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The article presents summaries related to studies in dermatology in Great Britain. Medical students from the country conducted a survey to evaluate final year medical students' experience of dermatology. Another study conducted a retrospective review on the use of azathioprine in a childhood population over an 8-year period. Furthermore, a retrospective study on all skin surgical specimens processed by the teaching hospital hispathology department for 3-month period is conducted.

Background: Within the European Union (EU), substantial efforts are being made to achieve economic and social cohesion, and the reduction of health inequalities between EU regions is integral to this process. This paper is the first to examine how self-reported conditions and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) vary spatially between and within countries. Methods: Using 2014 European Social Survey (ESS) data from 20 countries, this paper examines how regional inequalities in self-reported conditions and NCDs vary for men and women in 174 regions (levels 1 and 2 Nomenclature of Statistical Territorial Units, 'NUTS'). We document absolute and relative inequalities across Europe in the prevalence of eight conditions: general health, overweight/obesity, mental health, heart or circulation problems, high blood pressure, back, neck, muscular or joint pain, diabetes and cancer. Results: There is considerable inequality in self-reported conditions and NCDs between the regions of Europe, with rates highest in the regions of continental Europe, some Scandinavian regions and parts of the UK and lowest around regions bordering the Alps, in Ireland and France. However, for mental health and cancer, rates are highest in regions of Eastern European and lowest in some Nordic regions, Ireland and isolated regions in continental Europe. There are also widespread and consistent absolute and relative regional inequalities in all conditions within countries. These are largest in France, Germany and the UK, and smallest in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. There were higher inequalities amongst women. Conclusion: Using newly available harmonized morbidity data from across Europe, this paper shows that there are considerable regional inequalities within and between European countries in the distribution of self-reported conditions and NCDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from a scoping review of curriculum delivery methods for research teaching in undergraduate social work education. The review was conducted by a working group of the JUC SWEC research committee following the introduction of a new degree by the Social Work Reform Board. The paper draws on data from a mixedmethods study, in which five models of research teaching were identified by a qualitative study, together with findings, which mapped how commonly the models were adopted, from a survey of sixty universities of all four countries of the UK. These models are discussed in relation to anticipated learning outcomes: research-informed teaching; educated consumers of research; research-mindedness; research capacity and reflective practitioner researchers. It is less than a decade since the Economic and Social Research Council (the government research council for the social sciences) first recognised social work as a distinct discipline; in this period, social work educators have taken innovative approaches to underpin teaching and practice learning by research. The study implications are that a larger study should provide evidence for the learning outcomes associated with different approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work with adults with learning disabilities or intellectual disability may be organised as a discrete or specialist area of practice in the UK. Little is known about contemporary social work practitioners’ views of their work with adults with learning disabilities and whether these differ from those of social workers in practice with different user groups or working in other specialities. This paper reports findings from a national survey of UK social workers undertaken in 2015 that measured burnout using the Maslach Burnout Inventory, across three domains: Emotional Exhaustion (EE), depersonalisation and personal accomplishment. A total of 1,359 social workers responded to the invitation to participate, of whom seventy-seven reported predominantly working with adults with learning disabilities and 358 reported working in child protection social work. Comparisons are drawn between responses from social workers working in these distinct practice areas showing high levels of EE co-existing with high levels of personal accomplishment in both areas of practice. Other important distinctions and similarities are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of an audit of research teaching in UK-qualifying social work education. The audit was part of a wider ESRC-funded study that provides baseline data for setting progress objectives towards building research capacity in the discipline and profession. This paper offers observations from the audit, based on a survey of undergraduate and postgraduate (Masters) qualifying social work programmes across all four countries, with in-depth enquiry into a smaller sample from each. The survey examined what research methods were taught, how, where, when and by whom. Most importantly, it considered why these choices were made, and the challenges and possibilities were presented for building research capacity and research-mindedness at qualifying level. The audit highlighted a range of factors that contributed to the marginalisation of research teaching. These included not only lack of time, staff skill and resource, but also more fundamental reservations and resistance on the part of educators, students and practitioners towards engaging with research. It is suggested that at the heart of such ambivalence lies a fundamental debate about the nature of the social work discipline, and the relationship between research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper will examine the ways in which ‘textbook’ survey research methods need to be adapted and refined for research with forced migrants, and the ways in which cross-national contexts, as well as research within one national context with forced migrants from different communities, affect the utilization of survey methods. Linked to this, the ways in which survey design issues need to be sensitive to the diversity between and within countries and communities will be