Risk, Recovery and Capacity: Competing or Complementary Approaches to Mental Health Social Work

Mental health social workers have a central role in providing support to people with mental health problems and in the use of coercion aimed at dealing with risk. Mental health services have traditionally focused on monitoring symptoms and ascertaining the risks people may present to themselves and/or others. This well-intentioned but negative focus on deficits has contributed to stigma, discrimination and exclusion experienced by service users. Emerging understandings of risk also suggest that our inability to accurately predict the future makes risk a problematic foundation for compulsory intervention. It is therefore argued that alternative approaches are needed to make issues of power and inequality transparent. This article focuses on two areas of practice: the use of recovery based approaches, which promote supported decision making and inclusion; and the assessment of a person’s ability to make decisions, their mental capacity, as a less discriminatory gateway criterion than risk for compulsory intervention.

Biosensor analysis of dynamics of interleukin 5 receptor subunit beta(c) interaction with IL5:IL5R(alpha) complexes

To gain insight into IL5 receptor subunit recruitment mechanism, and in particular the experimentally elusive pathway for assembly of signaling subunit beta(c), we constructed a soluble beta(c) ectodomain (s(beta)(c)) and developed an optical biosensor assay to measure its binding kinetics. Functionally active s(beta)(c) was anchored via a C-terminal His tag to immobilized anti-His monoclonal antibodies on the sensor surface. Using this surface, we quantitated for the first time direct binding of s(beta)(c) to IL5R(alpha) complexed to either wild-type or single-chain IL5. Binding was much weaker if at all with either R(alpha) or IL5 alone. Kinetic evaluation revealed a moderate affinity (0.2-1 microM) and relatively fast off rate for the s(beta)(c) interaction with IL5:R(alpha) complexes. The data support a model in which beta(c) recruitment occurs with preformed IL5:R(alpha) complex. Dissociation kinetics analysis suggests that the IL5-alpha-beta(c) complex is relatively short-lived. Overall, this study solidifies a model of sequential recruitment of receptor subunits by IL5, provides a novel biosensor binding assay of beta(c) recruitment dynamics, and sets the stage for more advanced characterization of the roles of structural elements within R(alpha), beta(c), and cytokines of the IL5/IL3/GM-CSF family in receptor recruitment and activation.

The relationship between poverty, child abuse and neglect: an evidence review.

The review aimed to investigate two central issues.
1.To what extent is there evidence that poverty increases the amount of child abuse and neglect (CAN), and/or affects the nature of child abuse and neglect? How does this occur, how large are these effects and to whom do they apply?
2.To what extent is there evidence that CAN increases poverty later in life, how large are these effects and to whom do they apply?
Within these two issues evidence about equality and diversity, and cost were considered throughout.

Comparing Social Work Students' Perceptions of Risk Using Online Discussion Fora: Lessons Learned from a European Pilot Project

Comparisons of international child welfare systems have identified two basic orientations to practice; a ‘child protection’ orientation and a ‘child welfare’ orientation, which are founded upon fundamentally different values and assumptions regarding the family, the origins of child care problems, and the proper role of the state in relation to the family. This paper describes a project which sought to compare how undergraduate social work students from three European Universities perceive risk in referrals about the welfare of children and to explore the impact of different cultural, ideological and educational contexts on the way in which risk is constructed by students. Students from Northern Ireland, Germany and Poland examined three vignettes via ten online discussion fora each of which provided a narrative summary of their discussion. The paper presents some findings from the analysis of the qualitative data emerging from the student discussions and draws out the lessons learned in terms of how the project was designed and implemented using online discussion fora.

Farm animal welfare:Assessing risks attributable to the prenatal environment

An ever-expanding scientific literature highlights the impact of the prenatal environment on many areas of biology. Across all major farmed species, experimental studies have clearly shown that prenatal experiences can have a substantial impact on outcomes relevant to later health, welfare and productivity. In particular, stress or sub-optimal nutrition experienced by the mother during pregnancy has been shown to have wide-ranging and important effects on how her offspring cope with their social, physical and infectious environment. Variation in the conditions for development provided by the reproductive tract or egg, for instance by altered nutritional supply or hormonal exposure, may therefore explain a large degree of variation in many welfare- and productivity-relevant traits. The scientific literature suggests a number of management practices for pre-birth/hatch individuals that could compromise their later welfare. Such studies may have relevance for the welfare of animals under human care, depending on the extent to which real life conditions involve exposure to these practices. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of extending the focus on animal welfare to include the prenatal period, an aspect which until recently has been largely neglected. © 2012 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare The Old School.

