scholarly journals Development of the Carers’ Alert Thermometer for Young Carers (CAT-YC) to Identify and Screen the Support Needs of Young Carers: A Mixed Method Consensus Study

Author(s):  
Lynn Kettell ◽  
Mary R. O’Brien ◽  
Barbara A. Jack ◽  
Katherine Knighting

AbstractThis paper reports on a multi-phased, mixed-method consensus-based study conducted with young carers in the UK aged 11–18, and health, social care and education professionals from the UK, USA and Canada, to identify priority items for inclusion in a short screening tool for use with young carers of a family member with a progressive or long-term illness or disability. Following ethical approval from University and local Research Ethics Committees, qualitative and quantitative data were collected between 2017 and 2019 from 267 people (107 young carers; 160 professionals), through interviews, a focus group, a Delphi survey, consensus group meetings and consultations. Qualitative data were analysed thematically, and quantitative data were analysed using measures of central tendency, frequency and levels of dispersion. The resulting Carers’ Alert Thermometer (CAT-YC) contains an identification question followed by ten areas of need across two themes of ‘current caring situation’ and ‘carer’s health and wellbeing,’ along with guidance for possible next steps and space for an action plan to be jointly agreed between the screener and young carer. Preliminary piloting of the CAT-YC provides evidence of identifying and monitoring needs, and is expected to be useful for young carers, a wide range of professionals, and organisations that support young carers.

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. e034936
Author(s):  
Gianpaolo Fusari ◽  
Ella Gibbs ◽  
Lily Hoskin ◽  
Daniel Dickens ◽  
Melanie Leis ◽  
...  

IntroductionArm weakness is a common problem after stroke (affecting 450 000 people in the UK) leading to loss of independence. Repetitive activity is critical for recovery but research shows people struggle with knowing what or how much to do, and keeping track of progress. Working with more than 100 therapists (occupational therapists and physiotherapists) and patients with stroke, we codeveloped the OnTrack intervention—consisting of software for smart devices and coaching support—that has the potential to address this problem. This is a protocol to assess the feasibility of OnTrack for evaluation in a randomised control trial.Methods and analysisA mixed-method, single-arm study design will be used to evaluate the feasibility of OnTrack for hospital and community use. A minimum sample of 12 participants from a stroke unit will be involved in the study for 14 weeks. During week 1, 8 and 14 participants will complete assessments relating to their arm function, arm impairment and activation. During weeks 2–13, participants will use OnTrack to track their arm movement in real time, receive motivational messages and face-to-face sessions to address problems, gain feedback on activity and receive self-management skills coaching. All equipment will be loaned to study participants. A parallel process evaluation will be conducted to assess the intervention’s fidelity, dose and reach, using a mixed-method approach. A public and patient involvement group will oversee the study and help with interpretation and dissemination of qualitative and quantitative data findings.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval granted by the National Health Service Health Research Authority, Health and Care Research Wales, and the London—Surrey Research Ethics Committee (ref. 19/LO/0881). Trial results will be submitted for publication in peer review journals, presented at international conferences and disseminated among stroke communities. The results of this trial will inform development of a definitive trial.Trial registration numberNCT03944486.


1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Cooper ◽  
B. Green

The UK Water Industry first became interested in Reed Bed Treatment Systems for sewage in 1985. Early problems were experienced with soil-based horizontal-flow systems of the Root Zone type. The problems were overcome by national co-ordination of a development programme and international co-operation by an EC Expert Contact Group. A number of different types of systems have now been developed and the systems are now being accepted. The paper reviews the development of these systems for secondary and tertiary treatment and nitrification and mentions development of systems for other forms of treatment. The design changes made to overcome the problems are described. These include the gradual move to the use of gravel-based systems because of the difficulty experienced with over-land flow in the soil systems. The sizing of the systems is described together with performance data for the original horizontal-flow and the more recently developed vertical-flow systems. Treatment at secondary and tertiary levels is illustrated and the potential for nitrification. Early problems with reed growth have been overcome by planting with port-grown seedlings. After 10 years the process is generally accepted by the Water Industry as an appropriate treatment for villages and there are now between 200 and 300 systems in operation.


