A qualitative account of young people's experiences of alcohol screening and brief interventions in schools: SIPS Jr-HIGH trial findings.

BACKGROUND: The United Kingdom (UK) has seen a decrease in the number of young people drinking alcohol. However, the UK prevalence of underage drinking still ranks amongst the highest in Western Europe. Whilst there is a wealth of evidence reporting on the effectiveness of both primary, and secondary interventions, there are few reports of the experiences of young people who receive them. METHODS: The present study reports findings from interviews with 33 young people who were involved in an alcohol screening and brief intervention randomized controlled trial in schools in England. All interviews were analysed using inductive applied thematic analysis. RESULTS: Three major themes were identified following the analysis process: 1) drinking identities and awareness of risk; 2) access to support and advice in relation to alcohol use; and 3) appraisal of the intervention and potential impact on alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS: There appeared to be a reluctance from participants to describe themselves as someone who drinks alcohol. Furthermore, those who did drink alcohol often did so with parental permission. There was variation amongst participants as to how comfortable they felt talking about alcohol issues with school staff. Overall participants felt the intervention was useful, but would be better suited to 'heavier' drinkers.

A qualitative exploration of school-based staff's experiences of delivering an alcohol screening and brief intervention in the high school setting: findings from the SIPS JR-HIGH trial.

BACKGROUND: Whilst underage drinking in the UK has been declining in recent years, prevalence is still higher than in most other Western European countries. Therefore, it is important to deliver effective interventions to reduce risk of harm. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews with staff delivering an alcohol screening and brief intervention in the high-school setting. The analysis was informed by normalization process theory (NPT), interviews were open coded and then a framework applied based on the four components of NPT. RESULTS: Five major themes emerged from the analysis. The majority of participants felt that the intervention could be useful, and that learning mentors were ideally suited to deliver it. However, there was a feeling that the intervention should have been targeted at young people who drink the most. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention was generally well received in schools and seen as an effective tool for engaging young people in a discussion around alcohol. However, in the future schools need to consider the level of staffing in place to deliver the intervention. Furthermore, the intervention could focus more on the long-term risks of initiating alcohol consumption at a young age.

A systematic review of qualitative evidence of cancer patients' attitudes to mindfulness.

Mindfulness has been described as a non-elaborative, non-judgmental, present-centred awareness in which each thought, feeling or sensation is acknowledged and accepted. The aim of the present study was to systematically search and synthesise qualitative evidence of cancer patients' attitudes to mindfulness. A systematic review of qualitative evidence was conducted following the SPICE framework. All cancers were included. Medline, Cinahl, Science Direct, O-Alster and New Bank were searched from the first available year to August 2016 using the search terms; wellbeing, mindfulness, qualitative. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts; potentially relevant articles were retrieved and assessed independently by two reviewers. Data were extracted and quality assessed using Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) qualitative research checklist. In total, 233 studies conducted between 2005 and 2015 were identified with six included in the final analysis. Four themes were identified: Coping strategies developed through mindfulness course; Positive outcomes of mindful practice; Challenges with engaging in mindful practice; and Group identification and shared experience. The current evidence supports the view that mindfulness is an effective intervention to help people adjust to living with and beyond cancer however, more qualitative work is needed in this area.

A Coproduction Community Based Approach to Reducing Smoking Prevalence in a Local Community Setting.

Research highlights that asset-based community development where local residents become equal partners in service development may help promote health and well-being. This paper outlines baseline results of a coproduction evaluation of an asset-based approach to improving health and well-being within a small community through promoting tobacco control. Local residents were recruited and trained as community researchers to deliver a smoking prevalence survey within their local community and became local health champions, promoting health and well-being. The results of the survey will be used to inform health promotion activities within the community. The local smoking prevalence was higher than the regional and national averages. Half of the households surveyed had at least one smoker, and 63.1% of children lived in a smoking household. Nonsmokers reported higher well-being than smokers; however, the differences were not significant. Whilst the community has a high smoking prevalence, more than half of the smokers surveyed would consider quitting. Providing smoking cessation advice in GP surgeries may help reduce smoking prevalence in this community. Work in the area could be done to reduce children's exposure to smoking in the home.