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Background: Mental illnesses may explain vulnerability to develop extremist beliefs that can lead to violent protest and terrorism. Yet there is little evidence.Aims: To investigate the relationship between mental illnesses and extremist beliefs.Method: Population survey of 618 White British and Pakistani people in England. Extremism was assessed by an established measure of sympathies for violent protest and terrorism (SVPT). Respondents with any positive scores (showing sympathies) were compared with those with all negative scores. We calculated associations between extremist sympathies and ICD-10 diagnoses of depression and dysthymia, and symptoms of anxiety, personality difficulties, autism and post-traumatic stress. Also considered were demographics, life events, social assets, political engagement and criminal convictions.Results: SVPT were more common in those with major depression with dysthymia (risk ratio 4.07, 95% CI 1.37-12.05, P = 0.01), symptoms of anxiety (risk ratio 1.09, 95% CI 1.03-1.15, P = 0.002) or post-traumatic stress (risk ratio 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.05, P = 0.003). At greater risk of SVPT were: young adults (<21 versus ≥21: risk ratio 3.05, 95% CI 1.31-7.06, P = 0.01), White British people (versus Pakistani people: risk ratio 2.24, 95% CI 1.25-4.02, P = 0.007) and those with criminal convictions (risk ratio 2.23, 95% CI 1.01-4.95, P = 0.048). No associations were found with life events, social assets and political engagement.Conclusion: Depression, dysthymia and symptoms of anxiety and post-traumatic stress are associated with extremist sympathies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marginalisation of the visual arts resulting from the marketisation of education impacts young people's access to and interaction with culture on a global stage. In England this educational disruption is characterised by inconsistent access to arts‐based curricula and democratic pedagogies, where those from lower socio‐economic backgrounds are at risk of neglect. Influenced by this political malaise, I conducted microethnographic research examining how artist workshops shape the cultural interactions of children aged 11 and 12. The research aimed to provide new opportunities for participants living and studying in an area of deprivation in a South of England city with uneven access to broad cultural experiences. Situated in a contemporary art gallery over a two‐week period, the study interrogates how environmental factors affect children's development from a sociocultural perspective. By analysing conversations and art production, children's meaning‐making formations are revealed. Findings indicate that values underpinning the research partnership and performed by the artist are paramount in shaping development. In turn participants perceive themselves as becoming artists where the reproduction of social practices generates new knowledge and identities. Environmental factors disrupt participants' experiences of pedagogy exposing power and control at the heart of the English education system. However, with new‐found agency emerges a redistribution of power performed through dialogue between participants and the cultural environment, findings which indicate values and practices salient beyond Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws together the research findings from two ethnographic studies as a means to problematize the “silent period” as experienced by young bilingual learners in two English speaking early-years settings in England. Most teachers and senior early-years practitioners in England are monolingual English speakers. The children (regardless of their mother tongue) are taught through the medium of spoken and written English in and through all subject areas. Bilingual learning through the mother tongue is not only disregarded in most schools in England but even actively discouraged in some. Three emergent bilingual learners were re-examined as case studies. Suki and Adyta, of Japanese and Punjabi descent, respectively, and Nazma, of Kashmiri descent, were observed while they each negotiated new ways of knowing within and through an English preschool setting. Sociocultural insights into how these young children employ their silenced mother tongue to negotiate their learning creates a fuller and richer portrait of the emergent bilingual learner both in and outside of preschool. These collaborative research findings present the silent period as agentive and as a crucial time for self-mediated learning within the early-years community of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on case study research of seven- and eight-year-old children's discourse about reading. The case studies were selected to provide classrooms in contrasting neighbourhoods within a white 'working class' town in the North of England. Mixed methods were employed, but primarily the case studies were etimographic in character. A sociocultural perspective is taken, drawing on Gee's (1999) definition of discourse and cultural models. Two main differently gendered discourses about reading were encountered. The one discourse, dominant in the working class' classroom, was strongly gendered and afforded reading low status. The other discourse encountered in the 'middle class' classroom was gender-inclusive and reading carried high status. It is argued that the interaction between social class and gender is important in understanding children's discourse about reading. The idea of a classroom meta-discourse is introduced. It is argued that, when classroom meta-discourse about reading is intense and in opposition to the values and expectations of preferred school pedagogic practices, under some conditions children's classroom meta-discourse can influence classroom processes and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To explore experiences of the diagnosis and management of tuberculosis from the perspective of Somali patients and healthcare professionals involved in their care., Background: The Somali population has the third highest incidence of tuberculosis occurring in persons born outside the UK. Tuberculosis is a disease with sociocultural as well as physical consequences. Nurses should understand how the disease is experienced by people from different ethnic backgrounds to implement strategies for prevention and management of tuberculosis., Design: A focused ethnography., Method: Individual interviews with 14 Somali patients and 18 healthcare professionals with experience of providing care to Somalis were undertaken in 2008-2009. Interviews explored the patient experience from onset of symptoms to completion of treatment. Data were analysed using Framework approach., Findings: Despite presenting in primary care early, patients experienced diagnostic delays due to low clinical suspicion of tuberculosis among general practitioners. Although patients reported felt and enacted stigma, it did not adversely affect concordance with treatment. Patients were reticent about sharing their diagnosis among wider networks due to perceived stigma. Psychological support from families and specialist nurses was valued highly. Healthcare professionals perceived that stigmatization of tuberculosis was diminishing among Somalis leading to improved management of tuberculosis. Patients and healthcare professionals raised concerns about the longer term physical and psychosocial implications of tuberculosis once treatment was completed., Conclusion: Nurses have a role in promoting early presentation, timely diagnosis, and treatment adherence through supporting Somali patients and raising awareness of the disease among primary care practitioners., (© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)