Managing Cardiovascular Risk Factors: The Gap between Evidence and Practice

There are clear evidence-based guidelines for managing patients at risk of cardiovascular disease, and yet many doctors don't follow these guidelines

The treatment of informal care related risks as social risks: an analysis of the English care policy system

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Cambridge University Press in Journal of Social Policy on 29/05/2017, available online: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279417000265 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.The social risk literature examines the extent to which states have provided social protection against the ‘old’ social risks of the post-war era and the ‘new’ social risks affecting post-industrial capitalist states. In this paper the contingency of the provision of informal care to people aged 65 and over is discussed. The paper deconstructs the concept of social risk to determine the characteristics and processes which contribute to states recognising specific contingencies as social risks which require social protection. This conceptualisation is applied to make the case that care related risks associated with the informal care of older people should be recognised and treated as social risks by states. Data from a qualitative study of the English care policy system provide empirical evidence that informal care related risks are recognised, but not treated, as social risks in England. The findings reveal informal carers and the older people they care for receive inadequate and inconsistent statutory protection against the poverty and welfare risks they face, furthermore the design and operationalisation of the English care policy system generates risks for care relationships

The treatment of informal care as a social risk in England: Conceptual and methodological innovations in undertaking comparative care policy analysis

The combined challenges of population ageing and the reliance on informal carers to meet the care needs of older people is requiring post-industrial welfare states to address these demands through the implementation of a diverse array of care policies. These policy interventions seemingly demonstrate that states are increasingly recognising and treating the informal care of older people as a social risk. This paper argues that it is essential to undertake detailed comparative analysis at a national level to assess the effectiveness of current care policies in providing adequate social protection against the care-related risks experienced by different types of care relationships. The paper focuses on discussing the design of a policy simulation tool, ‘the model care relationship matrix’, used to analyse and compare the statutory entitlements of different care relationship types across policy areas, localities, and practitioners, in England. Using this innovative methodological and conceptual approach exposed that the English state does not treat informal care as a social risk on account of the inconsistent and inadequate statutory protection provided to different care relationships, and how the care policy system itself can generate secondary risks for care relationships

“It still haunts me whether we did the right thing”: a qualitative analysis of free text survey data on the bereavement experiences and support needs of family caregivers

Background Research suggests that there may be bereavement experiences and support needs which are specific to family caregivers providing end of life care (EoLC), although this remains an under-researched area. This paper focuses on themes relating to bereavement which were derived from an analysis of free text survey responses collected in a research priority setting exercise for palliative and EoLC. Methods The priority setting exercise involved a public survey, designed to generate research priorities. Rather than identify research topics, many people instead described their experiences and raised more general questions relating to palliative and end of life care. To explore these experiences and perspectives a supplementary thematic analysis was conducted on the survey responses. 1403 respondents took part, including patients, current and bereaved carers, health and social care professionals, volunteers and members of the public. Results Several grief issues were identified, which seem specific to the experiences of family caregivers. Responses demonstrated a relationship between death experiences, feelings of guilt and bereavement outcomes for some family caregivers, as well as caregiver experiences of a “void” created by the withdrawal of professional support after death. Communication and support needs were also identified by participants. Conclusion This analysis provides further evidence of some of the specific effects that caring for a loved one at the end of life can have on bereavement experiences. Finding ways of improving communication around the time of death and effective follow up approaches post death could help to address some of these issues

Subjective well-being in adolescence and teacher connectedness : A health asset analysis

This is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: I. García-Moya, F. Brooks, A. Morgan, and C. Moreno, “Subjective well-being in adolescence and teacher connectedness. A health asset analysis.”, Health Education Journal. Vol. 74(6), November 2015. The final published version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0017896914555039 © The Author(s) 2014.Objectives: Teacher connectedness is an important factor for young people's well-being. The aim of this paper was to examine teacher connectedness in detail and its potential association with emotional well-being. More specifically, we set out to analyse whether teacher connectedness acted as a universal asset for boys and girls of different ages and countries as well as across adolescents with differing perceptions of their performance at school. Methods: The study sample consisted of 9,444 young people aged 11, 13 and 15 years who had taken part in the World Health Organization (WHO) collaborative survey Health Behaviour in School-aged Children in Spain and England. After examining differences in teacher connectedness associated with demographic factors, we used general linear models to analyse the relationship between teacher connectedness and emotional well-being (including interaction teacher connectedness by country) across different age and performance-derived groups. Results: Results indicated some significant differences in teacher connectedness associated with age, country and perceived performance, but a consistent positive association between teacher connectedness and emotional well-being regardless of demographic factors, country and perceptions of school performance. Older adolescents and low achievers reported lower level of connectedness to their teachers, but the association between teacher connectedness and emotional well-being operated irrespective of adolescents' age and perceived performance at school. Conclusion: Results support the perspective that teacher connectedness can act as a significant health asset that operates irrespective of key demographic factors, while they point to some inequalities in teacher connectedness associated with age and performance at school. These findings have significant implications for health promotion interventions.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio