Healthy Pacific Grandparents: A Participatory Action Research Project Exploring Ageing Well Amongst Pacific People in New Zealand

The New Zealand older adult population (aged 65+ years) is growing at a faster rate than the younger population, with many of those in the later years living much longer. The proportion of older Pacific people is forecast to reach 4.1% of the country’s total population within the next two decades, highlighting the importance of research focused on ageing Pacific populations. This article sets out the research protocol and methods for the Pacific Islands Families: Healthy Pacific Grandparents’ Study, which aims to investigate older Pacific people’s viewpoints on ageing to identify specific cultural values, perspectives and understandings as the Pacific population in New Zealand ages. The study will recruit and utilize participants from a grandparent cohort that is nested within the families of the longitudinal Pacific Islands Families Study. This study uses a Participatory Action Research approach to position the participants in a leadership role where they are co-researchers involved in both the research and the implementation of recommendations. Utilizing a transformative research process will bring older Pacific people together to define for themselves their needs and their experiences, identify any areas of shortcoming, and support the implementation of solutions through strategic and informed actions

Understanding suicidality in Pacific adolescents in New Zealand using network analysis

Introduction: Pacific adolescents in New Zealand (NZ) are three to four times more likely than NZ European adolescents to report suicide attempts and have higher rates of suicidal plans. Suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts, termed suicidality in this study, result from a complex dynamic interplay of factors, which emerging methodologies like network analysis aim to capture. Methods: This study used cross-sectional network analysis to model the relationships between suicidality, self-harm, and individual depression symptoms, whilst conditioning on a multi-dimensional set of variables relevant to suicidality. A series of network models were fitted to data from a community sample of New Zealand-born Pacific adolescents (n = 550; 51% male; Mean age (SD) = 17 (0.35)). Results: Self-harm and the depression symptom measuring pessimism had the strongest associations with suicidality, followed by symptoms related to having a negative self-image about looks and sadness. Nonsymptom risk factors for self-harm and suicidality differed markedly. Conclusions: Depression symptoms varied widely in terms of their contribution to suicidality, highlighting the valuable information gained from analysing depression at the symptom-item level. Reducing the sources of pessimism and building self-esteem presented as potential targets for alleviating suicidality amongst Pacific adolescents in New Zealand. Suicide prevention strategies need to include risk factors for self-harm

Depression, anxiety and worry in young Pacific adults in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective: To measure symptoms of anxiety, depression and hopelessness in a sample of young Pacific adults living in Auckland, New Zealand during the 2020/2021 COVID-19 pandemic and identify protective factors. Methods: Participants were 267 Pacific adults (58% female) who completed a survey online. Analyses included descriptive statistics, correlations, linear regression and symptom network analysis. Results: Around 25% of the sample scored in the range for moderate to severe anxiety and 10% for moderate to severe depression on standard measures. Almost 40% indicated that they found the first lockdown very stressful and 55% noted that some members of their family found it stressful. Only 16% worried about COVID-19 and their future quite a bit or constantly, while another 25% worried sometimes. Self-compassion and Pacific Identity had moderate, negative correlations, and Worry about COVID-19 had weak positive correlations, with anxiety, depression, hopelessness and perceived stress. Conclusion: These results suggest that, while the prevalence of depression and anxiety are quite high among this population, fostering ethnic identity and self-compassion in Pacific children and adolescents might protect against developing depression and anxiety

Two Fragments of a Painted Screen from Hamstall Ridware, Staffordshire, with Passion Imagery Including the Seven Effusions of Christ’s Blood

Two fragments of a screen painted c. 1500 in the parish church of St Michael and All Angels at Hamstall Ridware in Staffordshire are analysed with reference to their imagery, handling and original setting. Although now mounted on a modern reredos, the panels were made for use in the church, and probably formed part of the rood screen. Unusually, they were painted on the interior, east-facing sides of the screen they occupied: this can be established by analysis of the panels’ structure and the extent of the painting. The iconography is unusual in various ways. Notably, one of the panels is devoted to a cycle of images which constitute the seven sheddings of Christ’s blood. While the seven sheddings is a recognised phenomenon of late medieval devotional literature, no other image cycle of the sort is known from England. The implications of this are briefly discussed in relation to Continental evidence, and the sheddings rehearsed using an English version of about the same date as the panels in order to suggest why the parish might have wanted a painted version of the cycle and how it could have been used. The way the artist handled his subject matter is also discussed as an illustration of the fact that aesthetically undistinguished work was perfectly acceptable for solemn imagery at the ritual heart of an imposing church. While this may occasion no surprise, the fact has been very little discussed to date, despite its importance for a holistic grasp of English art of the period

East Anglia’s Medieval Rood Screens: Conserving Sensitive Painted Artworks in Uncontrolled Church Environments

England’s East Anglian region has c.550 late-medieval screens still in their original churches, one of Northern Europe’s most significant in situ collections of medieval panel painting. The churches are managed by non-specialist volunteers and are not museums. In many, congregations are shrinking and long-term sustainability will involve varying uses of the building. The buildings and their collections are at risk from, among other factors, weather, groundwater, fire, heat, moisture, light, pollutants and pests, as well as vandalism and theft. The same threats affect screens, causing flaking paint, microbiological growth, insect damage and photodegradation. A collaborative programme was forged between the Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge, specialists in medieval panel painting conservation, and Tobit Curteis Associates, specialists in environmental deterioration in historic buildings, supported by the Church of England’s Cathedral and Church Buildings Division. This project aimed to bridge the gap between the conservation of sensitive artefacts and the conservation of the buildings in which they are situated. A methodology, utilising materials analysis, environmental monitoring and building and object surveys, was devised for the assessment of the deterioration of screens and their churches to produce holistic recommendations. Through a pilot study, solutions that are passive, cost effective, innovative and sustainable are being implemented.Headley Trus

Lessons Learned Through Collaborating to Present Research Findings to the Wider Community’

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Risk factors for depression in Pacific adolescents in New Zealand: a network analysis

Background: Network analysis provides opportunities to gain a greater understanding of the complex interplay of risk factors for depression and heterogeneous symptom presentations. This study used network analysis to discover risk factors associated with both depression severity and depression symptoms amongst Pacific adolescents in New Zealand. Methods: Mixed graphical models with regularization were fitted to data from a community sample of New Zealand born, Pacific adolescents, (n=561; 51% male; Mean age (SD) = 17 (0.35)) and associations between a wide range of potentially explanatory variables and depression severity and depression symptoms investigated. The associations identified were then tested for reliability, using resampling techniques and sensitivity analysis. Results: In the networks, the explanatory variables associated with both depression severity and depression symptoms were those related to quality of the relationships with mother or friends, school connectedness, and self-assessed weight, but the symptoms they were associated with varied substantially. In the depression severity networks, impulsivity appeared to be a bridging node connecting depression severity with delinquency and negative peer influence. Limitations: The data were analysed cross-sectionally, so causal inferences about the directions of relationships could not be inferred and most of the data were self-reported. Conclusions: The results illustrate the varied way that adolescent depression can manifest itself in terms of symptoms and suggest specific items on the depression inventory that might be suitable targets for prevention strategies and interventions, based on the risk factor - depression symptom profiles of individuals or groups

Quantifying the impact of human visitation in two cave chambers on Mona Island (Puerto Rico): Implications for archaeological site conservation

Recent archaeological research has discovered well preserved historic and pre-Columbian art covering numerous walls inside caves on Mona Island. Human visits can pose a serious threat to the long term conservation of these fragile engravings and paintings by increasing condensation corrosion rates. The quantification of environmental changes to caves related to human visitation is relevant for prediction of condensation corrosion processes and cave site management policies. This study addresses the threat of increased condensation corrosion to cave art. Data collected in two caves show changes in cave air temperature (T), relative humidity (RH) and CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) caused by visitation. Based on the environmental observations, cave air exchange times and condensation corrosion rates of different visitor group sizes were quantified. The corrosion rates increase with the number of visitors and also depend on the chamber ventilation characteristics. Periods of visitation might be the only times when condensation corrosion can occur, especially in cave chambers distant from the cave entrance. This evidence points out the need to develop a conservation management plan that takes account of visitation levels to ensure preservation for future generations

Quantifying the impact of human visitation in two cave chambers on Mona Island (Puerto Rico): Implications for archaeological site conservation

Recent archaeological research has discovered well preserved historic and pre-Columbian art covering numerous walls inside caves on Mona Island. Human visits can pose a serious threat to the long term conservation of these fragile engravings and paintings by increasing condensation corrosion rates. The quantification of environmental changes to caves related to human visitation is relevant for prediction of condensation corrosion processes and cave site management policies. This study addresses the threat of increased condensation corrosion to cave art. Data collected in two caves show changes in cave air temperature (T), relative humidity (RH) and CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) caused by visitation. Based on the environmental observations, cave air exchange times and condensation corrosion rates of different visitor group sizes were quantified. The corrosion rates increase with the number of visitors and also depend on the chamber ventilation characteristics. Periods of visitation might be the only times when condensation corrosion can occur, especially in cave chambers distant from the cave entrance. This evidence points out the need to develop a conservation management plan that takes account of visitation levels to ensure preservation for future generations