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Self-harm in children involved in private and public family justice court proceedings : longitudinal national data linkage study
Get PDFBackground: Little is known about self-harm in children involved in family justice proceedings, particularly in private family courts in England and Wales. Aims: To examine records of self-harm in children involved in private and public law proceedings using population-level linked data. Method: A retrospective e-cohort study of children aged under 18 years, using linked health and family justice (Cafcass Cymru) data (2011–2018). Family court involvement was recorded from age 0 to 17 years. Incidence of self-harm was recorded from age 10 to 17 years to fit with the standard definition of self-harm. Annual incidence of self-harm over time across general practitioner (GP), emergency department and hospital admissions for individual children in private and public law proceedings were compared with a non-court cohort using Poisson regression. Self-harm following court proceedings was compared with an age- and gender-matched non-court cohort using Cox regression. Results: Adjusted self-harm rates were higher in court-involved children than the non-court cohort (incident rate ratios (IRRs) (95% CI), private: GP 1.8 (1.6–2.1); emergency department 1.4 (1.2–1.7); admissions 1.8 (1.5–2.1); public: GP 4.6 (4.1–5.3); emergency department 5.0 (4.3–5.8); admissions 5.0 (4.3–5.8)). Compared with matched comparison children, risk of self-harm was higher following private (adjusted hazard ratios 2.0 (1.7–2.2)) and public court proceedings (hazard ratio 2.3 (2.7–3.8)). Hazard ratios were greater for those from less deprived areas and those with no history of self-harm. Conclusions: The elevated risk of self-harm in children involved in public law proceedings is well recognised. Our study highlights risk in children in private family justice proceedings. Elevated risk among those from less deprived areas and those with no history of self-harm may reflect circumstances associated with family justice involvement, resulting in rates comparable to children with other pre-existing vulnerabilities. Contact with family justice is an opportunity to offer preventative support
Understanding integrated mental healthcare for people experiencing forced migration : a realist review protocol
No full textIntroduction Forced migrants (i.e., asylum seekers and refugees) experience greater mental health disparities and inequities in care. Mental health services and systems lack clear policy on integrated mental healthcare. Understanding the causal mechanisms of integrated mental health for migrants can promote a resilient and adaptive health and social care system. However, to achieve a functional mental health service integration, there is a need to understand how and why mental health system integration works and under what health systems conditions. The purpose of this realist review protocol will be to outline a process for refining an initial programme theory (IPT), developed through deliberative dialogues with key interest groups in British Columbia, Canada, and to test the IPT against the global evidence base. Methods and analysis A realist review is an interpretive methodological approach to synthesising the literature based on the realist philosophy of science. Realist reviews are pragmatic approaches to theory development because they involve the participation of real-world actors or people who work within complex systems. Realist reviews are particularly useful for synthesising complex knowledge. We plan to conduct a seven-step review process, with iteration between each step. Steps 1–3 have already been completed in our previous work and included the development of an IPT, which will be refined systematically by exploring the global literature and consulting with an international advisory group. These will be used iteratively to identify, test and refine the programme theory. The quality of included literature will be appraised using the relevance, richness and rigour criteria and the realist quality appraisal tool, TAPUPASM (transparency, accessibility, propriety, utility, purposiveness, accuracy, specificity and modified objectivity). Steps 4–7 will include data extraction and realist analysis through retroductive theorising using the ICAMO (intervention, context, actor, mechanism and outcome) heuristic to help distinguish actors and resources from contexts, mechanisms and outcomes. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval for the deliberative dialogue interviews that inform this realist review and IPT were obtained by the University of British Columbia (ref: REB Number: H22-03195). Study recruitment occurred between 21 November 2023 and 16 January 2024. All participants provided informed consent to take part in deliberative dialogues and to have their interviews audio recorded and transcribed for the purpose of this research. We will disseminate results of the review through academic papers, conference presentations and through iterative interest group workshops and discussions. PROSPERO registration number CRD42024580083
Study of Higgs boson pair production in the H H → b b ‾ γ γ final state with 308 fb − 1 of data collected at s = 13 TeV and 13.6 TeV by the ATLAS experiment
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Housing and health inequalities : why is housing on the periphery of health and welfare policy?
