Service user involvement in practitioner education: movement politics and transformative change

This paper will attempt to both celebrate key developments and best practice involving the users of health and social care services in programmes of practitioner education in a UK context, and offer a critical appraisal of the extent to which such initiatives meet some of the more transformative objectives sought by service users activists for change. The approach is largely that of a discussion paper but we illustrate some of the themes relating to movement activism with selected data. These data relate to earlier research and two specially convened focus groups within the Comensus initiative at the University of Central Lancashire; itself constituted as piece of participatory action research. We conclude that universities represent paradoxical sites for the facilitation of debate and learning relevant to key issues of social justice and change. As such, they are places that can impede or support movement aims. Particular strategic responses might be more likely to engender progressive outcomes. These ought to include the presence of critically engaged academic staff operating within a scholarly culture that fosters forms of deliberative democratic decision making

National community pharmacy NHS influenza vaccination service in Wales: a primary care mixed methods study

Background Influenza is a significant cause of morbidity and excess mortality, yet vaccine coverage in the UK remains below target. Community pharmacies are increasingly being promoted as an alternative to vaccination by GPs. Aim To explore and verify the factors that influence the relative performance of pharmacies providing NHS influenza vaccinations. Design and setting A mixed methods study utilising qualitative, semi-structured interviews and quantitative analysis of predictors of vaccination numbers in community pharmacies in Wales. Method Interviews were conducted with 16 pharmacists who participated in the Welsh national pharmacy influenza service in 2013–2014. A purposive sampling strategy was used. Qualitative findings were analysed using framework analysis. Potential predictors of vaccination numbers were identified from interviews and a literature review, and included in a multivariable regression model. Results The contribution of community pharmacies towards vaccination in Wales is small. Findings suggest that community pharmacies reach younger at-risk individuals, in whom vaccine uptake is low, in greater proportion than influenza vaccination programmes as a whole. Extended opening hours and urban locations were positively associated with the number of vaccinations given, although pharmacists reported that workload, vaccine costs, unforeseen delays, lack of public awareness, and GPs’ views of the service limited their contribution. Pharmacists, aware of the potential for conflict with GPs, moderated their behaviour to mitigate such risk. Conclusion Before community pharmacies take greater responsibility for delivering healthcare services, obstacles including increasing pharmacist capacity, vaccine procurement, health service delays, managing GP–pharmacy relationships, and improving public awareness must be overcome

Unpacking cohort social ties: the appropriateness of perceived social capital to graduate early career performance in construction project teams

Construction project teams require social capital. When present in appropriate forms, it creates the social cohesion through which individuals accept project goals as their own. It lets team members share knowledge when present and reveal when it is missing. In education, social learning helps students appreciate the need for social capital appropriate to team performance. In practice, social capital enables the project team learning that overcomes project-specific challenges. Despite this importance, little is known about how students perceive social capital or the compatibility of that understanding with construction project needs. To characterise this aspect of ‘graduateness’, collective understanding of social capital was elicited from construction students in a Scottish university by free recall. Analysis was structured around four dimensions of social capital: cohesion, legitimacy & authenticity, sharing, and safety. Notions of friendship were found to dominate student understanding of the social capital even though this understanding derived from settings where the need for capital to support team performance is emphasised. The potential for misalignment between the capital that graduating students bring into practice with that required by project teams was apparent. The case for further investigation of this influence on early career development was established

Supporting Young People Involved in Offending up to 21 Years Old : Extending the Whole System Approach

The Whole System Approach (WSA) was introduced in Scotland as an effective way of working with young people aged 8-18 who are involved in offending behaviours. Yet the problems faced by the majority of young people who are involved in offending do not simply vanish when they turn 18 and young people do not become adults over night. This paper argues that the help and support offered to young people under the age of 18 through the Whole System Approach should be extended to young people aged up to at least 21 years. Drawing on child development theories and knowledge about the childhood experiences many young people in the justice system have faced, this paper suggests that addressing the impact of these issues through a child-centred lens offers these young people more support to understand the adult system they are in; helps to address their behaviour in a way that is meaningful to them; and ultimately should reduce their involvement in offending

