Social Media And Health: Implications For Primary Health Care Providers

This report is the second deliverable of the ?Digital Inclusion and Social Knowledge Media for Health: Frameworks and Roadmaps? project. The first discussed the concept of social and digital exclusion whilst this report focuses on the emerging phenomenon of social media. The report outlines current knowledge on the users and usages of social media for health and goes on to discuss social media in the context of a continuing focus (ref. D1.1) on the areas of mental health, smoking cessation and teenage lifestyles. The report concludes with an outline of an approach to a ?social media strategy? and with suggestions for directions for future research

An Evidence-Based Approach To Digital Inclusion for Health

This report is the first deliverable of the ?Digital Inclusion and Social Knowledge Media for Health: Frameworks and Roadmaps? project. It discusses the concept of social and digital exclusion and suggests that a focus on the digital mediation of social processes may provide more purchase for public service providers. This focus leads to the consideration of the way in which digital services might support a range of health-related factors which are both directly and indirectly linked to specific health outcomes. The report discusses some examples in the light of a consideration of the specific (and spatial) health needs and priorities of Solihull Care Trust. The report concludes with suggestions for directions for future research and development

Discourse Analysis: varieties and methods

This paper presents and analyses six key approaches to discourse analysis, including political discourse theory, rhetorical political analysis, the discourse historical approach in critical discourse analysis, interpretive policy analysis, discursive psychology and Q methodology. It highlights differences and similarities between the approaches along three distinctive dimensions, namely, ontology, focus and purpose. Our analysis reveals the difficulty of arriving at a fundamental matrix of dimensions which would satisfactorily allow one to organize all approaches in a coherent theoretical framework. However, it does not preclude various theoretical articulations between the different approaches, provided one takes a problem-driven approach to social science as one?s starting-point

"Because You're Worth It": A Discourse Analysis of the Gendered Rhetoric of the ADHD Woman

Drawing on the traditions of discursive psychology and critical discourse analysis this study examined the presentation of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in women in a sample of the most commonly identified online YouTube videos on this topic. The video material selected represented a combination of first-person testimonies from the “sufferer” and the sharing of “expertise” by “professionals.” Analysis involved the identification of common rhetorical devices and evaluation of the role of these devices in conveying various key meanings or themes. The categories generated by this method told a story of the construction of an “ADHD product” presented to women by other women, and unproblematically positioned within the biomedical discourse. Stimulant medication was endorsed for its ability to improve performance at work and in the domestic sphere. Women sufferers in the videos appear as “active consumers” promoting the ADHD diagnosis for its ability to enable them to fulfil the “superwoman” ideal. The medicalisation of underperformance witnessed in the videos is discussed in relation to literature on modern-day “discourses of femininity.

The Impact of Welfare Reform in Essex: A Report for the Essex Housing Officers' Group

This report, based primarily on open-ended interviews with 40 people living in Essex affected by the 2013 UK Welfare Reform Act, analyses the financial, subjective and social effects of Welfare Reform on those participants. Almost all participants were affected by having to pay the Spare Room Subsidy (?bedroom tax?) and council tax contributions which had reduced weekly incomes, after paying utility bills, to as little as 10 or 20 pounds, meaning that spending on food and heating was squeezed to less than a minimum, and that many participants had fallen into severe debt with utility companies and housing providers. Many participants had also been affected by the Reforms through being re-categorised as available for work from their previous status as disabled and unable to work. These penalties and re-categorisations had made the UK welfare system increasingly precarious and conditional and this was interpreted by many as form of punishment for life events over which they felt they had little control. The result was high levels of stress which participants felt had affected their physical health and their ability to ?take control? of their lives. However, despite the financial problems occasioned by, in particular, the Spare Room Subsidy, most participants preferred to pay the penalty rather than move to a smaller dwelling. Not moving was largely due to perceptions of needing a ?spare? room due to disability or family responsibilities, strong attachments to local communities and dwellings in which they had lived, often, for decades, and the lack of suitable alternatives. Reforms were also seen by participants as strengthening the discourse on welfare claimants as scroungers and liars, which had a further insidious effect on participants? self-identity and mental health. This stigma was also experienced directly through what participants? saw as the belittling attitude of welfare agency workers, their bureaucracy, and an associated lack of consistent information about the Reforms. Despite this, because of the political narrative about welfare claimants as liars and scroungers, almost all participants thought that Welfare Reform was necessary. Yet, participants felt that the reforms had been aimed at the wrong people i.e. people like themselves who had a moral and financial right to adequate welfare

Uncovering recovery: The resistible rise of recovery and resilience

Discourses of recovery and resilience have risen to positions of dominance in the mental health field. Models of recovery and resilience enjoy purchase, in both policy and practice, across a range of settings from self-described psychiatric survivors through to mental health charities through to statutory mental health service providers. Despite this ubiquity, there is confusion about what recovery means. In this article we problematize notions of recovery and resilience, and consider what, if anything, should be recovered from these concepts. We focus on three key issues, i) individualization, ii) the persistence of a deficit model, and iii) collective approaches to recovery. Through documentary analysis we consider these issues across third sector organizations, and public and mental health policy. Firstly, definitional debates about recovery reflect wider ideological debates about the nature of mental health. The vagueness of these concepts and implicit assumptions inherent in dominant recovery and resilience discourses render them problematic because they individualize what are social problems. Secondly, these discourses, despite being seen as inherently liberatory are conceptually dependent on a notion of deficit in that talk of “positives” and “strengths” requires the existence of “negatives” and “weaknesses” for these concepts to make sense. We argue that this does little to substantially transform dominant understandings of psychological distress. Thirdly, these issues combine to impact upon the progressive potential of recovery. It comes to be seen as an individualistic experiential narrative accompaniment to medical understandings where the structural causes of distress are obscured. This in turn impacts upon the potential for recovery to be used to explore more collective, political aspects of emotional distress. Drawing on the work of Fraser, we use this critique to characterize “recovery” as a “struggle for recognition,” founded on a model of identity politics which displaces and marginalizes the need for social, political and economic redistribution to address many of the underlying causes of emotional distress. We conclude by stating that it is only when the collective, structural experiences of inequality and injustice are explicitly linked to processes of emotional distress that recovery will be possible

'Because You're Worth It': A discourse analysis of the gendered rhetoric of the ADHD woman, Qualitative Research in Psychology.

Drawing on the traditions of discursive psychology and critical discourse analysis this study examined the presentation of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in women in a sample of the most commonly identified online YouTube videos on this topic. The video material selected represented a combination of first-person testimonies from the ?sufferer? and the sharing of ?expertise? by ?professionals.? Analysis involved the identification of common rhetorical devices and evaluation of the role of these devices in conveying various key meanings or themes. The categories generated by this method told a story of the construction of an ?ADHD product? presented to women by other women, and unproblematically positioned within the biomedical discourse. Stimulant medication was endorsed for its ability to improve performance at work and in the domestic sphere. Women sufferers in the videos appear as ?active consumers? promoting the ADHD diagnosis for its ability to enable them to fulfil the ?superwoman? ideal. The medicalisation of underperformance witnessed in the videos is discussed in relation to literature on modern-day ?discourses of femininity.

Collaborative Travel Apps, Reciprocity and the Internet of Things

As cities become increasingly connected, both people and objects can connect to the Internet to transmit and receive information. This is the Internet of Things. Smartphone technology can help identify current and anticipate future patterns of behaviour and, with its social networking capabilities, allow users to imagine collaborative opportunities. This has led to the development of collaborative travel apps designed to enable activities like lift sharing. However, two projects working with community based travel collaboration apps identify significant challenges to people accessing forms of travel assistance due to the imperative of reciprocity. Collaborative travel apps depend on users to offer help, but they also need users to ask for or accept help. This paper analyses the fundamental challenges of reciprocity as facilitated by these apps and considers how the near future Internet of Things might alter practices.Trials of purpose built collaborative travel apps were conducted across four communities (a campsite, two rural villages and an urban fringe estate) during 2013 and 2014 involving 66 participants. Data were collected by in-depth interviews and all app activities (messages and transactions) were recorded through a linked database.Offers of help dominated in contrast to requests for and acceptance of help.Feelings of indebtedness inhibit app use since they threa ten a user’s status, power and freedom of action with respect to the donor of help. Other transport issues of flexibility and control were also apparent. The paper discusses how indebtedness might be addressed during the design and implementation of such apps. Also, the emergence of the Internet of Things, with its more anticipatory systems, prompts a reappraisal of current Internet based collaborative communities which raises questions about the human regulation of reciprocal arrangements and presents opportunities for parties who are less able to reciprocate such as the ageing population

Sixth Sense Transport : Challenges in Supporting Flexible Time Travel

In this paper, we consider the challenges associated with providing a mobile computing system that helps users enjoy a more flexible relationship between time and travel. Current travel plans, especially in Western cultures, are dominated by a strict notion of time. The need to conform to schedules leads to increased pressures for travellers and inefficiencies when these schedules cannot be met. We are interested in exploring the extent to which mobile computing can be used to help travellers relax these schedules and adopt a more opportunistic approach to travel – potentially helping to reduce the environmental, financial and societal costs of modern travel