Let's Talk about the 'S' Word: what do care home staff want from training resources to support care home residents sexuality, intimacy and relationship needs

The sexuality, intimacy and relationship needs of older care home residents are often unnoticed, ignored, or dismissed (Simpson et al., 2015), but are important for maintaining health, wellbeing and personal identity (RCN 2018; Buttaro et al 2014). Care home staff find supporting residents sexuality and intimacy needs challenging and report an urgent need for training and guidance on this sensitive issue, as they are often faced with complex moral and legal dilemmas, when attempting to balance residents’ individual rights to sexual freedom with the need to safeguard vulnerable adults in their care (Simpson et al. 2016, 2017). We aimed to understand more about the specific training needs of care home staff in this area, to develop and evaluate a training resource to enable care home staff better support residents’ sexuality and intimacy needs. This paper presents the findings from: (i) a survey of UK care home managers about how they help residents who have sexual or intimacy needs, and any training they provide staff on this topic and (ii) four workshops with care home staff to explore their views on existing resources for supporting residents’ sexuality and intimacy needs, their previous experiences of training, and their everyday approaches to supporting residents sexuality, intimacy and relationship needs. The findings from the audit and workshop will be presented as well as suggestions for how this research might inform the development of an interactive training resource designed to help care home staff to better support their residents’ sexuality, intimacy and relationship needs

The design, delivery and impact of a Tier 1 Dementia Awareness training package delivered in the Thames Valley Region in England, UK

Objectives: As part of Health Education England’s (HEE) response to the 2014 Mandate, Health Education England Thames Valley (HEETV) commissioned four universities to undertake a multi-phase project. The University of West London, Oxford Brookes University, University of Bedfordshire and University of Northampton became partners in the Dementia Academic Action Group (DAAG). Phase 1 of the project consisted of a Scoping Review, reported through a poster at the 2016 ADI. This poster will focus on Phase 2 (design and delivery of the training package) and Phase 3 (evaluation of the impact of training). The DAAG has developed evidence based and quality assured training package based on recognised National UK standards such as Skills for Health Dementia Training Standards (2015). It has also been validated by the Alzheimer Society as meeting the standards for Dementia Friend’s training, and participants are eligible to register as a Dementia Friend on completion of the training. The package is mostly delivered in a 2 hour session, but can also be taken through 8 separate units of learning. A total of 1471 people attended the standard 2 hour training, delivered through 84 different sessions in 34 different venues across the region. Attendees represented a wide range of professionals, from porters, cooks and cleaners to nurses, pharmacists, therapists and doctors. Some sessions were uni- professional but, most had a professionally mixed audience. The number of trainees per session varied from 3 to 112. Subsequent to the training, quantitative and qualitative data was collected through evaluation questionnaires, combined with follow up online questionnaires and individual face to face or telephone interviews 6 weeks after the event. Over 85% of respondents to the follow up questionnaires and interviews reported improved skills, attitudes and confidence in working with people with dementia following the training. 70.2% indicated that they had been able to transfer some of what they had learned in the training to practice. Sustainability was ensured through the development of a trainers guide and ‘train the trainers’ events. The Tier 1 dementia awareness training package is now available for free from the Health Education England website, and it’s ongoing use is subject to continuing evaluation

A psychoanalytic concept illustrated: Will, must, may, can — revisiting the survival function of primitive omnipotence

The author explores the linear thread connecting the theory of Freud and Klein, in terms of the central significance of the duality of the life and death instinct and the capacity of the ego to tolerate contact with internal and external reality. Theoretical questions raised by later authors, informed by clinical work with children who have suffered deprivation and trauma in infancy, are then considered. Theoretical ideas are illustrated with reference to observational material of a little boy who suffered deprivation and trauma in infancy. He was first observed in the middle of his first year of life while he was living in foster care, and then later at the age of two years and three months, when he had been living with his adoptive parents for more than a year

Genome-wide analyses implicate 33 loci in heritable dog osteosarcoma, including regulatory variants near CDKN2A/B

