Wellbeing in the aftermath of floods.

Published onlineJournal ArticleThis is the final version of the article. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.The interactions between flood events, their aftermath, and recovery leading to health and wellbeing outcomes for individuals are complex, and the pathways and mechanisms through which wellbeing is affected are often hidden and remain under-researched. This study analyses the diverse processes that explain changes in wellbeing for those experiencing flooding. It identifies key pathways to wellbeing outcomes that concern perceptions of lack of agency, dislocation from home, and disrupted futures inducing negative impacts, with offsetting positive effects through community networks and interactions. The mixed method study is based on data from repeated qualitative semi-structured interviews (n=60) and a structured survey (n=1000) with individuals that experienced flooding directly during winter 2013/14 in two UK regions. The results show for the first time the diversity and intersection of pathways to wellbeing outcomes in the aftermath of floods. The findings suggest that enhanced public health planning and interventions could focus on the precise practices and mechanisms that intersect to produce anxiety, stress, and their amelioration at individual and community levels.This research was undertaken with funding from the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) in Environmental Change and Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in partnership with Public Health England (PHE), and in collaboration with the University of Exeter, University College London, and the Met Office, and funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council [Grant: ES/M006867/1]. The public interview transcripts can be found in the UK Data Archive (www.data-archive.co.uk). The authors wish to thank Louisa Evans and Saffron O’Neill for collaboration and the members of the public and the stakeholders that participated in the research. For comments on earlier drafts and versions of this paper, thanks also go to Angie Bone, Sari Kovats, and participants in the Sydney Ideas Lecture, Sydney University, March 2015, our report launch meeting at the Royal Geographical Society, London, June 2016, and the RGS annual conference sessions, Exeter, September 2015

Moral reasoning in adaptation to climate change

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Moral foundations theory argues that moral reasoning is widely observed and fundamental to the legitimacy of relevant governance and policy interventions. A new analytical framework to examine and test how moral reasoning underpins and legitimizes governance and practice on adaptation to climate change risks is proposed. It develops a typology of eight categories of vulnerability-based and system-based moral reasoning that pertain to the dilemmas around adaptation and examines the prevalence of these moral categories in public discourse about specific adaptation issues. The framework is tested using data on climate change impact, adaptation, and societal responsibility, drawn from 14 focus groups comprising 148 participants across the UK. Participants consistently use moral reasoning to explain their views on climate adaptation; these include both vulnerability-based and system-based framings. These findings explain public responses to adaptation options and governance, and have implications for the direction of adaptation policy, including understanding which types of reasoning support politically legitimate interventions.We acknowledge funding from the University of Exeter Humanities and Social Science Strategy; the UK Economic and Social Research Council (Grant ES/M006867/1); and National Institute for Health Research, Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) in Environmental Change and Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in partnership with Public Health England. We thank IPSOS-MORI and the UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs for access to the data used here. We benefitted from interactions with Karen Parkhill, Ben Wheeler, Stuart Capstick and Saffron O’Neill and feedback from participants at the Governing Sustainability workshop at the University of Sydney, March 2015, and the Royal Meteorological Society conference, London, November 2015. We further benefitted from helpful guidance from David Schlosberg and from two referees. This version remains our sole responsibility

Narratives of recovery after floods: Mental health, institutions, and intervention.

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordThere is increasing evidence that flood events affect the mental health of those experiencing them, with recognition that the period of recovery after the event is particularly important to outcomes. Previous research on flooding has argued that there is a recovery gap that occurs during the long process of recovery at the point when the support provision from public authorities and agencies diminishes, and less well-defined interactions with private actors, such as insurers, begin. This concept highlights the importance of the support and intervention from authorities and other institutions for recovery processes. To date, little research has focused specifically on these relationships and their consequences for people's mental wellbeing through recovery. This study examines the processes of individuals' recovery from flood events, focusing on the role of interaction with agencies in the trajectories of mental health journeys. The analysis applies a narrative approach to in-depth repeated interviews carried out over a fifteen-month period with nine individuals whose homes were inundated by floods in 2013/14 in Somerset, UK. The results suggest strong evidence for institutional support having an important role in how individuals experience their post-flood mental health recovery journeys. The data reveal strategies to maintain psychological and emotional resilience at distinct periods during recovery, and show that both institutional actions and the perceived absence of support in specific circumstances affect the mental health burden of flood events.National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

A novel method to determine dynamic temperature trends applied to in-shoe temperature data during walking