Interplays of psychometric abilities on learning gross anatomy

In recent years, there has been international debate concerning how students learn anatomy. The rapid increase in scientific knowledge has put pressure on the place of anatomy within the medical and allied health professional curricula, as well as the design and structure of anatomy courses. In this regard, relatively little is known about what medical and allied health professions students want from an anatomy course or how they learn it. To assess students’ learning approaches and perceptions of anatomy, a series of psychometric tests were administered to Medical (n=82), Podiatry (n=21), and Pharmacy (n=74) students in the United Kingdom. Analysis of the Anatomy Learning Experience (ALE) questionnaire revealed a predominantly positive attitude towards anatomy and the dissection room, with most valuing cadaveric dissection and not regarding it as a daunting environment. Further to this, analysis of the Approaches to Studying Inventory for Students (ASSIST) revealed predominant preferences for strategic and deep approaches. Personality traits were associated with certain learning approaches; neuroticism with surface (p=0.038), conscientiousness with both a deep and strategic approach (p=0.000 and p=0.060 respectively). Certain personality traits were also found to be associated with anatomy experience e.g. neuroticism and achievement striving felt the most effective way to learn was to get their hands in and feel for structures (p=0.044 and p=0.012 respectively). This study concludes that undergraduate students of medicine, podiatry and pharmacy learn anatomy in slightly different ways. Preparation for classroom activities should centre on the promotion of an optimum learning environment and teaching strategies which promote a deep approach to learning. Understanding students’ personality and learning experiences should help teachers improve the students’ learning of anatomy for effective application to clinical practice

Cost and affordability of healthy food in rural South Australia

The unaffordability of healthy food, or ‘food stress’ in low SES groups is a concern, especially when this group carries the greatest burden of diet-related disease. Findings suggest that there is a need to consider both rural location and SES when developing policy responses to decrease the cost and increase the affordability of healthy foods in rural and remote areas

'A hard-won capability': the experiences of parents managing their babies' medicines after discharge from a neonatal unit.:'A hard-won capability'

IntroductionParents of babies who required neonatal care are responsible for managing their medicines after they are discharged home. There is wide variation in the information and amount of preparation given to parents prior to assuming this challenging task. The aim of the Parent co-Designed Drug Information for parents and Guardians Taking Neonates home (PADDINGToN) study was to explore parents' experiences of managing their babies' medicines post discharge from a neonatal unit and to use this information to develop suitable resources for future families.MethodsA qualitative participatory interpretative approach using a mixture of remote and face-to-face small group interviews or one-to-one interviews was used. Parents were recruited using social media advertisements and convenience sampling from five study sites (four neonatal units in England and one in Ireland). Parents from other neonatal units were invited to take part through social media advertisement. The interviews were audio-recorded and inductive reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.Results17 parents (14 mothers, 3 fathers) participated. One over-arching theme, 'A hard won capability', and four major interpretive themes were generated from the analysis of the data: Being in NICU and the prospect of going home: emotional and practical challenges; Living the reality of being at home: the uncertainty associated with giving medicines; Being at home: battling the system and a lack of support/knowledge; and Suggesting ways forward: parents' lived insights into improving information and resources.ConclusionDespite the challenges they faced, parents developed strategies for safely and reliably managing medicines administration and they assimilated knowledge, built their confidence and achieved a capability in medicines administration. Their experiences have been used to build a suite of medicines administration resources to support future parents.</jats:sec

Effectiveness of a peer support intervention for Antenatal Depression: A feasibility study.

Objective A feasibility study for a randomised controlled trial to assess the acceptability, recruitment, feasibility and effectiveness of a peer support intervention for women with antenatal depression. The key premise of peer support is based upon the trust and empathetic understanding engendered by common experiences. Method Twenty pregnant women were recruited by their community midwife using the Whooley questionnaire (Howard et al 2018) at between 28-30 weeks' gestation to ascertain their level of mood and general mental health. Women identified as having potential antenatal depression were randomly assigned into a control group (routine care alone which includes contact with a midwife and in some case an obstetric Doctor with access to a GP if required) or intervention group (6-weekly visits from a peer support worker in addition to routine care). Participants from both the control and intervention group, and the Peer Support Workers (PSWs) were then interviewed at the end of the six-week period. All participants, and the PSW’s, were also asked to keep log books during the trial to record their feelings and experiences. The results were then analysed using thematic analysis. Results The analysis of qualitative data from the PSWs, and the participants in the intervention group, suggest the peer support intervention is acceptable, helpful and supportive to both pregnant women and, indeed, the PSWs. The women within the intervention group valued the peer support highly, reporting that being able to speak openly to a PSW meant that feelings of alienation, abnormality, isolation and stigma were replaced with social support, confidence, self-esteem and hope for recovery. The PSWs reported a positive impact upon their own wellbeing and a realisation that they had, indeed, moved forward with their lives. A proportion of the women randomised to the control group described feelings of disappointment and frustration with the lack of support currently available to them. Conclusion This feasibility study suggests a full randomised controlled trial (RCT) is warranted given the high recruitment, adherence, and acceptability of the intervention to participants

HCI goes to the zoo

This workshop will explore research into interactive and digital technologies in zoos, aquariums and wildlife parks. Such sites are making increasing use of technology in their work to foster educational, emotional and entertaining connections between visitors and animals, with the goal of transforming attitudes to wildlife and conservation. Bringing together HCI researchers with interests in zoos (as a design context) and animals (as a design user), as well as animal welfare and behavior experts, this workshop will further our understanding of what it means to design and use technology in this space at the intersection of the human and animal worlds