Prison staff and prisoner views on a prison smoking ban: evidence from the Tobacco in Prisons Study

Introduction  In jurisdictions permitting prisoner smoking, rates are high (c75%), with smoking embedded in prison culture, leading to secondhand smoke exposures among staff and prisoners and challenges for smoking cessation. Momentum is building to ban smoking in prisons, but research on staff and prisoner views is lacking. We address this gap, providing evidence on staff and prisoner views throughout all Scottish prisons.  Methods  Data were collected prior to announcement of a (November 2018) prison smoking ban throughout Scotland. Mixed methods were used: surveys of staff (online, N=1,271, ~27%) and prisoners (questionnaire, N=2,512, ~34%); 17 focus groups and two paired interviews with staff in 14 prisons.  Results  Staff were more positive than prisoners about bans and increased smoking restrictions, although prisoner views were more favourable should e-cigarettes be permitted. Non-smokers were more positive than smokers. Whilst 74% staff and 22% prisoners agreed bans were a good idea, both groups acknowledged implementation and enforcement challenges. Staff views were influenced by beliefs about: acceptability of the policy in principle; and whether/how bans could be achieved. Although some voiced doubts about smoke-free policies, staff likened a ban to other operational challenges. Staff raised concerns around needs for appropriate measures, resources and support, adequate lead-in time, and effective communication prior to a ban.  Conclusion  We recommend that regular and open opportunities for dialogue within and between different stakeholder groups are created when preparing for prison smoking bans, and that specific measures to address staff and prisoner concerns are incorporated into plans to create and maintain smoke-free environments. Implications To our knowledge, this study is the first to research staff and prisoner views across a whole prison system prior to implementation of smoke-free policies. The results highlight potential challenges and suggest measures which might help to maximise the success of bans. Our results are relevant for prison service managers responsible for the forthcoming introduction of a ban in Scottish prisons (November 2018) and for other prison systems and comparable institutions planning smoke-free initiatives. Given that prison smoking bans may be contentious, we recommend creating regular and open opportunities for dialogue between stakeholders when preparing for and maintaining smoke-free environments.

Characterising the Exposure of Prison Staff to Second-Hand Tobacco Smoke

Acknowledgements This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research Programme (project number 15/55/44). We are grateful to all the staff at the Scottish Prison Service and in HMP Kilmarnock and HMP Addiewell who assisted with this study. We are also extremely grateful to David Walker, Ruaraidh Dobson and Mrs Flora Buthlay for their help with data collection and retrieval of instruments from prisons, and to Dr Steve Turner for helpful comments on an earlier draft. KH, HS, GL, ED gratefully acknowledge core funding from UK MRC and Chief Scientist Office (MC_UU_12017/12; SPHSU12; MC/PC/13027 partnership grant) for their work within prison settings. We acknowledge the contribution of our co-investigators in the TIPs research team to the overall design of the TIPs study (Professor Linda Bauld, Dr Kathleen Boyd, Dr Philip Conaglen, Dr Peter Craig, Douglas Eadie, Professor Alastair Leyland, Professor Jill Pell).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Life Science Mini Projects: Taking the Lab Outside the Laboratory

The development of core skills in practical investigation are important for Life Science graduates, however, due to COVID-19 restrictions during this year, Level 3 Human Biology and Physiology students from the University of Glasgow were unable to conduct laboratory-based work. In previous years, students created and undertook small-scale lab-based practical projects at the end of semester 2 to attain course ILOs and graduate attributes. This pandemic year, academic and technical staff proposed that students work in small groups of 5-6 to develop an experimental hypotheses and study design, then collected data in home-based projects over the course of a scheduled experimental week. Whilst students were steered away from projects relying on immobile laboratory equipment in controlled lab environments, they were provided with examples of measurements that could be feasibly performed in isolated ‘real-world’ experiments. Technicians were then able to send wearable measurement devices (e.g. heart rate monitors, continuous glucose monitors) directly to students’ homes to be used during the experimental phase. All data was collected by students at home using laboratory techniques approved by the safety committee. This poster will present the opportunities to staff and students in undertaking ‘real-world’ mini projects and highlight learnings that could be transferred to future academic years. In addition, we will promote the often-overlooked role of laboratory technical staff in teaching provision ; as well as being key to risk assessments and facilitating home-delivery of equipment, laboratory technicians were available for troubleshooting during the data collection phase. Take home messages: 1. Some investigative projects are possible in remote delivery with appropriate planning and safety considerations 2. Remote delivery presented opportunity for creation of experiments with real-world application 3. Technical staff are key members of the teaching team and have valuable expertise to facilitate the learning experience

Views of prison staff in Scotland on the potential benefits and risks of e-cigarettes in smoke-free prisons:a qualitative focus group study