Body temperature is one of the fundamental measures considered in the assessment of health and wellbeing, with various medical conditions known to give rise to abnormal changes in temperature. In particular, abnormal variations in dynamic temperature patterns during walking or exercise may be linked to a range of foot problems, which are of particular concern in diabetic patients. A number of studies have investigated normative temperature patterns of a population by considering data from multiple participants and averaging results after an acclimatisation interval. In this work we demonstrate that the temperature patterns obtained using such an approach may not be truly representative of temperature changes in a population, and the averaging process adopted may yield skewed results. In this work we propose an alternative approach to determine generic reference temperature patterns based on a minimization of root mean square differences between time-shifted versions of temperature data collected from multiple participants. The results obtained indicate that this approach can yield a general trend that is more representative of actual temperature changes across a population than conventional averaging methods. The method we propose is also shown to better capture and link the effects of underlying factors that influence dynamic temperature trends, which could in turn lead to a better understanding of underlying physiological phenomena

Nature of socioeconomic inequalities in neonatal mortality: population based study

Objective To investigate time trends in socioeconomic inequalities in cause specific neonatal mortality in order to assess changing patterns in mortality due to different causes, particularly prematurity, and identify key areas of focus for future intervention strategies

Community resilience and wellbeing: An exploration of relationality and belonging after disasters

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordCommunity resilience is commonly held to be critical for coping with adversity and disturbance. Although the process of community resilience is often contested and critiqued, the enactment of social relations within communities has been shown to ameliorate the worst impacts of disaster events on the well-being of their members. Here, we propose that well-being in the aftermath of disasters is shaped by processes of relationality and belonging within communities. This study uses data from longitudinal mixed-methods research with flood-affected communities in southwest and eastern England directly affected by long-duration and high-impact floods. Analysis from in-depth interviews conducted over eighteen months and from cross-sectional surveys of affected populations shows that active belonging and relational capital are related to self-reported well-being. The results further show that active belonging is consistently significant for well-being, whereas relational capital is only significantly correlated to well-being later in the recovery period, and that social identity processes are central in the link between community dynamics and well-being. The changing identity processes include altered perceptions of community membership and the use of collective identities to frame personal experience. These results suggest that community resilience processes and their relationship to individual well-being are not fixed but evolve through stress, trauma, and renewal.National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)Wellcome Trus

A survey to investigate the association of pain, foot disability and quality of life with corns

Background Corns are a common foot problem affecting a large proportion of the population. This study describes the characteristics of corns experienced by 201 participants taking part in a randomised controlled trial to investigate associations between demographic and corn parameters on pain, foot related disability and quality of life (QoL). Methods Pain from the main (index) corn was measured using a visual analogue scale (VAS); foot related disability was assessed with the Foot Disability Questionnaire (now known as the Manchester Foot Pain and Disability Index) and quality of life was recorded with the EQ-5D questionnaire. The effect of demographic and corn parameters on the pain and quality of life outcomes was assessed with analysis of variance (ANOVA) methods. The effect of the same factors on a linear combination of the foot-related disability outcome measures was assessed using multivariate ANOVA methods. Pain was also tested for its mediating properties on the causal pathway between the independent variables and quality of life. Results The mean pain score was 5.29 points on a 10 cm VAS, with females reporting substantively higher pain levels than males. Age affected foot-related disability, with lower levels on all domains of the MFPDI reported in older participants; each year of advancing age was associated with falls of: 0.009 points on the Concern about Appearance (CA) domain; 0.047 points on the Functional Limitation (FL) domain and 0.048 points on the Pain Intensity (PI) domain. Sex and corn type also affected disability, with higher scores reported by females and participants with plantar corns. Conclusions The effect of pain was shown to mediate the relationship between sex and foot-related disability. The presence of plantar corns has a more detrimental effect on QoL than dorsal/inter-digital corns

'We’re not that Gullible!’ — Revealing Dark Pattern Mental Models of 11-12 Year-Old Scottish Children

For the purpose of open access, the authors have applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission....SPRITE (EP/S035869/1); REPHRAIN (EP/W032473/1

Occupational Exposure to Hydrazine and Subsequent Risk of Lung Cancer: 50-Year Follow-Up

Hydrazine is carcinogenic in animals, but there is inadequate evidence to determine if it is carcinogenic in humans. This study aimed to evaluate the association between hydrazine exposure and the risk of lung cancer.The cause specific mortality rates of a cohort of 427 men who were employed at an English factory that produced hydrazine between 1945 and 1971 were compared with national mortality rates.By the end of December 2012 205 deaths had occurred. For men in the highest exposure category with greater than two years exposure and after more than ten years since first exposure the relative risks compared with national rates were: 0.85 (95% CI: 0.18-2.48) for lung cancer, 0.61 (95% CI: 0.07-2.21) for cancers of the digestive system, and 0.44 (95% CI: 0.05-1.57) for other cancers.After 50 years of follow up, the results provide no evidence of an increased risk of death from lung cancer or death from any other cause