Asylum support for children and young people living in Kirklees: Stories of mothers

The report is based on a one-year pilot study by academic practitioners at WomenCentre, Kirklees, funded by the Nationwide Children’s Research Centre. This study has taken a localised approach to the Parliamentary Inquiry (2013) into asylum support for children and young people. We have placed the views of mothers of children who live or have lived in receipt of asylum support in Kirklees at the heart of the study. All of the mothers interviewed said that asylum support (accommodation and/or financial subsistence) was or had been their only means of survival and many of them have spent several years in receipt of asylum support with their children. Using the themes that arose in the Parliamentary Inquiry into asylum support for children and young people (2013)’, we have examined the mothers’ accounts of asylum support in relation to children and young people living in Kirklees. Consistent with the Parliamentary Inquiry and central to the analysis, a number of areas of concern were raised by the mothers: ‘essential living needs’, ‘home-life’, ‘education’ and ‘societal attitudes’. A further theme emerged around ‘children’s resilience’. As part of this report we have presented the recommendations put forward by the mothers: • Families seeking asylum should be given the right to work. • Section 4 support should be abolished and a cash-based support system introduced for all children, young people and their families. • Families should have a choice about where they live. • The best interests of the child should be central to decisions affecting children

Health Science Libraries: future trends

A vision of future Health Science scenarios is outlined. The paper gives a succinct overview of the key issues and notes the Irish health policy context. Topics covered include future roles for librarians and the increasing importance of evidence-based practice. Other issues considered are patients and healthcare, consumer health, and health information literacy. The discussion is set against the backdrop of technological developments which influence how library space is used, collections are accessed and information retrieved

The effect of a chiropractic adjustment with resistance training protocol, compared to a chiropractic adjustment or resistance training protocol alone, on neck strength in cervical facet syndrome

M.Tech. (Chiropractic)Aim: The aim of this study was to determine if a chiropractic adjustment had an effect on muscle strength. The study then aimed to compare the effects a resistance training protocol, to a chiropractic adjustment, to a combination of these two treatments on the neck strength of individuals with cervical facet syndrome. Method: This study consisted of three groups of 10 participants each. The participants were grouped by stratified sampling to balance the groups in terms of age and gender. The participants ranged in age from 22 to 28 years. There were 18 male and 12 female participants. Participants were examined and accepted into the trail according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Treatment was allocated according to groupings. Group 1 received a resistance training protocol, group 2 received chiropractic adjustment only and group 3 received a combination of both treatments. Procedure: Treatment consisted of 6 treatment sessions and a 7th follow up session, over a three week period. Participants in group 1 and 3 were instructed to perform the demonstrated resistance training protocol 3 times a week for 3 weeks. Participants in group 2 and 3 received chiropractic adjustments to hypomobile cervical spine segments, twice a week for three weeks. Cervical range of motion (CROM) was mesured using a CROM device and strength readings were measured using a hand held isometric dynamometer. Measurements were recorded on the 1st, 4th and 7th visits. All participants were required to fill in a Vernon-Mior Neck Disability Index (NDI) on the 1st and 7th visits. The data collected was analysed by a statistician. Results: Analysis of the Vernon-Mior NDI intra-group results showed that all three groups were effective in reducing cervical pain and disability. There was no statistical difference in improvement between the groups. CROM results indicated that all three groups successfully increased cervical range of motion. The combination group had the greatestimprovement, followed by the adjustment group and lastly the resistance training group. The combination group showed statistical improvements in all ranges of motion at visit 4 while this was only achieved by the resistance training group at visit 7. In the adjustment group statistical changes in flexion, extension and lateral flexion were only noted at visit 7, however in rotation, statistical improvements were noted at visit 4. Isometric dynamometer analysis showed that all 3 groups did show a statistically significant increase in cervical muscle strength. The combination group provided the greatest gains, followed by the adjustment group. The smallest gains were seen in the resistance training group. Statistical changes in the resistance training group were only measured at visit 7, while in the combination and adjustment group, these changes were noted by visit 4. Conclusion: Chiropractic adjustment was effective in increasing neck strength. Of the 3 groups, the combination treatment proved to be the most effective method of improving neck strength in individuals with cervical facet syndrome. Of the two individual treatments, chiropractic adjustment was more effective in terms of both strength gains and time taken to achieve these results, than the resistance training protocol

Morbidity burden and community-based palliative care are associated with rates of hospital use by people with schizophrenia in the last year of life: A population-based matched cohort study

