From manuscript catalogues to a handbook of Syriac literature: Modeling an infrastructure for Syriaca.org

Despite increasing interest in Syriac studies and growing digital availability of Syriac texts, there is currently no up-to-date infrastructure for discovering, identifying, classifying, and referencing works of Syriac literature. The standard reference work (Baumstark's Geschichte) is over ninety years old, and the perhaps 20,000 Syriac manuscripts extant worldwide can be accessed only through disparate catalogues and databases. The present article proposes a tentative data model for Syriaca.org's New Handbook of Syriac Literature, an open-access digital publication that will serve as both an authority file for Syriac works and a guide to accessing their manuscript representations, editions, and translations. The authors hope that by publishing a draft data model they can receive feedback and incorporate suggestions into the next stage of the project.Comment: Part of special issue: Computer-Aided Processing of Intertextuality in Ancient Languages. 15 pages, 4 figure

Syriaca.org: New Digital Tools for the Study of the Medieval Middle East

National Endowment for the Humanities, International Balzan Foundation, Mellon Foundatio

Feasibility randomised controlled trial of a one-day CBT workshop (“DISCOVER”) for 15-18 year olds with anxiety and/or depression in clinic settings

Background: “DISCOVER” one-day cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) workshops have been developed to provide accessible, developmentally-sensitive psychological support for older adolescents experiencing emotional difficulties. Previous school-based evaluations of the DISCOVER model have shown positive outcomes. Aims: The current study aimed to test the model for clinically-referred adolescents, in real-world settings. Method: A randomised controlled trial (RCT) assessed feasibility, acceptability and preliminary outcomes of the DISCOVER intervention, in comparison with usual care, for 15-18-year-olds with emotional difficulties. Participants were recruited from outpatient clinic waiting lists in UK child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Research feasibility indicators included rates of recruitment, randomisation, intervention participation (group workshops and individualised follow-up telephone calls), and data collection (at baseline and 8-week follow-up). Intervention acceptability was assessed using a structured service satisfaction questionnaire and semi-structured qualitative interviews with intervention participants. Preliminary clinical outcomes were explored using adolescent-reported validated measures of depression, anxiety and well-being. Results: N=24 participants were randomised to intervention and usual care groups. Workshop attendance was good and high levels of treatment satisfaction were reported, although feasibility challenges emerged in recruitment and randomisation. Trends were found towards potential improvements in anxiety and well-being for the intervention group, but the effect estimate for depression was imprecise; interpretability was also limited due to the small sample size. Conclusions: DISCOVER appears to be a feasible and acceptable intervention model for clinically-referred 15-18-year-olds with emotional difficulties. A full-scale RCT is warranted to evaluate effectiveness; protocol modifications may be necessary to ensure feasible recruitment and randomisation procedures

Intervention for School Anxiety and Absenteeism in Children (ISAAC):Co-designing a brief parent-focused intervention for emotionally-based school avoidance

Emotionally-based school avoidance (EBSA) is an important driver of persistent school absenteeism and may have worsened in the context of COVID-19. This paper describes the development of a brief parent-focused psychosocial intervention with the goal to address the lack of accessible early interventions for EBSA. The developmental process used a person-centred approach (Yardley, 2015) with two phases. In Phase 1, qualitative data were collected about intervention preferences and priorities from N=10 parents and N=7 practitioners in a series of co-design workshops. Phase 2 refined an intervention blueprint based on iterative consultations with N=4 parents and N=3 practitioners. Framework analysis was used to organise findings around key intervention parameters, including relevant mechanisms, content, and delivery methods needed to provide effective, acceptable and feasible support for families affected by EBSA. The resulting blueprint incorporates three online modules to be delivered over three weeks with each module consisting of psychoeducational videos, self-completed learning tasks and a corresponding coaching session. Respective module content includes: (i) self-care strategies to increase parent wellbeing and self-efficacy; (ii) parenting strategies to change behavioural patterns that maintain child distress and avoidance of school; and (iii) strategic communication strategies to increase the quality of home-school relationships. The blueprint has been developed into a full prototype for a forthcoming feasibility study

Stigma related to targeted school-based mental health interventions:A systematic review of qualitative evidence

BackgroundSchool-based mental health services have been advocated to increase access to psychological support for children and adolescents. However, concerns have been raised about the potential stigma associated with selection of students and the visibility of school-based service contact.MethodsThis review assessed findings from qualitative studies to identify potential stigmatising effects of participation in targeted school-based mental health interventions for students attending primary- or secondary-level education. Eight articles (reflecting seven studies) were identified through electronic database searches (PsycInfo, EMBASE, Medline, CINAHL, ERIC), supplemented by citation and reference searches and expert consultations. Data were synthesised according to established guidelines for thematic synthesis.ResultsThree overarching themes were identified: “anticipated and experienced stigma”, “consequences of stigma” and “mitigating strategies”. These findings illustrate how pervasively stigma can compromise efforts to increase access to mental health care through targeted school-based provision, but also outline strategies endorsed by students for alleviating the risk and/or impact of stigma.LimitationsThese findings need to be considered in view of the relative scarcity of surveyed evidence. Furthermore, as all evidence came from high-income and Western countries, the applicability to other contexts is unclear.ConclusionsThis synthesis reflects the first overview of qualitative evidence regarding stigmatising experiences and concerns associated with students’ engagement with targeted school-based mental health interventions. The findings can inform efforts to mitigate stigma-related barriers to students’ engagement in targeted mental health support, and serve to guide future research in this area

Six degrees of freedom vibration isolation using electromagnetic suspension

Experimental data are presented for modeling an electromagnet. Control laws are considered with and without flux feedback and with position and orientation information of the suspended body. Base motion and sensor noise are the principal disturbances. Proper selection of the geometrical operating point minimizes the passive coupling above the bandwidth of the control and filtering can attenuate the high frequency content of sensor noise. Six electromagnets are arranged in a configuration which optimizes the load support and provides control over all six degrees of freedom of the suspended body. The design is based on experimental data generated with a specially designed test facility. Application for suspension of a gravity wave antenna is discussed

Evaluation of a peer led parenting intervention for disruptive behaviour problems in children: community based randomised controlled trial

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a peer led parenting intervention delivered to socially disadvantaged families. Design Randomised controlled trial. Setting Schools and children’s centres in a socially deprived borough of inner London. Participants Parental caregivers seeking help with managing the problem behaviours of 116 index children, aged 2-11 years; 59 families were randomised to the intervention and 57 to a waitlist control condition. Intervention Empowering parents, empowering communities is an eight week (two hours each week), manualised programme delivered to groups of parents by trained peer facilitators from the local community. Main outcome measures Child problems (number and severity), parental stress, and parenting competencies were assessed before and after the intervention using standardised parent reported measures. Results Significantly greater improvements in positive parenting practices and child problems were observed in the intervention group compared with the waitlist group, with no difference in parental stress between the groups. An intention to treat analysis for the primary outcome measure, the intensity subscale of the Eyberg child behaviour inventory, showed an intervention effect size of 0.38 (95% confidence interval 0.01 to 0.75, P=0.01). The intervention group had high rates of treatment retention (91.5%) and user satisfaction. Conclusion The peer led parenting intervention significantly reduced child behaviour problems and improved parenting competencies. This is a promising method for providing effective and acceptable parenting support to families considered hard to reach by mainstream services