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An exploration of gender differences in risk factors for mental ill health & functional capability in UK army personnel – A through life approach
Get PDFIntroduction
Since 2019 all roles in the UK Armed Forces have been equally open to men and women. Prior to this women had not been able to serve in combat roles. However, historic data has shown that serving women had approximately twice the rate of mental ill health as men in the Army. There was therefore concern from senior leaders in Defence and the Army that employment in combat roles may further exacerbate this, resulting in even higher rates of mental illness in women in the Army. This thesis takes a through life course in exploring the risk factors for mental ill health in the UK Army, university students and veterans.
Methods
A sequential mixed methods approach was taken, with priority given to the qualitative part of the study. The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown started soon after ethical approval, resulting in the study being undertaken over a prolonged period. A quantitative survey using a bespoke questionnaire of 7000 serving Army personnel was distributed in July 2020 but could not be analysed until a year later. The aim of the survey was to gather data on the perceived importance of the risk factors for mental ill health in order to develop questions for the qualitative interviews. Twenty-one Army personnel were subsequently interviewed between January and June 2022. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. The COVID-19 pandemic led to additional quantitative research on soldiers’ social isolation and mental ill health and wellbeing, and qualitative service improvement work on veterans at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Both form part of the thesis. Finally, a second survey, using the same questionnaire, of young Army Officer university cadets was undertaken in March 2023 in order to validate any specific findings on health and wellbeing that had been identified by the previous arms of the research.
Findings
Five hundred and sixty-eight (16.2%) women and 310 (8.9%) men responded to the survey, which was a representative sample in terms of diversity of the Army, but older age, higher educational attainment and senior rank were slightly over- represented. Key findings were that men were more likely to fear that their life was at risk when deployed (p< 0.001); women were more likely to face harassment when deployed (p< 0.001); women were more likely to report that a parent suffered from mental ill health (p=0.036) and also that their mother figure was difficult to please (p< 0.001); women were more likely to have been sexually abused as a child (p< 0.001); binge drinking of alcohol was more common in men (p=0.039); female respondents were more likely to be in a partnership with another military person (p< 0.001); and women, at the time of the survey, were more likely to feel “sad” or “blue” (p=0.003).
Five main themes were identified from the qualitative research on Army personnel, who were recruited through volunteering at the time of completing the survey questionnaire. These themes were (i) Generations, (ii) Pre-Service Life Experiences, (iii) Interpersonal Behaviours, (iv) Deployment Issues and (v) COVID19. A total of thirteen sub themes were also identified that were risk factors for mental ill health in Army personnel.
Interpretation & Conclusion
Mitigating the risks of developing mental illness is complex and requires integrative development of policy, preventive health, and provision of appropriate mental health services. This research demonstrated that the focus in the future should be through a generational, rather than a gender based, approach to prevent mental ill health and improve wellbeing. Moreover, a “one size fits all” mental health preventive policy is unlikely to be effective. For older men, principally Generation X and millennials, the focus should be on encouraging earlier engagement with primary care and mental health services. For Generation Z men and women, and future generations, there will need to be a greater understanding of their (mental) health and wellbeing needs before adapting preventive and healthcare services to try to meet these needs.
The research identified several other risks for developing mental illness whilst serving as a soldier. It further confirmed that military sexual trauma remains a significant area of concern in the UK Army, and more initiatives to eradicate this unacceptable behaviour are required. Deploying as a parent of a very young child could have mental health implications for all soldiers irrespective of gender and may be even more important in younger generations. Young soldiers, particularly men are emotionally immature. Many of their behaviours are erroneously labelled as clinical mental illnesses. Better emotional support of these young soldiers through the availability of a uniformed psychology service may also free up resources in over stretched clinical mental health services.
