Search

Introduction: Associations between structural inequalities and health are well established. However, there is limited work examining this link in relation to mental health, or that centres public perspectives. This study explores people's experience and sense‐making of inequality in their daily lives, with particular consideration of impacts on mental health. Methods: We conducted a peer research study. Participants had to live in one of two London Boroughs and have an interest in inequalities and mental health. Using social media, newsletters, local organisations and our peer researchers' contacts, we recruited 30 participants who took photos representing their experience of inequality and discussed them during semi‐structured interviews. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Three themes were identified in this study: (1) inequalities are unjust, multilayered and intertwined with mental health. Accounts demonstrated a deep understanding of inequalities and their link to mental health outcomes, describing inequalities as 'suffering' and 'not good for anyone'. Financial, housing, immigration and healthcare problems exacerbated poor mental health, with racism, gender‐based violence and job loss also contributing factors for both poor mental health and experiences of inequality; (2) inequalities exclude and have far‐reaching mental health consequences, impacting personal sense of belonging and perceived societal value and (3) moving forwards—addressing long‐standing inequality and poor public mental health necessitated coping and resilience strategies that are often unacknowledged and undervalued by support systems. Conclusion: Lived experience expertise was central in this study, creating an innovative methodological approach. To improve public mental health, we must address the everyday, painful structural inequalities experienced by many as commonplace and unfair. New policies and strategies must be found that involve communities, redistributing resources and power, building on a collective knowledge base, to coproduce actions combatting inequalities and improving population mental health. Patient or Public Contribution: This study was peer‐led, designed and carried out by researchers who had experiences of poor mental health. Six authors of the paper worked as peer researchers on this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I ask how parents understand and make sense of their children's relationships with social media algorithms. Drawing upon 30 think-aloud interviews with parents raising children aged 0 to 18 in England, in this paper, I pay attention to parents' understandings of and consequent approaches to platform algorithms in relation to their children's lives. I locate this work within user-centric research on people's understandings of algorithms, and research about parents' perspectives on data and datafication in relation to sharenting. Through my data, I draw out four modes – misunderstandings, parked understandings, transactional understandings and pro-active understandings. I suggest that parents' often flawed understandings of their children's myriad interfaces with algorithms deserve scrutiny not through a lens of blame or individualised parental (ir) responsibility but within cross-cutting contexts of parenting cultures and families' diverse contextual resources and restraints. I conclude by highlighting attention to parents' approaches to algorithms in children's lives as critical to parents' data and algorithm literacies. Prior State of Knowledge: Parents in diverse contexts try to understand and support their children's digital lives, and also often share content about their children on a variety of platforms. Prior research has shed significant light on the datafication of childhood. Novel Contributions: This study investigates parents' diverse understandings of algorithms underlying social media platforms and the ways in which they approach algorithms in their children's lives. Practical Implications: Parents' knowledge about algorithms and datafication is uneven. Policymakers need to better support adult media literacies, including data and algorithm literacies. Schools' communication to families and carers could also become key vehicles to raise awareness about datafication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing rates of gender-based and sexual abuse, coupled with a rise in misogynistic influencers online, have become a growing issue in UK and Irish schools. This paper reports on the findings of a postlockdown study in England and Ireland that piloted workshops on gender-based and sexual violence. While most student responses were positive, we found that roughly 10% of girls and 20% of boys were resistant. In this paper, we explore these critical responses, focusing specifically on male resistance. Our findings indicate that new strategies, which avoid the concept of 'toxic masculinity', are needed to help boys move from defensive to empathetic engagements. We also find that the neoliberal, meritocratic ethos of many schools has fostered a problematic framing of gender-based violence as genderneutral. We conclude that it is vital to adopt an intersectional, whole-school approach to educating about sexual violence, which acknowledges male victimhood, while also emphasizing gendered privileges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the creative group and individual interviews with young people aged 11–18 years old in England and Wales in 2018, this paper assembles data that addresses the changing nature of intimacies in young people's digitally-networked lives. Informed by Lauren Berlant's work (2008, viii), it maps how platforms such as Instagram and YouTube circulate certain 'fantasies of the good life' that orient young