Objective: People with schizophrenia face an increased risk of premature death from chronic diseases and injury. This study describes the trajectory of acute care health service use in the last year of life for people with schizophrenia and how this varied with receipt of community based specialist palliative care and morbidity burden. Method: A population-based retrospective matched cohort study of people who died from 01/01/ 2009 to 31/12/2013 with and without schizophrenia in Western Australia. Hospital inpatient, emergency department, death and community-based care data collections were linked at the person level. Rates of emergency department presentations and hospital admissions over the last year of life were estimated. Results: Of the 63508 decedents, 1196 (1.9%) had a lifetime history of schizophrenia. After adjusting for confounders and averaging over the last year of life there was no difference in the overall rate of ED presentation between decedents with schizophrenia and the matched cohort (HR 1.09; 95%CI 0.99–1.19). However, amongst the subset of decedents with cancer, choking or intentional self-harm recorded on their death certificate, those with schizophrenia presented to ED more often. Males with schizophrenia had the highest rates of emergency department use in the last year of life. Rates of hospital admission for decedents with schizophrenia were on average half (HR 0.53, 95%CI 0.44–0.65) that of the matched cohort although this varied by cause of death. Of all decedents with cancer, 27.5% of people with schizophrenia accessed community-based specialist palliative care compared to 40.4% of the matched cohort (p\u3c0.001). Rates of hospital admissions for decedents with schizophrenia increased 50% (95% CI: 10%-110%) when enrolled in specialist palliative care. Conclusion: In the last year of life, people with schizophrenia were less likely to be admitted to hospital and access community-based speciality palliative care, but more likely to attend emergency departments if male. Community-based specialist palliative care was associated with increased rates of hospital admissions

We Don't Need No Education: Adolescence and the School in Contemporary Australian Teen TV

postcolonialTelevision remains the number one leisure pursuit of Australian teenagers, yet teenagers occupy a number of complicated, sometimes contradictory, spaces on contemporary Australian television. Non-fictional teen representations range from the routinely apocalyptic (such as the ‘street kids’ and ‘drug addicts’ of news media), to the conventionally 'beautiful' (on reality programmes such as "Search for a Supermodel" and "Popstars"). Alongside these images are a variety of fictional teen images dominated by soap operas such as "Home and Away" and "Neighbours", which have successfully targeted teen and young adult demographics for a number of years. Since the mid-1990s, there has also been a (relatively unsuccessful) shift in Australia towards 'quality teen television drama' — programmes fundamentally for and about youth. In this chapter we focus on "Heartbreak High", arguably the most significant Australian 'quality teen television drama' of the 1990s. We explore how the programme’s diegesis negotiates and maps identities for contemporary Australian teenagers. More specifically, we examine constructions of teenage identities in contemporary Australian ‘quality teen television drama’ (hereafter referred to as ‘teen TV’) via representations of ‘the school’ and ‘post-school’ options within the programme. We investigate how "Heartbreak High" has responded to (whether by conforming to, or exceeding) the available cultural spaces for narrating adolescent experiences, but also to the broader social relationship between adolescents and schools. How does this programme represent the accord and tension between teens and schools? Do these representations offer diverse or uniform outcomes for their teen characters in relation to educational and post-school options, and what are the implications for Australian teen identities more broadly? We overview "Heartbreak High" and its reception, but also make comparative references to other Australian programmes that feature teens prominently

Transformed library spaces lead to transformed library services: a case study of the RCSI library

A new health sciences library integrated into a state of the art academic and clinical education building provided opportunities for transforming library services delivery, positioning space as a service, deeper integration of library expertise within the University community and the curriculum, and for enhancing the student experience

Gateways Not Pathways: Student Perceptions of the Portals to Employability

The expectation that tertiary education leads to employment is one that most commencing students hold. A problem arises when there is a gap between the knowledge and skills students expect to acquire and the knowledge and skills course designers and teachers expect students to develop. The present study interviewed 22 first year students and 12 final year students to explore their expectations and experiences of employability teaching and learning, and compared these to the conceptions of employability articulated in their institution’s policy documentation. The findings suggest that most students believed that, to achieve their career goals, their primary focus should be on completing their academic studies, and that all relevant knowledge and skills would be unveiled during this process. As such, they viewed their time at university as a distinct stage in their development, one that must be completed before they move on to engage with the challenge of employment. Such expectations differ in important ways from those of the institution at which participants were enrolled, which sets employability within the context of an ever-changing job market and the consequent need for life-long learning. Moreover, while the institution clearly articulates the skills that they believe are embedded within their units and courses, this is not being conveyed to students. Implications of this research highlight the need to carefully consider what expectations students are bringing with them regarding the enhancement of employability and how institutions can best act to bridge the gap between students’ expectations and their own