Participatory techniques and didactic methods

WaterAid is a charity created to help people in Africa and Asia improve their water supply and sanitation. Here in Uganda WaterAid, has been providing a variety of water systems to rural communities for over 8 years. More recently there has been a greater emphasis on integrating sanitation activities with water projects. WaterAid has always been committed to community participation but has learnt that for true sustainability, participation means more than just contributing local materials and labour for constructing a water supply. There has been a lot of talk about how “empowerment” of communities is needed to achieve any real sustainability. In practical terms this means that communities must feel that they own the water system and are therefore responsible for the operation and maintenance (O&M). Furthermore, they need to be involved in selecting and promoting improvements in sanitation and hygiene practices, not just be told (read “educated”) what to do. This is easier said than done. Communities need external assistance but donors have to be careful in their approach to communities to make sure their participation in the project leads to sustainable systems. This paper provides the experiences of Programme Support Unit (PSU) which was set up to help develop an approach which enhances the way communities participate in water supply and sanitation initiatives

Lithium Prescribing during Pregnancy: A UK Primary Care Database Study

Women taking lithium must decide whether to continue the medication if they conceive or plan to conceive. Little is known about the extent of prescribing of lithium during pregnancy

Prospects for discovering supersymmetric long-lived particles with MoEDAL

We present a study on the possibility of searching for long-lived supersymmetric partners with the MoEDAL experiment at the LHC. MoEDAL is sensitive to highly ionising objects such as magnetic monopoles or massive (meta)stable electrically charged particles. We focus on prospects of directly detecting long-lived sleptons in a phenomenologically realistic model which involves an intermediate neutral long-lived particle in the decay chain. This scenario is not yet excluded by the current data from ATLAS or CMS, and is compatible with astrophysical constraints. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we compare the sensitivities of MoEDAL versus ATLAS in scenarios where MoEDAL could provide discovery reach complementary to ATLAS and CMS, thanks to looser selection criteria combined with the virtual absence of background. It is also interesting to point out that, in such scenarios, in which charged staus are the main long-lived candidates, the relevant mass range for MoEDAL is compatible with a potential role of Supersymmetry in providing an explanation for the anomalous events observed by the ANITA detector.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures; preliminary results presented in arXiv:1903.11022; matches published version in EPJ

Development of a peer-led, network mapping intervention to improve the health of individuals with severe mental illnesses: protocol for a pilot study.

INTRODUCTION: Adults with severe mental illness (SMI) have reduced life expectancy and many have comorbid physical health conditions. Primary care providers are experiencing increased demands for care for people with SMI. Barriers to accessing physical healthcare have been identified which negatively affect quality of care. We propose that peer support workers (PSWs) could deliver an intervention to service users to promote their physical health by drawing on existing social support. The aim of this research was to pilot a novel PSW-led intervention, including personal well-being network mapping, to improve access to primary care for physical health needs. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Twenty-four participants will be recruited from community-based mental health teams in two boroughs of London. Each participant will be offered a six-session intervention. Quantitative data will be collected before and after intervention (at 4-month follow-up). Qualitative interviews will be conducted with PSWs after completion of the intervention and with participants at a 4-month follow-up. Some intervention sessions will be observed by a member of the research team. This is a pilot study with a small sample aiming to assess acceptability and feasibility of an intervention. We aim to use the results to refine the existing theory of change and to optimise the intervention and its evaluation in a future randomised controlled trial. This study is strengthened by its potential clinical importance and origin in previous research where service users engaged with well-being network mapping. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has been approved by the London-Chelsea Regional Ethics Committee (ref: 17/LO/0585). The findings will be disseminated to participants, the National Health Service trusts that we recruited from, primary care mental health leads, commissioners and in peer-reviewed journals and academic conferences

An assessment of baseline hand washing practice in Malawi and the relevance of proxy indicators

