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Background: Domestic abuse is a public health issue, and increasing evidence suggests that young women are more likely to suffer than older women, yet limited evidence exists in England about educational and intervention programmes for young women at risk. Study's objectives: To evaluate a gender-specific (women-only) programme aimed at educating young women aged 13-25 years about abuse and staying safe in one English city. Setting: A third sector (charitable) organisation, aiming to improve women's health in one English city delivered the programme over a 3-year period, funded by the Big Lottery Fund. Young women received both peer and one-to-one support, to educationally inform them, develop their skills and improve their capabilities in responding to abuse. Method: This qualitative evaluation captured the perspectives of young women accessing the programme (n = 33), exploring the positive difference that it made to their lives. We also captured the views of internal stakeholders in 2018 (n = 2), then followed up in 2020 (n = 3), and external stakeholders referring young women to the programme (n = 8). Results: The programme met its aims. Self-reported changes in young women's lives included increased knowledge about staying safe and being happier. Some young women gained or retained custody of their children, and others exited harmful relationships. Young women identified a range of mechanisms of success including a non-judgemental approach from workers, peer support and a trusted space in which to meet and learn. The programme increased young women's skills to stay safe while improving their mental wellbeing. Conclusion: The programme worked well for young women who accessed it. However, it could not reach all those in need, was only funded in the short-term and tended to individualise the responsibility for staying safe. Further research is needed in other community-based educational programmes to provide evidence of their effectiveness as well as transferrable models for workers in other contexts.

Social isolation and loneliness are reported as having significant impacts on health, especially for older people. Policy concern has led to the creation of interventions to try and tackle these issues, including the funding of community-based support groups. The National Lottery Ageing Better Fund, 2015–2022 supported voluntary and community sector projects across England, to work with people aged 50 and over to reduce social isolatioand loneliness, through the delivery of area-based activities. One organisation, adopted and implemented a peer research model named Volunteer Listeners, designed and executed by older people as part of their approach to their local evaluation of National Lottery funded projects. This paper documents the peer research model used, its challenges, and its successes, to add to the evidence base about the reality of using participatory approaches, specifically with and for older people researching a health and social care related topic. There are very few published studies discussing how and why older people become involved in evaluation work as peer researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health education has changed in many ways since "Health Education Journal" was first published, with developments moving the discipline forward in ways not envisaged 75 years ago. While there have been recent concerns about the decline in status of health promotion and linked worries about health education, the contemporary evidence base has grown to support the delivery of good quality health education and the development of capable and skilled practitioners. Pedagogy has further developed as well, and new technology now enables health education to have broader reach through online teaching and learning, social media and open-access publications. Global challenges remain, however, and the context in England is one in which both education and practice face major trials despite the contribution that health education has made by those educated and trained in this setting over a period of many years.

Background: Disadvantaged young women in England have been documented as having unmet needs. This has resulted in the growth of gender-specific intensive intervention programmes in which a more holistic women-centred service approach is implemented. Gender matters because structural inequalities (bias and disadvantaging societal conditions) that girls are born with influence health, their outcomes and associated inequalities. Aims and objectives: Policy-makers frequently call for the outcomes of intervention programmes to be quantified, and while this is important, it can miss opportunities for critical insights into the subjective experiences of participants as well as the context and circumstances within which change occurs. Methods: This paper reports on evaluation findings from a prototype project (The Way Forward) with a focus on holistic improvement using gender-specific methods and approaches to promote health for disadvantaged young women in a community setting. Findings: This paper documents the voices of young women within the project, illustrated through their creation of storyboards within focus group discussions and interview data from their support workers. Findings highlight the importance of the relational dimension of one-to-one support in achieving positive change in the lives of young women, as well as the complexity associated with efforts to improve their health.

