Youth Policy : Future prospects?

Editorial to Special edition: The Next Five Years: Prospects for Young People. OVER THE LAST thirty years scholars have drawn attention to how young people’s lives have become more complicated, fragmented and difficult to navigate (Furlong and Cartmel, 1997). While youth transitions are now recognised as non-linear and more complex, policy has predominantly focused upon transitions that are deemed problematic as a result of their association with ‘poor’ welfare outcomes (teenage pregnancy, NEET, homelessness). However, since the 2007-2008 financial crash and subsequent austerity measures, debates surrounding youth transitions have gained renewed prominence resulting in some commentators talking of a ‘lost generation’. Research exploring indicators of economic inequality in the UK since the financial crash show how young people have been hit particularly hard. Between 2007-2013 the most striking change is the deteriorating economic position of young people (Hills et al, 2015). It is well established that social inequalities shape young people’s choices and opportunities. Poignantly, the choices and opportunities available to young people are predominantly interpreted as a lack of aspiration rather than the wider structural determinants that provide a backdrop to their lives

Place-based understandings of ‘risk’ and ‘danger’ through a gendered lens – experiences of sexual violence in a deprived coastal town in the UK

Foregrounding the voices of young women in a deprived coastal context in the UK, this paper explores the intersection of place, class, gender and marginalisation. Drawing upon participatory qualitative research, the paper focuses on the following key themes: (1) how young women navigate perceptions of ‘risk’ through the everyday realities of the locale, (2) experiences of sexual violence and abuse (3) and finally, how normative depictions of ‘risky behaviour’ correspond to the accounts of women’s (sexual) agency. By rooting the analysis of place-based inequalities through a gendered lens, the findings help illuminate the complex relationship between structural context and the regulation of gender and sexuality. The paper also draws attention to the structural factors that reproduce class-based stigma for people who are deemed ‘at risk’ in places that are characterised as ‘left behind’. In doing so, the paper provides alternative agendas for policy and practice that aim to support young women who experience place-based marginalisation

Relationships First? The initial two years of Haringey Housing First Project for Care Leavers : Final Report

In 2019, the London Borough of Haringey commissioned Centrepoint to establish and deliver a two year Housing First for Care Leavers pilot project. Centrepoint managed and delivered the project, employing two full-time Housing First officers, as well as a part-time Service Manager and supporting up to 10 young people at one time. The University of York was commissioned by Centrepoint to undertake an independent evaluation of the early stage of the project. The research included a literature review, project monitoring, qualitative interviews with five young people and 10 staff and other key stakeholders involved in commissioning and delivery of the project.The evaluation shows that the Housing First project was successfully supporting a highly vulnerable group of young care leavers to sustain their tenancies in the local community. Key learning points from the project included: • The need to set up formal, and close, inter-agency working relationships from the outset of the project, including a joint understanding of the overall philosophy of Housing First; • Making housing available as soon as possible after referral to enable young people’s lives to be stabilised as soon as possible and for the project to operate as ‘Housing’ rather than ‘Relationships’ First; • The importance of a needs-led, relational approach and dedicated staff in engaging and supporting complex and vulnerable young people; • Extending the project to more young people, and extending the support available on education, training and employment, other health and therapeutic interventions and leisure/group activities

Qualitative Longitudinal Research: From Monochrome to Technicolour

Qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) has grown in prominence and popularity since the 2007 themed section on the subject in this journal. This new themed section reflects on how QLR has been mobilised and made sense of in recent times. This article showcases QLR’s distinctive way of knowing and understanding the social world and how it can illuminate the processes through which policy can enhance, or indeed inhibit, the well-being of individuals and groups within society. This state of the art article focuses on QLR as a valuable but tricky approach. It argues that QLR can enhance qualitative research in social policy by fostering sustained policy engagement and development, and that this is especially useful for policy-making in relation to socioeconomic disadvantage. It also explores cross-cutting methodological dimensions pertinent to QLR’s distinct approach, such as its enhanced ethical considerations, which are also integral to research with people at high risk of socioeconomic disadvantage. The article concludes with possible future directions and developments for QLR as a methodology

Negotiating Closed Doors and Constraining Deadlines: The Potential of Visual Ethnography to Effectually Explore Private and Public Spaces of Motherhood and Parenting

Pregnancy and motherhood are increasingly subjected to surveillance, by medical professionals, the media and the general public; and discourses of ideal parenting are propagated alongside an admonishment of the perceived ‘failing’ maternal subject. However, despite this scrutiny, the mundane activities of parenting are often impervious to ethnographic forms of inquiry. Challenges for ethnographic researchers include the restrictions of becoming immersed in the private space of the home where parenting occurs, and an institutional structure that discourages exploratory and long-term fieldwork. This paper draws on four studies, involving 34 participants, which explored their journeys into the space of parenthood and their everyday experiences. The studies all employed forms of visual ethnography including artefacts, photo-elicitation, timelines, collage and sandboxing. The paper argues that visual methodologies can enable access to unseen aspects of parenting, and engender forms of temporal extension, which can help researchers to disrupt the restrictions of tightly time bounded projects

An economic evaluation of Alexander Technique lessons or acupuncture sessions for patients with chronic neck pain : A randomized trial (ATLAS)

OBJECTIVES: To assess the cost-effectiveness of acupuncture and usual care, and Alexander Technique lessons and usual care, compared with usual GP care alone for chronic neck pain patients. METHODS: An economic evaluation was undertaken alongside the ATLAS trial, taking both NHS and wider societal viewpoints. Participants were offered up to twelve acupuncture sessions or twenty Alexander lessons (equivalent overall contact time). Costs were in pounds sterling. Effectiveness was measured using the generic EQ-5D to calculate quality adjusted life years (QALYs), as well as using a specific neck pain measure-the Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire (NPQ). RESULTS: In the base case analysis, incremental QALY gains were 0.032 and 0.025 in the acupuncture and Alexander groups, respectively, in comparison to usual GP care, indicating moderate health benefits for both interventions. Incremental costs were £451 for acupuncture and £667 for Alexander, mainly driven by intervention costs. Acupuncture was likely to be cost-effective (ICER = £18,767/QALY bootstrapped 95% CI £4,426 to £74,562) and was robust to most sensitivity analyses. Alexander lessons were not cost-effective at the lower NICE threshold of £20,000/QALY (£25,101/QALY bootstrapped 95% CI -£150,208 to £248,697) but may be at £30,000/QALY, however, there was considerable statistical uncertainty in all tested scenarios. CONCLUSIONS: In comparison with usual care, acupuncture is likely to be cost-effective for chronic neck pain, whereas, largely due to higher intervention costs, Alexander lessons are unlikely to be cost-effective. However, there were high levels of missing data and further research is needed to assess the long-term cost-effectiveness of these interventions