scholarly journals The United Kingdom and the Netherlands maternity care responses to COVID-19: a comparative study    

Author(s):  
Lauri van den Berg ◽  
Marie-Clare Balaam ◽  
Rebecca Nowland ◽  
Gill Moncrieff ◽  
Anastasia Topalidou ◽  
...  

Background: The national health care response to coronavirus (COVID-19) has varied between countries. The United Kingdom (UK) and the Netherlands (NL) have comparable maternity and neonatal care systems, and experienced similar numbers of COVID-19 infections, but had different organisational responses to the pandemic. Understanding why and how similarities and differences occurred in these two contexts could inform optimal care in normal circumstances, and during future crises. Aim: To compare the UK and Dutch COVID-19 maternity and neonatal care responses in three key domains: choice of birthplace, companionship, and families in vulnerable situations. Method: A multi-method study, including documentary analysis of national organisation policy and guidance on COVID-19, and interviews with national and regional stakeholders. Findings: Both countries had an infection control focus, with less emphasis on the impact of restrictions. Differences included care providers’ fear of contracting COVID-19; the extent to which personalised care was embedded in the care system before the pandemic; and how far multidisciplinary collaboration and service-user involvement were prioritised. Conclusion: We recommend that countries should 1) make a systematic plan for crisis decision-making before a serious event occurs, and that this must include authentic service-user involvement, multidisciplinary collaboration, and protection of staff wellbeing 2) integrate women’s and families’ values into the maternity and neonatal care system, ensuring equitable inclusion of the most vulnerable and 3) strengthen community provision to ensure system wide resilience to future shocks from pandemics, or other unexpected large-scale events.

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 609-615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Barber ◽  
Peter Beresford ◽  
Jonathan Boote ◽  
Cindy Cooper ◽  
Alison Faulkner

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 637-653
Author(s):  
Leanne Townsend ◽  
Koen Salemink ◽  
Claire Denise Wallace

With the pervasiveness of digitisation communications, those that are left behind are seen as socially excluded. In both academic and policy discourses, it is assumed that digital inclusion as a route into mainstream society is a desirable solution to problems of multiple exclusion and has led to many studies of the digital inclusion/exclusion of ‘hard to reach’ groups. Yet, Gypsy–Travellers, among the most marginalised people in society, have received little attention. Using data from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, we assess the impact of digital communications on Gypsy–Traveller communities. This article makes a contribution in the following ways: First, we address the theories of ‘fields of inclusion’ to show how exclusion and inclusion work together in different ways; Second, we explore how different policy frameworks in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom shape these possibilities; Third, we document the forms of inclusion that Gypsy–Travellers experience in terms of digital communications; Fourth, we look at how Gypsy–Travellers use digital communications to recreate their own cultures as well as selectively integrate with mainstream society.


2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Cotterell ◽  
Gwen Harlow ◽  
Carolyn Morris ◽  
Peter Beresford ◽  
Bec Hanley ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
M. Fisher ◽  
D. Coyle

A small scale survey was conducted among nurse educationalists within Wales as part of the ongoing monitoring of Welsh Office targets for learning disability nursing. This survey showed that there has been very little service user involvement in professional nurse education in Wales. The authors discuss the possible reasons for such low level involvement. Examples of involvement of people with learning disabilities are compared to the much more favourable situation within the mental health field. Possible reasons for the barriers to progress in this area are discussed. The history of service user involvement and the development of advocacy both within the UK and other countries is also highlighted. The impact of various government initiatives on this situation is considered.


