Piloting of a suicide first aid gatekeeper training (online) for children and young people in conflict affected areas in Syria

Suicide among internally displaced people remains an under-researched public health issue especially in conflict affected countries. Given the limited and sometimes inaccessible mental health services, there is a need for scalable evidence-based suicide prevention programmes that could be delivered by trained and supervised non-specialists. The Suicide First Aid Guidelines approach aims to support humanitarian workers who deal directly with children and families with the appropriate knowledge and skills to identify and support those at risk of suicide until they can access further specialized support services or until the crisis passes. This paper presents the findings of an online pilot training of 56 humanitarian workers from different sectors (e.g. Child Protection, Nutrition and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support) in conflict affected areas in Syria. The quantitative and qualitative evaluations were based on pre- and post-training questionnaires and revision journals completed between training sessions. Suggestions and examples provided in the journals and during the trainings were incorporated into the succeeding trainings. This was to contextualize and modify the gatekeeper training to fit the Syrian context and provide adaptations for future research and suicide prevention guidelines. Overall, the evaluation indicated that the pilot training raised awareness and improved participants’ knowledge on how to assist a suicidal person, including warning signs. It also contributed to a positive change in attitude or beliefs towards suicide. Although the pilot training was considered adequate for the Syrian context some improvements were suggested

The Development of a 2D/3D BIM-GIS Web Platform for Planned Maintenance of Built and Cultural Heritage: the Main10ance Project

The integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM), or Historic BIM (HBIM), and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has assumed a crucial role not only in the management of smart cities or urban districts, as well as in the construction sector or infrastructures but also in the management, conservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage. This integration opens up new opportunities for decision-makers to assess the impact of interventions on heritage sites, evaluate preservation strategies, and facilitate informed decision-making processes. This contribution presents and describes the open-source web platform developed within the Interreg MAIN10ANCE project. The project aims to promote a common methodology for the cooperation and collaboration of the various stakeholders involved in the restoration, management and maintenance activities of built and cultural heritage sites. This objective has been pursued by creating a BIM-GIS database, focused on the definition of planned maintenance activities, whose data has been made available to professionals and management bodies by means of a shared web platform, usable directly in situ on a tablet or portable devices. The paper highlights the key components of the web platform, including the BIM, GIS, and artifact Viewers, the Planner, and the overall Dashboard. The platform's multiscale and multi-source approach makes it extensible to various cultural assets, whether environmental, architectural, or movable. By integrating historical and geometric information and planning maintenance activities, the web platform thus supports public administrations and professionals, amending existing state-of-the-art solutions

Improving access to and engagement with mental health services among young people from refugee backgrounds: service user and provider perspectives

Limited research has been conducted worldwide on the experiences that children and young people from refugee backgrounds have with mental health services, despite evidence that they have significant vulnerability to the development of mental health problems and to suicidal behaviour and that those with mental ill-health typically underutilise services. The authors were particularly interested in barriers and facilitators to service access and engagement, and conducted two qualitative research projects to improve understanding of the issues – the first with service providers experienced in the refugee area and the second with young refugee service users. The aim of this project was to compare the perspectives of professionals and service users and to identify similarities and differences. The perspectives of the service users and providers were strikingly similar. The analysis identified 21 implications for policy makers, agencies and practitioners, which ranged from issues concerning cultural sensitivity, background matching and mental health literacy to accessibility, setting boundaries and expectations and implementing a holistic and outreach approach. There is a range of specific, practical measures that policy makers and service providers can introduce to enhance access to and engagement with mental health services for young people from refugee backgrounds

HBIM MODELLING FOR AN HISTORICAL URBAN CENTRE

The research in the geospatial data structuring and formats interoperability direction is the crucial task for creating a 3D Geodatabase at the urban scale. Both geometric and semantic data structuring should be considered, mainly regarding the interoperability of objects and formats generated outside the geographical space. Current reflections on 3D database generation, based on geospatial data, are mostly related to visualisation issues and context-related application. The purposes and scale of representation according to LoDs require some reflections, particularly for the transmission of semantic information. This contribution adopts and develops the integration of some tools to derive object-oriented modelling in the HBIM environment, both at the urban and architectural scale, from point clouds obtained by UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) photogrammetry. One of the paper’s objectives is retracing the analysis phases of the point clouds acquired by UAV photogrammetry technique and their suitability for multiscale modelling. Starting from UAV clouds, through the optimisation and segmentation, the proposed workflow tries to trigger the modelling of the objects according to the LODs, comparing the one coming from CityGML and the one in use in the BIM community. The experimentation proposed is focused on the case study of the city of Norcia, which like many other historic centres spread over the territory of central Italy, was deeply damaged by the 2016-17 earthquake

FROM AN INTEGRATED SURVEY WITH MMS TO A SCAN-TO-BIM PROCESS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES

The mobile mapping systems (MMSs) are increasingly used in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction sector (AEC). Their involvement in the digital transition of our cities and built heritage could be a valuable solution in speeding up the scan-to-BIM processes. In this framework, the course “Knowledge of the built heritage in the era of climate change” of Politecnico di Torino offers an innovative approach for MSc degree students in Building Engineering. In fact, it deals with the whole workflow from the surveying activities (data acquisition and processing), to the BIM modelling up to the final digital twin integrated with e.g. sensors data and management information. This contribution describes the case studies of the multidisciplinary course as an application for this methodology, where not only terrestrial laser scanning or UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) have been used, but also MMSs have been tested to understand if they could be a suitable option. This paper aims to show the course experience derived from the collaboration of the geomatics and drawing domains along with students’ results and feedback. Moreover, the research underlines the pros and cons of this procedure

Cross-cultural generalizability of suicide first aid actions: an analysis of agreement across expert consensus studies from a range of countries and cultures

Background A number of Delphi expert consensus studies have been carried out with different countries and cultural groups to develop guidelines on how a member of the public should provide assistance to a person who is suicidal. The present study aimed to determine whether cross-culturally generalizable suicide first aid actions are possible by comparing agreement across these Delphi studies. Methods Data on endorsement rates for items were compared across six Delphi studies. These studies involved panels of professionals and consumer advocates from English-speaking countries, professionals from Sri Lanka, professionals from Japan, professionals from India, professionals from the Philippines, and professionals and consumer advocates in refugee and immigrant mental health. Correlations were calculated between item endorsement rates across panels. Results There were 18 items that were highly endorsed across all eight of the Delphi panels and an additional 15 items highly endorsed across the panels from the three lower middle-income countries (India, Philippines and Sri Lanka). Correlations across panels in item endorsement rates were all 0.60 or above, but were higher between panels from countries that are socioeconomically similar. Conclusions There is broad agreement across the diverse expert panels about what are appropriate suicide first aid actions for members of the public, indicating that cross-cultural generalizability is possible. However, there is also some cultural specificity, indicating the need for local tailoring