Young people, citizenship and public space : a work in progress on issues and consequences

Tensions frequently occur when children and young people seek to make use of a multitude of public spaces (Loader 1996; White 1999).In Australia over a number of years, various strategies have been adopted by local councils, police and other stakeholders such as business groups, to respond to such tensions and disputes. However, rarely are children and young people involved in meaningful ways in the design and control of public space that reflects their needs and aspirations (White 1999; Freeman and Riordan 2002). This paper argues for a broader conceptualisation of the rights of citizenhip to include rights to use public space by children and young people.

The quik fix study : a randomised controlled trial of brief interventions for young people with alcohol-related injuries and illnesses accessing emergency department and crisis support care

Background: Alcohol is a major preventable cause of injury, disability and death in young people. Large numbers of young people with alcohol-related injuries and medical conditions present to hospital emergency departments (EDs). Access to brief, efficacious, accessible and cost effective treatment is an international health priority within this age group. While there is growing evidence for the efficacy of brief motivational interviewing (MI) for reducing alcohol use in young people, there is significant scope to increase its impact, and determine if it is the most efficacious and cost effective type of brief intervention available. The efficacy of personality-targeted interventions (PIs) for alcohol misuse delivered individually to young people is yet to be determined or compared to MI, despite growing evidence for school-based PIs. This study protocol describes a randomized controlled trial comparing the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of telephone-delivered MI, PI and an Assessment Feedback/Information (AF/I) only control for reducing alcohol use and related harm in young people. Methods/design: Participants will be 390 young people aged 16 to 25 years presenting to a crisis support service or ED with alcohol-related injuries and illnesses (including severe alcohol intoxication). This single blinded superiority trial randomized young people to (i) 2 sessions of MI; (ii) 2 sessions of a new PI or (iii) a 1 session AF/I only control. Participants are reassessed at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months on the primary outcomes of alcohol use and related problems and secondary outcomes of mental health symptoms, functioning, severity of problematic alcohol use, alcohol injuries, alcohol-related knowledge, coping self-efficacy to resist using alcohol, and cost effectiveness. Discussion: This study will identify the most efficacious and cost-effective telephone-delivered brief intervention for reducing alcohol misuse and related problems in young people presenting to crisis support services or EDs. We expect efficacy will be greatest for PI, followed by MI, and then AF/I at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months on the primary and secondary outcome variables. Telephone-delivered brief interventions could provide a youth-friendly, accessible, efficacious, cost-effective and easily disseminated treatment for addressing the significant public health issue of alcohol misuse and related harm in young people. Trial registration: This trial is registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12613000108718.

Urban public space and the marginalisation of children and young people

In the 21st century city, public space for a range of users, but especially children and young people, has come under threat. Watson proposed that “public space itself has come under attack from several directions-thematisation, enclosure into malls and other controlled spaces, and privatisation, or from urban planning and design interventions to erase its uniqueness”. Largely as a result of these trends, Scott observed that “young urbanites form a marginalised age class movement is restricted, out of fear and distrust, within aims to protect, monitored by city surveillance methods within the security-obsessed fabric”. The use of public space by children and young people is a contentious issue in a number of countries and a range of measures deployed to control public space curtail the rights of children and young people to claim the space for their use through curfews, oppressive camera surveillance and at times, the unwarranted attentions of police and private security personnel.

More than just audiences : Developing communitas and social inclusion through theatre participation for young people

In a Facebook conversation about theatre going by young people in Brisbane playwright Valerie Foley noted, “theatre in and of itself may not have the cultural value it once had”. This chapter explores how three Australian live theatre/performance events – World Theatre Festival (Brisbane 2011 and 2012), Backbone’s annual 2High Festival (Brisbane 2012) and Next Wave Festival (Melbourne 2012) - repositioned the value of live performing arts to develop social cohesion and wellbeing for young people. The chapter draws out how these performance events developed communitas (Turner 2012) for young audiences.

‘Appreciate A Mate’ Helping others to feel good about themselves. Safe and Well Online: A report on the development and evaluation of a positive messaging social marketing campaign for young people.

This report describes the Year Two/Campaign Two processes, and articulates findings from the major project components designed to address the challenges noted above (see Figure 1). Three major components comprise the Safe and Well Online project: 1) A participatory design (PD) process involving young people and sector partners (UWS) for; 2) campaign development (Zuni & Digital Arts Network); and 3) a cohort study (University of South Australia) to evaluate campaign effectiveness and attitude and behaviour change. Each sub-study comprehensively considered the ethical requirements of conducting online research with minors. The theoretical and methodological framework for measuring campaign engagement and efficacy (Sub-studies 3, 4 and 5) drew on the Model of Goal Directed Behaviour (MGB) (Perugini & Bagozzi 2001) and Nudge Theory (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). This report extends the findings and conclusions of the Year One Pilot Study ‘‘Keep it Tame’’ (Spears et.al, 2015), and details the development and evaluation of the second of four Safe and Well Online Campaigns—‘‘Appreciate A Mate’: Helping others feel good about themselves’.

