Men's Health in Northern Ireland: Why do we need a men's health policy?

Males accounted for half the United Kingdom population in 2021 yet they fail to be prioritised in health and social policies. As examining the health of males and females collectively falls short in accounting for the complexities associated with gendered health outcomes, male health should be considered as a separate policy issue. The island of Ireland has two jurisdictions, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (NI); however, only the former has implemented a men's health policy. As well as a policy vacuum within NI, few studies have comprehensively examined male health. To address this shortcoming, a narrative review of males' physical and mental health trends in NI is presented to determine the need for a men's health policy. A collation of secondary administrative data and survey data was conducted. The narrative review highlights the importance of utilising a holistic framework to understand men's health. Key findings include high male suicide rates and young males being more likely to report certain mental health problems. The study concludes that a male health policy is needed. To achieve this, a Health Impact Pyramid was developed, and it illustrates practical steps that can be taken to support decision-makers, service providers and individual males.

"Sometimers, Alzheimer's? I love that! That's definitely me": Readers' Responses to Fictional Dementia Narratives.

This article presents findings from an interdisciplinary project which invited readers to experience the impact of dementia via fictional characters' narratives. Combining methods from critical gerontology and literary linguistics-a field that examines the language of literature-we undertook an empirical reader response study of dementia fiction. We constructed a large corpus of dementia fiction; selecting 12 extracts, each containing first-hand, focalized accounts of fictional characters' experiences of living with dementia. Readers (31) were purposively sampled for 4 separate reading groups-student social workers (9); general public (9); family carers (6); and people with dementia (7). Over 6 weeks they engaged in separate, facilitated, on-line group discussions of extracts. Discussions were independently coded using ATLAS.ti. Although readers from all 4 groups reported that fictional characters drew them into the internal life of someone with dementia, some carers questioned whether fictional characters' experiences were plausible. Readers with dementia recognized themselves in the extracts; viewing fictional characters as eloquent envoys of their lived experiences of diagnosis, social isolation, loss of language, and use of humor. Fictional characters offer an entry point for understanding contrasts in caregiver and care-receiver experiences of dementia. Fictional characters are potentially useful for moving dementia narratives beyond monstrous cultural metaphors and onto a disability-based rights agenda.

Public Understanding of Coercive Control in Northern Ireland.

Coercive control is characterised by negative behaviours which intimidate, threaten, and humiliate a person or restrict a person's liberty. In addition to being a known risk factor for experiencing other forms of violence, research has linked coercive control to symptoms of psychological distress and suicidality. In the UK, coercive and controlling behaviours within intimate and familial relationships have been legislated as offending behaviours. However, there still exists a lack of international evidence on wider public knowledge and understanding of coercive control. The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (NILT) is an annual cross-sectional representative survey of social policy topics. Participants are adults aged 18 years or over. Concerning coercive control, respondents were presented with two relationship scenarios: obvious and less obvious coercive control. Following each scenario, respondents indicated their level of agreement to ten statements covering attitudes towards coercive control, victims of coercive control, talking about coercive control, and whether coercive control is a crime. Respondents indicated whether they had heard of the term 'coercive control'. Predictors of coercive control awareness were assessed using multinomial logistic regression. Mixed analysis of variance assessed if agreement levels to the ten statements varied by type of coercive control and victim gender. Most respondents said that they had heard of the term coercive control and knew what it meant. Those who had not heard of coercive control at all were more likely to be on a lower income, less qualified and younger, when compared to those who said they knew what the term meant. Significant interactions between coercive control type and victim gender were evident for all ten statements. While most respondents are aware of the term coercive control, a significant number have not and are therefore unlikely to recognise the signs of this type of abuse.

Factors associated with public knowledge of and attitudes to dementia: A cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: Dementia is a major public health concern but one that continues to be stigmatised. We examine lay knowledge of dementia and attitudes to people with dementia as potential precursors of public anxiety, focusing on the social characteristics associated with (a) the formation of these attitudes, and (b) the perception of the need for restriction and control for people with dementia. METHODS: Analysis of the 2014 Northern Ireland Life and Times survey, which included questions on knowledge of, attitudes to and personal experience with dementia. We used (a) latent class analysis and (b) logistic regression to examine factors associated with respondent attitudes towards dementia. RESULTS: Respondents (n = 1211) had relatively good general knowledge of dementia, but limited knowledge of specific risk factors. Negative perceptions of dementia were mitigated somewhat by personal contact. A high proportion of respondents felt that high levels of control were appropriate for people diagnosed with dementia, even at early stages of the disease. CONCLUSION: Personal antipathy to dementia was highly prevalent despite ongoing public campaigns to increase public awareness of developments in its prevention, treatment and consequent care pathways and hampering efforts to widen social inclusion. Fresh thinking and more resources may be needed to challenge persisting common misapprehension of the condition and the formation of entrenched stigma.

The inclusion of open-ended questions on quantitative surveys of children: Dealing with unanticipated responses relating to child abuse and neglect.

Web surveys have been shown to be a viable, and relatively inexpensive, method of data collection with children. For this reason, the Kids' Life and Times (KLT) was developed as an annual online survey of 10 and 11 year old children. Each year, approximately 4,000 children participate in the survey. Throughout the six years that KLT has been running, a range of questions has been asked that are both policy-relevant and important to the lives of children. Given the method employed by the survey, no extremely sensitive questions that might cause the children distress are included. The majority of questions on KLT are closed yielding quantitative data that are analysed statistically; however, one regular open-ended question is included at the end of KLT each year so that the children can suggest questions that they think should be asked on the survey the following year. While most of the responses are innocuous, each year a small minority of children suggest questions on child abuse and neglect. This paper reports the responses to this question and reflects on how researchers can, and should, deal with this issue from both a methodological and an ethical perspective.

Creating an Inclusive Society How Close are We in Relation to Autism Spectrum Disorder? A General Population Survey.

BACKGROUND: Children with autism spectrum disorder are increasingly educated in mainstream classrooms in the United Kingdom (Wilkinson & Twist, Autism and Educational Assessment: UK Policy and Practice. NFER, Slough, 2010), and some employers are now specifically seeking out staff on the autism spectrum. Does that mean that we are living in an 'inclusive society' [United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), Creating an Inclusive Society: Practical Strategies to Promote Social Integration 2008], in the sense that inequalities are reduced and full economic, social and cultural participation is advanced for individuals with autism? METHODS: A general population survey was conducted to assess how close we, as a society, are to an inclusive society for individuals with autism in Northern Ireland. Public attitudes were examined to (i) visibility and social interaction, (ii) aetiology, needs and interventions, and (iii) rights and resources. RESULTS: A stratified, representative sample of 1204 adults took part in the survey; of these, 989 were aware of autism and their attitudes and behavioural projections reflected a mix of acceptance and denunciation. The level of confusion with regard to interventions reflected the general uncertainty within UK policy regarding meeting the needs of individuals on the autism spectrum (International Journal of Disability, Development and Education 61, 134, 2014a). CONCLUSION: Therefore, it seems that inclusion is working to an extent, but more clarity is needed with regard to adequate education, intervention and support for individuals with autism.

Dementia knowledge and attitudes of the general public in Northern Ireland: an analysis of national survey data.

BACKGROUND: This paper provides an overview of the findings from the dementia module of the 2010 Northern Ireland Life and Times (NILT) Survey: an annual survey recording public attitudes to major social policy issues. Northern Ireland, in line with many other developed countries, recently released a Dementia Strategy. The opportunity to explore the knowledge and attitudes of the general public to dementia at a national level in Northern Ireland is timely and valuable. This paper reports on an initial exploration of these attitudes, based on bivariate analysis across demographic groups. METHODS: Data were analyzed using SPSS (Version 19). Descriptive and summary statistics were produced. A series of categorical bivariate relationships were tested (chi-square) and tests of association (Cramer's V) were reported. We discuss both knowledge-related findings and attitudinal findings. RESULTS: We found that the general public in Northern Ireland have a reasonably good level of knowledge about dementia. However, attitudinal measures indicate the stereotyping and infantilization of people with dementia. CONCLUSIONS: This NILT module provides a unique source of data on attitudes to, and knowledge of, dementia. A key strength is that it provides statistically representative data with national level coverage. This information can be used to target public health education policies more effectively and to inform delivery of health and social services. The success of the module leads us to believe that it stands as a blue-print for collecting information on dementia in other social surveys.

Psychometric properties of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) in Northern Ireland.

BACKGROUND: The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) is a relatively new measure and to date has been validated in student samples in England and Scotland, and in population samples in Scotland. No data exist on the psychometric properties of the WEMWBS when used within a general population in Northern Ireland, a region that might be expected to differ in health and well-being given its troubled history. AIMS: This paper represents the first attempt to assess mental well-being in Northern Ireland using this new questionnaire. METHOD: Data came from the 2009/2010 Continuous Household Survey and analyses are based on the responses of 3355 people aged 16 years and over who completed the full WEMWBS. RESULTS: The results suggest that the data collected using the WEMWBS among a large-scale random sample of adults in Northern Ireland are comparable to those produced for adults in other parts of the UK. CONCLUSION: The findings from this study are important as any measure of mental well-being purported to have been validated for the UK needs to include Northern Ireland, given that region's recent history in terms of the civil conflict and its potential impact on the health and well-being of its population.