Objective Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were introduced into all Scottish prisons in February 2018, some months after prisons began preparing in 2017 for a smoking ban implemented in November 2018. In 2016/2017, prison staff views on the potential benefits and risks of e-cigarettes were explored in advance of the introduction of: (1) a smoking ban and (2) e-cigarettes. Setting Fourteen prisons in Scotland. Participants Seventeen focus groups and two paired interviews were conducted with 132 staff in 14 Scottish prisons 4-9 months before plans for a smoking ban were announced in July 2017. Both smoking and non-smoking staff were invited to participate. Results Prison staff highlighted three potential risks of e-cigarettes in smoke-free prisons: staff health risks from e-cigarette vapour; prisoner health risks from vaping; and risks to both groups from e-cigarette misuse, defects or accidents. Conversely, potential benefits of e-cigarettes in smoke-free prisons centred on: reducing smoking-related health harms to staff and prisoners; helping prisoners to manage without tobacco; and supporting staff to maintain safety and discipline in prison. Staff who participated in focus groups had limited experience of vaping and expressed some uncertainty and misunderstandings about e-cigarettes. Conclusion Our findings highlight that scientific uncertainty, misunderstanding about vaping, the complexity of prisons as workplaces and prison tobacco control policy all have implications for staff perceptions of the potential place of e-cigarettes in smoke-free prisons. To alleviate staff concerns, there is a need for reliable information on e-cigarettes. Staff may also require reassurances on whether products are ‘tamper proof’, and rules about vaping indoors

Beyond cycle lanes and large-scale infrastructure: a scoping review of initiatives that groups and organisations can implement to promote cycling for the Cycle Nation Project

Background/objectives: Cycling has well-established positive relationships with health. Evidence suggests that large-scale infrastructure and built-environment initiatives to promote cycling are likely to be necessary but not sufficient to maximise cycling participation. Smaller-scale initiatives that can be implemented by organisations (eg, employers) and groups (eg, community groups) are therefore also important, but the full range of feasible activities to promote cycling is not known. We aimed to scope the literature and map organisational, social and individual level activities to increase cycling.MethodsDesign: Scoping review following an established five-stage process.Eligibility criteria: Studies or publicly available reports describing cycling promotion initiatives deemed feasible for organisations or groups to implement.Sources of evidence and selection: (i) online databases (Ovid (Medline), Ovid (Embase), SportDISCUS (Ebscohost), ProQuest, Web of Science), (ii) existing systematic reviews, (iii) expert stakeholder consultation.Results: We extracted data from 129 studies and reports, from 20 different countries, identifying 145 cycling promotion initiatives. From these initiatives we identified 484 actions within 93 action types within 33 action categories under the nine intervention functions described by Michie et al. Environmental restructuring (micro-level), enablement, education and persuasion were the functions with the most action types, while coercion, modelling and restriction had the fewest action types.Conclusion: This is the first comprehensive map to summarise the broad range of action types feasible for implementation within organisation/group-based cycling promotion initiatives. The map will be a critical tool for communities, employers, practitioners and researchers in designing interventions to increase cycling

Development and optimisation of a multi-component workplace intervention to increase cycling for the Cycle Nation Project

The Cycle Nation Project (CNP) aimed to develop, test the feasibility of and optimize a multi-component individual-/social-level workplace-based intervention to increase cycling among office staff at a multinational bank (HSBC UK). To do this, we first explored barriers to cycling in a nationally-representative survey of UK adults, then undertook focus groups with bank employees to understand any context-specific barriers and ways in which these might be overcome. These activities led to identification of 10 individual-level, two social-level, and five organizational-level modifiable factors, which were mapped to candidate intervention components previously identified in a scoping review of cycling initiatives. Interviews with HSBC UK managers then explored the practicality of implementing the candidate intervention components in bank offices. The resultant pilot CNP intervention included 32 core components across six intervention functions (education, persuasion, incentivisation, training, environmental restructuring, enablement). Participants received a loan bike for 12-weeks (or their own bike serviced), and a 9-week cycle training course (condensed to 6 weeks for those already confident in basic cycling skills), including interactive information sharing activities, behavior change techniques (e.g., weekly goal setting), bike maintenance training, practical off-road cycling skill games and on-road group rides. Sessions were delivered by trained bank staff members who were experienced cyclists. The CNP pilot intervention was delivered across three sites with 68 participants. It was completed in two sites (the third site was stopped due to COVID-19) and was feasible and acceptable to both women and men and across different ethnicities. In addition, the CNP intervention was successful (at least in the short term) in increasing cycling by 3 rides/week on average, and improving perceptions of safety, vitality, confidence, and motivation to cycle. Following minor modifications, the long-term effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the CNP intervention should be tested in a full-scale randomized controlled trial

Master planned estates : parish or panacea?

Master planned estates in Australia emerge from two major directions: one aims to address the inadequacies of 1970s suburbanisation and the other comes from governments and developers seeking to realise alternatives. The very idea of master planning has a longer history, one that arguably dates back to 19th-century Utopian Socialism and Baron Haussmann\u27s redesign of Paris, which involved a large-scale, comprehensive alternative vision realised by a sanctioned authority. Master planning thereby partakes of both utopianism and authoritarianism. These associations have infused the discussion and construction of Australian master planned estates rendering them both pariah and panacea. But research and my own experience suggests that they are far more panaceas than pariahs

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome