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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to add to the research literature and begin to fill the gap in knowledge about shared parenting arrangements for women with young children and who have experienced domestic violence (DV), in three Canadian provinces; Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario. Method: This paper reports on the qualitative findings from a mixed methods study on shared parenting from women with children ages 4 and under. Twenty women participated in one-on-one individual interviews through electronic platform utilizing Zoom. Thematic analysis is used to analyze the data. Results: Despite efforts to not exclusively recruit women who had experienced domestic violence (DV) from their former partner, all participants identified as survivors of DV and ongoing survivors of DV, specifically, coercive controlling behaviours. Five themes describe the women's experiences of shared parenting with young children: 1) walking a tight-rope; 2) navigating post-separation relationships; 3) emotional realities of shared parenting; 4) shared parenting outcomes; and, 5) structural challenges. Conclusions: This paper not only adds to the significant and longstanding gap in knowledge directly from women with children ages 4 and under in shared parenting relationships, and who have experienced DV, and also helps to inform social service and legal actors. It is timely with the amendments to the Divorce Act in Canada which now includes DV as a factor in determining the best interests of the child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people's voices detailing how they experienced engagement with the criminal justice system following child sexual abuse, what was helpful or unhelpful and how services can be improved to minimise secondary victimisation and maximise the potential for healing are largely absent from the research literature. This paper draws on semi‐structured interviews with a culturally diverse sample (n = 47) of young people aged 14 to 25 across Ireland and Canada about their experiences of disclosure and engagement with systems. Data were collected pertaining to experiences engaging with law enforcement personnel using thematic analysis with a trauma‐informed lens. The research identified three key themes: the importance of feeling safe through kindness, transparency and being believed; the importance of having a say; and the importance of timely court processes. The study builds on the small body of qualitative research illustrating young people's lived experiences of engaging with the criminal justice system and provides empirical support for promoting a trauma‐informed approach in how police engage with young people. Guidance is offered for police professionals on how to engage with adolescents following sexual abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This collaborative paper explores the interconnections between climate change and the mental health and well‐being of Indigenous women in Western Canada. As the impacts of climate change intensify globally, vulnerable populations, particularly Indigenous communities, face disproportionate and multifaceted challenges. Centering on Indigenous women in Western Canada, this study explores how the climate crisis magnifies Indigenous communities' mental health disparities. Drawing from the Indigenist feminist research approach, the investigation focuses on Indigenous women's lived experiences, perceptions, and land‐based coping strategies amidst climate challenges, while simultaneously addressing the unique social, cultural, and historical factors influencing their mental health vulnerabilities within the context of climate change. The findings shed light on the complex relationships between environmental degradation, ongoing colonial impacts on traditional practices, and the mental well‐being of Indigenous women. Concluding with implications for policy and community‐led interventions, this research contributes to the discourse on the intersectionality of climate change impacts and mental health, particularly focusing on Indigenous women in Western Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) is generally focused on female survivors. However, in Canada, about half of all self-reported victims of IPV are men and 1 in 5 calls to police for domestic violence are for male victims. This paper takes a comparative approach to understanding survivors' experiences of IPV. Methods: Across Canada, 110 female and 45 male survivors of IPV were recruited through media, social media, and listservs for a survey and interviews in 2017. Results: Findings indicate areas of similarity (healthcare needs; difficulty accessing formal support; fear of false accusations) and areas of difference (availability of formal support; types of violence experienced most often; interactions with the justice system). Women and men reported similar types of IPV, with women experiencing higher rates of sexual violence, stalking, and damage to property. Women and men reported similar physical and mental health consequences following IPV. Men were less satisfied than women with the response of the justice system, and both female and male participants encountered gender bias within the justice system. Some women reported being turned away from services that were at their maximum capacity, and men reported difficulty identifying IPV-related services for male survivors. Conclusions: Findings can be used by frontline service providers and the justice system to ensure that services are gender-inclusive and gender-sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adults with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) frequently experience cognitive, emotional, physical and communication deficits that require long‐term rehabilitation and community support. Although access to rehabilitation services is linked to positive outcomes, there can be barriers to accessing community rehabilitation related to system navigation, referral processes, funding, resource allocation and communications required to ensure access. Aims: This study aimed to identify barriers to accessing insurer funding for rehabilitation and healthcare services, for adults with TBI injured in motor vehicle collisions (MVCs). Methods: We used a co‐design approach to collaborate with persons with lived experience to design a survey of adults who sustained a TBI in an MVC. The survey examined access to insurer funding for rehabilitation services and was disseminated through brain injury networks in Ontario, Canada. Results: Respondents (n = 148) identified multiple barriers to accessing rehabilitation services through insurer funding, including delays of more than 2 years (49%), mandatory duplicative assessments (64%) and invasion of privacy (55%). Speech‐language therapy and neuropsychological services were denied most frequently. Negative experiences included insurers' poor understanding of TBI symptoms, denials of services despite medical evidence demonstrating need and unsupportive insurer interactions. Although 70% of respondents reported cognitive‐communication difficulties, accommodations were rarely provided. Respondents identified supports that would improve insurer and healthcare communications and rehabilitation access. Conclusion & Implications: The insurance claims process had many barriers for adults with TBI, limiting their access to rehabilitation services. Barriers were exacerbated by communication deficits. These findings indicate a role for Speech‐language therapists in education, advocacy and communication supports during the insurance process specifically as well as rehabilitation access processes in general. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject: There is extensive documentation of the long‐term rehabilitation needs of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their challenges in accessing rehabilitation services over the long term. It is also well known that many individuals with TBI have cognitive and communication deficits that affect their interactions in the community, including with healthcare providers, and that SLTs can train communication partners to provide communication supports to individuals with TBI in these communication contexts. What this study adds: This study adds important information about barriers to accessing rehabilitation, including barriers to accessing SLT services in the community. We asked individuals with TBI about challenges to accessing auto insurance funding for private community services, and their responses illustrate the broader challenges individuals with TBI face in communicating their deficits, conveying service needs, educating and convincing service administrators and self‐advocating. The results also highlight the critical role that communication plays in healthcare access interactions, from completing forms to reviewing reports and funding decisions, to managing telephone calls, writing emails and explaining to assessors. What are the clinical implications of this work?: This study shows the lived experience of individuals with TBI in overcoming barriers to accessing community rehabilitation. The results show that best practices in intervention should include evaluating rehabilitation access, which is a critical step in patient‐centred care. Evaluation of rehabilitation access includes evaluating referral and navigation, resource allocation and healthcare communications, and ensuring accountability at each step, regardless of model of service delivery or funding source. Finally, these findings show the critical role of speech‐language therapists in educating, advocating and supporting communications with funding sources, administrators and other healthcare providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the lived experience of the dyad following a fetal death and the impact on relationships. The purpose of this paper is to explore the dyadic relationship between partners, with health care providers, and with the baby's memory after birth. This qualitative study utilized hermeneutic phenomenology. The sample included 10 heterosexual dyads from the United States and Canada. All experienced a fetal death between 6 months and 7 years prior to their interviews. The data revealed three themes: (a) The Dyad Relationship: Moving Through the Experience Together; (b) Keeping the Memory Alive: Memorializing the Baby; and (c) Relationships With Health Care Providers: A Spectrum of Caring. The findings from this study provide the beginning knowledge needed to improve the care of dyads who have experienced a fetal death and for future studies to improve care delivery for dyads as their relationships change after fetal death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exist ongoing calls among social work scholars and practitioners to cultivate applied knowledge of critical and emancipatory practice. In this paper, I explore the utility of text-based vignettes as instruments that can be used to elicit insight from marginalized service users on critical social work practice. To do this work, I draw on data from interviews with 20 transgender and gender diverse (TGD) social service users, along with 10 social workers, whose responses to a text-based vignette were originally used to build an understanding of the constituents of equitable social work practice with TGD people. Incorporating critical pragmatism as a conceptual framework and constructivist grounded theory as a methodological orientation, I analyze data from this study as an exemplar that substantiates the promise of using text-based vignettes in qualitative social work research to generate knowledge of critical social work practice. Specifically, I demonstrate how text-based vignettes in this study (1) contextualized the meaning, significance, and impact of oppression for service users, (2) built insight on practice that reflects solidarity and allyship, and (3) identified opportunities for social workers' reflexive use of professional power to effect change. Accounting for the tensions between empiricism and critical praxis in social work, I consider the promise of incorporating text-based vignettes to develop empirical social work literature that is rooted in the voices of marginalized service users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]