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Aims: This paper focuses on the reasons for the under-representation of British South Asians in substance use services. Based on a small-scale evaluation of a substance use service that delivers targeted outreach support within two predominantly Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities in the north west of England, this paper contributes to the debate around how substance use services can best engage with young British Pakistani and Bangladeshi substance users. Methods: Semi-structured interviews (with six staff members, 18 young Pakistani and Bangladeshi service users, and 18 stakeholders and partner agencies), a detailed ethnographic observation of the service, and an analysis of routinely collected quantitative monitoring data. Findings: The paper highlights the importance of what Fountain terms low threshold/open access services. Alongside this, the paper argues that the building of trust and confidence in a substance use service is a key when it comes to engaging with young Pakistani and Bangladeshi substance users. Yet this necessary process takes time: something that is at odds with the current trend towards short-term funding regimes and 'quick wins'. Conclusions: The paper concludes by advocating the need for, not only a diverse range of engagement strategies, but also a longer term approach when it comes to developing and delivering substance use services aimed at successfully engaging with this particular group of substance users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing evidence base that recovery is contagious and its primary mechanism of spread is through peer champions and groups. This paper examines a model of peer-based recovery support services from Cumbria, England, that uses a hub and spoke method to create visible recovery while actively engaging with and supporting community growth. Three case studies are used to illustrate how peer engagement, using the principles of community connection and assertive linkage, can offer core resources to a local community. The key conclusion is that sustainability of recovery communities rests on effective community engagement and meeting the needs of those communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will examine students’ attitudes and responses to male sexual victimisation in England. In particular, it focuses on their thoughts, beliefs, views, and understandings of male rape. It does this by empirically researching male rape with the use of qualitative questionnaires, from 100 students of a university in West Yorkshire, England. There are some serious concerns that were highlighted by the findings. For example, the myths that “male rape is not a serious issue” and “male rape is solely a homosexual issue” (and more) emerge from the findings. This warrants close attention and analysis, given that students are a part of the community in which male rape often occurs. This paper outlines the implications of the findings. It argues that, in certain contexts, students’ attitudes and discourses about male rape are being shaped and re-shaped; this suggests that their thought patterns are fluid with regard to male rape, shaped by the contexts in which they are situated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drawing on data from in-depth interviews with refused asylum seekers from Zimbabwe and Kurds from Turkey, who have stayed in Britain as irregular migrants, this paper examines everyday lives, strategies and fears. The paper focuses on four main areas: individual experiences of the asylum system leading to irregularity; living as an irregular migrant with the constraints on economic participation and limited housing options; social lives, relationships and community activities alongside the ways in which decisions about social interactions intersect with irregularity and subsistence support; the fears and everyday struggles faced by irregular migrant's living in England, and the ways in which this translates into relationships with place and space. The paper draws out both the commonalities and the diversity of experiences among refused asylum seekers living in England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an action-oriented research study providing decision support to three local authorities in England on the prioritisation of public health investment and disinvestment decisions. We adopted a political science perspective, using the multiple streams framework to investigate the use of prioritisation tools in public health spending decisions at a time of severe financial constraints. The challenges and implications of their potential use in everyday practice were explored. Twenty-nine interviews were conducted before the targeted decision support occurred and 19 interviews after the decision support had been delivered. Interviews were held with locally elected politicians, officers and public health professionals based within local government, NHS commissioners and the local independent consumer watchdog for health and social care. Targeted workshops with local stakeholders were facilitated in each site by health economist members of the project team. Structured observational notes were recorded during these workshops and integrated with the interview data. Many respondents expressed an interest in prioritisation tools although some scepticism was expressed about their value and impact on decision-making. This paper analyses the enablers and barriers to adopting priority-setting tools in a local government environment that by definition is political. The findings suggest that the adoption of priority-setting tools in decision-making processes in public health poses some significant challenges within local government and that certain enabling factors have to be present. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the United Kingdom as elsewhere, children across the age range are now being adopted from care. Some of these children, by no means all, are expressing additional physical, emotional, behavioural and educational needs. In consequence, the government has introduced legislation and attendant policies aimed at providing adoptive families with support. In 2013, in the northwest of England, a specialist post-adoption support service was established, and an illuminative evaluation of its organisation and provision was conducted. A key theme emerging from the qualitative data concerned the difficulties parents had encountered in accessing appropriate support prior to the creation of the service. These difficulties have been interpreted as: uncertainty in defining the problems encountered and knowing which agencies and professionals to approach; ambivalence about seeking help; professionals' uncertainty in knowing how to respond; and the scarcity of resources. This paper illustrates these difficulties, then