explored. The paper will draw on two surveys, one a UK national survey and the other a multi-sited comparative survey in the UK and South Africa, to explore access to forced migrants in different contexts and the appropriateness of different modes of data collection between and within countries and communities (e.g. paper self-completion, face-to-face interviews and web-based surveys). The impact of politics, language and literacy, gender, and immigration status, especially irregular and insecure statuses, will be examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While methods and results of school-based studies have been reported widely in the literature, little published information exists on the practical aspects of recruiting schools and students into a study. This paper reflects on the experiences of a UK-based sexual health survey among 3007 students aged 15-18 years. The survey explored beliefs, attitudes and behaviours in relation to sexual health. This case study highlights significant aspects of planning and conducting successful large-scale research in schools, focusing on the process of conducting the research rather than outcomes. As such, the paper will benefit those intending to sample a school-based population. The key features of effective and feasible research in schools are outlined in four areas: (i) adopting suitable research tools, (ii) selecting and contacting schools, (iii) selecting students within schools and (iv) the importance of fieldworkers. On-site and post-data collection feedback from teachers are incorporated into the discussion of good practice in partnership working with schools and students in research. We conclude by discussing fieldwork experiences and outlining key recommendations for researchers across disciplines engaging in school-based studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defensive practice has received attention through the Munro review of child protection, which has identified that current organisational cultures increase the likelihood of defensive practice. Whilst the wider socio-political climate that gives rise to defensive practice has been explored within the literature, little attention has been paid to the everyday realities of defensive practice. This paper reports the findings of a study into final year social work students' attitudes towards defensive practice within social work. Three focus groups were completed with a total of ninety final-year students that collected qualitative and quantitative data using interactive software. This paper examines how participants perceived defensive practice, both in general and when faced with real-life vignettes. Participants distinguished between pro-active behaviour (sins of commission) and passive behaviour (sins of omission), generally regarding the latter as less serious because it was less tangible and easier to attribute to more positive motives. Whilst the literature identifies defensive practice as deliberate behaviour, the focus group discussions suggest that it is a subtler and less conscious process. Whilst there was there was a general consensus about the nature of defensive practice, there was considerable disagreement about specific vignettes and several competing explanations are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Quality of life is included in the economic evaluation of health services by measuring the preference for health states, i.e. health state utilities. However, most intervention studies include a disease-specific, not a utility, instrument. Consequently, there has been increasing use of statistical mapping algorithms which permit utilities to be estimated from a disease-specific instrument. The present paper provides such algorithms between the MacNew Heart Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire (MacNew) instrument and six multi-attribute utility (MAU) instruments, the Euroqol (EQ-5D), the Short Form 6D (SF-6D), the Health Utilities Index (HUI) 3, the Quality of Wellbeing (QWB), the 15D (15 Dimension) and the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL-8D). Methods: Heart disease patients and members of the healthy public were recruited from six countries. Non-parametric rank tests were used to compare subgroup utilities and MacNew scores. Mapping algorithms were estimated using three separate statistical techniques. Results: Mapping algorithms achieved a high degree of precision. Based on the mean absolute error and the intra class correlation the preferred mapping is MacNew into SF-6D or 15D. Using the R squared statistic the preferred mapping is MacNew into AQoL-8D. Implications for research: The algorithms reported in this paper enable MacNew data to be mapped into utilities predicted from any of six instruments. This permits studies which have included the MacNew to be used in cost utility analyses which, in turn, allows the comparison of services with interventions across the health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates constraints on desired hours of work using information on hours preferences from the British Household Panel Survey for 1991. Over a third of male manual workers would prefer to work fewer hours at the prevailing wage than they do and we estimate that on average desired hours per week are 4.3 lower than actual hours. We hypothesise that job insecurity and scarcity of alternative job opportunities enable employers to set hours constraints above employee preferences and find that the minimum hours constraints set by firms are an increasing function of the unemployment rate an individual faces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent to which attending major sporting events leads to subsequent changes in the sport participation behaviour of spectators. The research covered seven single-sport events of World or European level held in the UK in 2014 and was concerned with spectators (aged 16 and over) who attended one of these events. Baseline data was gathered from a sample of spectators at each event using a face-to-face survey. Follow-up data was captured using an online survey at least nine months post-event. Our analysis is based on 258 people for whom both baseline and follow-up data were available (matched pairs). Using the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), the evidence from this research points to a small (net) positive staged change in sport participation among the sample overall. Variations in the nature and scale of changes associated with events featuring different sports were observed. Progression between the TTM stages was evident for individuals who were