Promoting mental health in Northern Ireland: addressing division, inequality and stigma

This article provides an overview of the literature on the impact of ‘the Troubles’ on mental health in Nor thern Ireland. It identifies three main phases of professional and policy response from concerns about the effects of the violence in the early 1970s, through many years of collective denial and neglect, until acknowledgment, following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 (Nor thern Ireland Office, 1998), of high levels of trauma and unmet need. The issues of inequality and stigma are also considered and it is argued that peace is necessary but insufficient for promoting mental health. The development of mental health services in Nor thern Ireland and the relatively recent focus on promoting mental health are also outlined and examined. It is suggested that attempts to address the needs arising as a result of ‘the Troubles’ and more general mental health promotion strategies have, to some extent, developed in parallel and that it may be impor tant to integrate these effor ts. The relative under-development of mental health services, the comprehensive Bamford Review of Mental Health and Learning Disability (2005; 2006) and the positive approach of the Public Health Agency mean that, even in the current economic climate, there are great oppor tunities for progress. Routine screening, in primary care and mental health services for trauma, including Troubles-related trauma, is recommended to identify and address these issues on an individual level. It is also argued, however, that more substantial political change is needed to effectively address societal division, inequality and stigma to the benefit of all.

Bereavement needs assessment in specialist palliative care: A review of the literature

Bereavement needs assessment for specialist palliative care services has been highlighted as important by NICE guidance on palliative care for adults with cancer. Identifying and implementing appropriate bereavement measurement tools has remained a challenge. This paper identifies and reviews bereavement measurement tools to determine their suitability for use within bereavement services and hospice settings. Cochrane, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and CINAHL, electronic databases were searched, yielding 486 papers. From fifty-nine full text papers appraised, 10 measurement tools were analysed in detail. Some tools had been tested on specific populations which limited transferability to specialist palliative care settings; some lacked adequate theoretical links and were not effective in discriminating between normal and complicated grief reactions; and some lacked clear evidence of validity or reliability. Based on these criteria, conclusions are drawn about the suitability of particular tools for UK bereavement services and hospice settings where intervention is delivered by both trained professionals and volunteers.

The needs of children and young people with cerebral palsy.

Because cerebral palsy (CP) is a sufficiently common condition of childhood and adolescence, the number and needs of these children and young people with cerebral palsy are monitored by centres across the UK () and Europe (). This article describes the epidemiology of CP in childhood using data derived from the Northern Ireland Cerebral Palsy Register, which is one of the longest running CP registers in Europe. The findings presented here are similar to, and representative of, the epidemiology of CP in the western world ().

Resource access needs and capabilities as mediators of the relationship between VC firm size and syndication

Drawing from the resource-based view and transaction costs economics, we develop a theoretical framework to explain why small and large firms face different levels of resource access needs and resource access capabilities, which mediate the relationship between firm size and hybrid governance. Employing a sample of 317 venture capital firms, drawn across six European countries, we empirically assess our framework in the context of venture capital syndication. We estimate a path model using structural equation modeling and find, consistent with our theoretical framework, mediating effects of different types of resource access needs and resource access capabilities between VC firm size and syndication frequency. These findings advance the small business literature by highlighting the trade-offs that size imposes on firms that seek to manage their access to external resources through hybrid governance strategies.