Using Audio-visual Presentation to Teach Global Mindedness in Social Work Education

Direct experience of social work in another country is making an increasingly important contribution to internationalising the social work academic curriculum together with the cultural competency of students. However at present this opportunity is still restricted to a limited number of students. The aim of this paper is to describe and reflect on the production of an audio-visual presentation as representing the experience of three students who participated in an exchange with a social work programme in Pune, India. It describes and assesses the rationale, production and use of video to capture student learning from the Belfast/Pune exchange. We also describe the use of the video in a classroom setting with a year group of 53 students from a younger cohort. This exercise aimed to stimulate students’ curiosity about international dimensions of social work and add to their awareness of poverty, social justice, cultural competence and community social work as global issues. Written classroom feedback informs our discussion of the technical as well as the pedagogical benefits and challenges of this approach. We conclude that some benefit of audio-visual presentation in helping students connect with diverse cultural contexts, but that a complementary discussion challenging stereotyped viewpoints and unconscious professional imperialism is also crucial.

Practical Application of Glaucoma Care in Different Societies

Diagnosis of glaucoma and delivery of effective treatment is difficult everywhere, but additional challenges are evident in less affluent parts of the world, where the largest numbers of patients with this disease are living. The problems of providing good glaucoma care are examined with especial reference to south-east Asia including China and India and countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The relatively low priority given to glaucoma by vision-related and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) due to difficulties faced in delivering effective glaucoma screening and therapeutic interventions are discussed, together with possible future directions for increasing resources and priority for glaucoma care in poor areas.

Towards a spectroscopically accurate set of potentials for heavy hydride laser cooling candidates: effective core potential calculations of BaH

BaH (and its isotopomers) is an attractive molecular candidate for laser cooling to ultracold temperatures and a potential precursor for the production of ultracold gases of hydrogen and deuterium. The theoretical challenge is to simulate the laser cooling cycle as reliably as possible and this paper addresses the generation of a highly accurate ab initio $^{2}\Sigma^+$ potential for such studies. The performance of various basis sets within the multi-reference configuration-interaction (MRCI) approximation with the Davidson correction (MRCI+Q)is tested and taken to the Complete Basis Set (CBS) limit. It is shown that the calculated molecular constants using a 46 electron Effective Core-Potential (ECP) and even-tempered augmented polarized core-valence basis sets (aug-pCV$n$Z-PP, n= 4 and 5) but only including three active electrons in the MRCI calculation are in excellent agreement with the available experimental values. The predicted dissociation energy De for the X$^2\Sigma^+$ state (extrapolated to the CBS limit) is 16895.12 cm$^{-1}$ (2.094 eV), which agrees within 0.1$\%$ of a revised experimental value of <16910.6 cm$^{-1}$, while the calculated re is within 0.03 pm of the experimental result.

Internationalising the Social Work Curriculum: A Working Toolkit for Higher Education Facilities

This toolkit was collated by social work academics at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), United Kingdom in collaboration with social work educators nationally and internationally who are committed to the internationalisation of the social work curriculum. The information and examples contained in this document offer a practical guide for the development and evaluation of international opportunities for students and academics. The resources were designed with diverse educational settings in mind for the enhancement of social work learning and teaching.

Personal and Public Involvement and its impact - Monitoring, measuring and evaluating the impact of Personal and Public Involvement (PPI) in Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland.

Introduction
This report details the findings from research conducted across Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care Trusts during 2015 which examines the current state of Personal and Public Involvement (PPI). This is about how service users, carers and patients engage with staff, management and directors of statutory health and social care organisations. Most statutory health and social care organisations must, under legislation, meet the requirements of PPI. PPI has been part of health and social care policy in Northern Ireland since 2007 and became law two years later with the introduction of the Health and Social Care Reform Act (2009). It is, therefore, timely that PPI is now assessed in this systematic way in order to both examine the aspects which are working well and to highlight those areas where improvements need to be made. As far as possible, this Summary Report is written in an accessible way, avoiding jargon and explaining key research terms, so as to ensure it is widely understood. This is in keeping with established good practice in service user involvement research. This summary, therefore, gives a picture of PPI in Northern Ireland currently. There is also a fuller report which gives a lot more details about the research and findings. Information on this is available from the Public Health Agency and/or the Patient and Client Council.