Engaging communities to improve mental health in African and African Caribbean groups: a qualitative study evaluating the role of community well-being champions.

Over the last decade, Britain has undergone reforms to promote engagement in local structures of governance. These reforms have encouraged the promotion of active citizenship and have been central to the government's public service modernisation agenda. This article presents the findings from a study evaluating a pilot outreach intervention which adopted a community engagement model to address the mental health needs of African and African Caribbean groups, which entailed a partnership between faith-based organisations, local public services and community organisations to co-produce the pilot project. Lay people were trained to raise awareness about mental health among these communities in South London. Between 2012 and 2013, a qualitative participatory approach was used to evaluate the pilot project, which enabled a researcher to take part in the engagement phase of the pilot project, and the project co-ordinators to be involved in the research process. Semi-structured, one-to-one interviews were carried out with 13 community and well-being champions (CWBCs) recruited from African and African Caribbean communities (seven male and six female). This study examines the impact of the relationship between the intervention and community through the participants' engagement in the pilot outreach project and the action undertaken as champions. We found that although CWBCs used circles of influence to share ideas about mental health and well-being and to encourage change, they encountered resistance on the part of the people they engaged with, which resulted from a lack of knowledge about mental health, taboos and ascribed stigma. We argue that CWBCs acted as healthy examples to communicate mental health knowledge to those approached, but that they needed to be equipped with bespoke communication skills to be able to talk about such sensitive issues as mental health

Patterns of Tree Establishment Following Glacier-Induced Floods in Southern Patagonia

Whereas tree establishment after large-scale disturbances such as fires, avalanches, and landslides have been documented for Patagonian forests, information on forest recovery following floods is scarce. Glaciar Perito Moreno has remained stable throughout the twentieth century, reaching the Peninsula de Magallanes several times and embalming parts of Lago Argentino. Following each ice-dam flood, the Nothofagus forests along the flooded shores die. We combined dendrochronology and spatial statistics to describe forest recolonization following the episodic flood caused by this glacier in 1988. Four tree species recolonized the lakeshores after the flood. Tree establishment started during spring-summer 1988– 1989, the growing season following the break of the ice dam in February 1988. More than 60% of the trees were established between the years 1994–2000, suggesting a rapid colonization of bare shores after the ice-dam break. Using Ripley’s spatial analysis, a 100% significant association between species was recorded at sites where two or more species were present. Species dominance was largely modulated by the composition of neighboring non-flooded forests and the climatic conditions along the precipitation gradient. While rates of tree colonization are influenced by species and their seed dispersal capacities, the grouping patterns by site may be modulated by differences in substrate and microclimatic conditions.Fil: Guerrido, Claudia Marcela. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral; ArgentinaFil: Villalba, Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Amoroso, Mariano Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. - Universidad Nacional de Rio Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez Catón, Milagros Rocío. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentin