Perspectives: Dementia education in Higher Education Institutions, now and in the future: the role of the professional regulatory bodies in the UK

Dementia is a global challenge and educating and upskilling the workforce is a policy imperative. A World Health Organisation priority area is the development of dementia knowledge and skills amongst health and social care professionals. The European Parliament has called for European countries to develop action plans and create common guidelines to provide education and training to professionals caring for people with dementia and their family caregivers. The inconsistencies and gaps in dementia education have been repeatedly highlighted internationally as well as in the United Kingdom (UK); this is despite the four home nations having voluntary frameworks and guidelines for dementia education. This perspectives article on dementia education is written by representatives of the Higher Education Dementia Network (HEDN), a well-established group of academics involved in dementia education and research in over 65 Higher Education Institutions across the UK. HEDN works collaboratively with Dementia UK to promote consistent, high quality dementia education and share best practice. At HEDN we believe that reference to the knowledge and skills frameworks of the four nations within Professional Regulatory Body (PRB) requirements would ensure a more rigorous and consistent approach to dementia education across the UK. Reference to the Frameworks would support their adoption as a required and monitored sector minimum standard across professional boundaries. HEDN therefore recommends that application of the knowledge and skills within these frameworks becomes a requirement for (re)validation/approval of relevant health, social and housing professional programmes. In this article we explain the rationale behind the recommendations made by HEDN and the implications for PRBs and Higher Education Institutions

MVP Implementation Interviews : Final Report

This report presents evidence from a small-scale qualitative research project which took place between January 2021 and November 2021. The project was designed to investigate the facilitators and barriers to implementing the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Scotland. This report provides some background on these issues before reporting on the main results and drawing conclusions

Is knife seizure imagery an effective crime deterrent? A multi-method study

The urgency to reduce knife carrying has been recognised by the police services in Scotland and has been addressed by the introduction of various initiatives to deter knife carrying and crime. One tactic includes the sharing of knife seizure images, where pictures of knives recovered by police are shared on media outlets, however, little research has explored whether this is an effective deterrent. The study sought to explore adults' views of the use of knife images as a deterrent to carrying knives utilising a multi-method approach: (1) a cross-sectional online survey (n= 553), and (2) individual, online semi-structured interviews with adults (n = 20). Fearful, worried and angry reactions towards the use of knife seizure images were expressed among adults and concern was raised that the use of such images may reinforce rather than deter knife carrying. Adults expressed concerns that the use of such images served to reinforce negative stereotypes and stigma within communities affected by high knife crime. The implications of these findings emphasise the limitations to the use of knife seizure images as a deterrent against knife carrying and the importance of community involvement in developing preventative and non-discriminatory approaches to tackling knife carrying throughout Scotland

Dementia education in Higher Education Institutions, now and in the future: the role of the professional regulatory bodies in the UK

Dementia is a global challenge and educating and upskilling the workforce is a policy imperative. A World Health Organisation priority area is the development of dementia knowledge and skills amongst health and social care professionals. The European Parliament has called for European countries to develop action plans and create common guidelines to provide education and training to professionals caring for people with dementia and their family caregivers. The inconsistencies and gaps in dementia education have been repeatedly highlighted internationally as well as in the United Kingdom (UK); this is despite the four home nations having voluntary frameworks and guidelines for dementia education. This perspectives article on dementia education is written by representatives of the Higher Education Dementia Network (HEDN), a well-established group of academics involved in dementia education and research in over 65 Higher Education Institutions across the UK. HEDN works collaboratively with Dementia UK to promote consistent, high quality dementia education and share best practice. At HEDN we believe that reference to the knowledge and skills frameworks of the four nations within Professional Regulatory Body (PRB) requirements would ensure a more rigorous and consistent approach to dementia education across the UK. Reference to the Frameworks would support their adoption as a required and monitored sector minimum standard across professional boundaries. HEDN therefore recommends that application of the knowledge and skills within these frameworks becomes a requirement for (re)validation/approval of relevant health, social and housing professional programmes. In this article we explain the rationale behind the recommendations made by HEDN and the implications for PRBs and Higher Education Institutions

Are images of seized knives an effective crime deterrent? Views of young people within the Scottish context

The urgency to reduce knife carrying has been recognised by police services within Scotland and has been addressed by initiatives such as the sharing of knife seizure images on media outlets. This study sought to explore young peoples' views on the use of knife seizure images as a deterrent to carrying knives by using comparative individual interviews (N = 20) with photo elicitation. Three themes were discovered: (1) negative reactions towards images of seized knives, (2) images of knives may encourage rather than deter knife carrying, and (3) reinforcement of existing beliefs, stereotypes and stigma. These findings highlight the limitations of using knife seizure images as a deterrent and the importance of involving young people in developing preventative and non-discriminatory approaches to tackling knife crime