draws attention to some of the ways in which they are being addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper scrutinises the concepts of moral reasoning and personal reasoning, problematising the binary model by looking at young women’s pregnancy decision-making. Data from two UK empirical studies are subjected to theoretically driven qualitative secondary analysis, and illustrative cases show how complex decision-making is characterised by an intertwining of the personal and the moral, and is thus best understood by drawing on moral relativism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers pedagogy and outdoor play in the early years. The particular focus is on the specific features and benefits of outdoor play in the Foundation Stage (England) and Foundation Phase (Wales). The paper will draw on current international literature and evidence from outdoor learning constructed in an ongoing research project in two settings. In the project, children aged three to seven years are given regular opportunity to play and learn in natural wild environments. The paper will reflect on the development and opportunities for children's play themes and how these impact on pedagogy in early years settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights what psychoanalysis can add to discussions of reflexivity, by specifically describing how reflexivity is conceptualized and fostered on psychoanalytic observation methods courses at the Tavistock Clinic, London. It is demonstrated that this psychological form of reflexivity is relevant to empirical and conceptual work and shown that it shares interesting parallels with debates about reflexivity in social research methods, while also being able to contribute to discussions of what constitutes reflexivity and what kinds of methods course might facilitate it. Reflexivity is often discussed in relation to a researcher’s empirical work, but this paper argues that reflexivity is equally needed in relation to the academic context in which most research and learning takes place. This paper demonstrates how psychoanalytic approaches to learning stimulate a reflexive relation to empirical and conceptual work and it provides examples of reflexivity from a two‐year infant observation and a research project on romantic love (involving conceptual and biographical research). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Social capital has becomean influential concept in debating and understanding the modernworld. Within the drug and alcohol sector, the concept of 'recovery capital'has gained tractionwith researchers suggesting that people who have access to such capital are better placed to overcome their substance use-related problems than those who do not (Cloud and Granfield, 2008), leading to requests for interventions that focus on building social capital networks (Neale & Stevenson, 2015). While accepting that the concept of social capital has enormous potential for addressing the problems associated with drug use, this paper also considers its 'dark side'. Methods: Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with 180 participants including 135 people who use drugs and 45 people who formerly used drugs. Results: High levels of trust, acquired through the establishment of dense social networks, are required to initiate recovery. However, these 'strong bonds'may also lead to the emergence of what is perceived by others as an exclusive social network that limits membership to those who qualify and abide by the 'rules'of the recovery community, particularly around continuous abstinence. Conclusions: Depending on the nature of the networks and the types of links participants have into them being socially connected can both inhibit and encourage recovery. Therefore, the successful application of social capital within the drugs and alcohol field requires a consideration of not only the presence or absence of social connections but their nature, the value they produce, and the social contexts within which they are developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the use of a psychosocial approach to researching drugs, race and ethnicity. It produces an analysis of interviews with Bobby, a mixed-race man in recovery from addiction. Sociological and psychoanalytic perspectives are brought to bear on the data in order to consider the character of Bobby's opportunities, identifications, crises and resolutions. Despite the affective components of the wider discourse on drugs and race, the majority of previous research on the subject has focused on the production of rational explanations produced within objectivist epistemological frames. In contrast, the methods used in this project seek an explicit engagement with the irrational and unconscious aspects of researching these subjects. The paper concludes by reflecting on the value of psychosocially oriented narrative methods in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper raises questions about schools as positive models of caring societies. Against a background of growing concern for the mental health of children it addresses the centrality of ‘nurture’ and its close cousin ‘care’ as a whole school value, theorised as both a means and an end of schooling. How might school leaders communicate a principle of mutual care and inspire whole school commitment from staff, pupils and parents? Discussion is informed by qualitative data (interviews, focus groups and observations) from a comparative study of seven schools in the NW of England which use the principles and practices of nurture groups. Three demonstrated strong leadership based on ‘deep care’ and an emphasis on ongoing relationships with children. The paper concludes that leadership, as evidenced in the good practice reported here, can go some way towards bringing about the ideal of a whole school ethos of care. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers the complex task of working with adults with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour in a care home and the impact on relationships within the staff group and wider organisation. Examples are drawn from an organisational consultation to a home with a history of disputes, grievances and sick leave. The metaphor of ghosts is used to explore the processes by which the residents' own traumatic histories come to be played out by the care home staff. The paper concludes that an increased understanding of organisational processes in the residential care sector may help staff form more helpful relationships with service users and hence lead to better outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rationale for this paper is to enquire into the process of embodiment and moving of metaphor. A hypothesis of ‘surrender’ is suggested at the beginning and applied to two different research examples. The reasons for the original research were (for Research Example 1; Hayes, 2004, 2006) to see how dance students perceived their involvement in DMP and if they found any links with performance and choreography, and (for Research Example 2; Hayes, 2010) to record and question a somatic phenomenological process during preparation for and performance of a healing ritual. In this paper the author reflects upon these two research examples in order to attend to two questions pertaining to embodiment and expression of metaphor: (1) To what do we feel we surrender? and (2) How does surrender happen? Research Example 1 used a qualitative interpretive and grounded approach towards a multiple group case study (Hayes, 2004), while Research Example 2 is more recent heuristic research project (Hayes, 2010) in which the researcher's own immersion in metaphor is evaluated from an archetypal perspective. A key finding of Research Example 1 was that externalisation of personal feelings through metaphor facilitated group discussion of hidden interpersonal dynamics. A key finding of Research Example 2 was that movement metaphor was the key mode of travel into the archetypal realm. The author concludes that surrender involves three components: physical response-ability, sustainment of organic movement and sustainment of image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the diversity in patients' experience of biomedicine and contrasts it with the normative view characteristic of health professionals. Ethnographic fieldwork among Polish migrant women in London, Barcelona and Berlin included interviews about their experiences with local healthcare and health professionals. Themes drawn from the narratives are differences between the cities in terms of communication between patients and health professionals, respect for patients' choices and dignity, attitudes to pregnancy and birth (different levels of medicalization), and paediatric care. It is argued that patients continuously negotiate among their own views and expectations based on previous experiences and knowledge from personal communication; internet forums and publications; and the offer of medical services in the countries of their settlement. Patients experience pluralism of therapeutic traditions within and outside bio-medicine. In turn, representatives of bio-medicine are rarely aware of other medical practices and beliefs and this leads to various misunderstandings. By highlighting the pluralism of medical practices in European countries and the increasing mobility of patients, this case study has useful implications for medical anthropologists and health professionals in a broader Western context, such as raising sensitivity to different communication strategies and a diversity of curing traditions and expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sleep problems are common amongst people who use alcohol and other drugs, but treatment options are limited. This paper explores how people in residential treatment for alcohol and other drug problems perceived and described 'non-problematic' sleep to provide insights that might inform sleep interventions for this population. Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 28 residents (19 women, 9 men; ages 24–83 years) in two residential drug and alcohol treatment centres in England during 2014/15. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded. Accounts of non-problematic sleep were then analysed inductively. Results: Non-problematic sleep comprised three linked components: i. personal sleep patterns and routines; ii. sleep perceptions; and iii. sleep metacognitions. Some participants reported they slept well; others described their sleep as problematic but improving. Participants believed that sleep improved naturally with residential treatment and abstinence, but perceptions of 'good' sleep varied greatly. Participants used a range of metacognitive strategies (e.g. downgrading the importance of sleep; adapting their sleeping patterns; and focusing on sleep quality alongside sleep quantity) to manage sleep problems and render them non-problematic. Conclusions: Metacognitive strategies that focus on changing perceptions of sleep can potentially inform sleep interventions for people with a history of alcohol and other drug use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of migrant social workers are employed in the UK social work sector. This article explores the acculturative integration experiences of a small group of migrant social workers. We critically observe that research on migrant professionals' trajectories should adopt theories that emphasise people's empowerment and potential for agency. We use a framework drawing on liberation psychology for analysing the autobiographical narratives of a sample of migrant social workers employed in England. Findings indicate that the participants perceived prejudice on a number of occasions and circumstances. Even though in their narrative of survival they talked about activating several psychosocial resources, they were skeptical about their professional development and dissatisfied at work. The paper discusses the emerging findings while highlighting the framework's relevance for understanding these experiences from an empowering acculturation perspective and suggesting ways of improving migrant social workers' acculturative integration by addressing systemic barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sample of women ( n = 5) participated in a qualitative service evaluation concerning an open-ended, therapeutic group for women only. Data analysis followed suggestions by Halcomb and Davidson (2006). Main themes derived from the evaluation included: 'Groups are different from individual work', 'Belonging/ not being alone', 'Performance in the group', 'The group as a safety net', 'Life improvements and hope for the future' and 'The extent of emotional despair felt'. In this paper, several sub-themes within the main themes and relevant theories and implications for theory and service provision are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the appearance and subsequent disappearance of ‘Barrow Man’ and uses anthropological and social psychological theory to examine the socio-cultural, psychological and economic conditions for the existence of the phenomenon. It argues that these conditions were the result of both specific local labour market circumstances and of the effects of global political changes, and argues that to talk about ‘Barrow Man’ as if it was a psychiatric diagnosis was to identify a moral construct as a mental disorder. It also argues that at the same time the phenomenon was expressive of certain core values that were not readily acknowledged in everyday clinical practice and that it might therefore best be understood as an institutional category. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Young boys' ‘underachievement’ and their disaffection with learning continue to dominate education agendas [Francis, B. 2006. “Stop That Sex Drive.”Times Educational Supplement30; Peeters, J. 2007. “Including Men in Early Childhood Education: Insights from the European Experience.”NZ Research in Early Childhood Education, 10. Accessed February 4, 2013.http://stop4-7.be/files/janpeeters10.pdf; Lloyd, T. 2009. Boys’ Underachievement: What Schools Think and Do. A University of Ulster Research Project Funded by the Department of Education and Northern Ireland Office. November. Accessed January 10, 2014.http://www.socsci.ulster.ac.uk/sociology/research/y%20publications/Boys%20underachievement.pdf; Lloyd, T. 2011. Boys’ Underachievement in Schools: Literature Review. Boys Development Project. Belfast: Centre for Young Men's Studies, Ulster University. Accessed February 4, 2013.http://www.boysdevelopmentproject.org.uk/downloads/reports/Boys%20and%20underachievement%20literature%20review%20edited%20in%20pdf.pdf]. In recent years, there has been an eruption of government policy making and public discourse in England [Moran, L. 2011. Quarter of All Primary Schools Have No Male Teachers Despite More Men Entering Profession.Daily Mail, September 2. Accessed February 4, 2013.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2032970/Quarter-primary-schools-NO-male-teachers-despite-men-entering-profession.html#ixzz2JwpQjSL8; DfE (Department for Education). 2012b. Poor White Boys ‘Lagging Behind Classmates at Age Five’. The Telegraph, November 21. Accessed January 10, 2014.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9693409/Poor-white-boys-lagging-behind-classmates-at-age-five.html; PARITY. 2013. Is Action Overdue on Boys’ Academic Underachievement? Briefing Paper, March. Accessed January 10, 2014.http://www.parity-uk.org/Briefing/BoysEducPaperRev1b.pdf] calling for more men to transform young lives by working in the 0–8 sector and acting as male role models in an attempt to narrow the ‘attainment gap’. This paper critically explores the perceived qualities/characteristics of men who seemingly serve as ‘male role models’ by reporting on select doctoral research findings which sought to investigate the ambiguities of the male role model from the perspective of men who work in the 0–8 sector. Research participants were asked to identify the qualities/characteristics that they felt ‘male role models’ should exhibit for young boys in the early years (0–8). The qualities/characteristics identified were categorised by research participants as being ‘masculine’ (e.g. diplomatic), ‘feminine’ (e.g. caring) or ‘natural’ (meaning authentic). Whilst research evidence suggests that male role models will present a diverse range of personal and professional qualities/characteristics, it is argued that these are likely to be shaped by not only the needs and circumstances of the children that the ‘male role model’ comes into contact with, but also the expectations of others, e.g. parents/carers and staff. This paper argues that there is a real tension between those qualities/characteristics of the male role model that are created as a result of their personality/individual beliefs and those which are anticipated or enforced by others. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper contributes to the small but growing body of literature on the factors that influence the behavioural nature of planning practice. In this contribution, we specifically focus on fear and fearfulness as emotions that can be seen as having a significant bearing on the emergence of norms of practice. Using case-study evidence from England, we draw upon work in behavioural psychology to argue that in some contexts fear can become a natural reaction for planners; and that helping to create a more positive atmosphere for planning decisions—a space for hope—is something we should all consider important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people are at a high risk of developing mental health disorders or illnesses. Mental health promotion (MHP) interventions can reduce this risk. Using the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework for the development and evaluation of complex interventions, this study designed and acceptability tested a methodologically robust school-based mental health promotion intervention. A scoping review and focus groups with stakeholders were conducted during the development phase of the MRC framework. The scoping review involved identifying evidence for effective school-based MHP interventions. Focus groups were then used to determine the acceptability of components identified by the scoping review and to clarify the target or goal of taking part in the intervention. A logic model, showing the theory of change underpinning an intervention designed on the basis of this development phase, was subsequently developed. The scoping review established that MHP interventions typically focus on stigma and stereotypes, mental health literacy and knowledge and help-seeking, and use these foci to determine impact. Common intervention components include group discussion, videos, presentations, storytelling and handouts. Testing of these commonly occurring components targeting knowledge and attitudes towards mental health and stigma and stereotypes suggested all were acceptable to stakeholders. Using the MRC framework to guide the development and test the acceptability of a MHP intervention, this study has produced a complex evidence-based health promotion intervention using interactive activities and videos. Further phases will involve a process evaluation of the intervention fidelity and feasibility testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a pilot project to examine the concept of wellbeing as expressed locally by public reaction to the Peace Gardens refurbishment in the city centre of Sheffield completed in 1999. It was immediately popular with the public, but the aim was to find out what benefit people felt they derived from using the space. The study was conducted via a questionnaire delivered on site to pedestrian traffic over three weeks one summer. Over a thousand users of the space were asked one very simple question: How do the Peace Gardens make you feel? The authors' interpretation of the responses indicates a very high level of approval. Users of the space reported high satisfaction across four themes: wellbeing, safety, community and respite. While these findings largely accord with the literature, further planned city-centre development threatens the success of the Peace Gardens. The paper considers whether the planning of such spaces is designed to empower users to meet others on their own terms, or whether planners recognize that social needs require to be more controlled in busy urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the issue of the sexual