previously in the pre-preparation, preparation and action stages. The likelihood of progression appears to be strongest where prior contemplation for behaviour change was prevalent. Event attendance emerged as an important contributor for moving individuals along the TTM continuum, alongside a range of other factors. The demonstration or trickle-down effect was the primary mechanism by which any sport participation legacy supported by these events occurred. The practical applications of the research and the wider health benefits of leveraging event-induced sport participation increases are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the views of social work practitioners regarding their ability to explore the emotional content of their practice in formalandin formal forums. The responses from a questionnaire- and interview-based study of a Scottish local authority reveal that supervision is subject to issues of ‘safety', permissions, manageria list approaches and individual relationships. Informal support from peers was valued due to its unrecorded, on-demand and supportive nature. The findings have implications for seeking improvements in supervision as suggested by the Social Work Task Force,and for securing of the validity and place of emotions in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-election socialisation has frequently been identified as a source of parliamentarians' disposition towards party loyalty. Yet a recent study of the socialisation experiences of new members in the British Parliament, using tenure as proxy for socialisation, found little evidence of an effect on party loyalty (Rush and Giddings, 2011, Parliamentary Socialisation: Learning the Ropes or Determining Behaviour? London, Springer). This paper develops a new model of parliamentary socialisation and uses the same data to demonstrate that post-entry socialisation did in fact change legislators reported likeliness to behave in accordance with their party leadership's wishes. Specifically, a framework based on information exchange (advice giving) is used to show that positive interactions with party actors are associated with increased loyalty. Controlling for initial levels of loyalty, members who received more useful advice from party actors were more likely to rate themselves as highly influenced by the party leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As survey researchers have begun exploiting paradata—for example, for the correction of nonresponse bias—the quality of these data has come into question. Inaccurate information is likely to affect the resulting statistics and conclusions drawn from such data. This paper focuses on one type of paradata, observations made by interviewers during the data-collection process, and assesses the quality of these observations by examining their measurement error properties. The analysis uses the UK Census Nonresponse Link Study, which links interviewers’ observations collected on six major UK surveys with Census data. Comparing five interviewer observations with self-reports from the Census, the accuracy of the observations for both respondents and nonrespondents to the surveys is evaluated. A multilevel modeling approach is used to explore under which conditions the interviewers’ observations match the reports on the Census forms, accounting for the clustering of sample members within interviewers and areas. The analysis finds that the overall percent agreement between the observations and the Census is generally high, ranging from 87 to 98 percent. The type of housing structure and the final result code are significantly associated with measurement error. For four of the five observations, there is evidence that the interviewer significantly influences the level of measurement error, even after controlling for household, interviewer, and area characteristics. The results presented here will inform future analyses assessing the quality of interviewers’ observations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports on the first ever national study in the UK of the needs of disabled women experiencing domestic violence and of the services available to meet these needs. The study found that, in general, support services frequently overlook or respond inappropriately to disabled women in this situation. The overall findings of the research were very wide-ranging, as were the resultant recommendations for statutory agencies, disability organisations, domestic violence services and wider strategic and commissioning frameworks. In this paper, the general findings are discussed briefly, followed by a discussion of abuse by paid carers/personal assistants in the context of the personalisation agenda, with a focus on issues for adult care services. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The methods underpinning the UK's annual structural earnings survey—the New Earnings Survey—have remained largely unchanged since the survey's inception in 1970. Gradual changes in the labour market over recent years have led to coverage errors in the survey; non-response may also introduce error if it is non-random. The paper describes some of the New Earnings Survey's main non-sampling errors, the effect on survey results and the research that was undertaken by the Office for National Statistics as part of the development of the new Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings to be able to remove or otherwise to account for these errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to analyse the extent and determinants of panel attrition in the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). The fact that, after five waves, in some countries the response rate has declined to about 50%, leads to concerns about the representativeness of the remaining participants. We find the extent and determinants of panel attrition to reveal high variability across countries as well as for different waves within one country. Differences were also found when comparing attrition behaviour across different surveys running parallel in the same countries, as was the case for Germany and the United Kingdom (UK). Response rates are found to depend strongly on whether households moved during the sample period and whether the interviewer in the sample period changed. Compared to these two influences, all other characteristics are of minor importance. Despite these different attrition rates, neither is the analysis of income biased, nor is the ranking of national results disturbed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings of a survey of Social Services Departments, Probation