people towards heteronormative future imaginaries. It argues that publicising intimate relationships on social media works to both reify and unsettle fantasies of monogamy, marriage and domesticity by highlighting their inherent precarity. It also illustrates how smart technologies such as the virtual personal assistants Alexa and Siri reconfigure the good life fantasy. Moving beyond simplistic moral panics that seek to discipline young people's digital intimacies, this paper aims to engage with the nuances of young people's digital sexual cultures. Overall, this paper argues that attending to this complexity can enable practitioners to better attune to and support young people to navigate contemporary digital relationships and sexuality issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the perceptions and experiences of a group of extra care tenants, who, as novice internet users, began to maintain their social relationships online. Housing transitions in later life may jeopardise existing social relationships, leading to loneliness and social isolation. More recently, Covid-19 restrictions have limited familial face-to-face contact and wider social interactions. Thus, extra care tenants, who are not already online, may benefit from acquiring internet skills. This paper aims to enhance understanding of the participants' transition from novices to experienced internet users and the impact on their social relationships and sense of self. Design/methodology/approach: A longitudinal, hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted over eight months in two extra care housing schemes in north east England. Ten participants (56–98 years) with age-related physical, sensory and cognitive losses were recruited to the study. A series of semi-structured interviews and participant diaries captured the participants' experience as they developed internet skills and communicated online. Findings: All participants, including a blind individual, learnt to communicate online. Personalised adaptive strategies, peer support, training and management involvement facilitated internet uptake. Participants felt their social relationships were supported, and they regained biographical continuity, through being and feeling they belonged in the modern digital world. Originality/value: The online experiences of extra care tenants are rarely voiced. Their perceptions may assist others to engage online, maintaining social connections, which could otherwise be lost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociolinguistic research has demonstrated that 'urban contact dialects' tend to diffuse beyond the speech communities in which they first emerge. However, no research has attempted to explore the distribution of these varieties across an entire nation nor isolate the social mechanisms that propel their spread. In this paper, we use a corpus of 1.8 billion geo‐tagged tweets to explore the spread of Multicultural London English (MLE) lexis across the United Kingdom. We find evidence for the diffusion of MLE lexis from East and North London into other ethnically and culturally diverse urban centres across England, particularly those in the South (e.g. Luton), but find lower frequencies of MLE lexis in the North of England (e.g. Manchester), and in Scotland and Wales. Concluding, we emphasise the role of demographic similarity in the diffusion of linguistic innovations by demonstrating that this variety originated in London and diffused into other urban areas in England through the social networks of Black and Asian users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a growing body of recent literature that has examined the role of the police during the COVID-19 pandemic, little is known about police approaches to citizen-engagement on social media in England. Accordingly, this paper draws on robust qualitative research conducted with police officers and staff across England who utilised either official, semi-official, or unofficial police social media accounts. The paper illustrates how they understood their role on social media during the pandemic, and the opportunities and lessons that can be learned. Above all, officers and staff in the study reported that the police transitioned between three distinct stages on social media during the first year of the pandemic. First, they discussed the need to move police engagement with citizens entirely online when the first lockdown started in March 2020 to maintain contact, albeit under very restricted circumstances. Second, during the initial stages of lockdown, they believed it was important that the police shared content on social media on how to keep safe, although they also acknowledged specific challenges in relation to sharing visual content, details of coronavirus legislation, and government guidance. Third, police participants later reported withdrawing from discussing pandemic-related content on social media, and instead promoting positive and feel-good stories about generic police activity. These findings are significant because they reveal that social media enabled the police to maintain their relationship with citizens during the pandemic, although in doing so the police played less of a role in relation to broadcasting guidance and rules linked to keeping people safe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Big data research requires public support. It has been argued that this can be achieved by public involvement and engagement to ensure that public views are at the centre of research projects. Researchers should aim to include diverse communities, including seldom‐heard voices, to ensure that a range of voices are heard and that research is meaningful to them. Objective: We explored how researchers involve and engage seldom‐heard communities