Co-producing an intervention to prevent mental health problems in children and young people in contact with child welfare services.

BACKGROUND: Children and young people (CYP) in contact with child welfare services are at high risk of developing mental health problems. There is a paucity of evidenced-based preventative interventions provided to this population. OBJECTIVE: This project worked in partnership with CYP, their parents/caregivers and the professionals who support them to co-produce a preventative mental health intervention for CYP in contact with child welfare services. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: We recruited a purposive sample of CYP in contact with child welfare services (n = 23), parents/caregivers (n = 18) and practitioners working within child welfare services and mental health services (n = 25) from the North East of England and convened co-production workshops (n = 4). METHODS: This project followed the established principles for intervention development, applying the six steps to quality intervention development (6SQUID) approach. The mixed method research consisted of four work packages with continuous engagement of stakeholders throughout the project. These were: a systematic review of reviews; focus groups with practitioners; interviews with parents/caregivers and CYP; co-production workshops. RESULTS: We identified that the primary risk factor affecting CYP in contact with child welfare services is the experience of childhood adversity. The quality of relationships that the CYP experiences with both their parent/caregivers and the professionals involved in their care are considered to be the main factors amenable to change. CONCLUSIONS: We found that a trauma-informed, activity-based intervention with an embedded family-focused component provided to CYP who have experienced adversity is most likely to prevent mental health problems in those in contact with child welfare services.

Tips to Support the Recruitment, Retention, and Progression of Clinical Academics.

Training to become a clinical academic is a long and arduous process with many obstacles. Many potential candidates fall by the wayside both during and following completion of the combined clinical and academic training pathway with negative implications for clinical and translational research and teaching. Findings from a recent national multi-funder study, alongside clinical academic experiences and current literature, have led to the creation of this 12-tip paper. The tips are targeted at supervisors and employers of clinical academics, aiming to improve recruitment, experiences, retention, and progression through the career path.

Exploring the facilitators, barriers, and strategies for self-management in adults living with severe mental illness, with and without long-term conditions: A qualitative evidence synthesis.

BACKGROUND: People living with severe mental illness (SMI) have a reduced life expectancy by around 15-20 years, in part due to higher rates of long-term conditions (LTCs) such as diabetes and heart disease. Evidence suggests that people with SMI experience difficulties managing their physical health. Little is known, however, about the barriers, facilitators and strategies for self-management of LTCs for people with SMI. AIM: To systematically review and synthesise the qualitative evidence exploring facilitators, barriers and strategies for self-management of physical health in adults with SMI, both with and without long-term conditions. METHODS: CINAHL, Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science, HMIC, Medline, NICE Evidence and PsycInfo were searched to identify qualitative studies that explored barriers, facilitators and strategies for self-management in adults with SMI (with or without co-morbid LTCs). Articles were screened independently by two independent reviewers. Eligible studies were purposively sampled for synthesis according to the richness and relevance of data, and thematically synthesised. RESULTS: Seventy-four articles met the inclusion criteria for the review; 25 articles, reporting findings from 21 studies, were included in the synthesis. Seven studies focused on co-morbid LTC self-management for people with SMI, with the remaining articles exploring self-management in general. Six analytic themes and 28 sub-themes were identified from the synthesis. The themes included: the burden of SMI; living with co-morbidities; beliefs and attitudes about self-management; support from others for self-management; social and environmental factors; and routine, structure and planning. CONCLUSIONS: The synthesis identified a range of barriers and facilitators to self-management, including the burden of living with SMI, social support, attitudes towards self-management and access to resources. To adequately support people with SMI with co-morbid LTCs, healthcare professionals need to account for how barriers and facilitators to self-management are influenced by SMI, and meet the unique needs of this population.

Pandemics, Protests, and Pronouns: The Changing Landscape of Biomedical Visualisation and Education.

Events in early 2020 changed the landscape of education for the foreseeable future, perhaps permanently. Three events had a significant impact; (1) the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, (2) the death of George Floyd, which resulted in the most recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, and (3) the Twitter storm, the resultant societal fallout and freedom of speech campaigns, following comments made by author JK Rowling which many deemed transphobic. These events had a differential impact on biomedical sciences, when compared to other sectors. COVID-19 resulted in a global lockdown, with higher education institutions closing campuses and moving to online-only delivery. This rapid change required radical shifts in the use of technology, with mass delivery of teaching at short notice. The BLM protests further raised awareness of the inequalities within society, particularly those experienced by Black people and other oppressed groups. As a result, there have been calls for the decolonisation of the curriculum. The implications of these three key events have led institutions to rethink their policies, teaching delivery, assessment, curricula, and physical environments. This chapter considers (1) the implications of a swift change in the primary mode of curriculum delivery within Higher Education to online formats and (2) how recent adverse events have resulted in calls for much-needed changes in visual representations within biomedical sciences. Finally, we consider (3) the role of the hidden curriculum and the potential impact of visual representations in curricula on the delivery of healthcare and the fight against health inequalities, which are often as a result of implicit biases. The year 2020 has proven timely in presenting the opportunity for change, provided through the power of imagery.