Loneliness among people with severe mental illness during the COVID-19 pandemic: Results from a linked UK population cohort study

Aim/Goal/Purpose Population surveys underrepresent people with severe mental ill health. This paper aims to use multiple regression analyses to explore perceived social support, loneliness and factor associations from self-report survey data collected during the Covid-19 pandemic in a sample of individuals with severe mental ill health. Design/Methodology/Approach We sampled an already existing cohort of people with severe mental ill health. Researchers contacted participants by phone or by post to invite them to take part in a survey about how the pandemic restrictions had impacted health, Covid-19 experiences, perceived social support, employment and loneliness. Loneliness was measured by the three item UCLA loneliness scale. Findings In the pandemic sub-cohort, 367 adults with a severe mental ill health diagnosis completed a remote survey. 29–34% of participants reported being lonely. Loneliness was associated with being younger in age (adjusted OR = -.98, p = .02), living alone (adjusted OR = 2.04, p = .01), high levels of social and economic deprivation (adjusted OR = 2.49, p = .04), and lower perceived social support (B = -5.86, p < .001). Living alone was associated with lower perceived social support. Being lonely was associated with a self-reported deterioration in mental health during the pandemic (adjusted OR = 3.46, 95%CI 2.03–5.91). Practical implications Intervention strategies to tackle loneliness in the severe mental ill health population are needed. Further research is needed to follow-up the severe mental ill health population after pandemic restrictions are lifted to understand perceived social support and loneliness trends. Originality Loneliness was a substantial problem for the severe mental ill health population before the Covid-19 pandemic but there is limited evidence to understand perceived social support and loneliness trends during the pandemic.

Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Working Mothers in France

Beyond its devastating consequences for public health, the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on gender inequalities, labour markets and families. Compared to many European countries, the French approach to lockdown was among the more stringent, although the measures taken by the French government to support employment, to some extent, mitigated the worst effects of the crisis on families. This article analyses the implications of COVID lockdown restrictions on gender equality and well-being for couples with children in France. The study adopted a multidimensional approach to gender inequalities associated with paid work and various dimensions of living conditions, involving gender-differentiated access to personal work spaces in the home, personal leisure time outside the home, and local support networks during the first phase of lockdown (March−June 2020). Drawing on data from the COCONEL survey, carried out by the Institut national d’études démographiques on a quota sample of the French adult population in April/May 2020, the authors controlled for variables including socio-economic status, age, family structure and place of residence. The survey data were complemented by a longitudinal set of in-depth interviews enabling the research team to capture the differential effects of the pandemic within couples. The main findings indicate that, despite the frequency of dual-employment arrangements for heterosexual couple households with dependent children, French mothers were nevertheless more likely to reduce their working time and/or withdraw from the labour market. Within the households surveyed, mothers were less likely than fathers to leave the home during the day, particularly for personal leisure activities. The presence of children in households increased gender inequality in both employment and living conditions across all socio-economic categories. In conclusion, the authors consider whether the pandemic might have a long-term impact on gender norms and inequalities within families, and how the findings about changes in gender inequalities could be used to inform public policy development.

Solo Motherhood and the State: Precarity, Agency, and Post-Development Discourse in Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>The rise of the ‘precariat’ under neoliberalism has garnered the attention of development studies scholars. Drawing on and contributing to this literature, in this thesis I explore the lived experiences of solo mothers in Aotearoa New Zealand and their own precarity in relation to a neoliberal State. Through interviewing seven self-identified solo mothers in the Greater Wellington region, in this thesis I explore solo mothers negotiations with the State through the following areas: state welfare, child support, employment, and housing. I outline how the State often exacerbates the precarity of the research participants, but also highlight the different tactics the participants employ to enact their agency and push back against the State. Shifting the discursive focus of Development Studies from the ‘Global South’ to the ‘Global North’, the experiences of the participants highlight the very real issues of inequality manifesting in the ‘developed’ setting. Informed by the visions of the participants and the wider literature, this research contributes to scholarship in gender post-development studies, illustrating the need for a comprehensive, socialistic welfare state, and to methodologically see value in localising development research in a way that accounts for local complexities. In opposition to neoliberal discourse, this thesis calls for the valorisation of care work, to better account for the competing responsibilities of solo mothers and to lessen the precarity they experience in their everyday lives.</p>

Solo Motherhood and the State: Precarity, Agency, and Post-Development Discourse in Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>The rise of the ‘precariat’ under neoliberalism has garnered the attention of development studies scholars. Drawing on and contributing to this literature, in this thesis I explore the lived experiences of solo mothers in Aotearoa New Zealand and their own precarity in relation to a neoliberal State. Through interviewing seven self-identified solo mothers in the Greater Wellington region, in this thesis I explore solo mothers negotiations with the State through the following areas: state welfare, child support, employment, and housing. I outline how the State often exacerbates the precarity of the research participants, but also highlight the different tactics the participants employ to enact their agency and push back against the State. Shifting the discursive focus of Development Studies from the ‘Global South’ to the ‘Global North’, the experiences of the participants highlight the very real issues of inequality manifesting in the ‘developed’ setting. Informed by the visions of the participants and the wider literature, this research contributes to scholarship in gender post-development studies, illustrating the need for a comprehensive, socialistic welfare state, and to methodologically see value in localising development research in a way that accounts for local complexities. In opposition to neoliberal discourse, this thesis calls for the valorisation of care work, to better account for the competing responsibilities of solo mothers and to lessen the precarity they experience in their everyday lives.</p>