The through life course starts with recruiting the right individual and employing them in a role that is appropriate to their skills and interests. Whilst employed in the Army, mitigating the risk of mental ill health through a better understanding of the multiple risk factors that may impinge on an individual’s mental health and wellbeing will be key. Finally, whilst UK military veterans, other than early service leavers, appear to be more resilient than their civilian peers currently, this may not always be the case. The as yet, unexplained increase in rates of mental health disorders in Generation Z in society as a whole may then translate into less resilience in the veteran community. Therefore, further qualitative research into the mental health and wellbeing of current and future cohorts of veterans will be vital
Urine biomarkers in dogs with non-associative Immune Mediated Haemolytic Anaemia (IMHA)
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The dietary fibre and chronic constipation in older adults in Kuwait
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Assessment of climate risks in Central and Northern Liberia
Get PDFClimate change and variability is adversely affecting smallholder farming households in Africa and particular in Liberia because their activity depends on climate-regulated water resources such as rainfall. However, the responses of affected districts have elicited relatively limited attention from policy makers and academic researchers, and in particular, little is understood about the complex factors that shape how farming households have sought to tackle the impact of climate change and variability. This thesis addresses this gap by analyzing the ways in which rural farmers in six districts in central and northern counties of Liberia have sought to adapt to climate variability. The study combined insights from a risk analysis framework with sustainable livelihoods approaches and the concept of adaptation strategies to advance the understanding of climate risk. This research deploys a mixed method, multi-scale approach in central and northern Liberia where rural farmers continue to be affected by climate variability. Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, key informants’ interviews, policy discussion with experts and desk review of national policy documents are used to elicit the extent of crop production (mainly rice and cassava) and livelihood risk as a result of climate change and variability across multiple scales: mapping exposure, vulnerability and risk at the district levels. The study results show that Liberia has been impacted by climate variability, as evidenced in the average temperature and rainfall variability. Results demonstrate that risk of crop production to climate variability (especially dry spells or delayed rainfall) has obvious geographical and socioeconomic patterns, with the central and northern counties being exposed and vulnerable. The results of the risk assessment are used to guide local level research and demonstrate the need for county-specific policies to reduce climate risk and enhance delayed rainfall or dry spells preparedness within dryland farming districts. Within the same agroecological environment, different districts experience different risks attributed to differences in socioeconomic characteristics. The results of the study also indicate that climate risk of farming households can be linked to access to livelihood capital assets and that exposed, and susceptible districts tend to have farmers that are considered by low levels of natural, financial, physical and social capitals. Although farmers use a variety of coping and adaptive strategies such as crop diversification, planting of drought resistant plants, changing the time of planting and early maturing varieties of crops, livelihood diversification, crop rotation/shifting cultivation, temporary migration, relying on help from family and friends and reducing food consumption to manage climate variability, these are insufficient to prevent them from being affected by food insecurity. Results further indicate a variety of challenges such as poor access to information on climate adaptation, limited access to markets, lack of financial resources, complex land tenure systems, social cultural barriers, limited access to improved varieties of crops, as well as a lack of institutional support pose serious barriers to adaptation.
The implication of this study is that policy makers need to play a significant role in formulating appropriate and targeted climate adaptation policies that promote the development and planting of improved varieties of crops; enable farmers to engage in different livelihood diversification strategies; and allow for the provision of institutional support such as access to information on climate adaptation and adequate all-year-round extension services. Such policies should be linked to programmes that promote asset building as well as enhance institutional capacity and social capital in the study counties and Liberia in general
Topological full groups
Get PDFWe develop our understanding of topological full groups, a way of constructing examples of infinite simple groups with finiteness properties from ample groupoids. Our results are concentrated in three main example classes. Firstly, the topological full groups of purely infinite minimal groupoids share many properties with Thompson’s group V. In studying these groups and the associated groupoids in detail, we formalise this phenomenon by relating dynamical properties to group-theoretic properties. Secondly, interval exchange groups are an important concrete example of topological full groups since many are amenable. We classify these groups through computing associated Elliot invariants. Also, we find concrete generating sets and compute the homology of these groups. Thirdly and finally, Stein’s groups were introduced by Melanie Stein in 1992 as generalisations of Thompson’s group. We show these groups are topological full groups. We then analyse Stein’s groups through this framework, showing that the (simple) derived subgroups of Stein’s groups are in many cases finitely generated. We study the homology of Stein’s groups
‘Yn ych iaith ych un’: the afterlives of two early Anglo-Welsh poems
Get PDFBuilding on two preliminary dissertations, Chwedl o Rhydychen: A Study of the Welsh Hymn to the Virgin (M.A., 2017) and The Welsh Hymn to the Virgin: Contexts and Receptions (M.Phil., 2019), this thesis is a study of the manuscripts and early printed editions of the earliest two Anglo-Welsh poems, both dating from the 15th century: Tudur Penllyn’s ‘Y Bardd a Saesnes,’ and Ieuan ap Hywel Swrdwal’s ‘Hymn to the Virgin.’ The two poems distinguish themselves through their language: both were written in Middle to Early Modern English, but their distinctive feature is their deployment of Welsh orthography.
Though the originals are lost, the textual witnesses of these poems survive in great number, with seven manuscripts for ‘Y Bardd a Saesnes’ and thirteen for the ‘Hymn to the Virgin,’ to which can be added three late 18th-and 19th-century printed editions of note. These witnesses are valuable for our understanding of the contexts in which they were transmitted. For that reason, a detailed survey and comparison of these witnesses and their specific features precedes a discussion of the form and significance of the afterlives of the texts, particularly in the context of antiquarianism of the Renaissance and early Romanticism.
The aim of this study is to demonstrate that the transmission, or absence thereof, of these texts, is not linked to any intrinsic qualities they may have, but to the way they answer concerns shared throughout the centuries by their copyists. More specifically, it is held that they reflect the tension between two cultures, the Welsh and the English, and the seeming irreconcilability between the traditionally oppressed and the oppressor: a view that was kept alive through the transmission of foundational myths of Wales
The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and the politics of accountability for human rights and business
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Working towards inclusive education for autistic children in Algeria: Investigating English as Foreign Language (EFL) Algerian students/graduates’ knowledge of autism and their attitudes towards inclusive education for autistic children
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Development of point-of-need tests for detection of Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxins and enterotoxin genes in ruminant milk
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The network of care around a child with maltreatment-associated psychiatric problems (MAPP)
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