Background: Canine osteosarcoma is clinically nearly identical to the human disease, but is common and highly heritable, making genetic dissection feasible. Results: Through genome-wide association analyses in three breeds (greyhounds, Rottweilers, and Irish wolfhounds), we identify 33 inherited risk loci explaining 55% to 85% of phenotype variance in each breed. The greyhound locus exhibiting the strongest association, located 150 kilobases upstream of the genes CDKN2A/B, is also the most rearranged locus in canine osteosarcoma tumors. The top germline candidate variant is found at a >90% frequency in Rottweilers and Irish wolfhounds, and alters an evolutionarily constrained element that we show has strong enhancer activity in human osteosarcoma cells. In all three breeds, osteosarcoma-associated loci and regions of reduced heterozygosity are enriched for genes in pathways connected to bone differentiation and growth. Several pathways, including one of genes regulated by miR124, are also enriched for somatic copy-number changes in tumors. Conclusions: Mapping a complex cancer in multiple dog breeds reveals a polygenic spectrum of germline risk factors pointing to specific pathways as drivers of disease

Paradox in the pursuit of a critical theorization of the development of self in family relationships

This article starts with my dissatisfaction with the post-structuralist treatment of the production of subjectivity within regulatory discourses and practices due to its neglect of psychological processes. Taking starting points from within the history set out in the previous article, it highlights the paradox for critical psychologists like myself involved in both applying a post-structuralist critique to 'psy' discourses and trying to theorize subjectivity in a way that goes beyond the dualism of individual and society, of psychology and sociology. The relational, or intersubjective, approach to self that originates in object relations psychoanalysis as it emerged in the mid-20th-century UK is central to both of these activities; object of the former and resource for the latter. I explore the paradox that this creates for critical psychology, both epistemological and ontological. In aiming to provide a psycho-social account of self in family relationships, I deploy the radical conceptualisation of intersubjectivity initiated in British object relations theory as a way of going beyond both the individualized self and the neglect of psychological processes in constructionist theorizing subjectivity

Breeding strategies to improve Miscanthus as a sustainable source of biomass for bioenergy and biorenewable products

Miscanthus, a C4 perennial grass native to Eastern Asia, is being bred to provide biomass for bioenergy and biorenewable products. Commercial expansion with the clonal hybrid M. × giganteus is limited by low multiplication rates, high establishment costs and drought sensitivity. These limitations can be overcome by breeding more resilient Miscanthus hybrids propagated by seed. Naturally occurring fast growing indigenous Miscanthus species are found in diverse environments across Eastern Asia. The natural diversity provides for plant breeders, the genetic resources to improve yield, quality, and resilience for a wide range of climates and adverse abiotic stresses. The challenge for Miscanthus breeding is to harness the diversity through selections of outstanding wild types, parents, and progenies over a short time frame to deploy hybrids that make a significant contribution to a world less dependent on fossil resources. Here are described the strategies taken by the Miscanthus breeding programme at Aberystwyth, UK and its partners. The programme built up one of the largest Miscanthus germplasm collections outside Asia. We describe the initial strategies to exploit the available genetic diversity to develop varieties. We illustrate the success of combining diverse Miscanthus germplasm and the selection criteria applied across different environments to identify promising hybrids and to develop these into commercial varieties. We discuss the potential for molecular selections to streamline the breeding process

Micromechanical Properties of Injection-Molded Starch–Wood Particle Composites

The micromechanical properties of injection molded starch–wood particle composites were investigated as a function of particle content and humidity conditions. The composite materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction methods. The microhardness of the composites was shown to increase notably with the concentration of the wood particles. In addition,creep behavior under the indenter and temperature dependence were evaluated in terms of the independent contribution of the starch matrix and the wood microparticles to the hardness value. The influence of drying time on the density and weight uptake of the injection-molded composites was highlighted. The results revealed the role of the mechanism of water evaporation, showing that the dependence of water uptake and temperature was greater for the starch–wood composites than for the pure starch sample. Experiments performed during the drying process at 70°C indicated that the wood in the starch composites did not prevent water loss from the samples.Peer reviewe