around big data research. Methods: This is a qualitative study. Researchers who had experience of involving or engaging seldom‐heard communities in big data research were recruited. They were based in England (n = 5), Scotland (n = 4), Belgium (n = 2) and Canada (n = 1). Twelve semistructured interviews were conducted on Zoom. All interviews were audio‐recorded and transcribed, and we used reflexive thematic analysis to analyse participants' experiences. Results: The analysis highlighted the complexity of involving and engaging seldom‐heard communities around big data research. Four themes were developed to represent participants' experiences: (1) abstraction and complexity of big data, (2) one size does not fit all, (3) working in partnership and (4) empowering the public contribution. Conclusion: The study offers researchers a better understanding of how to involve and engage seldom‐heard communities in a meaningful way around big data research. There is no one right approach, with involvement and engagement activities required to be project‐specific and dependent on the public contributors, researchers' needs, resources and time available. Patient and Public Involvement: Two public contributors are authors of the paper and they were involved in the study design, analysis and writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When transitioning from a familiar learning culture to a United Kingdom higher education (HE) culture, international students face a number of academic, cultural, and linguistic challenges. This paper considers the obstacles that international students experience and critically analyzes the use of social media to aid the academic transition of a group of postgraduate international students. Specifically, it analyzed the use of Yammer to support peer collaboration and communication to enhance academic development of a group of Southeast Asian international students undertaking an MA at a UK university in the North of England. The student feedback suggested that social support networks were important for academic engagement and development. This paper recommends more training on the affordances of Yammer, additional online tutor presence, and more scaffolded activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we examine education policymaking in England during the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on the period from 2020 to 2022. We argue that the pandemic, while obviously damaging materially, economically and psychologically, seemed to have provided a rare opportunity for a step change, a chance to recalibrate and reconsider values assumed as 'truths'. However, policymaking in England appears to have been driven by a desire to return to normal as soon as possible or to double down on control. Through a rigorous policy analysis of two specific areas of policy -- initial teacher education and inspection -- we review policy and ministerial speeches, as well as academic papers, media articles and social media blogs published from the start of the pandemic in England, to analyse the extent to which policy formation was reactive in an attempt to maintain a steady state and return as quickly as possible to pre-pandemic normality and to previously stated intransigent policy positions. We suggest that this policy formation reflects a broader trend in policymaking, which seeks to use power and sustain privilege, underpinned by a constructed evidence base, to present a particular 'truth' about what needs to be done to improve education outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: From 9th April 2021, everyone in England has been encouraged to take two COVID-19 tests per week. This is the first time that national mass asymptomatic testing has been introduced in the UK and the effectiveness of the policy depends on uptake with testing and willingness to self-isolate following a positive test result. This paper examines attitudes towards twice-weekly testing, as well as barriers and facilitators to engaging in testing., Methods: Between 5th April and 28th May 2021 we searched Twitter, Facebook, and online news articles with publicly available comment sections to identify comments relating to twice-weekly testing. We identified 5783 comments which were then analysed using a framework analysis., Results: We identified nine main themes. Five themes related to barriers to engaging in testing: low perceived risk from COVID-19; mistrust in the government; concern about taking a test; perceived ineffectiveness of twice-weekly testing policy; and perceived negative impact of twice-weekly testing policy. Four themes related to facilitators to engaging in testing: wanting to protect others; positive perceptions of tests; a desire to return to normal; and perceived efficacy for reducing asymptomatic transmission., Conclusions: Overall, the comments identified indicated predominately negative attitudes towards the twice weekly testing policy. Several recommendations can be made to improve engagement with twice weekly testing, including: 1) communicate openly and honestly about the purpose of testing; 2) provide information about the accuracy of tests; 3) provide financial support for those required to self-isolate, and; 4) emphasise accessibility of testing., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

