“The problem was dying badly, and the answer was dying well” Assisted Dying: A policy briefing

This briefing summarises research about assisted dying, conducted by Dr Jaimee Mallion, Lauren Murphy and colleagues, between January and May 2022. Interviews were conducted with eighteen people who had experience of terminal illness, were family members of those who had experienced a ‘bad death’ or had travelled abroad for an assisted death

Doing public health differently: How can public health departments engage with local communities through social media interventions?

Objectives This paper evaluates a collaborative intervention between public health professionals and local social media administrators, in which the social media site Facebook was used with a view to strengthening engagement with and, dissemination of, core messages and building trust and resilience within local communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study design A qualitative design was used, exploring the research question: how does collaboration between public health professionals and local social network group administrators create community engagement during a global crisis? Methods Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with public health staff and online group administrators. Data was analysed using framework analysis. Results Collaboration between public health professionals and local group administrators created both opportunities and challenges. Local group administrators had wide reach and trust within the local community, but message credibility was enhanced through local authority involvement. Such collaborations contain inherent tensions due to perceived risks to social capital and independence but can be successful if receiving strong risk-tolerant support from the local authority. Findings are discussed in the context of Bourdieu's theory of social capital to examine how public health information can be delivered by trusted social media actors in communication tailored to the local community. Conclusions Social media provides new channels of communication for delivery of public health messages, enabling new ways of working which create long-term engagement and community building. Although the intervention was developed quickly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, participants felt it could be mobilised to address a wider range of issues

Good Lives Model and street gang membership: A review and application

With attention rapidly growing on the Good Lives Model (GLM) as a rehabilitation framework for offending behavior, this paper is the first to review the literature surrounding the GLM and examine its theoretical application to street gang membership and intervention during adolescence. Each of the general, etiological and treatment assumptions of the GLM are reviewed and discussed in relation to the street gang literature. Using a twin focus, the GLM aims to both reduce risk and promote achievement of overarching primary goods by improving internal (e.g., skills and values) and external capacities (e.g., opportunities, resources and support); enabling the development of a prosocial, fulfilling and meaningful life. Street gang members are notoriously difficult to engage in intervention, with slow levels of trust towards therapists. With the use of approach goals, rather than the typically-used avoidance goals, this enables street gang members to perceive themselves as individuals with the ability to change, and allows them to recognize a future life without offending is both possible and appealing. By wrapping the GLM framework around current evidence-based interventions (e.g., Functional Family Therapy), this can increase motivation to engage in treatment and, ultimately, reduce need to associate with the street gang