Finding connection in a disconnected age: Stories of community in a time of change

Cares Family and Nesta, July 2019

Our need for social connection is at the heart of what it is to be human. It is essential to our health and well-being, the vitality of our communities and has inspired many of the most successful innovations of the modern day. With evermore efficient ways to communicate, many of us have experienced a rapid increase in the number and reach of our connections. And yet, despite these growing networks, we find ourselves increasingly disconnected and many more of us are feeling alone. The stories in this collection paint a rich and varied picture of the many faces of loneliness and what it means to feel disconnected from those around us. But the stories also give us much to be hopeful about.

Click here to view the report.

Best practice in the engagement and empowerment of families and carers affected by eating disorders

Beat Eating Disorders, July 2019

Guidelines that call for all healthcare providers to adopt eight best practice standards, encouraging them to:

  • 1. Have a policy that ensures optimum involvement of and support for all carers as soon as a loved one starts treatment.
  • 2. Train all service staff in the application of the policy and these standards with particular focus on the importance of carers as a resource for recovery.
  • 3. Provide all carers with useful and comprehensive information about eating disorders when their loved one receives a diagnosis.
  • 4. Offer all carers and siblings an assessment of their own needs when a loved one receives an eating disorder diagnosis, continue to monitor their wellbeing throughout the sufferer’s treatment and, where necessary, refer carers to specialist services.
  • 5. Offer all carers options for peer-to-peer support.
  • 6. Offer all carers opportunities to learn the necessary skills to provide optimum support for their loved ones.
  • 7. Inform and engage carers when a loved one faces a transition between services and ensure that effective communication between both services and carers takes place.
  • 8. Provide a mechanism by which carers’ input and feedback is sought and acted upon.

Click here to view the guideline.

British Journal of Psychiatry – August 2019

The August edition of British Journal of Psychiatry is now available.  This issue includes a systematic review of the association between particulate matter air pollution and risk of depression and suicide, articles on the connection between neighbourhood characteristics and depression, and the effect of antidepressant switching between nortriptyline and escitalopram after a failed first antidepressant treatment among patients with major depressive disorder.

Click here to view the table of contents.  Login with your LCFT OpenAthens account to view the full text articles.

State of Caring Survey 2019: A snapshot of unpaid care in the UK

Carers UK, July 2019

The State of Caring Survey is the UK’s most comprehensive research into the lives and experience of carers. This year over 7,500 current carers shared their experiences and helped inform our State of Caring 2019 report. Key findings include:

  • almost 2 in 5 (39%) carers saying that they are struggling to make ends meet 
  • over half of carers who are receiving Carer’s Allowance (53%) are struggling to make ends meet
  • shockingly, over two thirds of carers (68%) regularly use their own income or savings to pay for care or support services, equipment or products for the person they care for
  • 1 in 8 carers (12%) reported that they or those they support received less care or support services during the previous year due to a reduction in the amount of support from social services
  • 53% of carers said that they are not able to save for their retirement
  • almost two thirds of carers (64%) say that they have focussed on the care needs of the person they care for, and not on their own needs.

Click here to view the full report.

Left to their own devices: Young people, social media and mental health

Barnardo’s, July 2019

Using the internet and social media is an important part of life for children and young people. It can be a positive opportunity to learn, to connect with friends and family and to have fun. However, internet use can also expose children to dangers, such as cyberbullying, online grooming and sexual abuse. At the same time, mental health conditions are on the rise with recent data showing that 1 in 8 children and young people between ages 5-19 in England have a mental health problem.

This report gained insight from 80 practitioners across more than 30 Barnardo’s services in the UK. It found:

• Half of these practitioners responding said they had worked with children aged five to 10 who had been exposed to unsuitable or harmful materials online, and more than one third said children in that age group had been victims of cyberbullying.

• When it comes to 11-15 year olds, 79% of practitioners responding said children they work with have experienced cyberbullying. Some practitioners highlighted that cyberbullying had led to self-harm and suicide.

• 78% of practitioners responding also said they had worked with children in this age group who had been groomed online and 78% also said they’d worked with children in this age group who had accessed unsuitable/harmful content.

Click here to view the full report.

Skills, attitudes and behaviours that fuel public innovation: A guide to getting the most from Nesta’s Competency Framework for Experimenting and Public Problem Solving

Nesta, July 2019

Governments around the world are exploring what it means to actually ‘do’ innovation in the public sector. We all know that getting innovation to happen, to really stick, in a web of government bureaucracy and shifting political sands takes more than a few post-its. It involves a lot of other skills and underlying attitudes. Working with a mix of international innovation practitioners to design a competency framework we looked at what it takes to successfully solve public problems. It includes important but often less championed values, from curiosity to empathy, or skills like creative facilitation and systems thinking, that need nurturing and adopting in the institutions that run our lives.

Click here to view the report.

Being fair: Supporting a just and learning culture for staff and patients following incidents in the NHS

NHS Resolution, July 2019

A just and learning culture is the balance of fairness, justice, learning – and taking responsibility for actions. It is not about seeking to blame the individuals involved when care in the NHS goes wrong. It is also not about an absence of responsibility and accountability. It highlights the need for the NHS to involve users of care services and staff in safety investigations. This NHS Resolution report focus’ on supporting a just and learning culture for staff and patients following incidents in the NHS.

Click here to view the full report.