1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Botterweg ◽  
D. W. Rodda

An Internationally funded Programme, involving the European Commission, the Global Environment Facility managed by UN Development Programme, the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is addressing river basin problems in a unique situation. The solution of these should lead to the prevention of pollution and better water quality, protected ecosystems, sustainable water resources and more efficient sewerage and waste water treatment facilities for the 90 million population living in the region and the reduction of pollution impact on the Black Sea into which the Danube River flows. The paper introduces current Programme activities, the challenges being met and progress. Work is described for implementing a monitoring strategy, an accident emergency warning system and implementation of the 1994 Strategic Action Plan. The applied research activity is explained. The Programme is a major activity with many elements addressing a wide range of environmental problems in the catchment of a major international waterway.


Author(s):  
Simeon J. Yates ◽  
Jordana Blejmar

Two workshops were part of the final steps in the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) commissioned Ways of Being in a Digital Age project that is the basis for this Handbook. The ESRC project team coordinated one with the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (ESRC-DSTL) Workshop, “The automation of future roles”; and one with the US National Science Foundation (ESRC-NSF) Workshop, “Changing work, changing lives in the new technological world.” Both workshops sought to explore the key future social science research questions arising for ever greater levels of automation, use of artificial intelligence, and the augmentation of human activity. Participants represented a wide range of disciplinary, professional, government, and nonprofit expertise. This chapter summarizes the separate and then integrated results. First, it summarizes the central social and economic context, the method and project context, and some basic definitional issues. It then identifies 11 priority areas needing further research work that emerged from the intense interactions, discussions, debates, clustering analyses, and integration activities during and after the two workshops. Throughout, it summarizes how subcategories of issues within each cluster relate to central issues (e.g., from users to global to methods) and levels of impacts (from wider social to community and organizational to individual experiences and understandings). Subsections briefly describe each of these 11 areas and their cross-cutting issues and levels. Finally, it provides a detailed Appendix of all the areas, subareas, and their specific questions.


Author(s):  
Pete Dale

Numerous claims have been made by a wide range of commentators that punk is somehow “a folk music” of some kind. Doubtless there are several continuities. Indeed, both tend to encourage amateur music-making, both often have affiliations with the Left, and both emerge at least partly from a collective/anti-competitive approach to music-making. However, there are also significant tensions between punk and folk as ideas/ideals and as applied in practice. Most obviously, punk makes claims to a “year zero” creativity (despite inevitably offering re-presentation of at least some existing elements in every instance), whereas folk music is supposed to carry forward a tradition (which, thankfully, is more recognized in recent decades as a subject-to-change “living tradition” than was the case in folk’s more purist periods). Politically, meanwhile, postwar folk has tended more toward a socialist and/or Marxist orientation, both in the US and UK, whereas punk has at least rhetorically claimed to be in favor of “anarchy” (in the UK, in particular). Collective creativity and competitive tendencies also differ between the two (perceived) genre areas. Although the folk scene’s “floor singer” tradition offers a dispersal of expressive opportunity comparable in some ways to the “anyone can do it” idea that gets associated with punk, the creative expectation of the individual within the group differs between the two. Punk has some similarities to folk, then, but there are tensions, too, and these are well worth examining if one is serious about testing out the common claim, in both folk and punk, that “anyone can do it.”


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Rui Zhong ◽  
Dingding Han ◽  
Xiaodong Wu ◽  
Hong Wang ◽  
Wanjing Li ◽  
...  

Background: The hypoxic environment stimulates the human body to increase the levels of hemoglobin (HGB) and hematocrit and the number of red blood cells. Such enhancements have individual differences, leading to a wide range of HGB in Tibetans’ whole blood (WB). Study Design: WB of male Tibetans was divided into 3 groups according to different HGB (i.e., A: >120 but ≤185 g/L, B: >185 but ≤210 g/L, and C: >210 g/L). Suspended red blood cells (SRBC) processed by collected WB and stored in standard conditions were examined aseptically on days 1, 14, 21, and 35 after storage. The routine biochemical indexes, deformability, cell morphology, and membrane proteins were tested. Results: Mean corpuscular volume, adenosine triphosphate, pH, and deformability were not different in group A vs. those in storage (p > 0.05). The increased rate of irreversible morphology of red blood cells was different among the 3 groups, but there was no difference in the percentage of red blood cells with an irreversible morphology after 35 days of storage. Group C performed better in terms of osmotic fragility and showed a lower rigid index than group A. Furthermore, SDS-PAGE revealed similar cross-linking degrees of cell membrane protein but the band 3 protein of group C seemed to experience weaker clustering than that of group A as detected by Western Blot analysis after 35 days of storage. Conclusions: There was no difference in deformability or morphological changes in the 3 groups over the 35 days of storage. High HGB levels of plateau SRBC did not accelerate the RBC change from a biconcave disc into a spherical shape and it did not cause a reduction in deformability during 35 days of preservation in bank conditions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 175717742110124
Author(s):  
Catherine V Hayes ◽  
Charlotte V Eley ◽  
Diane Ashiru-Oredope ◽  
Magda Hann ◽  
Cliodna AM McNulty