In this paper, we consider educational populism on social media in England and Australia. In both contexts, academics are positioned as a key constituent of an unjust elite with previously voiceless teachers (UK) and students (Australia) framed as the 'just people'. While populism often speaks to nations and nationalism, as 'the people' against an 'unjust elite' or 'other', micropopulism concerns a particular community against an elite. Although educational micropopulism has been catalysed by social media, there is an underlying political project growing from the New Right coalition of economic liberals and social conservatives. New Right 2.0, a contemporary reformulation of New Right, has an agenda that goes beyond promoting free-market hegemony to promoting civic capitalism and exploits a hybridised media environment to set a policy agenda through provoking polarisation. While there are similarities in New Right 2.0 strategies in England and Australia, the key difference is the way in which micropopulism has emerged and how it plays a role in the hybridised media ecology. We develop a theoretical account of the phenomena of educational micropopulism and offer an understanding of contemporary forms of populism that reflect the sub-national as well as international dimensions of micropopulist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The containment of infectious diseases is most successful when at-risk populations have a high level of relevant health literacy (HL). To achieve this both literacy needs and patterns of knowledge sharing must be understood within the context of the disease being studied. It is also important to understand these processes from both offline (HL) and online (eHL) perspectives and amongst demographics with access to different types of information and social capital, and who have different levels of vulnerability. This paper discusses the insights gained over a series of 30 interviews with the UK residents aged either 19 − 30 years of age or older than 70 years—focussing on how they seek, understand, evaluate and convey information about COVID-19 during the current pandemic. Using thematic analysis, we identified themes around motivations to seek information, the information journey, digital choice and engagement, dilemmas and challenges of managing and appraising information, and sharing information. There was little difference in the eHL between the two age groups who both had high levels of education and were sophisticated digital citizens. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights three dominant processes in managing complex and uncertain information: some individuals may suffer from information fatigue but there was no evidence of any impact on their behaviours; others seek and share information across many networks; and there were strikingly high levels of distrust leading to complex processes of meaning-making demanding critical health literacy skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of disruptions to the organisation and delivery of healthcare services and efforts to re‐order care through emotion management during the COVID‐19 pandemic in the UK. Framing care as an affective practice, studying healthcare workers' (HCWs) experiences enables better understanding of how interactions between staff, patients and families changed as a result of the pandemic. Using a rapid qualitative research methodology, we conducted interviews with frontline HCWs in two London hospitals during the peak of the first wave of the pandemic and sourced public accounts of HCWs' experiences of the pandemic from social media (YouTube and Twitter). We conducted framework analysis to identify key factors disrupting caring interactions. Fear of infection and the barriers of physical distancing acted to separate staff from patients and families, requiring new affective practices to repair connections. Witnessing suffering was distressing for staff, and providing a 'good death' for patients and communicating care to families was harder. In addition to caring for patients and families, HCWs cared for each other. Infection control measures were important for limiting the spread of COVID‐19 but disrupted connections that were integral to care, generating new work to re‐order interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research goals were to obtain an understanding of who the users of e‐books in the NHS are, what they are using e‐books for, and when and how they use them. This article presents the methodology used and the findings from the research. It also explores the outputs and next steps from the research, both for the individual countries and collectively. The Five Nations group, (library leads in England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) commissioned research into healthcare staff use and non‐use of e‐books to understand the behaviours, needs and expectations of healthcare staff and to identify shared challenges around e‐books to inform policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Meals on Wheels (MoWs) could help adults with care and support needs continue living independently. However, many people are not aware that the service still exists in England, or that it could provide benefits beyond nutrition. Objective: Working with an existing advisory group of six people with lived experience of MoWs (an adult who uses MoWs and people who have referred a family member to MoWs), this work aimed to co‐produce knowledge translation resources (two infographics and a film) to raise awareness of MoWs and their benefits. Methods: Four participatory online workshops were held in May–July 2023, to establish perceived high‐priority themes from recent qualitative research that should be included in the resources, and preferences about message content, language, design, and how the resources should be disseminated. Findings: The most important perceived MoWs benefits that the group agreed should be included in the resources were: the importance of a nutritious meal that requires no preparation; the service's reliability/consistency; the importance of interactions in reducing social isolation, and; the ease to commence the service. The group highlighted the need for language to be nontechnical