State-Level Policy Actions to Support Family Caregivers

The stresses created by the growing need for family caregivers have failed to prompt federal policy action; in its absence, states are stepping up. This review of state policies that support employment among family caregivers found six main categories of legislative action: paid leave; expanding federally mandated unpaid leave; paid sick time; unemployment insurance for job loss attributable to caregiving duties; establishing family caregivers as a protected classification in employment discrimination; and flexible or alternative work schedules. Despite the demand for policies that support and empower working caregivers, a minority of states have passed such legislation; to date, 9 states have implemented paid family leave; 14 have implemented mandatory sick leave legislation; and 14 have expanded FMLA. This study discusses state-level policy actions, reviews the status and importance of these policies, and finds that despite gaps in caregiver support legislation at the state level, there is significant and promising momentum.

Poverty rate indicator and measures to reduce it (case of the Astrakhan region)

As a result of the crisis, spread of coronavirus infection, growth of inflation for a number of years in Russia there has been registered a decrease in real incomes of the population, as well as the persistent poverty rate. Despite the unprecedented measures taken by the State to provide social support to the population, the fight against poverty is one of the strategic tasks for the state. The poverty rate indicator is included in the performance indicators of state authorities and regional leaders. Methods of assistance to the most vulnerable segments of the population should be comprehensive (include educational programs, retraining, psychological support, employment, social benefits, support measures for beginning and existing entrepreneurs and the self-employed, social contracts, social treasury), but at the same time they should be targeted and personalized.

Problems of Information Support for Social Assistance to the Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The article deals with the actual problems of providing targeted social assistance to the population during the economic crisis. The research subject is a set of measures to stabilize the income of the population, implemented by the Government of the Russian Federation in 2020 during the most acute phase of the crisis associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the research is to analyze and summarize the practice of social assistance to the population, to identify problems and prospects for using the monetary approach to neutralize the negative socio-economic consequences of the restrictions associated with the pandemic. The main aspects of the analysis involve measures to stabilize the income of the population, including measures to support employment in the economy and stabilize labor income, as well as measures of targeted social assistance to households implemented in Russian practice. In the research, the monetary approach is considered in a broad context, extended to the criteria determining the resource provision of households and the population property status, the characteristics underling the households grouping by the degree of need, and targeted assistance measures implemented in the cash transfers form. The results of the research revealed a number of problems with the monetary approach using in the implementation of the anti-crisis strategy in the Russian Federation in its simplified version, focused on the indicators of household monetary income without taking into account other components of disposable resources. Additional challenges in identifying targeted social assistance groups during the pandemic were associated with the established practice of building structural groupings of households, based on the dichromatic principle, as well as the transition from 2021 of russian statistics to the new principles of calculating the minimum subsistence level, which is the basic criterion for determining the property status of the population. Improving the effectiveness of social assistance measures to the population in the Russian Federation during economic crises involves adjusting the existing methodological and information base used in assessing the degree of household need. If detailed statistics are available, the corresponding monetary indicators can serve as an information basis for identifying the objects of targeted social assistance. Such indicators, by analogy with foreign practice, can also be supplemented by non-monetary characteristics that determine the degree of household need on other grounds, on the basis of combination of which their groups can be identified in accordance with the priorities and types of social assistance provided. The article was prepared within the framework of the RANEPA state task research.

Workplace Support for Employees in Recovery From Opioid Use: Stakeholder Perspectives

The dual challenges of COVID-19 and the opioid epidemic have heightened the need of Maryland workplaces for accessible resources and supports. This paper describes efforts of the Workplace PROSPER (Partnering to Reduce Opioid Stigma and Support Employment in Recovery) project team to explore opioid-related state employment needs from Key Stakeholder perspectives. Discussion revealed significant overlap between the needs identified by stakeholders and pre-existing recovery friendly initiatives in other states. However, this convening identified the need for increased training of medical professionals in communicating about work capacity and safety as well as for resources to support family members of individuals with Opioid Use Disorder and model programs for hiring individuals in recovery. Next steps include the creation and dissemination of a survey to obtain a broader base of feedback and the development of a robust set of online recovery resources for Maryland employers and employees.

Is Green Recovery Enough? Analysing the Impacts of Post-COVID-19 Economic Packages

Emissions pathways after COVID-19 will be shaped by how governments’ economic responses translate into infrastructure expansion, energy use, investment planning and societal changes. As a response to the COVID-19 crisis, most governments worldwide launched recovery packages aiming to boost their economies, support employment and enhance their competitiveness. Climate action is pledged to be embedded in most of these packages, but with sharp differences across countries. This paper provides novel evidence on the energy system and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions implications of post-COVID-19 recovery packages by assessing the gap between pledged recovery packages and the actual investment needs of the energy transition to reach the Paris Agreement goals. Using two well-established Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) and analysing various scenarios combining recovery packages and climate policies, we conclude that currently planned recovery from COVID-19 is not enough to enhance societal responses to climate urgency and that it should be significantly upscaled and prolonged to ensure compatibility with the Paris Agreement goals.