CONTEXT: Evidence from the COVID-19 crisis suggests that children and youth are more likely to be subjected to maltreatment and exposure to family violence, while experiencing limited access to the usual services that support vulnerable families and provide targeted services to meet their needs. The current global pandemic itself can also be experienced as a traumatic event. Trauma-informed care draws attention to the potential impacts, from the individual to the global, that myriad traumatic experiences can illicit and proposes using these understandings as foundational to the development and implementation of policy and practice. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this opinion paper is to offer insights to guide practices and policies during this unprecedented global crisis through a discussion of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2014)’s six trauma-informed care principles: trustworthiness and transparency; safety; peer support; collaboration and mutuality; empowerment and choice; and cultural, historical and gender issues. FINDINGS: Specific recommendations based on these six principles and applied to the current situation are presented and discussed. These principles can serve both in the immediate crisis and as preventative measures against unforeseen future traumatic contexts. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 renews the imperative to maintain and strengthen trauma-informed practices and policies. We argue that never before has trauma-informed care been so important to promote the health and well-being of all and to protect our marginalized populations at greatest risk.

ObjectiveIn order to better understand the barriers that limit the social participation of older people with low vision, the aim of this study was to describe and clarify the factors that shape the social participation of older adults with vision loss.MethodsAs part of a study on rehabilitation access barriers, six qualitative focus groups were conducted in a private room in a hospital, with 21 individuals with low vision (aged 38–92 years) who had or had not accessed low vision services. During the focus groups, participants often spoke of the challenges they faced when interacting with people with ‘normal’ vision; this discussion led to a modification of the interview guide in order to capture barriers to social participation. Focus group discussions were audiotaped and transcribed, and content analysis was conducted.ResultsContent analysis revealed that personal as well as environmental factors influenced the social participation of older adults with low vision. Four themes emerged: 1) experiencing the onset of impairment and degenerating ability, 2) the physical environment, 3) attitudes and responses from others and 4) individual internal attitude and responses during social interactions. Lived and perceived stigma from the perspective of the insider (person living with low vision) interacting with an outsider (person with ‘normal’ vision) and difficult environmental contexts were described as barriers to social participation and optimal functioning.ConclusionAt a personal level, transitioning from an outsider to an insider influenced self-identity and social participation. Further, insiders experiencing stereotypes associated with older adults who are blind had a negative impact on their social participation. Findings highlight the importance of stigma and stereotyping in the lived experience of older adults with low vision. Stigma is persistent, but strategies to reduce stigma will ultimately facilitate the social participation of older adults with low vision.

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A scoping review of the literature on parenting programmes that target the promotion of adolescent mental health was conducted to examine the quality of the studies and unique content of programmes for parents from ethnoculturally diverse communities. PsycINFO and Web of Science were searched in April, 2011 (for all publications prior to that date) and again in August, 2015 (for publications from April, 2011 to August, 2015) using specific keywords and inclusion criteria. A hand search was also conducted. Overall, 107 studies met inclusion criteria for final data extraction and included evaluations of interventions targeted at substance use, early/risky sexual activity and behavioural problems. Eighteen of the 107 studies described programmes targeting parents of adolescents from diverse ethnocultural communities; the quality of these 18 studies was assessed using a marginally modified version of the Downs and Black Checklist (Downs & Black 1998). Their average quality assessment score was 16 out of 28. In addition, two key themes reflected in successful interventions emerged: strengthening parent-adolescent relationship through communication, and importance of community engagement in designing and implementing the intervention. Findings indicate gaps in service delivery to parents of adolescents from ethnoculturally diverse communities; there are a limited number of studies on programmes targeting ethnoculturally diverse parents of adolescents, and the quality of studies that do exist is overall low. Given increasing diversity, more emphasis should be placed on developing and modifying programmes to meet the needs of ethnoculturally diverse communities. More rigorous, standardised efforts should be made to evaluate programmes that do exist.