and invitational, and for images to relate to respective messages, and be inclusive of anyone who could benefit from MoWs. Several routes for dissemination were proposed, highlighting the need to disseminate to the NHS, social care organisations and community groups. Conclusion: These co‐produced resources could enhance adult social care delivery in England, as raising awareness of MoWs and their benefits could increase referral rates, so that more adults with care and support needs can benefit from the service. Patient or Public Contribution: An advisory group of people with lived experience of MoWs (users of the service and family referrers) participated in the workshops, extensively discussed the findings of earlier research, co‐produced the knowledge translation resources, and advised on the implications and future dissemination steps. The group also provided informal feedback on a draft of this manuscript. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The Social media, Smartphone use and Self-Harm (3S-YP) study is a prospective observational cohort study to investigate the mechanisms underpinning associations between social media and smartphone use and self-harm in a clinical youth sample. We present here a comprehensive description of the cohort from baseline data and an overview of data available from baseline and follow-up assessments. Methods: Young people aged 13–25 years were recruited from a mental health trust in England and followed up for 6 months. Self-report data was collected at baseline and monthly during follow-up and linked with electronic health records (EHR) and user-generated data. Findings: A total of 362 young people enrolled and provided baseline questionnaire data. Most participants had a history of self-harm according to clinical (n = 295, 81.5%) and broader definitions (n = 296, 81.8%). At baseline, there were high levels of current moderate/severe anxiety (n = 244; 67.4%), depression (n = 255; 70.4%) and sleep disturbance (n = 171; 47.2%). Over half used social media and smartphones after midnight on weekdays (n = 197, 54.4%; n = 215, 59.4%) and weekends (n = 241, 66.6%; n = 263, 72.7%), and half met the cut-off for problematic smartphone use (n = 177; 48.9%). Of the cohort, we have questionnaire data at month 6 from 230 (63.5%), EHR data from 345 (95.3%), social media data from 110 (30.4%) and smartphone data from 48 (13.3%). Conclusion: The 3S-YP study is the first prospective study with a clinical youth sample, for whom to investigate the impact of digital technology on youth mental health using novel data linkages. Baseline findings indicate self-harm, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance and digital technology overuse are prevalent among clinical youth. Future analyses will explore associations between outcomes and exposures over time and compare self-report with user-generated data in this cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet usage is a salient developmental factor in adolescents' lives. Although relevant correlates of Internet use have been documented earlier, there is a lack of information on lower socioeconomic status groups. This is important, as these adolescents have increased risk of negative online experiences. The current survey aimed to explore Internet use and parental involvement amongst adolescents from areas of socio-economic disadvantage in 30 urban schools across five European countries. A total of 2594 students participated, of whom 90% were 14–16 years. Virtually all adolescents of socioeconomic disadvantage had Internet access, with 88.5% reporting spending more than two hours per day online, often on apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube. Almost one-third of adolescents did not talk with their parents about their Internet use and almost two-thirds indicated that their parents were only a little or not interested in their Internet use. A consistent finding across countries was that girls more often talked with their parents about their Internet use and more often reported that their parents were interested in their Internet use than boys. The results suggest that parents have an important task in explicitly showing interest in their adolescents' Internet use, with special attention needed for boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies on the impact of Covid-19 on children's wellbeing have been published, including for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. However, limited evidence is available on who these children may be, their socioeconomic background, age, gender or type of school attended. This study examines the role of socio-demographic characteristics on the experiences of Autistic Children, compared to non-Autistic children, to assess the detrimental impact of the pandemic, but also potential silver linings. Primary-school aged Autistic children were more likely to mention a silver lining (for mental health), as well as younger non-Autistic children from more affluent backgrounds. Similar effects were observed for older non-Autistic boys with special needs attending mainstream settings (regarding physical health). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Worldwide, around 21 million children would benefit from palliative care and over 7 million babies and children die each year. Whilst provision of paediatric palliative care is advancing, there major gaps between what should be done, and what is being done, in clinical practice. In 2017, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) introduced a quality standard, to standardise and improve children’s palliative care in England. However, there is little evidence about what good experiences of palliative care for children are, and how they relate to the quality standard for end-of-life care. Aim: This study explored how the NICE quality standard featured in parental experiences of palliative care for children to understand what ‘good’ palliative care is. Design: Qualitative study, employing in-depth, telephone and video-call, semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, informed by Appreciative Inquiry. Setting/participants: Participants were parents of children and young people (aged 0–17 years) in England, who were receiving palliative care, and parents whose child had died. Results: Fourteen mothers and three fathers were interviewed. Seven were bereaved. Parents were recruited via four children’s hospices, one hospital, and via social media. Good palliative care is co-led and co-planned with trusted professionals; is integrated, responsive and flexible; encompasses the whole family; and enables parents to not only care for, but also to parent their child to end of life. Conclusions: Findings have implications for informing evidence based practice and clinical guidelines, overall improving experiences of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 measures which reduce interpersonal contact may be effective in containing the transmission, but their impacts on peoples' well-being and daily lives overtime remain unclear. Older adults are more vulnerable to both the virus and social isolation. It is therefore imperative to understand how they were affected during this period. Major concerns arising from the pandemic cover the aspects of mental health, healthcare utilisation and individual behavioural changes. Complementing the existing before-and-after analyses, we explore the impacts of easing and re-introducing COVID-19 measures by using a time-series data in England. The data was collected between May and November 2020 from the monthly surveys of the Platform for Research Online to Investigate Genetics and Cognition in Aging (PROTECT). Chi-squared analysis and interrupted time-series analysis were conducted to examine impacts of easing and re-introducing COVID-19 measures. Overall, mental health improves overtime but at a decreasing rate. The use of telephone/video consultations with a doctor or health professional presented a decreasing trend during the pandemic, whilst that of in-person consultation was increasing overtime. We observed significant variations in the time trends of mental health measures, healthcare utilisation and physical activity following the ease but not the re-introduction of COVID-19 measures. Future research is required to understand if these asymmetric impacts were driven by adaption of the people or stringency of the measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science–farming partnerships can improve our understanding of how land management behaviours sustain or enhance life‐sustaining soil ecosystems. However, it remains a challenge to establish partnerships between researchers and practitioners that complement the ways in which farmers acquire and value knowledge and can also advance soil science. A pilot study was conducted to explore these issues in relation to earthworm monitoring. It showed that farmers were interested in comparing their field results to research experiments to inform their decision‐making. Social media was used to support farmers' earthworm monitoring schemes, with a concomitant sampling of research experiments to create capacity for shared learning. Constructive feedback from the scientific community was sought using an online questionnaire. An Autumn 2018 survey generated 152 field analyses from farmlands in England, and 48% of participants' fields and the research experiment showed no evidence for earthworms being widespread and/or the presence of all three ecological groups of earthworms. A Spring 2019 survey generated earthworm population data from farmland soils around the world, amassing 11,464 earthworms assessed over 2,200 ha in the UK. A total of 12 scientists (from 30 questionnaire invitations) volunteered their time and expertise to support the survey. Conclusions helped to prioritise future improvements in earthworm monitoring, which should include photographs of earthworms for verification of the data, long‐term monitoring and integration with soil properties. Most (83%) perceived this earthworm survey would likely improve farmland soil health and so would recommend its use in the UK. The survey is being independently taken forward and used as a metric by both private and public stakeholders, demonstrating authentic knowledge transfer in soil science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we examine fire prevention targeting by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service in the North West of England. We examine social group, spatial, and lifestyle and behaviours targeting, and the targeted use of fire prevention approaches including home fire safety checks, community, and educational engagement events, websites, social media, and home fire safety self-assessment software tools. In particular, we examine the fire prevention approaches used by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, the approaches that were used to identify those most at risk of accidental dwelling fire incidents, injuries, and fatalities, and the strategies adopted for the targeting of fire prevention resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an NGO designed to support anyone who identifies as alcoholic to stop drinking alcohol. Existing qualitative research in this field has primarily reflected the experiences of those who have conformed to AA ideology and had positive experiences in AA. To address this, the current study aimed to explore the perspectives and experiences of individuals who have left AA with some degree of disappointment. The study involved