needs of ethnic minority groups in the UK. Using focus group discussions with health service users and third-sector providers, it explores the perception of sex education by Black African communities living in a culturally diverse area in East London, focusing specifically on participants' understanding of safe sex, personal experiences in receiving health information, and the relevance of health-promotion messages to their health, social and cultural needs. The paper focuses on the views of the older population group, many of whom are parents; all were born and brought up outside the UK. The paper identifies a number of factors influencing the perception of sex education and health-promotion messages by study participants and discusses some complex interrelationships between the traditions and cultural norms surrounding their lives in Africa and the European context within which they find themselves today. We examine potential links between the levels of cultural adaptation and the perception of sex education in schools and clinical settings, and discuss implications of these perceptions for policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at hospital midwifery and birth from a psychoanalytic perspective. It is an edited version of a dissertation written for a Masters Degree in Psychoanalytic Observational Studies, undertaken at the Northern School of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy in Leeds. The paper uses observational material from four births to consider the emotional work of the midwife and the birthing experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this study were to examine the extent and nature of educational psychologist (EP) work related to children in care in five local authority educational psychology services in the south-west region. The study involved an initial internet-based questionnaire for the 107 EPs in these services (86% response rate), followed up by in-depth semi-structured interviews with four EPs in each service. This paper reports some of the findings from this study that show the range of EP work and their roles in regard to children in care. It also examines the kinds of issues and tensions experienced by EPs in their multi-agency work with regards to children in care. The paper concludes with a brief summary of relevant recommendations arising from the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is a threat to human health and life, both now and in the future. Despite this, studies show that the public typically do not consider the issue a priority concern or a direct, personal threat. Furthermore, few are taking any preventive or protective action. Previous studies identify direct experience as a major influence on risk perception, learning and action. Drawing on such evidence, this paper focuses on the intangibility of climate change as a key impediment to personal engagement and explores whether relevant experiences of flooding and air pollution influence individuals' knowledge, attitudes, risk perception and behavioural responses to climate change. Perhaps surprisingly, interviews and a survey conducted in the south of England indicate flood victims differ very little from other participants in their understanding of and responses to climate change, but that experience of air pollution does significantly affect perceptions of and behavioural responses to climate change. Air pollution victims are no more likely to cite pollution as a cause of climate change than non-victims; but they do have higher pro-environmental values. Respondents with these values are significantly more likely to consider climate change a salient risk and to take action in response to it. Therefore the relationship between air pollution experience and responses to climate change may be indirect and mediated by environmental values. The paper concludes by highlighting implications of this research for developing climate change policies and strategies for public engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports some of the findings of research which has investigated the inclusion of disabled children in six primary school playgrounds in Yorkshire, in England. Initially the paper sets the policy context before moving on to discuss the importance of play for children, especially in a primary school setting and particularly for disabled children in such a setting. The inclusion of disabled children is discussed with respect to a series of social and organisational issues and the good practice identified relating to these issues. The social issues include the relationships the disabled children have with their peers and with the staff. The organisational issues relate to the individual routines, moving to a new school, the benefit of staff experience and training, encouraging activity in physical education lessons which can be translated in to the playground and the benefits of extra time outside for some disabled children. All these aspects can influence whether all the children can go outside together—an important underlying factor for the inclusion of disabled children in primary school playgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The general public regard mass media as their main source of information about mental illness. Psychiatrists are reluctant to engage with the media. There is little understanding of why this is the case. Aims: The paper looks to explore attitudes of mental health clinicians and the media towards one another. Method: Media and mental health clinicians in the southwest of England completed self-report surveys. Results: Of 119 questionnaires returned 85 were mental health clinicians and 34 media professionals. Both groups agreed that stigma is a major issue and clinicians have a key role influencing media portrayal of mental illness. The media view their reporting to be more balanced than clinicians and lack awareness of clinician mistrust towards them. Those clinicians with media training (13%) felt significantly more comfortable talking to media and significantly less mistrustful of them. Clinicians who had experience of working with media felt more comfortable doing media work. Only 15% of media professionals had received mental health awareness training. Conclusions: Media training and experience are associated with an increased willingness of mental health professionals to engage with the media. Reciprocal awareness training between media and mental health professionals may be a simple intervention worth pursuing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gypsies, Roma and Travellers (GRT) experience a significantly high number of measles cases and have low levels of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) immunisation. There is little evidence on: why immunisation levels are low; beliefs and practices surrounding the MMR vaccine; or the factors that promote or hinder uptake. This paper presents data from five focus groups with 16 GRT mothers in Kent, South East England. Between them, they had 35 children of whom just under half had not received the course of vaccinations. Focus groups explored the issues GRT parents consider when making vaccination decisions in the context of wider social, ideological, material and practical considerations. Four interrelated themes were identified: way of life and access; engaging with health care staff; perceptions and evaluations of risk; and strategies to minimise MMR-related risks. Our findings provide little support for explanations that emphasise cultural values or practices in shaping immunisation behaviour. Poor service provision, situational constraints related to living circumstances, and multifaceted and severe health issues, which precede and inform decisions over childhood immunisation, were more significant in explaining low uptake. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, society has witnessed a proliferation of digital technologies facilitate new ways to monitor young people's health. This paper explores a group of English adolescent girls' understandings of 'health' promoted by health and fitness related technologies. Five focus group meetings with the same 8 girls, aged between 14 and 17, were conducted to explore their experiences of using health and fitness apps. The girls' understandings of the digitised body are examined through a Foucauldian lens, with particular attention to conceptualisations of bio-power and technologies of the self. The data reveal how the girls negotiated, and at times critiqued, the multiple health discourses that are manifest through digital health technologies and performative health culture. The results emphasise that individual-based applications (apps) remove the social and interactive elements of physical activity valued by the girls. This research highlights the possibilities digital technologies provide for health promotion, yet also illuminates the limitations of these technologies if used uncritically and inappropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often hindered by their carer status as they seek to obtain and maintain employment opportunities. These parents can incur financial, social, and psychological distress related to their inabilities to commit to the demands of a typical work environment. This paper seeks to identify the course of employment for parents following a child's diagnosis. This paper also seeks to delineate factors that influence continued employment despite carer status, as well as the factors that prevent continued employment. A sample of 10 parents of children with a primary diagnosis of ASD and a sample of 10 parents of children with a primary diagnosis of ADHD were interviewed concerning their employment experiences before and after the diagnoses of their children. The interviews were analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis and produced several discrete themes. Participants identified a desire for normality, as well as financial motivation, as the primary factors determining continued employment. These parents also reported various barriers to employment such as lack of availability of adequate childcare, colleague and manager misunderstanding, inflexible organizational policies, and inaccessibility of opportunity. These findings offer a qualitative overview of the vocational struggles of parents of children with ADHD and ASD while implying the necessity of support and education for this often-overlooked group of carers, as well as those who employ them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major shifts in the form and experience of contemporary family life has been the increasing insertion of the ‘expert’ voice into the relationship between parents and children. This paper focuses on an exploration of mothers’ engagement with advice around the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Much of the previous literature utilises a ‘decision-making’ framework, based on ‘risk assessment’ whereby mothers’ decisions are conceptualised as rooted in complex belief systems, and supposes that that by gaining an understanding of these systems, beliefs and behaviour can be modified and uptake improved. However, less attention has been paid to the ways in which mothers negotiate such advice or the ways in which advice is mediated by positionings, practices and relationships. Analysis of data from a focus group with five mothers identified three themes: (i) Sourcing advice and information, (ii) Constructing ‘Mother knows best’ and (iii) Negotiating agency. Despite the trustworthiness of advice and information being questioned, an awareness of concerns about the MMR, and health professionals being constructed as remote, ultimate conformity to, and compliance with, the ‘system’ and ‘society’ were described as determining MMR ‘decisions’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Historical studies have shown that, since its beginnings, sex education in England has mostly focused on ‘damage limitation’, emphasising only the dangerous inevitability of pregnancy and childbirth after unprotected sex and the hazards of sexually transmitted diseases. This approach is largely based on restrictive notions of teenage sexuality, characterising teenagers as hypersexual beings for whom sexual drives continuously threaten to produce unwanted babies unless preventive action is taken. Analysis of current materials from many curricular areas reveals that this is still the case. Yet, recent demographic evidence shows that educated women in Europe continue to delay first childbirth for a number of reasons. At the same time they are also subject to seductive and deceptive media messages about the possibilities of conception at late reproductive age through reporting on ‘older’ celebrity mothers, and the role that reproductive technologies play in conquering infertility. In the light of these demographic trends, and the misleading hidden curriculum, this paper contends that discourses of damage limitation are no longer appropriate in sex education. Instead, if educated women are to gain full reproductive autonomy then new, more balanced conceptualisations of sex education that also incorporate appropriate messages about the finite nature of the reproductive lifespan are needed. Not only will this help schools provide comprehensive, quality, progressive sex education, it will also ultimately contribute to future national health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article is an attempt to shed some further light on the people and the processes involved in the identification of mental deficiency in children and young people.