Author(s):  
Alida J. van der Ham ◽  
Laura S. Shields ◽  
Roddy van der Horst ◽  
Jacqueline E. W. Broerse ◽  
Maurits W. van Tulder

Author(s):  
Jan Wallcraft

This chapter traces the development of service user involvement in research and user-controlled research, from its origins in the early 1990s to the present day where mental health researchers are expected to involve service users. It looks at why service users wanted to be involved in research and their issues of concern, including the effects of treatment, staff attitudes, and human rights. Values in research are linked to the epistemological underpinnings of research, and it is argued that service users’ ways of knowing based on experience are in conflict with mainstream research based on claims of objectivity and neutrality. Service user involvement at all levels from consultation to control is explored with examples. The benefits and problems of working in partnership are explored, and the chapter ends with an assessment of the impact of involvement in research and how it can lead to change.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 208-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Lea ◽  
Sue Holttum ◽  
Anne Cooke ◽  
Linda Riley

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of service user involvement in mental health training but little is known about what staff, trainees and service users themselves want to achieve. Design/methodology/approach Three separate focus groups were held with service users, training staff and trainees associated with a clinical psychology training programme. Thematic analysis was used to identify aims for involvement. Findings All groups wanted to ensure that future professionals “remained human” in the way they relate to people who use services. Service user and carer involvement was seen as a way of achieving this and mitigating the problem of “them and us thinking”. The authors found that groups had some aims in common and others that were unique. Service users highlighted the aim of achieving equality with mental health professionals as an outcome of their involvement in teaching. Research limitations/implications The samples were small and from one programme. Practical implications Common aims can be highlighted to foster collaborative working. However, the findings suggest that service users and carers, staff and trainees may also have different priorities for learning. These need to be recognised and addressed by mental health educators. Originality/value This was the first study to explore in depth the differing aims of different stakeholder groups for service user involvement. Clarification of aims is a vital first step in developing any future measure of the impact of service user involvement on mental health practice.


Author(s):  
Shaoxiong Sun ◽  
Amos A Folarin ◽  
Yatharth Ranjan ◽  
Zulqarnain Rashid ◽  
Pauline Conde ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND In the absence of a vaccine or effective treatment for COVID-19, countries have adopted nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as social distancing and full lockdown. An objective and quantitative means of passively monitoring the impact and response of these interventions at a local level is needed. OBJECTIVE We aim to explore the utility of the recently developed open-source mobile health platform Remote Assessment of Disease and Relapse (RADAR)–base as a toolbox to rapidly test the effect and response to NPIs intended to limit the spread of COVID-19. METHODS We analyzed data extracted from smartphone and wearable devices, and managed by the RADAR-base from 1062 participants recruited in Italy, Spain, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. We derived nine features on a daily basis including time spent at home, maximum distance travelled from home, the maximum number of Bluetooth-enabled nearby devices (as a proxy for physical distancing), step count, average heart rate, sleep duration, bedtime, phone unlock duration, and social app use duration. We performed Kruskal-Wallis tests followed by post hoc Dunn tests to assess differences in these features among baseline, prelockdown, and during lockdown periods. We also studied behavioral differences by age, gender, BMI, and educational background. RESULTS We were able to quantify expected changes in time spent at home, distance travelled, and the number of nearby Bluetooth-enabled devices between prelockdown and during lockdown periods (<i>P</i>&lt;.001 for all five countries). We saw reduced sociality as measured through mobility features and increased virtual sociality through phone use. People were more active on their phones (<i>P</i>&lt;.001 for Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom), spending more time using social media apps (<i>P</i>&lt;.001 for Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands), particularly around major news events. Furthermore, participants had a lower heart rate (<i>P</i>&lt;.001 for Italy and Spain; <i>P</i>=.02 for Denmark), went to bed later (<i>P</i>&lt;.001 for Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands), and slept more (<i>P</i>&lt;.001 for Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom). We also found that young people had longer homestay than older people during the lockdown and fewer daily steps. Although there was no significant difference between the high and low BMI groups in time spent at home, the low BMI group walked more. CONCLUSIONS RADAR-base, a freely deployable data collection platform leveraging data from wearables and mobile technologies, can be used to rapidly quantify and provide a holistic view of behavioral changes in response to public health interventions as a result of infectious outbreaks such as COVID-19. RADAR-base may be a viable approach to implementing an early warning system for passively assessing the local compliance to interventions in epidemics and pandemics, and could help countries ease out of lockdown.


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