semi-structured interviews with 11 ex-members of AA from America, Australia, and England, who were recruited from several private social media platforms. The study used an interactionist conception of social career involving conversion and deconversion, and data were analyzed thematically. Findings included that while participants experienced some genuinely positive aspects of AA, they retrospectively believed that they remained in AA because they had been indoctrinated into a particular way of understanding themselves. Moreover, findings highlighted participants' concerns with the people, ideology and practices within AA that ultimately led to their dissociation from the community. Our findings demonstrate a disparity between the idealistic principles in AA and the actual experiences of participants, and this is discussed in relation to the breadth of possible experiences across varying groups and AA's unregulated peer-to-peer framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: To explore what women aged below the national screening age in the UK know and think about cervical cancer and cervical screening. Background: The efficacy of cervical cancer screening is well established. However, cervical screening attendance in the United Kingdom has decreased, with especially low rates at the first screening opportunity at age 25. Research has not yet explored knowledge and beliefs underpinning young women's intention to screen before first screening invitation. Design: Qualitative exploratory study. Methods: Qualitative email interviews were undertaken with 16 participants, using questions derived from the Health Belief Model. Data were analysed using template analysis. The COREQ were followed. Results: Analysis generated three themes; (1) Learning about cervical cancer and cervical screening: sources of information and (missed) opportunities; (2) Young women know screening is important – but they don't always know why; (3) Screening intentions: a cost/benefit analysis of the available information. Conclusions: Young women had varied knowledge and beliefs about cervical cancer and screening which were underpinned by several sources of information available to them. Most women expressed an intention to attend screening when invited; however, some participants were unsure, with low screening‐based knowledge and low perceived susceptibility of cervical cancer identified as key barriers. Social media, familial interactions and interventions within education were highlighted as being suited to interventions aimed at increasing cervical cancer‐ and screening‐based knowledge in young women. Relevance to clinical practice: Findings suggest that women below screening age could be better informed about cervical cancer and screening. Tailored interventions addressing common concerns and misconceptions around screening may be acceptable to young women and could help to promote screening attendance at first invitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a widespread perception that there has been a collapse in court reporting in England and Wales as local legacy media struggles to survive in times of falling revenues and shifting audiences. However, there is little empirical evidence with which to examine the issue. This research aims to fill this knowledge gap by carrying out the first week-long systematic coding of the activity of one England and Wales magistrates' court coupled with a concurrent survey of local media coverage of the courts. While 240 cases were observed during the week-long study, only three stories appeared in the local press and only one case was attended by a journalist. Moreover, the research team identified a significant number of 'newsworthy' cases among the sample – all of which were missing from media coverage. Although small in scale, this research does indicate that, in an average week, the vast majority of cases heard at this level of the criminal justice system is largely invisible to the public, with virtually no independent oversight from journalism. This is at odds with the key principle of open justice. The article ends with some suggestions for regenerating the area by shifting from court reporting to a Justice Reporting model, with the ultimate aim of effectively filling the void in external scrutiny of day-to-day criminal justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiritual support is a key element of holistic care, and better healthcare professionals training and stronger strategic guidelines become urgent in light of health disasters and emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, the aim of this study was to explore spiritual support provision within mass and social media and the websites of spiritual leaders, institutions and NHS chaplaincy units during COVID-19 in England, between March and May 2020. A scoping review design informed by Levac and colleagues' five-staged framework was adopted, and adapted with a multi-strategy search to scope the different domains of online sources. Results revealed that spiritual support for dying patients, their families, health care staff, spiritual leaders and chaplains, had to be drastically reduced, both in quality and quantity, as well as being provided via different technological devices or domestic symbolic actions. No mention was found of a central strategy for the provision of spiritual support. This study points to the importance of developing centralized strategies to prepare healthcare systems and professionals in relation to spiritual support provision, both routinely and during health disasters and emergencies. Further research will have to explore innovative practices, in particular the role of digital technologies, in spiritual support provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]