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In October 1964, Julian Huxley, Ernst Mayr, Humphrey Osmond and Abram Hoffer co-published a controversial paper in Nature, in which they tried to explain the persistence of schizophrenia from an evolutionary perspective. This article will elucidate how the reputed authors composed this paper to make it a strong argument for biological psychiatry. Through a close reading of their correspondence, it will furthermore clarify the elements which remained unspoken in the paper, but which were elementary in its genesis.The first was the dominance of psychoanalytical theory in (American) psychiatry — a dominance which the authors wanted to break. The second was the ongoing discussion on the boundaries of biological determinism and the desirability of a new kind of eugenics. As such, the Huxley et al. paper can be used to study the central issues of psychiatry in a pivotal era of its history.

The data set associated with this paper can be found at the following location: 10.17633/rd.brunel.c.4720436 Grammar tests, de facto policy and pedagogical coercion in England’s primary schools. © The Author(s) 2020. Since their introduction by the Conservative government in 2013, primary school children in England have taken a mandated grammar, punctuation and spelling assessment, which places an emphasis on decontextualised, standardised English and the identification of traditional grammatical terminology. Despite some concise criticisms from educational linguists, there remains no detailed and critical investigation into the nature of the tests, their effects on test takers, and the policy initiatives which led up to their implementation. This article contributes to this gap in knowledge, using critical language testing as a methodological framework, and drawing on a bricolage of data sources such as political speeches, policy documents, test questions and interviews with teachers. I discuss how the tests work as de facto language policy, implemented as one arm of the government’s ‘core-knowledge’ educational agenda, underpinned by a reductive conceptualisation of language and a problematic discourse of ‘right/wrong’ ways of speaking. I reveal how teachers talk about the ‘power’ of the tests, intimidating and coercing them into pedagogies they do not necessarily believe in or value, which ultimately position them as vehicles for the government’s conservative and prescriptive language ideologies.

Public involvement in research (PIR) can improve research design and recruitment. Less is known about how PIR enhances the experience of participation and enriches the data collection process. In a study to evaluate how UK care homes and primary health care services achieve integrated working to promote older people’s health, PIR was integrated throughout the research processes. Objectives This paper aims to present one way in which PIR has been integrated into the design and delivery of a multi-site research study based in care homes. Design A prospective case study design, with an embedded qualitative evaluation of PIR activity. Setting and Participants Data collection was undertaken in six care homes in three sites in England. Six PIR members participated: all had prior personal or work experience in care homes. Data Collection Qualitative data collection involved discussion groups, and site-specific meetings to review experiences of participation, benefits and challenges, and completion of structured fieldwork notes after each care home visit. Results PIR members supported: recruitment, resident and staff interviews and participated in data interpretation. Benefits of PIR work were resident engagement that minimised distress and made best use of limited research resources. Challenges concerned communication and scheduling. Researcher support for PIR involvement was resource intensive. Discussion and Conclusions Clearly defined roles with identified training and support facilitated involvement in different aspects Public Involvement in Research members of the research team: Gail Capstick, Marion Cowie, Derek Hope, Rita Hewitt, Alex Mendoza, John Willmott. Also the involvement of Steven Iliffe and Heather Gage

Background - Objective measures of physical activity and function with a diverse cohort of UK adults in their 70s and 80s were used to investigate relative risk of all-cause mortality and diagnoses of new diseases over a 4-year period.Participants - Two hundred and forty older adults were randomly recruited from 12 general practices in urban and suburban areas of a city in the United Kingdom. Follow-up included 213 of the baseline sample.Methods - Socio-demographic variables, height and weight, and self-reported diagnosed diseases were recorded at baseline. Seven-day accelerometry was used to assess total physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous activity and sedentary time. A log recorded trips from home. Lower limb function was assessed using the Short Physical Performance Battery. Medical records were accessed on average 50 months post baseline, when new diseases and deaths were recorded.Analyses - ANOVAs were used to assess socio-demographic, physical activity and lower limb function group differences in diseases at baseline and new diseases during follow-up. Regression models were constructed to assess the prospective associations between physical activity and function with mortality and new disease.Results - For every 1,000 steps walked per day, the risk of mortality was 36% lower (hazard ratios 0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.44–0.91, P = 0.013). Low levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (incident rate ratio (IRR) 1.67, 95% CI 1.04–2.68, P = 0.030) and low frequency of trips from home (IRR 1.41, 95% CI 0.98–2.05, P = 0.045) were associated with diagnoses of more new diseases.Conclusion - Physical activity should be supported for adults in their 70s and 80s, as it is associated with reduced risk of mortality and new disease development.

The prevalence of dyslexia identification has increased significantly over the last two decades. Yet there is debate over whether there are distinct biological and cognitive differences between those with literacy difficulties and the subgroup of people identified as dyslexic. This is the first paper that provides evidence for this ongoing debate by investigating the socio-demographic factors, outside biology and cognition, that predict whether a child is identified as dyslexic in the UK. Using secondary data from the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study, this paper examines the socio-demographic factors that predict whether a child’s teacher identifies them as dyslexic at age 11. Gender, season of birth, socio-economic class and parental income are found to be significant predictors of the dyslexia label. Therefore, factors seemingly unrelated to the clinical aspects of dyslexia influence whether a child is identified as dyslexic in England and Wales. This suggests that label may not be evenly distributed across a population; furthermore, it may also indicate that resources for support may not be fairly allocated. The findings further support the argument that a ‘dyslexic sub-group’ within poor readers is created due to the impact of environmental factors. The results from this national-scale study thus questions the reliability, validity and moral integrity of the allocation of the dyslexia label across current education systems in the UK.

Neoliberalism, austerity and health responsibilisation are increasingly informing policies and practices designed to encourage older patients to take responsibility for the management of their own healthcare. Combined with an ageing population, novel ways to address the increasing healthcare needs of older people have become a priority, with the emergence in recent years of new models of integrated care enhanced by combinatorial health technologies (CHTs). This paper presents qualitative findings from the evaluation of one programme, the Lancashire and Cumbria Innovation Alliance (LCIA) Test Bed, a programme funded by NHS England and conducted in England between 2016 and 2018.Drawing on data from patients, family carers, and staff members involved in the programme, this paper explores the extent to which CHTs, as part of the LCIA Test Bed programme, contributed to health responsibilisation amongst older people with complex health conditions. Through this programme, we find that relationships between patients, family carers and healthcare professionals combined to create a sense of reassurance and shared responsibility for all parties. Our findings suggest the need for a more nuanced approach to responsibilisation and self-management for older people living with complex health conditions. By focusing on co-management – and recognising the potential of CHTs to facilitate this approach – there is potential to increase patient confidence in managing their health condition, reduce carer burden, and enhance clinician satisfaction in their work roles. While neoliberal agendas are focused on self-management and self-responsibility of one's own health care, with technology as a facilitator of this, our findings suggest that the successful use of CHTs for older people with complex health conditions may instead be rooted in co-management. This paper argues that co-management may be a more successful model of care for patients, carers and clinicians.

Community participation is a central concept for health promotion, covering a breadth of approaches, purposes and activities. This paper reports on a national knowledge translation project in England, UK, which resulted in a conceptual framework and typology of community-based approaches, published as national guidance. A key objective was to develop a conceptual framework linked to sources of evidence that could be used to support increased uptake of participatory methods across the health system. It was recognized that legitimacy of community participation was being undermined by a scattered evidence base, absence of a common terminology and low visibility of community practice. A scoping review, combined with stakeholder consultation, was undertaken and 168 review and conceptual publications were identified and a map produced. A ‘family of community-centred approaches for health and wellbeing’ was then produced as way of organizing the evidence and visually representing the range of intervention types. There are four main groups, with sub-categories: (i) strengthening communities, (ii) volunteer and peer roles, (iii) collaborations and partnerships and (iv) access to community resources. Each group is differentiated using key concepts and theoretical justifications around increasing equity, control and social connectedness. An open access bibliography is available to accompany the framework. The paper discusses the application of the family of community-centred approaches as a flexible planning tool for health promotion practice and its potential to be used as a framework for organizing and synthesizing evidence from a range of participatory methods.