∗∗ In order to do this, it turns away from the themes that have been most prominent in the historiography to date: elite and professional ideas, parliamentary and public debates and the formulation of policy. Instead, the paper is concerned with a single instance of diagnosis of imbecility in an 11-year-old schoolboy in a rural village in the English county of Hertfordshire. As far as is possible it reconstructs this diagnosis and charts and explains a remarkable and successful challenge to it in the High Court. In doing so, it draws on a variety of documentary records – educational, legal and medical – as well as the testimony of some of the surviving members of the family concerned. In employing these sources particular attention is paid to the actions of the people involved in diagnosis, and it seeks to explain and understand those actions with explanatory tools taken from cultural history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The drive to recruit more male primary teachers has been a longstanding aim of many Western countries. Within England the Training and Development Agency for Schools has undertaken a 10-year marketing campaign to increase the numbers with limited success. Researchers have attempted to analyse the reasons for this failure, considering many areas, for example, the feminisation of the teaching profession, the low status of the primary teacher and concerns about child protection. This paper discusses the findings of a research study undertaken by a group of providers of ITE (initial teacher education) aiming to examine current issues relating to the recruitment and retention of male students in primary ITE. Many similar studies have researched only the male 'voice'. However, in an attempt to explore any differences in contributory factors, the research reported here examined views of both successful male and female trainees on ITE courses and their course providers. The findings indicated that gender was overwhelmingly seen as irrelevant by trainees themselves. Where there was a significant difference to other studies it was that there was no significant gender difference observed in relation to concerns about child protection. The study also identified successful strategies for retention and completion. Within these there was however a gender divide and the research highlighted that some strategies were seen as particularly supportive for male trainees. Where this is the case it is important that providers/policy makers acknowledge these and continue to address particular groups' needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article surfaces, examines and draws conclusions on the varying perceptions, expectations and operationalised 'realities' of tutor and student behaviour in relation to reading lists. The argument identifies a paucity of literature on reading lists, but, nevertheless, locates a number of potential literature sources with which to inform the discussion. Field research using email and paper-based questionnaires with tutors and students from an English university were analysed in relation to the available literature. The article concludes that, in spite of the long-standing use of reading lists in higher education settings, tutor and student perceptions, expectations and behaviours in relation to reading lists diverge in a number of respects. The article proposes a need for a more open acknowledgement and discussion of reading lists, and develops insights into strategies and approaches for enhancing and reconfiguring their use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that, whether it is officially accepted in education policy and school curricula or not, where bilingual children are present in classrooms, so are their languages, and those languages are put to use in their learning. The increasingly sophisticated technologies of sound and visual recording have opened up new possibilities in revealing the sub rosa world of pupil interaction, and the part that languages play in the construction of pupil identities in the classroom. A detailed study of children at work in one inner city primary classroom illustrates the way in which pupil identities are jointly constructed through interaction. Children are not passive pawns in the socialisation processes of the school, but active participants, taking up different positions within the alternatives open to them through both pedagogic and peer discursive practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's knowledge of telephone discourse has been little researched, despite the inherent challenge of this mode of communication. Previous research has studied children's performance in artificial environments with children talking to adults, and has focussed upon children's deficiencies in telephone dialogues. In this paper we argue for the importance of pretence play in the development of discourse skills and present data gathered from spontaneous toy telephone talk in a themed pretence play setting. Evidence demonstrates sociolinguistic competencies displayed appropriately and supports Vygotsky's suggestion that pretence play is an important arena for learning within aspirational role realizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the familiar problem of students' understanding of elementary electrical circuits from a much neglected point of view. It is conjectured that the patterning commonly found in students' ideas might have its roots in the cognitive processing with which students operate their mental models of d.c. electrical circuits. The data are new and come from Japanese 10–11 year olds living in the UK. Progressive analysis of these students' answers to a six item test shows that the percentage of students operating particular mental models, following tuition, matches the percentages one might expect from a knowledge of their cognitive processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper firstly outlines some of the problems children can experience as a result of transferring from primary to secondary school. It then goes on to describe an initiative by the West Midlands Quaker Peace Education Project, Blessed William Howard Roman Catholic School in Stafford and its feeder schools to coordinate a secondary school preparation project. This involved special training for all primary pupils about to enter the school and a group of sixth formers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preference within the perceiving process (sensing or intuition) is one of the main features within psychological type theory that differentiates clergy serving within different streams of the Christian Church. Previous research has identified a higher proportion of intuitive types among Church of England clergy than among clergy serving within the Free Churches (Baptist, Methodist, Salvation Army). New data from 93 ministers serving within the United Reformed Church suggest that this denomination may occupy a position between the Church of England and other Free Churches, with 