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Exploring Mental Health Professionals’ Perceptions of Physical Activity Provision for Mental Health Service Users
Get PDFIntroduction. Physical activity can be beneficial for physical health, mental health, and
personal recovery for mental health service users. However, mental health service users
engage with lower levels of physical activity than the general population. Mental health
professionals hold important roles in influencing the care of mental health service users and
supporting engagement with therapeutic activities.
Aim. To explore experiences of mental health professionals relating to physical activity for
mental health service users within two UK-based Community Mental Health Teams.
Methods. Semi-structured interviews were completed with twelve mental health
professionals. Participants were from a range of professional backgrounds that represented
the multi-disciplinary nature of Community Mental Health Teams.
Results. Three main themes were identified: the positive resourceful past, the current diluted
community mental health team, and how to make physical activity successful within mental
health services.
Discussion. Participants felt resources previously available through the Community Mental
Health Team enabled its service users to engage with physical activity more readily.
EXPERIENCES OF MHPs RELATING TO PA FOR MHSUs 2
However, the current functioning of the team provided mental health service users with
limited resources to enable them to engage with physical activity.
Implications for practice. Recommendations regarding how physical activity can be
successful within a Community Mental Health Team were mad
Exploring the impact of panoptic heteronormativity on UK primary teachers advocating for LGBTQ+ inclusive education
Get PDFSince the repeal of Section 28 in 2003, research and policy reform has explored how to reduce homo/bi and transphobia to make schools more LGBTQ+ inclusive places. However, heteronormativity continues to manifest in increasingly subtle ways. This article argues that teachers must remain vigilant towards the ‘Panopticon of Heteronormativity’ which subtly impacts efforts to foster LGBTQ+ inclusivity. An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was undertaken to capture the experience of 12 participants who advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusivity in UK primary schools. This article finds that teachers advocating for LGBTQ+ inclusivity still reinforce heteronormativity through discourses which regulate children’s exposure to ‘appropriate’ identities, express concern about pushing an ‘agenda’ and LGBTQ+ teachers can experience a ‘double consciousness’ which complicates their efforts to disrupt heteronormativity. Recommendations include improving teacher training and practitioner awareness to critically reflect upon the subtle ways heteronormativity manifests in the classroom
‘At risk’ waist-to-height ratio cut-off points recently adopted by NICE and US Department of Defense will unfairly penalize shorter adults. What is the solution?
Get PDFObjectives
To a) demonstrate that adopting ‘at risk’ waist-to-height ratio (WHTR) cut-off points, recently approved by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the United States Department of Defense (USDoD), will unfairly penalize shorter individuals and will be too lenient for taller individuals, b) to confirm that waist circumference (WC) of a sample of US service personnel, scales to approximately height0.5, supporting the notion that WC, to be independent of height (HT), should be normalized using WC.HT−0.5 (WHT•5R), and c) to identify the WHT•5R cut-off points that will reduce or eliminate this unwanted bias.
Subjects/methods
We employed a three independent cross-sectional sample design. All n = 58,742 participants underwent anthropometric assessment of body mass, stature and waist circumference.
Results
The allometric power-law model WC=a.HT^b for US service personnel identified the height exponent to be b= 0.418 (95 % CI 0.251–0.585), confirming that the simple body-shape index for WC to be independent of HT, should be WC.HT−0.5. Chi-square tests of independence and for linear trend confirmed that by adopting WHTR cut-off point, shorter individuals (both service personnel and non-service participants) will be over penalized (classified as being ‘at risk’). New WC independent-of-height ratio cut-off points were found to resolve this problem.
Conclusions
Adopting WHTR cut-off thresholds (either 0.5 or 0.55) will lead to shorter adults being unfairly classified as being ‘at risk’ in terms of their central adiposity and general health status. Adopting new WHT•5R cut-off point thresholds were found to greatly reduce or eliminate this bias
Negotiating normativities of gender, sexuality and the family in gay parents' small stories
Get PDFThis article considers how two gay male parents negotiate normative discourses of gender, sexuality and the family in an interview context. Employing a three-level framework for exploring narratives-in-interaction, the micro-linguistic analysis identifies and unravels two gay parents’ multiple layers of self- and other- positioning through their telling of ‘small stories’. The findings support insights from existing sociological and psychological research to some degree, showing how these parents’ liminal situation amidst multiple and intersecting normative discourses can lead to conflict as they work to position themselves as partners, parents, and gay men. However, the analysis also reveals new insights about the specific and nuanced forms such conflict can take, depending on individuals’ circumstances and experiences. The findings also suggest that everyday encounters are important sites for the (re)constitution of such normative discourses, and that the small stories parents tell about these encounters can be important resources for making sense of their lives in relation to broader social norms and structures
How efficiently are we using our understanding of the tacit dimension of teaching?
