significant (p > .05). The average yoga class attendance was 14.65 (SD = 2.17) out of 16 classes. Ninety-two percent of respondents (N = 26) reported being satisfied with the yoga program and all reported positive changes in wellbeing.

Conclusion: Although the reductions in trauma-related symptoms and emotional and behavioral difficulties among children in the yoga and aerobic dance groups were not statistically significant, positive feedback suggests that yoga is a feasible, acceptable, and enjoyable activity with benefits to child mental and physical health. Further research is needed to evaluate the effect of yoga to relieve trauma-related mental illness among Haitian youth and to promote sustained health into adulthood. Yoga programs designed to improve health and resilience to stress are essential social justice approaches for investing in the wellbeing of our global youth and creating peace within the community at large.

Background: Although used previously as a function of the judiciary primarily in custody battles, the best interest of the child because an international human rights standard with the 1989 adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) by the UN General Assembly. The ‘best interest’ standard has consequently been adopted and used in many State-level child protection polices, particularly in reference to orphans and separated children (OSC), in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), including India. However, little attention has been paid to how State-level actors, including both policy stakeholders as well as direct carers of OSC, interpret and implement this standard in their local contexts.

Objective: This study’s objective was to explore how the best interest of the child as a norm of international human rights is interpreted and applied to the care and protection of OSC in residential care policy in India.

Methods: Using a qualitative, experimental, design we conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews and focused group discussions with two distinct groups: 1) Child Protection Policy Stakeholders and 2) Direct caregivers of OSC in a residential care center (RCC). Policy group participants completed in-depth interviews about current child protection policies in India and their interpretation of the best interest of the child. Direct caregivers of OSC completed in-depth interviews and, for certain caregiver sub-categories, focused-group discussions on their daily lived experience working with and, sometimes, living with OSC in residential care settings.

Results: Thirty-eight direct caregivers of OSC from one particular residential care center in New Delhi took part in the study. Eighteen policy stakeholders, including government bureaucrats, policy researchers, child rights advocates, and directors of RCCs also took part. Interview results were grouped into ‘key area domains’, with five domains emerging per participant group. Ultimately three domains were overlapping between the groups: Resources, Accountability, and Approaches to Care while two domains were distinct for each group: Policy Frameworks and Reforms (Policy Stakeholders) and Institutional Processes and Perceptions of the Experience of the Child (Direct caregiver group). Distinct differences and similarities were noted amongst all of the domains between the two participant groups. All domains were somehow related to the attempt to construct the best interest of the child in RCCs in India.

Conclusion: Although a de jure standard, both internationally and nationally, the best interest of the child seems to be a de facto reality in India, especially as defined by direct caregivers of OSC. In this setting, the best interest emerged not as a standard that individuals and organizations held themselves to, but as a construct that was created and re-created based on , in particular, availability of resources, accountability mechanisms, and the way in which individuals approached caring for children.