Get PDFPoor-quality housing is a major but under-recognised driver of health inequalities in the UK. This perspective article explores how housing conditions are shaped by tenure, regional disparity, ageing populations, and decades of political and economic decision-making. Drawing on contemporary policy developments and examples from towns such as Blackpool, we argue that housing should be treated as health infrastructure, not a market commodity. We examine the health consequences of poor housing, including respiratory and cardiovascular disease, mental illness, and premature ageing, and highlight interventions to address housing issues such as regeneration, Housing First, and selective licensing. As pressures on the NHS and local authorities mount, addressing housing as a root cause of ill health is both a moral and pragmatic imperative. Until we treat housing policy as health policy, we will continue to treat the symptoms while ignoring the cause
Beyond dichotomies : Unravelling the complexities of international standardised language testing
Get PDFThis article discusses the issues raised in O’Sullivan’s and Hashimura et al.’s Point-Counterpoint articles with the aim of introducing new angles on the topic of international standardised English language testing and opening the debate further. In the first section, I provide summaries of the positions taken by O’Sullivan and Hashimura et al., contrasting the “tests as a social good” and “critical language testing” paradigms. Second, I explore international standardised English language testing as a site of complexity, focusing on the nature of this complexity in conceptualising language testing as a field, language tests (as social objects), and language testing organisations. Third, I address shifts towards measuring innovative constructs and the prospect of greater localisation. Finally, I conclude with a call for research that explores complexity in greater depth with a view to change
Co-production in Action : Developing Community Solutions for Health Equity
No full textTackling health inequalities in coastal communities requires research that is responsive to local contexts and inclusive of lived experience. Co-production offers a means of developing such knowledge, particularly when working with communities that have historically been underserved by mainstream services. This study aimed to explore collaborative approaches to co-producing local policy solutions and research agendas related to community health and wellbeing on the Fylde Coast, North West England. Guided by a critical realist epistemology, the study brought together residents, service providers, local authority staff, and academics in three co-production groups. Participants were recruited using purposive, snowball, and convenience sampling. Sessions were held at a community hub and designed using participatory methods, including Photovoice, scenario-based problem solving, and research prioritisation. Session recordings were transcribed and explored through inductive thematic analysis, which identified five overarching themes: inclusive participation and representation; procedural steps in co-production; navigating group dynamics; individual empowerment through co-production; and systemic influence and strategic enablers. This study demonstrates how co-production can generate meaningful, context-specific knowledge and support community engagement in shaping health research and service design. Reflexive attention to power, inclusion, and group dynamics were essential to building trust and maintaining engagement
What are the barriers? ‘Alternative’ sustainability initiatives and problems of change-making in a neoliberalized world
Get PDFContributing to debates around eco-localist organising’s change-making potential at a time of planetary-scale ecological crisis, this research examines two community-scale environmental organisations in rural north-west England: a food hub and a renewable energy company. Although informed by different eco-social imaginaries, both initiatives attempted to develop ecologically sensitive alternatives to fossil fuel-based production practices by building projects aimed at the alleviation of social problems generated by post-2008 austerity policies. Both initiatives, however, faced significant barriers in this regard. Combining insights from eco-Marxist and (neo-)Gramscian approaches, I examine these barriers and the contrasting ways the participants understood and sought to overcome them. Using ethnographic case studies, and by reading developments in the field of eco-localism through a Marxian critique of neoliberalism, I examine the rise of community localism as a ‘grassroots’ response to neoliberal globalization and explore how the co-evolution of neoliberalism and civil society environmentalism has shaped localist organising in Britain. Drawing on the case studies, I argue that in advanced neoliberal contexts, eco-localist initiatives can, by channelling the energies of ‘civil society’ environmentalists in sub-hegemonic directions, reinforce existing social arrangements. Yet I show, too, how activities on this terrain can also transform embedded structures and create spaces where counter-hegemonic activities can flourish. Building on this, I offer a way to break the impasse that has been reached in current debates between champions of ‘top-down’, left eco-modernist approaches and proponents of ‘bottom-up’, degrowth-focused, eco-localist perspectives. I show how the rapid roll-out of large-scale production that the former call for, and the urgent expansion of community-based activities that the latter demand, are not opposing goals, as is often assumed, but in fact constitute the condition of possibility for each other. I conclude by arguing that to bring about emancipatory change, activities in each of these spheres must be re-politicised
Plant functional traits can guide the regeneration of soil fertility in Kenyan grasslands
No full textBackground and aims In mesic areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, grassland and soil degradation is widespread and accelerating through overgrazing, alien plant encroachment, and climate change. Selection of native plant species that help to regenerate soil fertility is needed. Here we used a plant functional trait-based approach to species selection aiming to identify traits of native grassland plants that may regenerate soil fertility in degraded grasslands. Methods We set up a mesocosm experiment with degraded and undegraded grassland soils from two contrasting locations in western Kenya. Mesocosms were planted with 18 local plant species. After six months, we harvested the plants and measured survival, plant functional traits, and a range of soil chemical and biological properties related to soil health. Results Seedling mortality was widespread, with eleven out of eighteen species not surviving after six months when planted in the degraded soils. Carbon and nitrogen concentrations of degraded soils from both sites were lower than for undegraded soils, as was microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen. In soil of the surviving plant species, we found greater carbon and nitrogen, and enhanced enzyme activity for carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling. This was linked to plant traits, including lower leaf dry matter content, high tissue nutrient content, and deep roots. Conclusion Overall, our findings provide evidence that sowing native plant species with dense and nutrient rich tissues, such as high yielding forage grasses and slow-growing legumes, can help regenerate the fertility of degraded grassland soils in mesic tropical regions
A Bertrand model with Brownian motion and behavioral errors
No full textThis paper extends a random version of Bertrand model with Brownian motion. The model can be used to adjust price with changing economic environment, as it can serve to capture the behaviours of managers who seek to avoid errors in identifying the optimal response in dynamic price settings within their respective markets. The equilibrium of a stochastic game model is further discussed with the solution solved by Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations, and the equilibrium exhibited fluctuations in the numerical simulation, with a constant value being observed. Finally, the model shows that organisations that are less efficient at managing errors, particularly those with a smaller market share, are more susceptible to failure