Recruitment of south Asian carers into a survey-based research study.

Because of challenges involved in recruitment, little research has focused on care needs of minority ethnic groups. This article reports on a study that recruited 186 British south Asian carers of people with dementia. Four obstacles were faced: language barriers, confusion over research, feelings of shame/stigma, and mistrust. Researchers drew on various methods: enlisting multilingual researchers; activating contacts in minority ethnic communities; engaging with community groups; emphasising potential for enhancing support services; and tailoring research instruments to minority ethnic issues. Tips are offered to other researchers recruiting minority ethnic participants into studies.

The Schwartz Centre Rounds: Supporting mental health workers with the emotional impact of their work.

In healthcare settings, there is an emotional cost to caring which can result in compassion fatigue, burnout, secondary trauma, and compromised patient care. Innovative workplace interventions such as the Schwartz Rounds offer a group reflective practice forum for clinical and non-clinical professionals to reflect on the emotional aspects of working in health care. Whilst the Rounds are established in medical health practice, this study presents an evaluation of the Rounds offered to mental health services. The Rounds were piloted amongst 150 mental health professionals for 6 months and evaluated using a mixed-methods approach with standardized evaluation forms completed after each Round and a focus group (n = 9) at one-month follow-up. This paper also offers a unique six-year follow-up of the evaluation of the Rounds. Rounds were rated as helpful, insightful, and relevant, and at six years follow-up, Rounds were still rated as valuable and viewed as embedded. Focus groups indicated that Rounds were valued because of the opportunity to express emotions (in particular negative emotions towards patients that conflict with the professional care-role), share experiences, and feel validated and supported by colleagues. The findings indicate that Schwartz Rounds offer a positive application in mental healthcare settings. The study supports the use of interventions which provide an ongoing forum in which to discuss emotions, develop emotional literacy, provide peer support and set an intention for becoming a more compassionate organization in which to work.

SmartRoads: training Indonesian workers to become road safety ambassadors in industrial and community settings.

This paper reports on a programme to improve road safety awareness in an industrial community in the vicinity of Jakarta, in Indonesia. Adapting the model of a successful community and school-based programme in Victoria, in Australia, and using a peer education approach, 16 employees of a major manufacturing company were trained to implement road safety education programmes amongst their peers. Specific target groups for the educators were colleagues, schools and the local community. Over 2 days the employees, from areas as diverse as production, public relations, personnel services, administration and management, learned about road safety facts, causes of traffic casualties, prevention approaches and peer education strategies. They explored and developed strategies to use with their respective target groups and practised health education skills. The newly trained workers received certificates to acknowledge them as 'SmartRoads Ambassadors' and, with follow-up support and development, became road safety educators with a commitment and responsibility to deliver education to their respective work and local communities. This paper argues that the model has potential to provide an effective and locally relevant response to road safety issues in similar communities.

Positive benefits of seclusion.

I am writing to support Walter Brennan's argument that seclusion can have positive benefits for patients I ('Alone again, naturally', Nursing Standard November 6) following the Senior Nurse Advisor Brian Topping Morris' letter (Nursing Standard, December 4).