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Qualitative process evaluation of a school‐based group intervention (DISCOVER) for depression and anxiety for older adolescents
Get PDFIntroduction
DISCOVER is a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy based intervention for anxiety and depression in 16-18-year-olds delivered in schools, shown to be clinically and cost-effective by the Brief Educational workshops in Secondary Schools Trial (BESST). DISCOVER comprises pre-workshop 1:1 meeting, a group workshop, and 1:1 follow-up phone call. A qualitative process evaluation investigated intervention delivery and outcome generation within BESST.
Methods
Thematic analysis of interviews with an ethnically diverse sample of male and female students (n = 22) and focus groups with DISCOVER practitioners (n = 21) in 4 English regions.
Results
Practitioners valued the pre-workshop student meetings and workshop materials. However, they felt uncomfortable with the scripted delivery, and found delivery of all content difficult in the time available. Time constraints and variable adherence to follow-up phone calls limited provision of goal-attainment support. Students preferred relatable, interactive workshop elements more than didactic teaching. They found group discussions ‘normalising’, but often reported fatigue by the workshop end. Some reported beneficial use of thought challenging, mindfulness and sleep hygiene techniques, particularly during exams, but reported variable experience of follow-up calls. The DISCOVER app was rarely accessed. Male and female students provided similar accounts.
Conclusions
Students valued DISCOVER and perceived it as effective. Practitioners expressed support for implementation in routine practice. Findings suggest enhanced effectiveness may be achieved by (a) reviewing the parameters for modification of scripted material; (b) streamlined delivery of workshop content, and (c) enhancing support for goal-attainment by providing extra practitioner training and using more digital and telecommunication resources to boost student engagement
The draft articles on crimes against humanity: charting the path for corporate accountability
No full textCorporate complicity in atrocity crimes has long been documented, yet international criminal law has struggled to hold companies accountable. This article argues that the International Law Commission’s Draft Articles on Crimes against Humanity, and in particular Draft Article 6(8), present a critical opportunity to bridge this accountability gap by explicitly addressing the liability of legal persons. Through a systematic analysis of nearly a decade of state responses in the United Nations General Assembly’s Sixth Committee (2016–2024), the article maps patterns of support, ambivalence, and opposition to the provision. The findings reveal a gradual but notable shift towards recognition of corporate accountability, facilitated by the flexible wording of Draft Article 6(8), which allows states to establish criminal, civil, or administrative liability in line with domestic legal traditions. While a vocal minority continues to resist, often invoking doctrinal orthodoxy or the absence of customary law, an increasingly diverse group of states endorses the provision as a progressive development in international law. The article concludes that Draft Article 6(8) marks a normative breakthrough: even if its ultimate inclusion in a future convention remains uncertain, it signals an emerging international consensus that corporate actors must be part of the accountability framework for crimes against humanity
Metacognitive reading strategy instruction: improving second language reading comprehension and reading motivation
Get PDFThe project aims to identify the effects of metacognitive reading strategy instruction on second language reading comprehension and reading motivation by a meta-analysis and a teaching intervention. There have been contradictory findings in the literature regarding the impacts of metacognitive reading strategy instruction. This raises questions about the general effects of metacognitive reading strategy instruction and the conditions where the instruction works best. When it comes to the conditions in which metacognitive reading strategies are taught, there are numerous moderating variables such as teaching length, teaching resources, teaching models, text types and so on. Participants’ age is one of the most differing moderating variables with the widest range of possible options such as children, primary school, secondary school, high school students, undergraduate students, teenagers, adults. Examining the correlation between outcomes and participants’ age can have practical implications for second language teaching.
Therefore, a meta-analysis was conducted to establish up-to-date overall effects of metacognitive reading strategy instruction on second language reading comprehension and determine treatment patterns. Such a meta-analysis had not been conducted yet. In addition to a meta-analysis, a teaching intervention on effects of metacognitive reading strategy instruction on second language reading comprehension and motivation of Vietnamese 5th graders was carried out to address the lack of relevant research on Vietnamese young learners.
The results of 20 up-to-date empirical quantitative studies in the meta-analysis were transformed into effect sizes, then all the effect sizes were aggregated. The result of the meta-analysis is an effect size of 1.09, which shows the positive effects of metacognitive reading strategy instruction on second language reading comprehension of students from secondary school to university students. Moreover, the mean effect sizes of studies with the same options of participants’ age were compared and the result is that participants’ age does not influence effects of metacognitive reading strategy instruction on reading comprehension.
In the teaching intervention, 40 Vietnamese 5th graders in 2 elementary classes at an English centre in Vietnam were assigned to two groups. One teacher at the centre gave metacognitive reading strategy instruction to the experimental group and non- metacognitive instruction to the control group. Both groups completed the pre-tests, post- tests and inventories before and after the instruction. Focus group interviews with the participants before and after the teaching intervention were also conducted. The result of the quantitative data analysis from the tests and inventories with the use of SPSS and Excel is that metacognitive reading strategy instruction has significantly positive impacts on reading comprehension and metacognitive reading strategy use of the experimental group. The analysis of the interviews started with identifying what reading motivation categories were reported, using a thematic analysis framework. Next, conversation analysis was employed to understand how the reading motivation was reported. The thematic analysis showed a lack of intrinsic reading motivation in both groups and the conversation analysis helped discuss its reason which is the contexts of the interviews, course and exam. The interview results also contribute to the current literature on reading motivation by highlighting the unimportance of distinguishing among categories and sub-categories of reading motivation because of their causal relationships and unclear distinction.
Importantly, small but noticeable positive changes in second language reading motivation of the experimental group, namely reading motivation of competitiveness and challenges resulted in a big positive difference in second language reading comprehension of the Vietnamese primary school students, particularly the Vietnamese 5th graders, which indicates the power of motivation. This also reveals the strong power of metacognition because the changes in motivation result from the autonomy and independence gained from the use of metacognitive strategies to control one’s thinking such as planning, self-monitoring and self-evaluating. Thus, based on the previous theories and practical evidence of metacognition, the current project has successfully established the importance of metacognition and discussed the benefits of introducing metacognition to young learners. Metacognition should be used as a skill to ensure that our goals are achieved
Refusing perpetual mediation: playing in the undercommons
No full textThis chapter proposes that playful approaches in childhood research can operate as subversive acts of refusal. Insights from a current research project are presented within the broader context of contemporary schooling which is shaped by intensified regulation of young child body-minds in the name of developmental progress. Bringing playful interventions into the classrooms of four-year-olds, to explore multispecies interdependencies and relationalities, caused all manner of trouble. The ultimate aim was to playfully pursue less anthropocentric narratives concerning ways to live together on a dying planet. Haraway’s practice of 'serious play' provided a mode of getting caught up in the knots and tangles of life in the Anthropocene without clear direction, prescribed outcomes or a firm agenda. Yet the chaotic wildness that ensued generated acute discomfort for adults caught up in this praxis. We argue that reconfiguring play - as serious, nonsensical and not the exclusive preserve of children - relies upon a close attunement to what else play can potentiate when it is (permitted to be) emergent and unbounded. In this chapter we take up Harney & Moten’s (2013) invitation to join ‘the undercommons’ by illustrating how open-ended, exploratory, playful encounters have capacities to simultaneously turn attention to the mechanisms of control that regulate and govern body-minds, and highlight the activist potential for play to reach alternative ways of being, seeing and relating
The telling is political: collectively speaking our collective story
No full textThe publication of the book See Red: Feminist Posters 1974-1990 (Baines, J. Mackie, S. Robinson , A. and Stevenson, P., 2016) is the focal point of this article. It is presented here as an artefact, contextualised with its production and dissemination in order to take account of: the significant circumstances leading to the book being made at this particular historical moment, the interest in feminist art collectives and radical art and graphic practices which led up to publication, the collective mode of its production by collective members, the impact which further exposure of the posters in the public domain via exhibitions and re-publication resulting from the book’s publication and the significance the book now has for researchers. See Red Women’s workshop was a collective, set up in 1974 by three former art students ‘specifically to make posters to promote Women’s Liberation.’ (Robinson et al 2016)
Jump squat momentum: an alternative method to prescribe jump squat loads for elite rugby union players
