Safeguarding, Surveillance and Control: School Policy and Practice Responses to the Prevent Duty and the “War on Terror” in the UK

Background: People with diabetes frequently contact the ambulance service about acute problems. Overall, treating diabetes and its associated complications costs the NHS 10% of the annual budget. Reducing unnecessary hospital admissions and ambulance attendances is a high priority policy for the NHS across the UK. This study aimed to determine the characteristics of emergency calls for people with diabetes who contact the ambulance service and are subsequently conveyed to hospital by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS).Methods: A retrospective dataset from the NIAS was obtained from the NIAS Trust’s Command and Control system relating to calls where the final complaint group was ‘Diabetes’ for the period 1 January 2017 to 23 November 2019.Results: Of a total 11,396 calls related to diabetes, 63.2% of callers to the NIAS were conveyed to hospital. Over half of the calls related to males, with 35.5% of callers aged 60‐79. The more deprived areas had a higher frequency of calls and conveyance to hospital, with this decreasing as deprivation decreased. Calls were evenly distributed across the week, with the majority of calls originating outside of GP working hours, although callers were more likely to be conveyed to hospital during working hours. Calls from healthcare professionals were significantly more likely to be conveyed to hospital, despite accounting for the minority of calls.Conclusion: This research found that older males were more likely to contact the ambulance service but older females were more likely to be conveyed to hospital. The likelihood of conveyance increased if the call originated from an HCP or occurred during GP working hours. The availability of alternative care pathways has the potential to reduce conveyance to hospital, which has been particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Integration of data is vitally important to produce high quality research and improve policy and practice in this area.

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The changing landscape of OSH regulation in the UK: Achieving the right balance in policy and practice

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e561982013-006 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

David Hollis ◽

Stavroula Leka ◽

Aditya Jain ◽

Nicholas Andreou

Keyword(s):

Policy And Practice ◽

The Uk ◽

The Right

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The UK-10 25 mN power conditioning and control equipment

10.2514/6.1990-2631 ◽

1990 ◽

Author(s):

MICHAEL LOVELL

Keyword(s):

Power Conditioning ◽

Control Equipment ◽

The Uk ◽

And Control

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A positive psychology study and intervention on the well-being of French PhD students in biology

10.31234/osf.io/rht94 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Gabriel Marais ◽

Rebecca Shankland ◽

Pascale Haag ◽

Robin Fiault ◽

Bridget Juniper

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Positive Psychology ◽

Large Fraction ◽

Reference Sample ◽

Well Being ◽

Attrition Rates ◽

Human Costs ◽

The Uk ◽

And Control ◽

Health And Well Being

In France, little data are available on mental health and well-being in academia, and nothing has been published about PhD students. From studies abroad, we know that doing a PhD is a difficult experience resulting in high attrition rates with significant financial and human costs. Here we focused on PhD students in biology at university Lyon 1. A first study aimed at measuring the mental health and well-being of PhD students using several generalist and PhD-specific tools. Our results on 136 participants showed that a large fraction of the PhD students experience abnormal levels of stress, depression and anxiety, and their mean well-being score is significantly lower than that of a British reference sample. French PhD student well-being is specifically affected by career uncertainty, perceived lack of progress in the PhD and perceived lack of competence, which points towards possible cultural differences of experiencing a PhD in France and the UK. In a second study, we carried out a positive psychology intervention. Comparing the scores of the test and control groups showed a clear effect of the intervention on reducing anxiety. We discuss our results and the possible future steps to improve French PhD students’ well-being.

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When “Good Enough” Isn’t Good Enough: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Caring for Adults Using Substances at the End of Life

International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction ◽

10.1007/s11469-020-00445-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lorna Templeton ◽

Sarah Galvani ◽

Marian Peacock

Keyword(s):

End Of Life ◽

End Of Life Care ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Life Care ◽

Snowball Sampling ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Template Analysis ◽

Health And Social Care ◽

The Uk ◽

Key Terms

AbstractThis paper draws on data from one strand of a six-strand, exploratory study on end of life care for adults using substances (AUS). It presents data from the key informant (KI) strand of the study that aimed to identify models of practice in the UK. Participant recruitment was purposive and used snowball sampling to recruit KIs from a range of health and social care, policy and practice backgrounds. Data were collected in 2016–2017 from 20 KIs using a semi-structured interview approach. The data were analysed using template analysis as discussed by King (2012). This paper focusses on two of seven resulting themes, namely “Definitions and perceptions of key terms” in end of life care and substance use sectors, and “Service commissioning and delivery.” The KIs demonstrated dedicated individual practice, but were critical of the systemic failure to provide adequate direction and resources to support people using substances at the end of their lives.

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Rapid, remote and responsive research during COVID-19

Methodological Innovations ◽

10.1177/20597991211008581 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 205979912110085

Author(s):

Jane Richardson ◽

Barry Godfrey ◽

Sandra Walklate

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

Social Science ◽

Health Research ◽

Applied Research ◽

Data Gathering ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Research And Innovation ◽

The Uk ◽

Practical Recommendations

In March 2020, the UK Research and Innovation announced an emergency call for research to inform policy and practice responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This call implicitly and explicitly required researchers to work rapidly, remotely and responsively. In this article, we briefly review how rapid response methods developed in health research can be used in other social science fields. After outlining the literature in this area, we use the early stages of our applied research into criminal justice responses to domestic abuse during COVID-19 as a case study to illustrate some of the practical challenges we faced in responding to this rapid funding call. We review our use of and experience with remote research methods and describe how we used and adapted these methods in our research, from data gathering through to transcription and analysis. We reflect on our experiences to date of what it means to be responsive in fast-changing research situations. Finally, we make some practical recommendations for conducting applied research in a ‘nimble’ way to meet the demands of working rapidly, remotely, responsively and, most importantly, responsibly.