Background: The UK 5-year antimicrobial resistance (AMR) National Action Plan highlights the need to prevent community infections through education of children. Activities around infection prevention (IP) and antibiotics were piloted by UK youth groups in 2016–2018, prompting Public Health England (PHE) to develop a standardised programme. The aim of the study was to develop and pilot an educational programme on IP and antibiotics for use by community youth groups in the UK. Methods: A working group, including youth group volunteers interested in IP and AMR, agreed on the programme content through consensus, informed by the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behaviour model (COM-B). The Antibiotic Guardian Youth Badge (AGYB) included learning through interactive e-Bug activities on IP and prudent antibiotic use, action setting through Antibiotic Guardian pledges and consolidation through poster development. The programme was piloted and evaluated with conveniently recruited youth groups in 2019, including quantitative and qualitative questionnaire feedback from community leaders and children. Results: Fourteen youth group leaders and 232 children from uniformed Girlguiding/Scout groups in England and Scotland participated in the pilot evaluation, as well as two primary schools. Leaders reported alignment to the themes of their youth organisation, but struggled to teach antibiotics and antibiotic resistance. Children reported enjoyment and intentions to improve hygiene behaviour. Conclusion: Community youth groups are a suitable setting for IP and antibiotics education. The AGYB was officially launched in March 2020 and promoted for use with home-schooling children and remote youth group meetings to educate about IP during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
K Sørensen ◽  
A Koylyu ◽  
B Mikkelsen

Abstract Background Grounded in the last decade's health literacy developments; the work of the European health literacy action networks on measurement and NCDs as well as the newly adopted European Health Literacy Roadmap and resolution agreed upon by their 53 Member States in 2019, the WHO European Region continues its investment in health literacy. A WHO European health literacy action plan is under development to be launched in 2021. The action plan implies concrete actions for Member States on how to develop health literate populations and societies. Methods Based on co-creation principles, the development of the action plan is conducted by stakeholders from a wide range of fields and disciplines. Lead by the WHO European Regional Office, the process includes an initial stakeholder meeting, iterative technical consultations with experts and the wider stakeholder community and Member State consultations. The analytical methods integrate a SWOT-analysis, future scenario thinking and long-sight action planning approaches as well as application of health literacy analytics. Results The results of the initial analytical steps will be presented such as the SWOT analysis, the future scenarios and associated recommendations on how to create health literate populations and societies in Europe. Additionally, the outline of the draft of the European health literacy action plan will be open for discussion and input. Conclusions Through an iterative process, the European health literacy action plan is co-produced by multiple actors through a series of consultations facilitating ownership and accountability. The European health literacy action plan can be an inspiration and a model for other world regions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasina Stacey ◽  
Melanie Haith-Cooper ◽  
Nisa Almas ◽  
Charlotte Kenyon

Abstract Background Stillbirth is a global public health priority. Within the United Kingdom, perinatal mortality disproportionately impacts Black, Asian and minority ethnic women, and in particular migrant women. Although the explanation for this remains unclear, it is thought to be multidimensional. Improving perinatal mortality is reliant upon raising awareness of stillbirth and its associated risk factors, as well as improving maternity services. The aim of this study was to explore migrant women’s awareness of health messages to reduce stillbirth risk, and how key public health messages can be made more accessible. Method Two semi-structured focus groups and 13 one to one interviews were completed with a purposive sample of 30 migrant women from 18 countries and across 4 NHS Trusts. Results Participants provided an account of their general awareness of stillbirth and recollection of the advice they had been given to reduce the risk of stillbirth both before and during pregnancy. They also suggested approaches to how key messages might be more effectively communicated to migrant women. Conclusions Our study highlights the complexity of discussing stillbirth during pregnancy. The women in this study were found to receive a wide range of advice from family and friends as well as health professionals about how to keep their baby safe in pregnancy, they recommended the development of a range of resources to provide clear and consistent messages. Health professionals, in particular midwives who have developed a trusting relationship with the women will be key to ensuring that public health messages relating to stillbirth reduction are accessible to culturally and linguistically diverse communities.


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