Risk and teenage parenthood: an early sexual health intervention

Purpose - This paper outlines the development of a resource designed to support practitioners, who were not sexual health specialists, but who worked with young people who may be at risk of teenage pregnancy or parenthood. Its aim was to enable practitioners to carry out an assessment using a screening tool, and to use educational interventions designed to reduce risk-taking behaviour or refer to a sexual health specialist. We report a research project to examine the perceptions of practitioners who had used the resource. Design/methodology/approach – The resource was based on a local needs assessment and developed by a multi-agency working group. The research utilised an on-line questionnaire and telephone interviews with practitioners. Findings - Practitioners reported using the screening tool with young people with an average age of 13.1 years. They thought the educational interventions provided knowledge and helped with communication, self-awareness, reflection, confidence, attitudes and values clarification. Research limitations/implications - The project was based in one county in England. A sample of seventeen per cent of the practitioners responded to the questionnaire, and they might be those who had engaged most, or most positively, with the resource. Three practitioners undertook interviews. The views and behaviours of young people are yet to be evaluated. Originality/value - Within a climate of limited resources, the findings suggest that the project was providing an acceptable proportionate universalist, early sexual health intervention for young people

The views of young children in the UK about obesity, body size, shape and weight: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: There are high levels of concern about childhood obesity, with obese children being at higher risk of poorer health both in the short and longer terms. Children's attitudes to, and beliefs about, their bodies have also raised concern. Children themselves have a stake in this debate; their perspectives on this issue can inform the ways in which interventions aim to work.This systematic review of qualitative and quantitative research aimed to explore the views of UK children about the meanings of obesity and body size, shape or weight and their own experiences of these issues. METHODS: We conducted sensitive searches of electronic databases and specialist websites, and contacted experts. We included studies published from the start of 1997 which reported the perspectives of UK children aged 4-11 about obesity or body size, shape or weight, and which described key aspects of their methods. Included studies were coded and quality-assessed by two reviewers independently.Findings were synthesised in two analyses: i) an interpretive synthesis of findings from open-ended questions; and ii) an aggregative synthesis of findings from closed questions. We juxtaposed the findings from the two syntheses. The effect of excluding the lowest quality studies was explored. We also consulted young people to explore the credibility of a subset of findings. RESULTS: We included 28 studies. Instead of a focus on health, children emphasised the social impact of body size, describing experiences and awareness of abuse and isolation for children with a greater weight. Body size was seen as under the individual's control and children attributed negative characteristics to overweight people. Children actively assessed their own size; many wished their bodies were different and some were anxious about their shape.Reviewers judged that children's engagement and participation in discussion had only rarely been supported in the included studies, and few study findings had depth or breadth. CONCLUSIONS: Initiatives need to consider the social aspects of obesity, in particular unhelpful beliefs, attitudes and discriminatory behaviours around body size. Researchers and policy-makers should involve children actively and seek their views on appropriate forms of support around this issue

Structural injustice and the requirements of beauty

In this paper I consider whether structural injustice can capture the harms of the beauty ideal and recognize their significance. This is done in three sections. In Section 2, I set out the rising costs and harms which attach to beauty engagement in an increasingly visual and virtual culture. In Section 2.1, I outline how beauty harms are typically understood. In Sections 2.2 and 2.3, I argue that there are two communal or shared harms which are not easy to capture on individual models: first that more is required to meet minimal appearance standards; and second body image anxiety. In Section 2.4, in order to give an accurate account, I highlight beauty benefits. In Section 2.5, I show that increasingly the demands fall across genders. In Section 3, I apply Iris Marion Young’s account of structural injustice to beauty. In Section 3.1, I set out the three core features of structural injustice. In the following three sections, Sections 3.2–3.4, 3.2–3.4, 3.2–3.4, I show beauty harms have the features of structural injustice. In Section 4, I consider two benefits of this approach and one challenge to it