Developing academic wellbeing through writing retreats

Writing experiences have a crucial role in the wellbeing of academics and PhD researchers and this paper seeks to extend a body of work on writing retreats, by exploring them from a wellbeing perspective. Drawing from literature on wellbeing and the practical experience of developing and delivering writing retreats, it highlights wellbeing outcomes that arise as people write together and engage in social and physical activities away from the university. A sense of wellbeing is developed through the combination of social, physical and sharing activities, which create feelings of confidence, safety and belonging, and a sense of being calm, focused and clear-headed. These states contribute to the writing task, but more importantly can support a general sense of being well. The conclusions draw attention to the importance of non-writing aspects of writing retreats and their role in enhancing peoples’ broader sense of wellbeing. The challenge going forward is how to translate these subjective, personal and relational wellbeing benefits back in to university life. It is difficult to envision how writing retreats might have comprehensive wellbeing impacts unless they are integrated into wider strategic initiatives which start to tackle some of the wider causes of ill-being in H

Having a say? The potential of local events to articulate community responses to regeneration.

This paper uses a case study to consider community event practices that include local people in discussions about the regeneration of their neighbourhood and capture their responses to change. It is set in an area adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the site of London 2012 Olympic Games and tracks the Hackney Wick Curiosity Shop (hereafter called the Curiosity Shop), an initiative that used events to engage diverse groups and develop shared experiences. The paper explores the nature of these events identifying their potential and limitations. It identifies characteristics (conviviality, playfulness, creativity and accessibility) which appear to create a powerful tool to involve local people, helping to develop a sense of community and producing locally generated place images. In this case their potential is not fully realised because the Curiosity Shop is situated within the complex context and turbulence associated with a mega-event and a major regeneration project where the market-led processes of re-imaging and regenerating the area are dominant. This frenzied regeneration context is unusual, and it is argued the conviviality, playfulness, creativity and accessibility identified here should be investigated further in a setting which is less turbulent to evaluate their effectiveness in engaging communities in debate, discussion and collective re-imagination of their localitie

The street party: pleasurable community practices and place making

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore spatial and social practices associated with a community street party through the lens of literature on encounter, conviviality and placemaking, considering its role developing a place-based sense of community. Design/methodology/approach - The research is based upon a case study of a street party in London. Data sources include interviews, a questionnaire, observation and a literature review. Findings - The conviviality associated with partying disrupts mundane social relations and engages diverse communities in placemaking. People playfully engage with one another, performing and reinforcing community and place values in the environment outside their homes. Practical implications - This paper aims to engender understanding and encourage urban policy makers to support activities which combine pleasure and play to develop a place-based sense of community. It identifies practices which actively engage people at a grassroots level and enable them to articulate and perform community values. Social implications - Developing a sense of community in rapidly changing and diverse urban areas presents challenges for urban policy makers. Grassroots activities such as street parties often fall outside of funding streams, debates and formal policy making for cities but it is argued here that they enable people to engage in pleasurable and playful interaction and have an important role in disrupting mundane interactions and connecting people. Originality/value - This paper progresses discussion of community events from a social perspective through an original study, identifying specific practices which contribute to a place-based sense of community

Patients' unvoiced agendas in general practice consultations.

Objective: To investigate patients' agendas before consultation and to assess which aspects of agendas are voiced in the consultation and the effects of unvoiced agendas on outcomes. Design: Qualitative study. Setting: 20 general practices in south east England and the West Midlands. Participants: 35 patients consulting 20 general practitioners in appointment and emergency surgeries. Results: Patients' agendas are complex and multifarious. Only four of 35 patients voiced all their agendas in consultation. Agenda items most commonly voiced were symptoms and requests for diagnoses and prescriptions. The most common unvoiced agenda items were: worries about possible diagnosis and what the future holds; patients' ideas about what is wrong; side effects; not wanting a prescription; and information relating to social context. Agenda items that were not raised in the consultation often led to specific problem outcomes (for example, major misunderstandings), unwanted prescriptions, non-use of prescriptions, and non-adherence to treatment. In all of the 14 consultations with problem outcomes at least one of the problems was related to an unvoiced agenda item. Conclusion: Patients have many needs and when these are not voiced they can not be addressed. Some of the poor outcomes in the case studies were related to unvoiced agenda items. This suggests that when patients and their needs are more fully articulated in the consultation better health care may be effected. Steps should be taken in both daily clinical practice and research to encourage the voicing of patients' agenda

Misunderstandings in general practice prescribing decisions: a qualitative study

Objectives: To identify and describe misunderstandings between patients and doctors associated with prescribing decisions in general practice. Design: Qualitative study. Setting: 20 general practices in the West Midlands and south east England. Participants: 20 general practitioners and 35 consulting patients. Main outcome measures: Misunderstandings between patients and doctors that have potential or actual adverse consequences for taking medicine. Results: 14 categories of misunderstanding were identified relating to patient information unknown to the doctor, doctor information unknown to the patient, conflicting information, disagreement about attribution of side effects, failure of communication about doctor's decision, and relationship factors. All the misunderstandings were associated with lack of patients' participation in the consultation in terms of the voicing of expectations and preferences or the voicing of responses to doctors' decisions and actions. They were all associated with potential or actual adverse outcomes such as non-adherence to treatment. Many were based on inaccurate guesses and assumptions. In particular doctors seemed unaware of the relevance of patients' ideas about medicines for successful prescribing. Conclusions: Patients' participation in the consultation and the adverse consequences of lack of participation are important. The authors are developing an educational intervention that builds on these findings