“We’ve got a lack of family values”: an examination of how teachers formulate and justify their SRE approach

Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) in England has been the focus of critical scrutiny on several occasions, but there has been little attention paid to how teachers formulate their provision, especially given their crucial role in determining what is taught in the classroom. While current policy suggests that provision should be inclusive of sexual diversity, it simultaneously gives educators the scope to determine the form this takes. This is an important issue given the substantial impact that teachers’ views and discourses have on what is taught. Using a discourse analytical framework, this study sought to examine how teachers of SRE formulate and account for their provision, with a particular focus on how their assumptions about young people’s sexual health needs underpin their actions. Initially, teachers sought to formulate their activities in terms of an overall ethos, providing legitimacy for the key elements of their programme being aligned with official government health promotion strategy, as opposed to other areas such as pleasure and diversity. This was supported by their constructions of young people, particularly young women and individuals from ‘at risk’ communities, as being particularly vulnerable

Double the challenge: Reflections on supervising qualitative and critical dissertation projects

Drawing on our own experience, we reflect on the documented challenges of undergraduate supervision faced by qualitative researchers, and extend this discussion by further considering the issues raised by supervising projects that engage with critical perspectives. Concerns are identified regarding the dominance of traditional psychological thought in psychology programmes and the lack of teaching around critical psychology. We outline the implications for students embarking on critical qualitative projects and the additional demands placed on supervisors using examples within the fields of gender and sexuality. We end by emphasising the value of projects that require engagement with critical frameworks for students’ future personal and professional development. The importance of teaching critical psychology and critical ideas as a staple and integrated part of the psychology curriculum is made clear

Exploring the construction of young people's sexuality within sex and relationship education.

In light of a large body of literature highlighting its limitations, this thesis examines how Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) is discursively constructed within and for a secondary school context (i.e. at the level of policy, educator and pupil) to reveal how the nature of SRE, and indeed, young people's SRE needs are conceptualised. A number of changes related to the provision of SRE, mainly at a policy level, served as a rationale for this research. Firstly, a textual analysis of draft SRE guidance was utilised to examine how SRE is formulated and negotiated at a socio-political level, through SRE policy making (chapter 4). This highlights a number of problems that curtail the development of SRE and its ability to meet young people's needs, which are evident in the way it is driven by political and social concerns and serves key interest groups (religious groups, school governors and parents). This chapter provides the socio-political backdrop through which subsequent analyses of how SRE is constructed within the school context could be examined. Chapter 5 moved on to examine the way SRE is constructed at the level of the individual SRE teacher. This analysis documents the considerable variability in the nature of provision accounted for by SRE teachers.Their accounts reflect different concerns around what SRE should include, which were in turn based on their understanding of young people's SRE needs and was driven by political discourse. As such, provision is predominantly problem focused (as characterised by a discourse of danger), heteronormative and gendered. Chapter 6 extends the focus on teachers' accounts of their provision; with particular emphasis on the way they negotiated SRE as a 'controversial' subject. Despite strong (positive) rhetoric around provision, their accounts inadvertently highlight SRE as a site of struggle, where issues inherent to SRE are considered problematic. The level of struggle was also evident when accounting for decisions at a policy making level and when negotiating with dominant stakeholders. The final analysis chapter examines how young people experience their SRE, along with the messages they receive within their individual programmes. It highlights differences between the types of evaluations pupils made according to the specific programmes in which they are located, and more specifically, according to the type of discourses mobilised within that provision. The accounts of pupils located with problem-focused approaches revealed a disjunction between the types of discourses they mobilise around sex and relationships and those presented within SRE provision. This also appeared to affect and limit their conceptualisations of SRE. Implications of these discrepancies are discussed in chapter 8, with particular focus on the discursive barriers that exist in teachers' accounts, which work to curtail the development of a more comprehensive and inclusive provision

‘So they hit each other’: Gendered constructions of domestic abuse in the YouTube commentary of the Depp v Heard Trial

This study presents a critical discourse analysis of YouTube comments below five videos of the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard trial, which was live streamed by the platform in April and May 2022. The analysis examines the discursive resources used by commenters to construct domestic abuse. Commenters draw on three interpretive repertoires: ‘Perfect Victim’, ‘Mutual Abuse’ and ‘Dangerous Women’. The analysis explores the way these repertoires are used to rebut Heard’s allegations of abuse by mobilising the perfect victim repertoire to refute any claim she has to this experience, and the mutual abuse repertoire to implicate Heard in the abuse and minimise blame for Depp. Through establishing gender-symmetry in domestic abuse and drawing on traditional gender norms for each party, commenters construct the dangerous women repertoire to depict Heard as crazy, pathological and violent. The key implication of this study is that public constructions of domestic abuse can directly impact the attitudes and treatment of both victims and perpetrators. In this instance, they serve to maintain the oppression and control of women within anti-feminist narratives of female dominance, currently led by men’s rights activists and conservative outlets

‘So they hit each other’: Gendered constructions of domestic abuse in the YouTube commentary of the Depp v Heard trial

This study presents a critical discourse analysis of YouTube comments below five videos of the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard trial, which was live streamed by the platform in April and May 2022. The analysis examines the discursive resources used by commenters to construct domestic abuse. Commenters draw on three interpretive repertoires: ‘Perfect Victim’, ‘Mutual Abuse’ and ‘Dangerous Women’. The analysis explores the way these repertoires are used to rebut Heard’s allegations of abuse by mobilising the perfect victim repertoire to refute any claim she has to this experience, and the mutual abuse repertoire to implicate Heard in the abuse and minimise blame for Depp. Through establishing gender-symmetry in domestic abuse and drawing on traditional gender norms for each party, commenters construct the dangerous women repertoire to depict Heard as crazy, pathological and violent. The key implication of this study is that public constructions of domestic abuse can directly impact the attitudes and treatment of both victims and perpetrators. In this instance, they serve to maintain the oppression and control of women within anti-feminist narratives of female dominance, currently led by men’s rights activists and conservative outlets

