Questioning the Rhetoric of British Borstal Reform in the 1930s

In 1938, the Reverend Digby Bliss Kittermaster, who became chaplain at Rochester Borstal after retiring as a housemaster at Harrow public school, started a diary in which he recorded everyday interactions with inmates and staff. The reputation of the borstal system was at its height in the 1930s due to Alexander Paterson’s reforms, based on the structures and character-building ethos of British public schools. Young people’s voices were rarely heard in this progressive discourse of borstal reform and Kittermaster is unusual for articulating them, recording what he heard, teasing out the contradictions of Paterson’s reforming aspirations and the reality of humiliation and intimidation that borstal boys often experienced. Kittermaster’s public school background made him well-placed to question the rhetoric of the public school reform model. His complex personal perspective suggests how humane emphasis on individual potential was subverted at Rochester by coercive structures of traditional prison improvement. Kittermaster’s growing frustration at his own powerlessness supports a more nuanced interpretation of how the borstal system has usually been depicted in the Paterson era of reform, especially in relation to damaging mental and emotional costs to inmates and staff, which have been largely neglected in the scholarship of borstal in the 1930s

Crying for Flicka : boys, young men and emotion at the cinema in Britain in the 1930s and 1940s

This article re-visits contemporary surveys of the cinema in the 1930s and 1940s to explore the implications that the cinema’s role as an “emotional frontier” between everyday life and the imagination had for the emotional lives of boys and young men. It makes a novel contribution to the history of youth and emotions, arguing that for boys and young men who were disconnected from social life, the cinema was an “emotional refuge,” a space of heightened emotional encounter, where conventional assumptions about masculinity could be fractured and where “feminine” sensibilities otherwise difficult to express publicly could receive cathartic release

Co-operation and the 'new consumerism' in interwar England

Economic historians have recently taught us a great deal about the 'new consumerism' in interwar Britain. However, the story has largely been told from the supply side and the Co-operative movement that played a key role in the lives of millions of working-class consumers has tended to be marginalised. This article brings the movement and the consumer centre stage. First, the uneven and vulnerable situation of the Co-op as a business is outlined. The next section briefly sketches economic and political attacks on the movement that made it more difficult to respond effectively to the challenges it faced. The major part of the article discusses oral evidence from ordinary co-operative members, which helps illuminate the contradictory pressures faced by consumers in this period. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Symptom Clusters in Advanced Cancer Patients: An Empirical Comparison of Statistical Methods and the Impact on Quality of Life.

Context: Symptom clusters in advanced cancer can influence patient outcomes. There is large heterogeneity in the methods used to identify symptom clusters. Objectives: To investigate the consistency of symptom cluster composition in advanced cancer patients using different statistical methodologies for all patients across five primary cancer sites, and to examine which clusters predict functional status, a global assessment of health and global quality of life. Methods: Principal components analysis and exploratory factor analysis (with different rotation and factor selection methods) and hierarchical cluster analysis (with different linkage and similarity measures) were used on a dataset of 1562 advanced cancer patients who completed the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30. Results: Four clusters consistently formed for many of the methods and cancer sites: tense-worry-irritable-depressed (emotional cluster); fatigue-pain; nausea-vomiting; and concentration-memory (cognitive cluster). The emotional cluster was a stronger predictor of overall quality of life than the other clusters. Fatigue-pain was a stronger predictor of overall health than the other clusters. The cognitive cluster and fatigue-pain predicted physical functioning, role functioning, and social functioning. Conclusions: The four identified symptom clusters were consistent across statistical methods and cancer types, although there were some noteworthy differences. Statistical derivation of symptom clusters is in need of greater methodological guidance. A psychosocial pathway in the management of symptom clusters may improve quality of life. Biological mechanisms underpinning symptom clusters need to be delineated by future research. A framework for evidence-based screening, assessment, treatment, and follow-up of symptom clusters in advanced cancer is essential