The incidence and prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension (and their comorbidity) have been increasing in sub-Saharan Africa, including The Gambia. Diet is a critical driver of these public health problems, and diet-related health education is a major strategy employed for their prevention and management. The aim of this paper is to explore the lived experiences of diet-related health education among individuals with comorbid type 2 diabetes and hypertension in Serrekunda, The Gambia, a subject hitherto unexplored in the country. The study employed a qualitative (interpretivist) methodology. Thirty-two interviews were conducted with 18 participants, with most participating in two interviews at separate time-points between November 2018 and July 2019. In addition to participant validation, the two points in time interviews elicited more depth and provided rich data. The data were analysed using Braun and Clarke's six-phased approach to Thematic Analysis. Four main themes were generated in relation to the experiences: (i) one-off blanket dietary advice (ii) education in a vacuum (iii) diabetes-hypertension diet dichotomy and (iv) imbalanced power relationship. The study underscores the need for a reconfiguration of diet-related health education in The Gambia to include lived experiences as critical components of health promotion in tackling T2DM and hypertension. This requires an ecological approach, critical health education, regulations on unhealthy foods, and active participation of individuals as equal partners in health education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Domestic abuse is a public health issue, and increasing evidence suggests that young women are more likely to suffer than older women, yet limited evidence exists in England about educational and intervention programmes for young women at risk. Study's objectives: To evaluate a gender-specific (women-only) programme aimed at educating young women aged 13–25 years about abuse and staying safe in one English city. Setting: A third sector (charitable) organisation, aiming to improve women's health in one English city delivered the programme over a 3-year period, funded by the Big Lottery Fund. Young women received both peer and one-to-one support, to educationally inform them, develop their skills and improve their capabilities in responding to abuse. Method: This qualitative evaluation captured the perspectives of young women accessing the programme (n = 33), exploring the positive difference that it made to their lives. We also captured the views of internal stakeholders in 2018 (n = 2), then followed up in 2020 (n = 3), and external stakeholders referring young women to the programme (n = 8). Results: The programme met its aims. Self-reported changes in young women's lives included increased knowledge about staying safe and being happier. Some young women gained or retained custody of their children, and others exited harmful relationships. Young women identified a range of mechanisms of success including a non-judgemental approach from workers, peer support and a trusted space in which to meet and learn. The programme increased young women's skills to stay safe while improving their mental wellbeing. Conclusion: The programme worked well for young women who accessed it. However, it could not reach all those in need, was only funded in the short-term and tended to individualise the responsibility for staying safe. Further research is needed in other community-based educational programmes to provide evidence of their effectiveness as well as transferrable models for workers in other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health education has changed in many ways since Health Education Journal was first published, with developments moving the discipline forward in ways not envisaged 75 years ago. While there have been recent concerns about the decline in status of health promotion and linked worries about health education, the contemporary evidence base has grown to support the delivery of good quality health education and the development of capable and skilled practitioners. Pedagogy has further developed as well, and new technology now enables health education to have broader reach through online teaching and learning, social media and open-access publications. Global challenges remain, however, and the context in England is one in which both education and practice face major trials despite the contribution that health education has made by those educated and trained in this setting over a period of many years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empowerment is core to health promotion; however, there is a lack of consensus in the wider literature as to how to define it and at what level it may occur. Definitional inconsistency inevitably leads to challenges in measuring empowerment; yet if it is as important as is claimed, this must be addressed. This paper discusses the complexities of measuring empowerment and puts forward a number of recommendations for researchers and policy makers as to how this can be achieved noting some of the tensions that may arise between theoretical considerations, research and practice. We argue that empowerment is a culturally and socially defined construct and that this should be taken into account in attempts to measure it. Finally we conclude that, in order to build up the evidence base for empowerment, there is a need for research clearly defining what it is and how it is being measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Disadvantaged young women in England have been documented as having unmet needs. This has resulted in the growth of gender-specific intensive intervention programmes in which a more holistic women-centred service approach is implemented. Gender matters because structural inequalities (bias and disadvantaging societal conditions) that girls are born with influence health, their outcomes and associated inequalities. Aims and objectives: Policy-makers frequently call for the outcomes of intervention programmes to be quantified, and while this is important, it can miss opportunities for critical insights into the subjective experiences of participants as well as the context and circumstances within which change occurs. Methods: This paper reports on evaluation findings from a prototype project (The Way Forward) with a focus on holistic improvement using gender-specific methods and approaches to promote health for disadvantaged young women in a community setting. Findings: This paper documents the voices of young women within the project, illustrated through their creation of storyboards within focus group discussions and interview data from their support workers. Findings highlight the importance of the relational dimension of one-to-one support in achieving positive change in the lives of young women, as well as the complexity associated with efforts to improve their health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the United Kingdom (UK) in recent years, disadvantaged young women have been documented as having unmet needs and experiencing gendered inequalities. In response, UK policy-makers have funded early interventions for so-called vulnerable young women. This paper presents a feminist analysis of young women's talk about their journeys through a gendered intervention (Project X). Data were generated in focus groups during an evaluation of Project X. The focus groups were carried out using creative methods of data collection. The young women were asked to make a storyboard illustrating their journey through Project X and the impact it had had on them. They were then encouraged to reflect on, and talk about, their experiences. A secondary analysis and interpretation of the focus group data took place in addition to that required for the purposes of evaluation. This more in-depth analysis laid bare the various discourses the young women took up in order to make sense of their life experiences and their involvement in Project X. These included neoliberal discourse such as talk of selfimprovement, reinvention and aspirations of self-control. These are discussed with reference to the themes of choice and control, vulnerability, governance, and resilience. The social and political implications of the analysis are discussed including a key argument that the young women's discursive practices reinforce hegemonic gendered identities, neoliberal ideology and existing structural inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To draw on the authors' experience of research conducted with vulnerable young women to argue for the use of storyboards in focus groups. Background Creative methods are used increasingly in qualitative research to generate richer data and promote more meaningful participation. Discussion This paper discusses the authors' experiences of using storyboards in participatory research. This approach has a number of advantages such as promoting participation and engagement, empowering participants and enabling them to take more control over the research process. Conclusion Using creative techniques with more traditional qualitative approaches may create additional, in-depth data as well as increased participation. Such approaches could be of value in nursing research in which patients, clients and service user perspectives are often vitally important. Implications for practice Using creative methods in qualitative research promotes participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]