‘Hidden habitus’: a qualitative study of socio-ecological influences on drinking practices and social identity in mid-adolescence

This study explored mid-adolescents’ views and experiences of socio-ecological influences on their drinking practices in order to help inform the development of interventions to reduce alcohol-related risk. We conducted 31 in-depth interviews with young people aged 13–17 in North East England. Verbatim interview transcripts and field notes were coded systematically and analysed thematically, following the principles of constant comparison. We adopted Bourdieu’s idea of social game-playing and elements of his conceptual toolkit (particularly habitus, capital and field) during analysis. Analysis yielded three intersecting themes: (1) ‘drinking etiquette’: conveying taste and disgust; (2) ‘playing the drinking game’: demonstrating cultural competency; (3) ‘hidden habitus’—the role of alcohol marketing. Our work demonstrates that there is a nexus of influential factors which come together to help shape and reinforce mid-adolescents’ behaviour, norms and values in relation to alcohol consumption. Drinking practices are not just formed by friendships and family traditions, these are also subject to wider cultural shaping including by the alcohol industry which can encourage brand identification, and gear specific products to add ‘distinction’. However young people are not inactive players and they use aspects of capital and social games to help cement their identity and present themselves in particular ways which in turn are influenced by age, gender and social status. Guided by promising work in the tobacco field, interventions which focus on critical awareness of the framing of alcohol products by key stakeholders, such as policymakers, commercial industry and public health professionals, and by wider society may facilitate behaviour change among young people

InterAction : How Can Academics and the Third Sector Work Together to Influence Policy and Practice?

In this report Carnegie Fellow Professor Mark Shucksmith argues that to make an impact on social policy universities must work more closely with civil society.  The report: explores the different approaches of both sectors to knowledge and evidence; investigates the obstacles and challenges to collaboration; highlights examples of successful interactions; and makes a series of recommendations to those in the third sector, academia and the research funding councils as to how more positive collaboration can be encourage

Methods to Incorporate Human Rights Law into disaster prevention and reduction strategies [blog]

This post is part of the ESIL Interest Group on International Human Rights Law blog symposium on ‘The Place of International Human Rights Law in Times of Crisis’

Reasons for (non)compliance with intervention following identification of 'high-risk' status in the NHS Health Check programme

BACKGROUND: The Department of Health introduced a risk assessment, management and reduction programme, NHS Health Checks, which aimed to reduce premature morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases for those aged 40–74. Those identified as at increased risk of CVD are offered prophylactic medication and lifestyle advice to reduce their risk. Health gains will only be achieved if patients are compliant with advice/intervention however. This study sought to understand factors that influenced adherence to medication and advice in ‘high-risk’ patients. METHODS: Qualitative data were collected through 29 semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of individuals who had been identified as at high-risk of CVD. Participants had been offered lifestyle advice, lipid lowering medications and attended at least one annual review. RESULTS: Findings explore the challenges and experiences confronting ‘high-risk’ individuals when making decisions about engaging with intervention. Key findings explore: statin adherence, as well as adherence to advice about diet, physical activity, alcohol consumption and smoking cessation. CONCLUSIONS: Attention needs to be paid to the way prophylactic medications are prescribed and explained to high-risk patients. Consistent provision of tailored lifestyle advice and access to appropriate services could facilitate sustained changes to factors that increase CVD risk

Modelling of metaldehyde concentrations in surface waters: A travel time based approach

Diffuse agricultural pollution is widely recognized as a significant threat to the quality of water resources. Metaldehyde is a soluble synthetic aldehyde pesticide used globally in agriculture which has caused recent concern due to high observed levels (exceeding the European and UK standards for pesticides in drinking water value of 0.1 µg/l) in surface waters utilized for potable water supply. This paper describes the development of a new travel time based physically distributed metaldehyde prediction model which aims to describe the short term fluctuations of metaldehyde concentrations in surface waters caused by rainfall runoff events. This will enable water infrastructure operators to consider informed control decisions in order to improve the quality of abstracted surface water. The methodology is developed and trailed within a case study catchment in the UK. The new approach integrates spatially and temporally disaggregated surface runoff generation, routing and build-up/wash-off concepts using a simple structure in a GIS environment to build a metaldehyde concentration prediction model. The use of 1 km 2 resolution radar rainfall data and identification of high risk areas in the catchment provide an approach which considers the spatio-temporal variations of pollutant generation and transport in the catchment. The model is calibrated and validated using available catchment flow and a new metaldehyde concentration dataset acquired using automatic samplers over four rainfall events. An average coefficient of determination and model efficiency of 0.75 and 0.46 respectively have been obtained for the rainfall events used to validate the model. This shows the capability of the model for the intended purpose of predicting the arrival of peak metaldehyde concentrations at surface water abstraction sites and informing abstraction decisions

Interaction of above/below urban grounds: an experimental facility developed to analyse computer modelling results

10 p.International audienceThis research undertaken at the University of Sheffield aims to provide a better understanding of the interaction above/below ground urban floods. A newly constructed unique experimental facility has been developed in the water lab, and it includes a sewer system, composed by 3 main pipes, 6 manholes and a CSO (Combined Sewer Overflow), and a preliminary urban surface with the slope 1/1000. This paper describes the experimental facility that has been built, how the system is managed in real time control using Labview software, which methodology will be applied to increase the understanding of the exchange flow-rate between an urban surface and a below sewer system and it presents preliminary results obtained comparing physical results with computer software results such as InfoWorks, SWMM and SIPSON (NUNO MELO et al., 2012). Finally, the PIV system (Particle Image Velocimetry) that will be used for the acquisition of the images during the event of flooding is briefly explained. This last step will be useful for the comparison between 3D digital maps created by standard software against real physical results

Quantification of energy losses at a surcharging manhole

Hydraulic models of sewer systems are commonly used to predict the risk of urban flooding. However, suitable calibration datasets in flood conditions are scarce. The quantification of energy losses within manhole structures is a current source of uncertainty within such models. To address this gap, a scaled physical manhole model is used to quantify hydraulic energy losses during surcharging and non-surcharging conditions. Two different novel configurations were tested; (1) With and without the presence of a manhole lid; (2) With and without the presence of a shallow flow on the surface. Results showed that total head losses were found to increase in surcharging conditions. The presence of the lid also marginally increased total head losses. The datasets are used to assess the performance of a numerical urban flood model (SIPSON) and comparisons highlighted that SIPSON tends to overestimate energy losses in surcharging conditions

Social inequalities in rural England: Impacts on young people post-2008

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordThis paper investigates the cumulative impacts of the 2008 economic crisis and its aftermath (including policy changes) on young people in a sparsely populated rural area of northern England. The paper locates the research in the context of youth studies, Bourdieu's theory of practice, concepts of welfare regimes and welfare mix, and studies of the impacts of the crisis and austerity policies on the distribution of social and societal risk. The empirical findings reveal the challenges which faced young people in rural England before the financial crisis still persist. Moreover, the overwhelming reliance of young people on family for support generates further inequalities through what might be termed ‘secondary impact austerity’: young people feel indirectly and unevenly the economic effects and policy changes which impact on parents' and communities' ability to offer them support. Thus, changes to the welfare system, loss of services and less secure forms of employment exacerbate the transfer of social risk and the deepening of poverty for vulnerable groups. This is worsened in this rural area by the moral imperatives which stigmatise access to state and charitable support. Thus, moral capital and local habitus intersect with social, economic and cultural capitals in structuring inequalities.Newcastle Universit