Exploring the impact of group work and mentoring for multiple heritage children's self-esteem, well-being and behaviour

Findings are reported from a study of an innovative Multiple Heritage Service in Sheffield (UK) which provides, inter alia, individual mentoring for young people and school-based group sessions on cultural heritage, dealing with racism and enhancing well-being. Groupwork, undertaken between November 2005 and December 2006, was evaluated by a before/after design with 43 children aged from eight to fifteen attending five different groups (response rate 77 per cent), using three well-established and validated measures. There were improvements on the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale from 31.415 to 33.024 (p =0.005) with more improvement among younger children and boys (p=0.004 and p=0.001); and well-being as measured by the GHQ12 improved from 1.460 to 0.8378 (p=0.111) with more improvement among older children (p=0.026). On the third measure, of problem behaviour (the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) there was an improvement from 12.4 to 12.1 (p=0.716) but there was no improvement at all for girls. Mentoring was evaluated by telephone interviews between June and October 2006 with 14 mothers whose children had just completed, or were nearing completion of, mentoring (response rate 70 per cent). Overall the mothers’ evaluations were highly positive: two-thirds commended the service on the positive impact on their children’s well-being and happiness (including all the mothers of daughters); a half reported positive impacts on identity; mothers commended the positive role model effect same-sex mentors had on their children’s behaviour; but only a third said mentoring had boosted their children’s self-esteem

Doing research with children and young people who do not use speech for communication

Despite emphasis in policy on participation of disabled children, we still know relatively little about how to obtain the views of disabled children with significant communication impairment and their views are often overlooked in planning and service provision. This article describes how the views of children who do not use speech were accessed in research aiming to identify disabled children and young people's priorities regarding outcomes of social care and support services. The main challenge was to develop a method that was reliable, non-threatening, enjoyable and relevant to individual children, as well as enabling children to think beyond their everyday life and express what they aspire to

The use of salutogenesis theory in empirical studies of maternity care for healthy mothers and babies

Background: Health care outcomes used in service evaluation and research tend to measure morbidity and mortality. This is the case even in maternity care, where most women and babies are healthy. Salutogenesis theory recognises that health is a continuum, with explicit inclusion of well-being as well as illness and pathology. This offers the potential to reframe the outcomes and therefore, the focus of, maternity care research and provision. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify how salutogenesis has been defined and used in maternity care research undertaken with healthy women. Method: A scoping review was undertaken, using a formal pre-defined search strategy. Inclusion criteria encompassed research papers relating to the maternity episode up to 1 year after birth, using salutogenesis or any of its associated concepts, focused on healthy women, and written in a language which any of the members of the group could understand. The search was undertaken in two phases (database inception - April 2011 and May 2011-February 2013). Included studies were subject to narrative analysis. Findings: Eight papers met the inclusion criteria. They covered seven topics, spanning the antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal periods. Only two papers employed both positive health orientation and explicit use of Antonovsky's theory. The remaining studies used discrete aspects of the theory. Conclusion: Salutogenic framing is rarely used in maternity care research with healthy participants. An increase in research that measures salutogenically orientated outcomes could, eventually, provide a balance to the current over-emphasis on pathology in maternity care design and provision worldwide

Pathways to permanence in England and Norway: A critical analysis of documents and data

The English language term ‘permanence’ is increasingly used in high income countries as a ‘short-hand’ translation for a complex set of aims around providing stability and family membership for children who need child welfare services and out-of-home care. From a scrutiny of legislative provisions, court judgments, government documents and a public opinion survey on child placement options, the paper draws out similarities and differences in understandings of the place of ‘permanence’ within the child welfare discourse in Norway and England. The main differences are that in England the components of permanence are explicitly set out in legislation, statutory guidance and advisory documents whilst in Norway the terms ‘stability’ and ‘continuity’ are used in a more limited number of policy documents in the context of a wide array of services available for children and families. The paper then draws on these sources, and on administrative data on children in care, to tease out possible explanations for the similarities and differences identified. We hypothesise that both long-standing policies and recent changes can be explained by differences in public and political understandings of child welfare and the balance between universal services and those targeted on parents and children identified as vulnerable and in need of specialist services

Does Hypercapnic Acidosis, induced by Adding CO2 to Inspired Gas, Have Protective Effect in a Ventilator-induced Lung Injury?

To investigate whether hypercapnic acidosis, induced by adding CO2 to inspired gas, would be protective effect against ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI), we ventilated 55 normal white rabbits for 6 hr or until PaO2/FIO2 <200 mmHg. Control group (n=15) was ventilated with peak inspiratory pressure (PIP) of 15 cm H2O, positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) of 3 cm H2O, an inspiration-to-expiration ratio of 1:2, and an inspired oxygen fraction (FIO2) of 0.40. High pressure hypercapnic group (HPHC; n=20) was ventilated with PIP of 30 cm H2O, PEEP of 0 cm H2O, and FIO2 of 0.40. Carbon dioxide was introduced into the inspiratory limb of the ventilator circuit, as necessary to maintain hypercapnia (PaCO2, 65 to 75 mmHg). High pressure normocapnic group (HPNC; n=20) was ventilated with same setting of HPHC, except normocapnia (PaCO2, 35 to 45 mmHg). Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase, interleukin-8 were significantly higher in high pressure ventilator group than control group (p<0.05). Wet weight to dry weight (WW/DW) and histologic scores were significantly higher in high pressure ventilator group than control group (p<0.05). However, there were no significant differences in oxygenation, BALF inflammatory markers, WW/DW and histologic scores between HPHC and HPNC groups. These findings suggest that hypercapnic acidosis at least induced by CO2 insufflation would not be protective effect against VILI in this model

The inter-personal work of dental conscious sedation: a qualitative analysis

Aims Whilst there is a considerable body of literature examining the pharmacology of conscious sedation, the social tasks required to successfully provide conscious sedation have not been reported. This paper discusses data regarding the interpersonal work integral to effective conscious sedation provision, from a larger qualitative study exploring how patients and clinicians engage with secondary care conscious sedation provided within the UK. Method Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 conscious sedation providers and nine patients within UK-based secondary care sedation settings. Digital audio-recordings were transcribed verbatim and subsequently analysed using a constant comparative method within NVivo Data Analysis Software. Results Four main themes of interpersonal work were reported by participants: displaying care, containing emotions, demonstrating competence and maximizing the effect. Conclusion This study shows that performing conscious sedation requires more than technical delivery, and involves the projection of attributes in a literal “performance.” The importance of managing outward emotional appearance reflects previous dental research. The need to manage outward appearance, and the emotional impact this has, is of relevance to all clinicians

Tandem quadruplication of HMA4 in the zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) hyperaccumulator noccaea caerulescens

Zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) hyperaccumulation may have evolved twice in the Brassicaceae, in Arabidopsis halleri and in the Noccaea genus. Tandem gene duplication and deregulated expression of the Zn transporter, HMA4, has previously been linked to Zn/Cd hyperaccumulation in A. halleri. Here, we tested the hypothesis that tandem duplication and deregulation of HMA4 expression also occurs in Noccaea. A Noccaea caerulescens genomic library was generated, containing 36,864 fosmid pCC1FOSTM clones with insert sizes ~20–40 kbp, and screened with a PCR-generated HMA4 genomic probe. Gene copy number within the genome was estimated through DNA fingerprinting and pooled fosmid pyrosequencing. Gene copy numbers within individual clones was determined by PCR analyses with novel locus specific primers. Entire fosmids were then sequenced individually and reads equivalent to 20-fold coverage were assembled to generate complete whole contigs. Four tandem HMA4 repeats were identified in a contiguous sequence of 101,480 bp based on sequence overlap identities. These were flanked by regions syntenous with up and downstream regions of AtHMA4 in Arabidopsis thaliana. Promoter-reporter b-glucuronidase (GUS) fusion analysis of a NcHMA4 in A. thaliana revealed deregulated expression in roots and shoots, analogous to AhHMA4 promoters, but distinct from AtHMA4 expression which localised to the root vascular tissue. This remarkable consistency in tandem duplication and deregulated expression of metal transport genes between N. caerulescens and A. halleri, which last shared a common ancestor >40 mya, provides intriguing evidence that parallel evolutionary pathways may underlie Zn/Cd hyperaccumulation in Brassicaceae

Shifting the Narrative: Child-led Responses to Climate Change and Disasters in El Salvador and the Philippines

Children and young people are commonly treated in the climate change and disasters literature as victims of natural events requiring protection by adults. This article critiques that narrative, drawing on examples from the Philippines and El Salvador that explore how children’s groups have responded to such issues through child‐centred initiatives. This highlights the importance of understanding children’s perception and communication of risks facing their lives and livelihoods, their potential as agents of change in preventing disasters and adapting to climate change, and the implications for the theory and practice of child participation, particularly in developing countries

Preferences for menu labelling formats of young adults in Brazil and in the United Kingdom

Objective This pilot study was aimed at exploring preferences of young adults in two different contexts on restaurant menu labelling formats. Methods Five focus groups were conducted with 36 participants, two focus groups with 11 participants in Brazil and three focus groups with 25 in the United Kingdom. Themes originating from the content analysis of the transcriptions were organised around four possible menu labelling formats: 1) numerical information on calories; 2) numerical information on calories and nutrients; 3) traffic light system plus Guideline Daily Amounts; 4) food information with ingredients list plus highlighted symbols. Results In both countries, participants preferred the ingredients list plus symbols format, considered more comprehensive and useful to make an informed food choice. Organic food and vegetarian symbols were the ones considered most important to appear on restaurant menu labels with ingredients list. However, most participants in Brazil and in the United Kingdom rejected the information restricted to calories and calories plus nutrients formats, saying that these would not influence their own choices. Conclusion This is the first multicultural qualitative study exploring preferences of people living in different countries with different eating habits, but where menu labelling is voluntary. Results evidenced similarities in participants' likes and dislikes for menu labelling formats in these two different contexts. Discussions showed participants in both countries prefer qualitative information than numerical information, suggesting that ingredients list and symbols provide information that people want to see on the menu