Get PDFThis paper considers the tacit dimension of teaching. Policy and research focused on teaching have addressed the explicit application of knowledge within the field. This paper views knowledge from the positions of explicit knowledge, and implicit or tacit knowledge. Although widely acknowledged as a contributing constituent of teachers’ practice, there has been limited research on tacit knowledge in teaching. The nature of teachers’ work generates evidence from observable behaviour and action, and has contributed significantly to contemporary research on practice. Where there is a gap in similar expanse of research is on the understanding of the non-observables and implicit or tacit knowledge which informs practice. This area of tacit knowledge in teaching remains minimally understood and under-researched. The research presented in this paper identifies underlying cognitive processes which inform practice in teaching. For the first time in research on teaching these cognitive processes have been amalgamated to capture what happens beyond that which is observable. A call for unison on the dynamics of implicit and explicit in teaching is urgent to unearth complexity and externalise professional development stages. The findings from this paper will be beneficial to teachers, teacher educators and policy makers
A review of safeguarding in grassroots football: Children and young people's perspectives
Get PDFIn 2021, Birmingham County Football Association (BCFA) in partnership with Newman University carried out a quantitative online review to assess coaches, volunteers, parents and young people's understanding of safeguarding information, policies and procedures in relation to football. This paper examines the findings from the children (aged 5–11) and young people (aged 12–17) using the Six Principles of Safeguarding to assess the current safeguarding measures in place to protect children and young people (CYP) playing grassroots football. The review found that whilst most CYP felt safe when playing organised football, there were some concerns raised from the young people in relation to angry parents, abuse and racism. Most children in both groupings had heard of the term safeguarding, but fewer had heard of the term welfare, and struggled to explain what welfare meant. A key finding and concern is that many CYP are not aware of the role of the Club Welfare Officer at their football club or that this might be someone to whom they can disclose issues concerning them. Furthermore, it became evident that further research, awareness raising and implementation of listening to and acting on children's voices needs to be fully embedded into safeguarding practice in children and young people's organised football
Observing secondary school teachers’ effective teaching behavior in the Netherlands, England, and the United States using the ICALT observation instrument
Get PDFIntroduction: The purpose of this study was to examine measurement invariance
in observer scoring of effective teaching behavior in three secondary education
contexts–the Netherlands, England, and the United States. It also aimed to
describe what effective teaching behavior looks like in secondary education
across the three education contexts.
Methods: A uniform observation measure called International Comparative
Analysis of Learning and Teaching (ICALT) was used to observe teachers.
Results: Results revealed that the hypothesized factor structure of effective
teaching behavior was confirmed for the Dutch and English data, but not for the
US data. Teachers in the Netherlands showed higher levels of more basic teaching
behaviors, but lower levels of more complex teaching behaviors, compared to
teachers in England.
Discussion: Implications of the findings are discussed
(Dis)connected parenting: Context control and information management in single adoptive parents' social media practice
No full textThis article considers how three UK-based single adoptive parents navigate a complex set of risks, benefits and limitations as they construct mutually beneficial connections, friendships and support networks online. The discussion draws on media scholarship suggesting that, in response to contemporary norms of constant connection, digital availability and online context ‘collapse’, many internet users appropriate the affordances of online platforms and technologies to maintain personal boundaries and keep social groups apart. As the case studies show, such tight context control can be particularly important for single adoptive parents, whose children are often vulnerable in multiple ways, who continue to face social stigma and misunderstanding, and for whom privacy can be vital to their families’ safety and wellbeing. The article offers some key recommendations for practitioners who work with single adoptive parents. It suggests, on the one hand, that practitioners can facilitate personalised, targeted support by signposting carers to appropriate digital sources, or by supporting parents to create and tailor their own social media networks. On the other hand, because of the complexities and pitfalls associated with such digitally mediated peer support, some caution is needed around the recommendations that are made, depending on individual families’ needs and circumstances
Critical Race Theory, methodology and semiotics: The analytical utility of a ‘race’ conscious approach for visual qualitative research
Get PDFOver the last thirty years, CRT has been applied successfully as an analytical framework through which to explore matters of ‘race’, racialization and subordination in numerous fields. For CRT to continue to be relevant there is a need to reorientate it as a guiding analytical framework, to account for the ubiquity of digital technologies across liberal Western democracies and the ways in which they have radically changed social and cultural production. During this paper, we wish to extend this argument further and encourage the development of critical race methodologies (CRMs) fit for the (hyper)digital moment, so we are equipped better to challenge the persistence of racialised hierarchies and the emerging cultural circumstances in which they operate. It identifies the philosophical principles that underpin CRMs and concludes by outlining critical race semiotics (CRS) as an analytical tool dedicated to human emancipation, particular to our highly visual culture
The Impact of Masculine Ideologies on Heterosexual Men’s Experiences of Intimate Partner Violence: A Qualitative Exploration
Get PDFThe subject of female-perpetuated intimate partner violence (IPV)
against men remains poorly understood and in need of further
research. Exploration of societal expectations surrounding masculinity and male victimization may enhance understanding of how
men experience IPV victimization. Consequently, this experiential
research study explored the impact of masculine ideologies on the
way in which 26 men made sense of their experiences of femaleperpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV). Semi-structured interviews explored the men’s sense of themselves, their relationship,
and their use of support networks. The data were analyzed using
reflexive thematic analysis. The importance of maintaining an
appropriate sense of masculinity underpinned the men’s narratives.
Participants described feeling shame and embarrassment for not
having met dominant cultural expectations surrounding the roles
of men in heterosexual relationships. Many of the participants
struggled to accept the role of “victim,” which was perceived as demasculinizing. These findings offer implications for understanding
men’s experiences of IPV and developing enhanced sources of
support