No full textRugby union is a team-sport in which collisions and impact forces play a decisive role. In this regard, momentum-based measurements (the product of mass and velocity of a body in a given movement) are frequently used by practitioners. Generally, sprint momentum (SM; the product of sprinting speed and athlete’s body mass) is the most commonly considered momentum-based measure by coaches and sport scientists, either to differentiate playing positions or to examine player performance. However, recently, jump squat momentum (JSM) has been suggested as a complementary momentum-based measure, due to its strong relationship with SM. In this study, we compared the body-mass, half-squat one-repetition maximum (HS 1RM), in both absolute and relative terms (i.e., relative strength [RS]), sprinting speed and momentum, and JSM of 21 rugby backs and forwards using an independent t-test. As expected, forwards are significantly heavier and stronger and exhibit higher SM and JSM than backs (P ≤ 0.02). In contrast, backs are faster in linear sprints over both 10- and 30-m (P < 0.001) and exhibit higher values of RS (P < 0.05). Furthermore, irrespective of playing position, RS was significantly different between the “low” and “high” RS groups (P < 0.001). Despite these marked differences, all players achieved their greatest magnitudes of JSM at an average of 40% HS 1RM. Strength and conditioning coaches interested in increasing JSM and its related metrics (e.g., SM) in rugby players could utilize this specific loading range to prescribe JS loads during their strength-power training sessions
Ensuring culturally competent nursing care for LGBT+ people
Get PDFPeople who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other sexual and gender minorities (LGBT+) can encounter various challenges when seeking healthcare. For example, many LGBT+ individuals experience discrimination and social stigma from healthcare professionals, leading to feelings of mistrust. This might manifest as explicit homophobia or transphobia, inappropriate questioning, or a lack of consideration for the sensitivities around LGBT+ identities. Similarly, healthcare organisations may have policies that lack inclusivity, with administrative forms and procedures that do not consider diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Nurses are increasingly recognising the importance of providing inclusive care for individuals who identify as LGBT+, which involves being attentive to their specific needs. This article examines the barriers that may be encountered by LGBT+ individuals in healthcare services and offers recommendations for how nurses can deliver culturally sensitive healthcare to the LGBT+ community
Student communications: a review of current practices and scoping a new vision
Get PDFStudent communications has developed as a professional field in universities in recent decades, as universities seek to more strategically engage diverse student populations with ever-changing expectations and needs. Whilst most universities now have some form of function or resourcing dedicated to considering how to best communicate with current students, there is minimal research exploring the priorities of these functions. This article takes a narrative review of practice approach, critiquing and highlighting the student communications practices of 17 universities around the world. The review thematically grouped the efforts of these institutions, finding that the main activities of student communications functions are: (1) implementing structures, strategic frameworks and policies (2) creation of campaigns to build campus pride and belonging (3) development of channels to better inform students about support and opportunities (4) evaluate students’ engagement, satisfaction and trust with their institution. Following the review of current practice, this article identifies gaps that should be addressed to enhance student communications functions, as well as principles that student communicators should adopt to gain legitimacy in their work
Addiction specialists' perspectives on digital contingency management and its role within UK drug and alcohol services: a qualitative exploration
Get PDFIntroduction
Contingency management (CM), based on the principles of operant conditioning, uses positive reinforcement to promote behaviour change in individuals with substance use disorder. Research on CM has grown exponentially, with technology being used to expand the reach and scope of these interventions. The views of policy professionals and treatment providers on the remote delivery of CM are likely to play an important role in the development and application of these interventions.
Methods
Semi-structured qualitative interviews, analysed using framework analysis, were conducted with 22 UK-based addiction specialists to explore their views on digital CM, including its place within UK drug and alcohol services and future developments. Participants included commissioners, policy professionals and clinicians.
Results
CM was widely acknowledged as an effective, scientifically grounded and appropriate treatment approach for drug treatment and recovery. While addiction specialists see CM as a powerful tool in a comprehensive addiction treatment toolkit, they identify the barriers impeding its implementation, including a lack of awareness among treatment providers, commissioning challenges, resource constraints and ethical concerns. Remote delivery of CM was considered a promising approach for overcoming some of these barriers and enhancing CM delivery and engagement.
Discussion and Conclusions
Technology needs to be integrated into clinical practice to expand the reach of treatment. While current evidence supports digital CM, concerns about digital literacy, technological barriers, resource constraints, public acceptability and political hesitancy highlight the need for further research to validate its feasibility and to explore the extent to which it should complement, rather than replace, in-person treatment options