Knife seizure imagery project report

The urgency to reduce knife crime and knife carrying has remained a primary issue for policy makers and police authorities across Scotland. Young people, particularly those living in the most deprived areas, have been identified as those most at risk of being exposed to higher levels of knife crime and assault related sharp-force injuries. Sharing images of recovered/seized knives in police campaigns and across media outlets (e.g., newspapers, online articles and social media) has been one strategy used to help deter knife carrying. The intention behind the use of knife seizure images is to warn the public of the dangers of knives and to show the success of police efforts in seizing weapons off the streets. However, little empirical research has been conducted to explore whether the use of knife seizure images is an effective deterrent. The aim of this study was to explore the views of young people living in areas of high and low rates of knife crime areas across Glasgow, to gain their perspectives concerning the use of knife seizure images as a crime-deterrent. Between January 2021 and April 2021, a group of 20 young people were invited to take part in online interviews. They were spilt into two equal groups, those living in higher or in lower areas of knife crime around Glasgow (determined by the Scottish Indicator of Multiple Deprivation). A collection of knife images obtained from published articles by the UK news media and from stock images produced by No Knifes Better Lives were shown to the participants

Are images of seized knives an effective crime deterrent? A comparative thematic analysis of young people’s views within the Scottish context

The urgency to reduce knife carrying has been recognised by police services within Scotland and has been addressed by initiatives such as the sharing of knife seizure images on media outlets. This study sought to explore young peoples’ views on the use of knife seizure images as a deterrent to carrying knives by using comparative individual interviews (N = 20) with photo elicitation. Three themes were discovered: (1) negative reactions towards images of seized knives, (2) images of knives may encourage rather than deter knife carrying, and (3) reinforcement of existing beliefs, stereotypes and stigma. These findings highlight the limitations of using knife seizure images as a deterrent and the importance of involving young people in developing preventative and non-discriminatory approaches to tackling knife crime.</p

Discrimination in the workplace, reported by people with major depressive disorder: a cross-sectional study in 35 countries.

OBJECTIVE: Whereas employment has been shown to be beneficial for people with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) across different cultures, employers' attitudes have been shown to be negative towards workers with MDD. This may form an important barrier to work participation. Today, little is known about how stigma and discrimination affect work participation of workers with MDD, especially from their own perspective. We aimed to assess, in a working age population including respondents with MDD from 35 countries: (1) if people with MDD anticipate and experience discrimination when trying to find or keep paid employment; (2) if participants in high, middle and lower developed countries differ in these respects; and (3) if discrimination experiences are related to actual employment status (ie, having a paid job or not). METHOD: Participants in this cross-sectional study (N=834) had a diagnosis of MDD in the previous 12 months. They were interviewed using the Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC-12). Analysis of variance and generalised linear mixed models were used to analyse the data. RESULTS: Overall, 62.5% had anticipated and/or experienced discrimination in the work setting. In very high developed countries, almost 60% of respondents had stopped themselves from applying for work, education or training because of anticipated discrimination. Having experienced workplace discrimination was independently related to unemployment. CONCLUSIONS: Across different countries and cultures, people with MDD very frequently reported discrimination in the work setting. Effective interventions are needed to enhance work participation in people with MDD, focusing simultaneously on decreasing stigma in the work environment and on decreasing self-discrimination by empowering workers with MDD

The Maristán stigma scale: a standardized international measure of the stigma of schizophrenia and other psychoses

Background: People with schizophrenia face prejudice and discrimination from a number of sources including professionals and families. The degree of stigma perceived and experienced varies across cultures and communities. We aimed to develop a cross-cultural measure of the stigma perceived by people with schizophrenia.Method: Items for the scale were developed from qualitative group interviews with people with schizophrenia in six countries. The scale was then applied in face-to-face interviews with 164 participants, 103 of which were repeated after 30 days. Principal Axis Factoring and Promax rotation evaluated the structure of the scale; Horn’s parallel combined with bootstrapping determined the number of factors; and intra-class correlation assessed test-retest reliability.Results: The final scale has 31 items and four factors: informal social networks, socio-institutional, health professionals and self-stigma. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.84 for the Factor 1; 0.81 for Factor 2; 0.74 for Factor 3, and 0.75 for Factor 4. Correlation matrix among factors revealed that most were in the moderate range [0.31-0.49], with the strongest occurring between perception of stigma in the informal network and self-stigma and there was also a weaker correlation between stigma from health professionals and self-stigma. Test-retest reliability was highest for informal networks [ICC 0.76 [0.67 -0.83]] and self-stigma [ICC 0.74 [0.64-0.81]]. There were no significant differences in the scoring due to sex or age. Service users in Argentina had the highest scores in almost all dimensions.Conclusions: The MARISTAN stigma scale is a reliable measure of the stigma of schizophrenia and related psychoses across several cultures. A confirmatory factor analysis is needed to assess the stability of its factor structure.We are also grateful for support from the Pan-American Health Office (PAHO), Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust and University College London (UCL)