Atlas Men’s Well-being Programme: Evaluation Report Atlas 2.0

Background to the evaluation Men’s suicide rates remain an issue of concern in the United Kingdom (UK). In England and Wales, males accounted for around three-quarters of suicide deaths registered in 2019 (4,303 male deaths compared with 1,388 female deaths). Men do not always utilise health services and may be reluctant to access help from professional mental health services, thus indicating a need to better understand men’s distress, as well as services that enable men to cope better. The Atlas men’s well-being programme was created with the intention of addressing distress, and to improve access to mental health services for men. Atlas, originated by Professor Damien Ridge and co-designed with Professor David Peters, was designed to be ‘male sensitive’ and provide counselling and/or acupuncture to men suffering from stress or distress. Atlas is based at the Victoria Medical Centre (VMC), a busy NHS GP practice in Central London with over 18,000 patients on their books. Atlas was first piloted from March 2014 until July 2014 for practice patients. An evaluation study of the original Atlas Men’s wellbeing pilot programme showed improvements in patient’s mental and physical health (Cheshire, Peters, & Ridge, 2016), with high acceptability for both men who attended as well as VMC staff. Atlas 2.0, a continuation of the pilot service based at the VMC, ran from September 2017 to the present day. The current report is an evaluation of data for this service up until January 2020

Understanding stigma and suicidality among gay men living with HIV: A photovoice project

Gay men living with HIV (GMHIV) are at relatively high risk for suicide. To inform tailored suicide prevention interventions, we conducted a photovoice study with 22 GMHIV with a history of suicidality. Our study findings revealed three discrete but connected themes characterizing suicidality among GMHIV: first, HIV stigma featured prominently in participants' narratives who described accumulating experiences of prejudice that triggered their hopelessness. Second, many participants perceived their HIV as a personal failure and felt shamed and blamed, heightening men's suicidality. Third, to avoid disgrace, men withdrew from social interactions, resulting in isolation. However, the subsequent dearth of social interaction weighed heavily, as men admitted longing for social, sexual and romantic connections. All themes contributed in complex ways to participants' experiences of suicidality. The findings affirm the need for tailored suicide prevention efforts focused on promoting social connectedness and public health efforts to de-stigmatize HIV and mental illness

Added Value Report: University of Westminster Transformation in Students Project

One of the core aims that all Higher Education institutions share is to enhance graduate employability, and develop a workforce that is ready for the constantly changing labour market. While the concept of employability is shifting and variable (e.g. students as ‘customers’ and/or ‘partners’ (Skea, 2017), it is necessary to develop inclusive measures of employability that can extend beyond generic skills, and include values and identity-driven attributes. The literature recognises that graduate attributes are a set of desirable skills, qualities and understandings that both the University and students deem as important for employment and for shaping identities within the labour market (O’Leary, 2016; Bridgstock, 2009; Tomlinson, 2007). Thus, focus groups and interviews were carried out with undergraduates, postgraduates and alumni to explore their experiences at the University of Westminster, and to elicit the values and qualities that they consider important and personally valuable to their success in the future. This report presents qualitative findings on students’ experiences of gaining “added value” from their time at Westminster. Subsequently, we will use the results to create a robust survey that gives a scientific measurement of students’ attribute development throughout their studies at University

Evaluating an interactive acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) workshop delivered to trained therapists working with cancer patients in the United Kingdom: a mixed methods approach

Background SURECAN (SUrvivors’ Rehabilitation Evaluation after CANcer) is a multi-phase study developing and evaluating an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention integrated with exercise and work when highly valued (thus we called the intervention ACT+), for people who have completed treatment for cancer but who have low quality of life. We developed a training programme for therapists working in different psychological services to be delivered over 2–3 days. Our aim was to evaluate the extent to which the training could improve therapists’ knowledge and confidence to deliver ACT+ to cancer patients in a trial setting. Methods Three interactive workshops were delivered to 29 therapists from three clinical settings in London and in Sheffield. A mixed-methods approach was used. Questionnaires were designed to assess knowledge and confidence in using ACT+ with people who have low quality of life after cancer treatment. They were self-administered immediately prior to and after each workshop. Open text-based questions were used to elicit feedback about the workshops alongside a satisfaction scale. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of therapists (n = 12) to explore their views about the training more deeply, and how it might be optimised. Results Quantitative analysis showed that knowledge of ACT, as well as confidence in using the ACT+ intervention in this setting increased significantly after training (28.6 and 33.5% increase in the median score respectively). Qualitative analysis indicated that most therapists were satisfied with the content and structure of the programme, valued the rich resources provided and enjoyed the practice-based approach. Potential barriers/facilitators to participation in the trial and to the successful implementation of ACT+ were identified. For some therapists, delivering a manualised intervention, as well as supporting exercise- and work-related goals as non-specialists was seen as challenging. At the same time, therapists valued the opportunity to be involved in research, whilst training in a new therapy model. Conclusions Training can effectively improve the knowledge and confidence of therapists from different clinical backgrounds to deliver a modified ACT intervention to cancer patients in a trial setting

Lightweight ropes for lifting applications

Summary The level of wire rope technology used in lifting or hoisting applications has a significant effect on the overall efficiency of the system. This paper presents various examples which show the different benefits which may be accrued from the use of lightweight ropes. Most hoisting operations by their very nature involve long lengths of rope in the system. In the deep mining application, these lengths may easily be 3000 m or more. At this length the rope self weight becomes a significant component of the total payload which it has to support. A 20% reduction in the rope mass per metre for a typical hoist rope (of the same strength) will allow an increase in the skip payload of 30% at 3000 m. In the case of a crane, the weight of the rope can form a large part of the whole machine. Here, reduction in rope weight can allow benefits in terms of stability and in the case of mobile cranes, significant savings in axle loads. Another area where composite ropes may provide advantages is in the offshore environment where the lightweight benefits of fibre may be combined with the ruggedness of steel wire. The paper closes by making a brief discussion of the issues of NDT inspection of such ropes

A meta-ethnography investigating relational influences on mental health and cancer-related health care interventions for racially minoritised people in the UK.

OBJECTIVE: Despite calls to increase the 'cultural competence' of health care providers, racially minoritised people continue to experience a range of problems when it comes to health care, including discrimination. While relevant qualitative meta-syntheses have suggested better ways forward for health care for racialised minorities, many have lacked conceptual depth, and none have specifically investigated the relational dimensions involved in care. We set out to investigate the social and cultural influences on health care interventions, focusing on psychological approaches and/or cancer care to inform the trial of a new psychological therapy for those living with or beyond cancer. METHOD: A meta-ethnography approach was used to examine the relevant qualitative studies, following Noblit and Hare, and guided by patient involvement throughout. Papers were analysed between September 2018 and February 2023, with some interruptions caused by the Covid pandemic. The following databases were searched: Ovid MEDLINE, EBSCO CINAHL, Ovid Embase, EBSCO PsycINFO, Proquest Sociology Collection (including Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA), Sociological Abstracts and Sociology Database), EBSCO SocINDEX, Ovid AMED, and Web of Science. The systematic review protocol was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) (ID: CRD42018107695), and reporting follows the eMERGe Reporting Guidance for meta-ethnographies (France et al. 2019). RESULTS: Twenty-nine journal papers were included in the final review. Themes (third-order constructs) developed in the paper include the centrality of the patient-practitioner relationship; how participants give meaning to their illness in connection to others; how families (rather than individuals) may make health decisions; how links with a higher power and spiritual/religious others can play a role in coping; and the ways in which a hierarchy of help-seeking develops, frequently with the first port of call being the resources of oneself. Participants in studies had a need to avoid being 'othered' in their care, valuing practitioners that connected with them, and who were able to recognise them as whole and complex (sometimes described in relational languages like 'love'). Complex family-based health decision-making and/or the importance of relations with non-human interactants (e.g. God, spiritual beings) were frequently uncovered, not to mention the profoundly emergent nature of stigma, whereby families could be relatively safe havens for containing and dealing with health challenges. A conceptual framework of 'animated via (frequently hidden) affective relationality' emerged in the final synthesis, bringing all themes together, and drawing attention to the emergent nature of the salient issues facing minoritised patients in health care interactions. CONCLUSION: Our analysis is important because it sheds light on the hitherto buried relational forces animating and producing the specific issues facing racially minoritised patients, which study participants thought were largely overlooked, but to which professionals can readily relate (given the universal nature of human relations). Thus, training around the affective relationality of consultations could be a fruitful avenue to explore to improve care of diverse patients

Calculation of a self-consistent, low frequency electrostatic field in the drift-kinetic approximation

July 1977Includes bibliographical references (pages 22-23)We derive an asymptotic series in [omega]p -2 , the inverse-square plasma frequency, for the self-consistent, low frequency electrostatic field in tori. The derivation is consistent with the drift-kinetic ordering and may be used in either instability or equilibrium calculations. We find that in a time-dependent formalism, the electric field is completely determined to first order in a drift-kinetic expansion.Research supported by the Energy Research and Development Administration under contract with Union Carbide Corporation and under contract at M.I.T EX-76-A-01-229

Stories of Hell and Healing: Internet Users’ Construction of Benzodiazepine Distress and Withdrawal

Abstract Benzodiazepines are a group of drugs used mainly as sedatives, hypnotics, antiepileptics, and muscle relaxants. Consumption is recommended for 2 to 4 weeks only, due to fast onset of dependency and potentially distressing withdrawal symptoms. Few peer-review studies have drawn on the user experiences and language to appreciate firsthand experiences of benzodiazepine withdrawal or discontinuation syndrome. We looked extensively at patient stories of benzodiazepine withdrawal and recovery on Internet support sites and YouTube. Our analysis indicated that users employ rich metaphors to portray the psychologically disturbing and protracted nature of their suffering. We identified seven major themes: hell and isolation, anxiety and depression, alienation, physical distress, anger and remorse, waves and windows, and healing and renewal. By posting success stories, ex-users make known that “healing” can be a long, unpredictable process, but distress does lessen, and recovery can happen

Direct detection of a flared disk around a young massive star HD200775 and its 10 to 1000AU scale properties

We made mid-infrared observations of the 10Msun Herbig Be star HD200775 with the Cooled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectrometer (COMICS) on the 8.2m Subaru Telescope. We discovered diffuse emission of an elliptical shape extended in the north-south direction inabout 1000AU radius around unresolved excess emission. The diffuse emission is perpendicular to the cavity wall formed by the past outflow activity and is parallel to the projected major axis of the central close binary orbit. The centers of the ellipse contours of the diffuse emission are shifted from the stellar position and the amount of the shift increases as the contour brightness level decreases. The diffuse emission is well explained in all of geometry, size, and configuration by an inclined flared disk where only its surface emits the mid-infrared photons. Our results give the first well-resolved infrared disk images around a massive star and strongly support that HD200775 is formed through the disk accretion. The disk survives the main accretion phase and shows a structure similar to that around lower-mass stars with 'disk atmosphere'. At the same time, the disk also shows properties characteristic to massive stars such as photoevaporation traced by the 3.4mm free-free emission and unusual silicate emission with a peak at 9.2micron, which is shorter than that of many astronomical objects. It provides a good place to compare the disk properties between massive and lower-mass stars.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, accepted by The Astrophysical Journa