No abstract

The risks of untreated postpartum depression (PPD) in the United States are higher among low-income ethnic minority mothers. However, research has not adequately investigated barriers to formal help seeking for PPD symptoms among this vulnerable population. We used convenience and purposive sampling strategies to recruit mothers experiencing past-year (the year prior to interview) PPD symptoms (n=14), community key informants (n=11), and service providers (n=12) to participate in focus groups and individual interviews. A grounded theory analysis of these nested perspectives revealed individual, community, and provider-level barriers operating at various stages of the help-seeking process: thinking about symptoms, seeking advice, and rejecting formal care. Although mothers overwhelmingly recommended "talking it out" for other mothers with PPD, an array of attitudinal and instrumental barriers led mothers to choose self-help practices in lieu of formal mental health care.

Sampling is an integral component of all research designs. Several qualitative research texts offer practical guides on how to theorize, recruit, and retain a sample to fulfill the aims of a given study. However, there is far less published discussion among qualitative researchers about sampling ‘hard to reach’ populations such as transient youth and young adults, homeless people, IV drug users, sex workers, and incarcerated, institutionalized, or cognitively impaired individuals. In this article, the author presents an overview of qualitative sampling, including its underlying assumptions, major methodological traditions, common characteristics, and standards of assessment. Next, the article identifies several challenges related to sampling hard to reach populations that are of particular relevance for qualitative research. Drawing on an example of a longitudinal qualitative study of incarcerated youth, these challenges are then discussed in relation to the assessment of ‘quality’ in qualitative research.

Although early-life adversity can undermine healthy development, children growing up in harsh environments may develop intact, or even enhanced, skills for solving problems in high-adversity contexts (i.e., “hidden talents”). Here we situate the hidden talents model within a larger interdisciplinary framework. Summarizing theory and research on hidden talents, we propose that stress-adapted skills represent a form of adaptive intelligence that enables individuals to function within the constraints of harsh, unpredictable environments. We discuss the alignment of the hidden talents model with current knowledge about human brain development following early adversity; examine potential applications of this perspective to multiple sectors concerned with youth from harsh environments, including education, social services, and juvenile justice; and compare the hidden talents model with contemporary developmental resilience models. We conclude that the hidden talents approach offers exciting new directions for research on developmental adaptations to childhood adversity, with translational implications for leveraging stress-adapted skills to more effectively tailor education, jobs, and interventions to fit the needs and potentials of individuals from a diverse range of life circumstances. This approach affords a well-rounded view of people who live with adversity that avoids stigma and communicates a novel, distinctive, and strength-based message.

Informal social support has long been touted as a key to success for young offenders, but little empirical work has concretized these benefits. This article explores the dynamics of informal social support for returning young offenders (ages 14-24), particularly in the context of peers and family members. The authors use a metasynthesis methodology to examine 13 qualitative articles and dissertations published in the United States from 1998 through 2010. Analysis of these texts found two major themes related to informal support from peers and family members. Young offenders "walked a fine line" with their peers, who provided not only a sense of belonging and possibly a route to material assistance but also temptations and opportunities to reengage with criminal activity. Family members provided the supports and comforts of "the ties that bind" but with potentially unrealistic expectations and reenactment of old roles and negative dynamics. Through this metasynthesis, the authors forge an understanding of informal social support that complicates its presumed benefits for the reentry of young offenders.