The Government of Malawi has launched a National Hand Washing Campaign in order to coordinate and intensify efforts on hand washing promotion. However, much of the reported data on actual hand washing practice is unreliable and scanty as it often relies on responses to questionnaires which may not reflect actual practice. This study collected qualitative information on hand washing practice in a few selected villages in rural Malawi to help qualify estimates of hand washing practice from quantitative information collected in national surveys. The findings of the study revealed that hand washing occurs regularly in 50% of households with hand washing facilities. The presence of a hand washing facility alone did not predict hand washing practice unless it is filled with water. Hence a better proxy indicator for assessing hand washing practice in Malawi is observing for households with water in their hand washing facility

“Fix the system … the people who are in it are not the ones that are broken” A qualitative study exploring UK academic researchers’ views on support at work

Recent evidence suggests that it remains difficult for academic researchers to preserve global well-being when working in the UK higher education sector. Our study aimed to explore academic researchers' perspectives on how they feel their mental health and well-being could be better supported within the UK higher education system. Using a combination of semi-structured and narrative interviewing techniques, we gathered the perspectives of 26 researchers. Narrative and reflexive thematic analysis were then used on the data collected. Our findings highlight the need to tackle systemic issues such job insecurity and unrealistically high workloads, given the risk they can pose to researchers' mental health and well-being. Our findings also highlight the key influence of managers and supervisors in creating a supportive environment, and the importance of going beyond what support is offered. That is, it is vital to effectively promote any existing or emerging support systems, and to be proactive in offering this support. Given the diversity identified in researchers’ individual situations, it is important that support is flexible and takes into consideration individual requirements and preferences. Higher education authorities and institutions need to determine how they can foster a healthy, caring environment for researchers working in this sector going forwards

Blue remembered skills : mental health awareness training for police officers

The Bradley Report (Bradley, 2009) has raised a number of important questions regarding the treatment of individuals who are experiencing mental health problems and find themselves in the criminal justice system. One of the key recommendations is that professional staff working across criminal justice organisations should receive increased training in this area. This paper explores the experiences of two professionals, a mental health nurse and a social worker, involved in providing training for police officers. It goes on to consider the most effective models of training for police officers

Examining the methodology of participatory design to create innovative sanitation technologies in rural Malawi

Top-down sanitation programs that promote a specific sanitation technology based on the presumptions of ‘outside experts’ have been criticised for endorsing unsustainable, expensive and inappropriate technologies. In response to these failings, a new era of demand-led sanitation programs (including community-led total sanitation and sanitation marketing) encourage greater participation of users to create appropriate sanitation technologies. This paper examines the use of participatory design sessions with local builders and householders in three rural districts in Malawi. The paper provides an account of the participatory design methodology and critically reflects on the processes and challenges in relation to power, creativity and ownership. The designs created during the sessions are presented with recommendations for further testing and structural refinement

Sanitation marketing in rural Zambia: a replicable business model

This paper describes a successful sanitation marketing project implemented by Government of Zambia and UNICEF that is part of a larger sanitation programme in rural Zambia. The aim of the sanitation marketing component is to build the capacity of the private sector, such as individual artisans, to provide sanitation services that fulfil a need for stronger, longer lasting toilets at affordable prices, particularly in areas with sandy/waterlogged soils. Innovation has centered on developing substructure designs that use locally available materials keeping the costs as low as possible in order to reach a larger market segment. Introduction of large heavy mass produced products is often limited due to high transport costs for sparsely populated rural areas. At time of writing 291 “entrepreneurs” have been trained and around half have been confirmed active achieving over 1,300 sales to households and institution

Search for massive rare particles with the SLIM experiment

The search for magnetic monopoles in the cosmic radiation remains one of the main aims of non-accelerator particle astrophysics. Experiments at high altitude allow lower mass thresholds with respect to detectors at sea level or underground. The SLIM experiment is a large array of nuclear track detectors at the Chacaltaya High Altitude Laboratory (5290 m a.s.l.). The results from the analysis of 171 m$^2$ exposed for more than 3.5 y are here reported. The completion of the analysis of the whole detector will allow to set the lowest flux upper limit for Magnetic Monopoles in the mass range 10$^5$ - 10$^{12}$ GeV. The experiment is also sensitive to SQM nuggets and Q-balls, which are possible Dark Matter candidates.Comment: Presented at the 29-th ICRC, Pune, India (2005