Young people and urban public space in Australia-creating pathways to community, belonging and inclusion

Cities and urban spaces around the world are changing rapidly from their origins in the industrialising world to a post-industrial, hard wired surveillance landscape. This kind of monitoring and surveillance connects with attempts by civic authorities to rebrand urban public spaces into governable and predictable arenas of consumption. In this context of control, a number of groups are excluded from public space, such as some children and young people. This article discusses the surveillance, governance and control of public space environments used by children and young people in particular, and the capacity for their ongoing displacement and marginality, as well as possible greater inclusion.

Recovery and succession in a multi-species tropical seagrass meadow following experimental disturbance: the role of sexual and asexual reproduction

Recolonisation and succession in a multi-species tropical seagrass meadow was examined by creating gaps (50×50 cm) in the meadow and manipulating the supply of sexual and asexual propagules. Measurements of leaf shoot density and estimates of above-ground biomass were conducted monthly to measure recovery of gaps between September 1995 and November 1997. Measurements of the seeds stored in the sediment (seed bank) and horizontal rhizome growth of colonising species were also conducted to determine their role in the recovery process. Asexual colonisation through horizontal rhizome growth from the surrounding meadow was the main mechanism for colonisation of gaps created in the meadow. The seed bank played no role in recolonisation of cleared plots. Total shoot density and above-ground biomass (all species pooled) of cleared plots recovered asexually to the level of the undisturbed controls in 10 and 7 months, respectively. There was some sexual recruitment into cleared plots where asexual colonisation was prevented but seagrass abundance (shoot density and biomass) did not reach the level of unmanipulated controls. Seagrass species did not appear to form seed banks despite some species being capable of producing long-lived seeds. The species composition of cleared plots remained different to the undisturbed controls throughout the 26-month experiment. Syringodium isoetifolium was a rapid asexual coloniser of disturbed plots and remained at higher abundances than in the control treatments for the duration of the study. S. isoetifolium had the fastest horizontal rhizome growth of species asexually colonising cleared plots (6.9 mm day−1). Halophila ovalis was the most successful sexual coloniser but was displaced by asexually colonising species. H. ovalis was the only species observed to produce fruits during the study. Small disturbances in the meadow led to long-term (>2 years) changes in community composition. This study demonstrated that succession in tropical seagrass communities was not a deterministic process. Variations in recovery observed for different tropical seagrass communities highlighted the importance of understanding life history characteristics of species within individual communities to effectively predict their response to disturbance. A reproductive strategy involving clonal growth and production of long-lived, locally dispersed seeds is suggested which may provide an evolutionary advantage to plants growing in tropical environments subject to temporally unpredictable major disturbances such as cyclones

Conflict, Regulation and Marginalisation in the North of Ireland: The Experiences of Children and Young People

Based on primary research and consultations conducted over the last four years in the north of Ireland, this article considers the lives and experiences of children and young people in communities where the legacy of conflict and economic deprivation are most marked. It explores the reality of differential policing in communities where paramilitaries filled the policing deficit during the Conflict through informal 'justice' and punishment beatings. Finally, it considers the potential for change in a climate increasingly hostile towards children and young people, and the realisation of their rights.

Young People, Conflict and Regulation

Set against the progress claimed since the Good Friday/ Belfast Agreement, this article reflects the reality of life for children and young people as they negotiate the aftermath of the Conflict in Northern Ireland. Their experiences of informal and formal policing, community and State control, demonstrate the need to understand the lasting impacts of the Conflict when developing policies and practices affecting their lives. At a crucial defining period in the devolution of justice and policing, and based on primary research conducted by the authors, the article establishes key rights-compliant principles central to reform of youth justice.

Acculturation and religion in schools: the views of young people from minority belief backgrounds

This paper aims to explore the relationship between religious identity, acculturation strategies and perceptions of acculturation orientation in the school context amongst young people from minority
belief backgrounds. Based on a qualitative study including interviews with 26 young people from religious minority belief backgrounds in Northern Ireland, it is argued that acculturation theory provides a useful lens for understanding how young people from religious minority belief backgrounds navigate majority religious school contexts. Using a qualitative approach to explore acculturation theory enables an in-depth understanding of the inter-relationship between minority belief youth’s acculturation strategies and their respective school contexts. Similar to previous research, integrationist attitudes generally prevailed amongst minority belief young people in this study. The findings highlight how young people negotiate their religious identities in a complex web of inter-relationships between their minority religious belief community and the mainstream school culture as represented through peer and staff attitudes, school ethos and practices and religious education. Young people demonstrated differentiated understandings of acculturation orientations within the school context, which they evaluated on the basis of complex perceptions of educational policy, interpersonal relationships and individuals’ motivations. Findings are discussed in view of acculturation tensions, which arose particularly in relation to the religious education curriculum and their implications for opt-out provision as stipulated by human rights law.