Psychological stress, cognitive decline and the development of dementia in amnestic mild cognitive impairment

To determine the relationship between psychological stress with cognitive outcomes in a multi-centre longitudinal study of people with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) we assessed three parameters of psychological stress (Recent Life Changes Questionnaire (RLCQ); the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and salivary cortisol) and their relationship with rates of cognitive decline over an 18 month follow up period and conversion to dementia over a 5.5 year period. In 133 aMCI and 68 cognitively intact participants the PSS score was higher in the aMCI compared with control group but neither the RLCQ scores nor salivary cortisol measures were different between groups. In the aMCI group the RLCQ and the PSS showed no significant association with cognitive function at baseline, cognitive decline or with conversion rates to dementia but high salivary cortisol levels were associated with RLCQ scores and poorer cognitive function at baseline and lower rates of cognitive decline. No relationship was found between salivary cortisol levels and conversion rate to dementia. We conclude that psychological stress as measured by the RLCQ or PSS was not associated with adverse cognitive outcomes in an aMCI population and hypothesise that this may reflect diminished cortisol production to psychological stress as the disease progresses.</p

“We Don’t Get Into All That”: an analysis of how teachers uphold heteronormative sex and relationship education

Legislation that applies to UK SRE currently advocates inclusive provision. Given the nonstatutory status of SRE, however, it is unclear how teachers incorporate sexual inclusivity, especially as research has shown that teachers’ discursive practices can promote a heteronormative SRE climate (Renn, 2010). Using a discursive psychological approach to analyze interview data, this study examined how teachers account for their provision as inclusive. It was revealed that even when promoting their inclusivity, teachers’ SRE provision upholds heteronormativity. In doing this, they positioned LGB and same-sex practices outside of the classroom, potentially leaving these young people without a sufficient sex education

Plasma Chemokine Levels Are Associated with the Presence and Extent of Angiographic Coronary Collaterals in Chronic Ischemic Heart Disease

In patients with chronic ischemic heart disease (IHD), the presence and extent of spontaneously visible coronary collaterals are powerful determinants of clinical outcome. There is marked heterogeneity in the recruitment of coronary collaterals amongst patients with similar degrees of coronary artery stenoses, but the biological basis of this heterogeneity is not known. Chemokines are potent mediators of vascular remodeling in diverse biological settings. Their role in coronary collateralization has not been investigated. We sought to determine whether plasma levels of angiogenic and angiostatic chemokines are associated with of the presence and extent of coronary collaterals in patients with chronic IHD.We measured plasma concentrations of angiogenic and angiostatic chemokine ligands in 156 consecutive subjects undergoing coronary angiography with at least one ≥90% coronary stenosis and determined the presence and extent of spontaneously visible coronary collaterals using the Rentrop scoring system. Eighty-eight subjects (56%) had evidence of coronary collaterals. In a multivariable regression model, the concentration of the angiogenic ligands CXCL5, CXCL8 and CXCL12, hyperlipidemia, and an occluded artery were associated with the presence of collaterals; conversely, the concentration of the angiostatic ligand CXCL11, interferon-γ, hypertension and diabetes were associated with the absence of collaterals (ROC area 0.91). When analyzed according to extent of collateralization, higher Rentrop scores were significantly associated with increased concentration of the angiogenic ligand CXCL1 (p<0.0001), and decreased concentrations of angiostatic ligands CXCL9 (p<0.0001), CXCL10 (p = 0.002), and CXCL11 (p = 0.0002), and interferon-γ (p = 0.0004).Plasma chemokine concentrations are associated with the presence and extent of spontaneously visible coronary artery collaterals and may be mechanistically involved in their recruitment

Assessment of acute myocardial infarction: current status and recommendations from the North American society for cardiovascular imaging and the European society of cardiac radiology

There are a number of imaging tests that are used in the setting of acute myocardial infarction and acute coronary syndrome. Each has their strengths and limitations. Experts from the European Society of Cardiac Radiology and the North American Society for Cardiovascular Imaging together with other prominent imagers reviewed the literature. It is clear that there is a definite role for imaging in these patients. While comparative accuracy, convenience and cost have largely guided test decisions in the past, the introduction of newer tests is being held to a higher standard which compares patient outcomes. Multicenter randomized comparative effectiveness trials with outcome measures are required

Characterising within-hospital SARS-CoV-2 transmission events using epidemiological and viral genomic data across two pandemic waves

Hospital outbreaks of COVID19 result in considerable mortality and disruption to healthcare services and yet little is known about transmission within this setting. We characterise within hospital transmission by combining viral genomic and epidemiological data using Bayesian modelling amongst 2181 patients and healthcare workers from a large UK NHS Trust. Transmission events were compared between Wave 1 (1st March to 25th July 2020) and Wave 2 (30th November 2020 to 24th January 2021). We show that staff-to-staff transmissions reduced from 31.6% to 12.9% of all infections. Patient-to-patient transmissions increased from 27.1% to 52.1%. 40%-50% of hospital-onset patient cases resulted in onward transmission compared to 4% of community-acquired cases. Control measures introduced during the pandemic likely reduced transmissions between healthcare workers but were insufficient to prevent increasing numbers of patient-to-patient transmissions. As hospital-acquired cases drive most onward transmission, earlier identification of nosocomial cases will be required to break hospital transmission chains