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An Investigation of the General Population’s Self-Reported Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance in a Cross-European Setting

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18052402 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

pp. 2402

Author(s):

Aaron Lawson ◽

Marie Vaganay-Miller ◽

Robert Cameron

Keyword(s):

General Population ◽

Hand Hygiene ◽

Disease Transmission ◽

Communicable Disease ◽

Hygiene Practice ◽

Hygiene Behaviour ◽

Level Of Understanding ◽

The Uk ◽

Travel Abroad ◽

And Control

Every year, thousands of people from the UK travel to other countries for work and leisure. Europe, and particularly Spain, is one of the most popular travel destinations for people from the UK. However, it is known that travel to other countries can enhance the risk of communicable disease transmission from person to person, especially when a new one emerges. Adequate hand hygiene behaviour and compliance is widely accepted as being a simple, effective method in preventing the spread of communicable diseases that may be contracted during travel abroad. There is a well-established body of work investigating hand hygiene practice and compliance in community settings, but no recent studies have examined the hand hygiene practice and compliance of the general population when travelling abroad or in a cross-European context. The findings of this study indicated that most UK members of the general population when travelling abroad have a good level of understanding of the importance of adequate hand hygiene practice and compliance and its role regarding communicable disease prevention and control. As such, self-reported levels of compliance were high. Similar findings were made for Spanish members of the general population. However, while self-reported perceptions of adequacy of hand hygiene performance were relatively high, particularly among UK respondents, this was not supported by responses specifically focused on hand hygiene behaviour. However, differences in self-reported adequacy regarding the importance of handwashing versus hand drying, the number of steps that should be followed and the length of time that should be spent washing and drying hands were found for each group. This suggests that self-reported compliance may reflect intention to practice hand hygiene rather than true compliance. It also suggests that there are gaps in knowledge regarding the adequate method of hand hygiene among the cohort as a whole, and indeed these differences may account be a factor in for the high transmission rates of communicable disease when travelling abroad.

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Military Veterans and Welfare Reform: Bridging Two Policy Worlds through Qualitative Longitudinal Research

Social Policy and Society ◽

10.1017/s1474746421000166 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Lisa Scullion ◽

Katy Jones ◽

Peter Dwyer ◽

Celia Hynes ◽

Philip Martin

Keyword(s):

Welfare Reform ◽

Longitudinal Research ◽

Military Veterans ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Veterans Affairs ◽

Civilian Life ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Policy Makers ◽

The Social ◽

The Uk

There has been an increasing focus in the UK on the support provided to the Armed Forces community, with the publication of the Armed Forces Covenant (2011), the Strategy for our Veterans (2018) and the first ever Office for Veterans’ Affairs (2019). There is also an important body of research – including longitudinal research – focusing on transitions from military to civilian life, much of which is quantitative. At the same time, the UK has witnessed a period of unprecedented welfare reform. However, research focused on veterans’ interactions with the social security system has been largely absent. This article draws on the authors’ experiences of undertaking qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) to address this knowledge gap. We reflect on how QLR was essential in engaging policy makers enabling the research to bridge the two parallel policy worlds of veterans’ support and welfare reform, leading to significant policy and practice impact.

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Establishment and lineage dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in the UK

Science ◽

10.1126/science.abf2946 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. eabf2946

Author(s):

Louis du Plessis ◽

John T. McCrone ◽

Alexander E. Zarebski ◽

Verity Hill ◽

Christopher Ruis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Phylogenetic Analyses ◽

Transmission Dynamics ◽

Genetic Lineage ◽

Size Dependent ◽

Spatio Temporal ◽

The Uk ◽

Lineage Structure ◽

And Control ◽

Lineage Diversity

The UK’s COVID-19 epidemic during early 2020 was one of world’s largest and unusually well represented by virus genomic sampling. Here we reveal the fine-scale genetic lineage structure of this epidemic through analysis of 50,887 SARS-CoV-2 genomes, including 26,181 from the UK sampled throughout the country’s first wave of infection. Using large-scale phylogenetic analyses, combined with epidemiological and travel data, we quantify the size, spatio-temporal origins and persistence of genetically-distinct UK transmission lineages. Rapid fluctuations in virus importation rates resulted in >1000 lineages; those introduced prior to national lockdown tended to be larger and more dispersed. Lineage importation and regional lineage diversity declined after lockdown, while lineage elimination was size-dependent. We discuss the implications of our genetic perspective on transmission dynamics for COVID-19 epidemiology and control.

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A Look Back: Church, state, and Kappan

Phi Delta Kappan ◽

10.1177/0031721721992557 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 102 (5) ◽

pp. 5-7

Author(s):

Teresa Preston

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

Supreme Court ◽

School Policy ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Religious Instruction ◽

Look Back ◽

Diverse World ◽

Supreme Court Rulings ◽

Role Of Religion

In this monthly column, Kappan managing editor Teresa Preston looks back at how the magazine has covered questions related to the role of religion in public schools. Authors considered how Supreme Court rulings affected school policy and practice, whether religious instruction is necessary for promoting positive values, and how to encourage respect in a religiously diverse world.

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