Young people, crime and justice in Northern Ireland

Many children and young people in conflict with the law in Northern Ireland have experienced living in poverty, truancy or exclusion from school, limited educational attainment, neglect or abuse within their families, placement in alternative care, drug or alcohol misuse, physical and mental ill-health. However, their lives are also affected by the legacy and particular circumstances of a society in transition from conflict. In addition to historical under-investment in services for children and their families, this includes discriminatory policing alongside informal regulation by ‘paramilitaries’ or members of ‘the community’ and community-based restorative justice schemes as an alternative way of dealing with low-level crime and ‘anti-social’ behaviour.

Following a Criminal Justice Review, the 2002 Justice (Northern Ireland) Act affirmed that the principal aim of the youth justice system is to protect the public by preventing offending by children’. Youth justice initiatives therefore encompass a range of responses: early intervention to prevent offending and the application of civil Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, diversionary measures (including community-based restorative justice schemes), non-custodial disposals for those found guilty of offences, and custodial sentences. While ‘policy transfer’ prevailed during periods of ‘direct rule’ from Westminster, the punitive responses to ‘sub-criminal’ and ‘anti-social’ behaviour introduced by the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act in England and Wales were resisted or not implemented in the same way in Northern Ireland.

This Chapter will critically analyse the debates informing recent developments, noting key issues raised by the 2011 review of youth justice initiated as a priority following the devolution of justice and policing to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It will focus on promotion and protection of the rights of children and young people in conflict with the law.

Provision for young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviour

Over the past few decades, children and young people who have sexually harmed others have attracted increasing attention from researchers and policy makers. Although it is known that they form a small, but significant group, there are difficulties in gaining a clear indication of incidence since much of the existing research has involved small and heterogeneous samples, many of which were not UK-based and lack of control groups for comparison. Furthermore, many incidents of sexual abuse are likely to go unreported. The nature, extent and significant negative consequences of harmful sexual behaviour for the victims and perpetrators, make this an important issue for policy development and research investigation. Overall, research and knowledge in this important area are still accumulating and much remains to be confirmed. Although recent decades have seen a movement towards greater understanding of the issue of harmful sex behaviour, a gap remains. The purpose of the project was to help address this gap in knowledge.

A realist literature review of transition to adult services by young people with life-limiting conditions in ireland.

Background As a result of improvements in care and treatment more young people with life-limiting conditions are now living beyond childhood, meaning they must make the transition from children's to adult services. The loss of long-standing relationships with providers of children's services combines with poor co-ordination of services to make this a daunting prospect for young people and their families. However, there is little evidence on transition services for young people with life limiting conditions, with few models of good practice in the literature.


Aims The purpose of this review was to determine the factors that promote or hinder the transition to adult services for young adults with life limiting conditions, and identify gaps to be addressed.


Methods A comprehensive search of the literature was undertaken using key terms, of the following databases; MEDLINE and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 314 articles were sourced and inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to highlight the most relevant literature.


Results Studies were reviewed using a realist review approach and three themes emerged from the literature. Barriers and facilitators to the transition process were identified associated with: 1. The patient 2. Parents/carers 3. The organisation.


Conclusion It is unclear from the literature what the specific factors are that promote or hinder the transition process for young adults with life limiting conditions who go through the transition from children's to adult services, therefore, research is required to identify the factors that promote and hinder the transition process in Ireland. This research is currently being carried out by the author as part of Doctoral studies. The three year full time Doctoral study commenced in January 2013 and is funded by the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care.

Behind the Headlines: Media Representation of Children and Young People in Northern Ireland:Summary of Research Findings

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council this partnership project between the Childhood, Transition and Social Justice Initiative at Queen’s University and Include Youth focuses on the negative stereotyping of children and young people and the role and responsibilities of the media in the creation and transmission of negative images. Engaging with children, young people, organisations working with children and young people and media representatives, the project uses research evidence to explore negative media representation and its consequences for children’s rights, public reaction and policy initiatives in Northern Ireland. This report represents a summary of the findings of engagement with 141 children and young people. It outlines how they feel they are presented by the media and the impacts of this. It concludes by noting ways forward in challenging negative portrayals.

Being counted? Examining the prevalence of looked-after disabled children and young people across the UK.

Since the 1970s, there has been growing academic interest in children and young people living in state care and, more recently, in the lives of disabled children. However, there has been little attention on the lives of disabled children who are looked after by the state. This paper compares and critiques what is known about the numbers of disabled children who are looked after in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. We discuss the conceptual and methodological limitations of systematically collecting data on disabled children in state care across the United Kingdom. We argue that to ensure the rights of disabled children in state care are identified, acknowledged and upheld, ‘being counted’ is a fundamental first step.