This paper examines processes of habit reshuffling and change in different contexts of household formation, looking specifically at habits regarding eating and commensality. It is based on a study of 14 couples, each with one English and one French partner, half of whom live in France, half in England. We examine the interplay between partners, their determination to eat together as a couple, and the various ‘orders’ associated with their commensal pact (diets, routines, extra-marital commensality), both when they start as couples and as parents of young children. We draw on the specificity of cross-national couple experience to cast light on processes of adjustment – to one another, and to the new country of residence for the migrant partner. In particular, we explore the potential of notions of ‘split’ and ‘solid’ ‘patrimonies of incorporated habits’, ‘re-shuffling’ of habits and dispositions, and ‘habit memory’, to characterise the dynamics of habits at play in each of the orders under scrutiny. Overall, the paper contributes to the analysis of habit as the ‘stuff’ of orders of everyday life.

This paper presents findings from a series of health-related studies undertaken between 2012 and 2017 with Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers living in different locations and in various forms of accommodation in southern England. These set out to develop a sociological understanding of the factors impacting on the health and wellbeing of members of those communities and to consider the extent health status is shaped by ethno-cultural and/or socioeconomic factors, and the interplay and direction of causal processes between them. The relative influences of cultural and structural factors in generating health inequalities have important implications for engaging marginalised populations in health services and preventative programmes. This paper will present survey and qualitative data on Gypsies&rsquo, and Travellers&rsquo, health beliefs and practices to understand how those beliefs and practices have developed in different social contexts as responses to deeper social mechanisms, and share commonalities with other marginalised and excluded social groups. In policy terms this indicates the need for health interventions that are applied proportionate to the level of disadvantage experienced thus ensuring equality and fairness while accounting for diversity and difference.

This paper provides an English perspective on school/university partnerships. It begins with an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of such partnerships, before examining the English school system and recent policy initiatives. It then outlines what an outstanding partnership might comprise, taken from a cut-short application made by one university to run its own University Teaching School. Finally the paper outlines some of the challenges facing extant school/university collaborations, before considering the possible futures for these partnerships. (DIPF/Orig.), Dieser Beitrag bietet eine englische Perspektive auf die Zusammenarbeit von Schulen und Universitäten. Er gibt zunächst einen Überblick über die theoretischen Grundlagen für solche Partnerschaften und stellt dann das englische Schulsystem und aktuelle bildungspolitische Maßnahmen vor. Anschließend führt er aus, wie eine funktionierende Partnerschaft zwischen Schule und Universität aussehen könnte; dabei bezieht er sich auf den Projektantrag einer Universität, die ihre eigene Universitätsschule einrichten wollte, die Bewerbung aber leider zurückziehen musste. Zum Abschluss geht der Beitrag auf einige Herausforderungen ein, vor denen aktuell Partnerschaften zwischen Schulen und Universitäten stehen, und erörtert die möglichen Zukunftsperspektiven solcher Partnerschaften. (DIPF/Orig.)

The paper argues that case study will need to play an increasingly important role in the evaluation of leadership development programmes as both formal and substantive theories of leadership place greater emphasis upon the role played by organizational context on leaders ability to bring about change. Prolonged engagement within a case study provides researchers with opportunities to capture the dynamics between leaders and their organisational contexts. However, adopting a case study approach is no substitute for inadequate theorization of the link between leadership approaches and leadership effects. The paper argues for the use of inclusive and expansive theoretical notions of leadership and its relationship to organisational context. The evaluation used to illustrate these arguments was based on a longitudinal multi-site case study methodology. The case studies ran over a three-year period and tracked the effect of 42 leaders on the quality of provision in some 30 early years settings. Both individual and collective theoires of leadership were used to trace leaders' steps, paths and routes to improvement. Three overlapping theoretical lenses were used to study the dynamics of these leaders interactions with a key aspect of their organisational contexts - the existing formal and informal leadership structures - and how these affected their attempts to improve the quality of provision of their settings. The analysis, and related findings, were tiered in order to provide progressively more detailed descriptions of the relationships between leaders' approaches and changes in their settings' quality of provision. Each layer of analysis operated with a causal logic that became gradually less general and linear and increasingly more 'local' and complex.