55% of male ministers, and 53% of female ministers preferring intuition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of parent-child relationships during adolescence has the potential to impact adolescents' mental health. This study explored how seven dyads (parent-child) might experience a two-component intervention (Method of Levels therapy-MOL and a parent-child activity) over four months. Following this, six dyads were interviewed and a thematic analysis was conducted. The most helpful aspect of the intervention for participants was the opportunity to talk. The intervention facilitated helpful conversations that increased participants' awareness and broadened their perspective on the topics discussed. This process helped participants find solutions to their problems. Young people and parents reported that the Shared Goals activity helped them improve their communication and relationships. Young people stated that MOL allowed them to figure things out for themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2005, reforms in the National Health Service in England, overseen by the British government's Department of Health (DH), have further stimulated a market by increasing the number of providers and encouraging patient choice. This study compares the DH's reporting until 2010, on its website, of ‘what patients want’ and the research evidence for its statements. It will consider whether the evidence is more ambiguous than the website summary implied; obscuring the voices of those with opinions running counter to patient choice, as the DH defined it. Finally, it reflects on whether there has been a subsequent change of approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological difficulties among young people are common. Various initiatives are being proposed in schools, yet no evidence-based data is available on how to address family difficulties (the most prevalent issues in school-based counselling). The current study examined the use of a two-component intervention based on the principles of Perceptual Control Theory (PCT). One is Method of Levels therapy (MOL) and the other is a parent–child activity (Shared Goals). Young people were invited to choose how often to engage in both MOL and the Shared Goals activity as well as the topics discussed during sessions for four months. Seven dyads were recruited and six were retained. At the end of the intervention, five young people were considered recovered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs Jungian psychological type theory, as subsequently developed by various type measures, to interpret and to classify the expectations of cathedral visitors, as assessed by the Visitor Expectations Type Scales 2.0 (VETS 2.0). Data provided by 1,278 visitors to five cathedrals in England and Wales demonstrated the coherence and internal consistency of the eight measures of the VETS 2.0 (designed to access introvert expectations, extravert expectations, sensing expectations, intuitive expectations, feeling expectations, thinking expectations, perceiving expectations, and judging expectations) and drew attention to the particular emphasis placed by cathedral visitors on introvert expectations, feeling expectations, and perceiving expectations. The VETS 2.0 are commended as providing a more valid assessment of the psychographic segmentation of cathedral visitors than could be provided simply by the administration of a recognised measure of psychological type. Such assessment has implications for the marketing and management of cathedrals within the tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study draws on psychological type theory to test the hypothesis that the appeal of the Anglo-Catholic tradition is connected with higher levels of psychological femininity. In this context preference for feeling in contrast with thinking is taken as an indication of psychological femininity. Drawing on data from 1,107 clergymen who participated in the Church Growth Research Project, comparison is made between 405 who identified as Evangelical Anglicans, 328 who identified as Anglo-Catholics, and 374 who identified as Broad Church Anglicans. While 47% of the Evangelicals identified as feeling types, the proportion rose to 60% among Anglo-Catholics. These data support the underlying thesis. However, the proportion rose even higher to 69% among Broad Church Anglicans. These data qualify the underlying thesis, and suggest that it is the Evangelical Anglican clergy who stand apart from a more pervasive appeal of Anglicanism connected with higher levels of psychological femininity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prescriptive outline that guides teachers on the use of Behaviour Policies (BP) omits to suggest whether BPs in Primary schools can be contextualised. This study explores to what extent Behaviour Classification Tables (BCTs) help staff choose strategies to improve behaviour. Using Context-Mechanism-outcome configuration (CMO) as the main structure for a realist analysis, this evaluation examines how the flexibility to interpret BCTs enables staff to support children throughout the school. Whilst the positive impact of adapting BCTs is recognised, it is also highlighted that a strict interpretation of behavioural expectations can hinder the improvement of behaviour. The benefits of using some aspects of the Positive Behaviour Support model (PBS) are identified through the analysis of one case study in a small school in the North West of England. Further research is suggested to design a model that sets behavioural expectations according to developmental needs and might be contextualised according to specific circumstances of individual schools. It is recommended that BCTs might be presented using colour coded diagrams and pictures to develop through illustrations an accessible definition of acceptable behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Banks v. Goodfellow [1870. LR 5 QB 549 (Eng.)] is almost 150 years old, yet still stands as authority for the principle that unsoundness of the mind will not rebut testamentary capacity where it does not affect the will itself. Readers of this journal would know that psychology has advanced greatly during this sesquicentenary, and yet the law relating to testamentary capacity has remained relatively stagnant. We review the present laws relating to decision-making for adults with impaired capacity, particularly in Queensland, and also review various models of gauging decision-making capacity in other jurisdictions. We argue that qualified experts should be enlisted to make determinations about testamentary capacity when questions of capacity arise. We also argue the case for the development of scientifically validated protocols to assess decision-making capacity in the testamentary context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]