Services and the major voluntary agencies in the UK. The survey aimed to shed light on the factors which promote successful groups in social work and probation agencies. The survey did not attempt to map the extent of current groupwork. A questionnaire was piloted in a Social Services Department in northern England with social work and social care practitioners participating in ‘The Groupwork Project’, a training and development programme which continues to have as its aim the establishment of a groupwork service in a mainstream social services agency. The survey was designed to be illuminative and exploratory rather than conclusive. In this paper, the authors reflect on the research process and on the findings of the survey. These findings point to the complexity of factors considered significant to the success of a group, and to the importance of contextual factors in establishing and sustaining a groupwork service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the trends in cohabitation over the last twenty-five years using information from the General Household Survey GHS, and then provides a summary of some key results on cohabitation, such as the stability of cohabiting relationships. The paper then provides some first results from a recent pilot survey aimed at investigating the circumstances surrounding the ending of couples living together-due to the end of accommodation sharing and relationship breakdown. Finally, some analyses are presented on cohabitation, accommodation and property ownership using data from the GHS. These four sets of analyses not only provide fuller background to the characteristics and circumstances of cohabitation for general information, but also chart the progress made and planned in extending the range and type of questions asked on cohabitation in the GHS. These improvements, it is hoped, will provide relevant information for a wide variety of users, and especially for professionals in the fields of social policy and family law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professionals express divergent views about whether adults at risk are best served by safeguarding work being incorporated into social workers' casework or being undertaken by specialist workers within local area or centralised teams. This paper draws on findings from the final two phases of a three-phase study which aimed to identify a typology of different models of organising adult safeguarding and compare the advantages and disadvantages of these. We used mixed-methods to investigate four different models of organising adult safeguarding which we termed: A) Dispersed-Generic, B) Dispersed-Specialist, C) Partly-Centralised-Specialist and D) Fully-Centralised-Specialist. In each model, we analysed staff interviews (n = 38), staff survey responses (n = 206), feedback interviews (with care home managers, solicitors and Independent Mental Capacity Advocates) (n = 28), Abuse of Vulnerable Adults (AVA) Returns, Adult Social Care User Survey Returns (ASCS) and service costs. This paper focuses on qualitative data from staff and feedback interviews and the staff survey. Our findings focus on safeguarding as a specialism, safeguarding practice (including multi-agency working, prioritisation, tensions, handover, staff confidence and deskilling) and managing safeguarding. Local authority (LA) participants described and commented on the advantages and disadvantages of their organisational model. Feedback interviews offered different perspectives on safeguarding services and implications of different models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents new evidence both of the degree and the sources of resistance to any attempts to challenge statutory intervention and government spending in the area of social policy. The data come from the 1985-86 and 1990 International Social Survey Program (ISSP) role of government surveys. The focus is on those countries from which the assumptions are normally derived. The 1985-86 ISSP survey included six countries, all of which form part of this group. However, Austria did not participate in 1990. Although the 1990 survey included a number of additional countries, only Norway is suitable for the purposes, as well as having the full range of data available. The 1990 sample of countries is thus Australia, the United States, the Great Britain, West Germany and Italy, all of which were also surveyed in 1985, plus Norway. Whereas the analysis of the 1985 data lacked a social democratic Scandinavian country with a highly decommodified structure, the 1990 sample compensates for this with the inclusion of Norway. Still, much of the analysis in this paper concentrates on assessing change between 1985 and 1990 and on how far the results of the 1990 survey confirm or lead us to question the earlier findings.

This paper uses multivariate multilevel models with data from the British Crime Survey to investigate individual and neighbourhood influences on perceptions of local and national crime trends. In response to debates about the negative consequences of immigration and ethnic diversity, we specifically investigate the influence of ethnic heterogeneity on such perceptions. Results indicate that a person's socio-demographic background and their newspaper readership have the strongest association with perceptions of national trends whilst the strongest association with pessimistic views on localized crime is whether the individual has been a recent crime victim. Results suggest no negative effects for ethnic diversity. Moreover, the findings indicate that living in a mixed neighbourhood is associated with a reduced likelihood of perceiving rising levels of national crime. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Summary. In many countries, a key component of measuring census coverage is a post-enumeration survey. In the 2001 censuses of the UK this was called the Census Coverage Survey. The paper reviews the design of the 2001 Census Coverage Survey and develops the design for the survey in 2011, taking advantage of the experience of 2001 and the data that were generated by the 2001 process. This leads to a proposed design that is less clustered than in 2001 and has an allocation that is more skewed towards areas where coverage in the 2011 census is expected to be lowest. The updated design balances optimal allocation against maintaining a sufficient sample across all areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper compares earnings data from the British Household Panel Survey with those collected in the Family Resources Survey, using several measures, which account for various key aspects of the two surveys, and contrasting three different points in time (1995-1996, 2003-2004 and 2007-2008). We first perform non-parametric tests of equality at the centre of the distributions and over the whole earnings distributions. We then apply multivariate regression methods to establish whether the Family Resources Survey and British Household Panel Survey earnings data yield different results in relation to three typical uses of earnings data: the probability of being at the bottom or at the top of the distribution, the estimation of earnings functions both at the mean and at various quartiles and, using earnings as an explanatory variable, the probability of belonging to an occupational pension plan. Our analysis reveals that the two surveys have fairly similar earnings data in the first comparison year, whereas sizable and stable differences emerge in the later two comparisons. These findings are robust to the use of alternative definitions of earnings. They suggest the important role that is played by non-response and attrition between the first and the second comparison time points, and that played by 'learning-by-doing' effects in later data collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the findings of a survey of UK professional doctorate programmes that have a social work element. The aim was to provide an initial description of the extent and nature of current provision. The survey was conducted via academic community e-mail lists and followed up with telephone interviews. Findings are presented about the universities offering programmes, longevity of programmes, numbers of students, students' employment and employer support, degree nomenclature, programme structure, successful aspects of programmes and their approach to handling the relationship between research and practice. Some tentative conclusions are presented about the possible ways forward for social work professional doctorates and avenues for further research about these degrees. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper uses mixed Markov latent class models and data from multiwave national panel surveys to investigate the stability of individual-level party identification in three Anglo-American democracies—the United States, Britain, and Canada. Analyses reveal that partisan attachments exhibit substantial dynamism at the latent variable level in the American, British, and Canadian electorates. Large-scale partisan dynamics are not a recent development; rather, they are present in all of the national panel surveys conducted since the 1950s. In all three countries, a generalized “mover–stayer” model outperforms rival models including a partisan stability model and a “black–white” nonattitudes model that specifies random partisan dynamics. The superiority of generalized mover–stayer models of individual-level party identification comports well with American and British studies that document nonstationary, long memory in macropartisanship. The theoretical perspective provided by party identification updating models is consistent with the mix of durable and flexible partisans found in the United States and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper uses two recent UK surveys to investigate the determinants of language proficiency and the effect of language on earnings and employment probabilities of non-white immigrants. We address the problem of endogenous choice of language acquisition and measurement error in language variables. Our results show that language acquisition, employment probabilities, as well as earnings differ widely across non-white immigrants, according to their ethnic origin. Language proficiency has a positive effect on employment probabilities, and lack of English fluency leads to earning losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of the Royal Economic Society Women's Committee 1998 survey on the gender balance in UK academic economics. In 1998, female representation was 4% of professors, 11 % of senior lecturers or readers. 17% of permanent lecturers, 28% of fixed term lecturers, and 33% of PhD/research students. The main growth in female representation since 1996 has been in fixed term lectureships and in PhD/research students (a 5 percentage point increase for each). We suggest reasons for the low representation of women in academic economics, and also argue that it is a cause for concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To examine trends in public awareness and knowledge of drinking guidelines in the UK since their revision in 2016, which had moved from a daily to a weekly guideline, made the guideline the same for men and women, and reduced the guideline for men by around one-third. Method Data were from a representative, repeat cross-sectional survey. We analysed changes in awareness and knowledge of drinking guidelines among 8168 adult drinkers between 2016 and 2022 and associations with sociodemographic characteristics, smoking status and level of alcohol consumption. Results The proportion of drinkers aware of guidelines declined from 86.0% (95%CI 84.0–88.0%) in 2016 to 81.7% (79.5–84.0%) in 2019, then increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, peaking at 91.6% (90.1–93.1%) in 2020. The proportion who correctly identified the guideline as a maximum of exactly 14 units/week remained at around a quarter from 2016 (25.0%, 22.4–27.5%) to 2018 (25.8%, 23.2–28.3%), whereas the proportion who gave a figure of 14 units or fewer rose from 52.1 (49.2–55.0%) to 57.4% (54.6–60.3%). However, by 2022, guideline knowledge had worsened significantly, with these figures falling to 19.7 (17.4–21.9%) and 46.5% (43.6–49.4%), respectively. Changes over time were similar across subgroups. Odds of guideline awareness and knowledge were higher among drinkers who were aged ≥35, female, more educated and from more advantaged social grades. Conclusions The majority of adult drinkers in the UK are aware of low-risk drinking guidelines. However, 6 years since their announcement, knowledge of the revised drinking guidelines remains poor. Less than a quarter know the recommended weekly limit and only around half think it is 14 units or less. Inequalities have persisted over time, such that disadvantaged groups remain less likely to know the guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of 'Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation' (DNACPR) recommendations has come under scrutiny during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has issued a call for new standards, guidance and training. One group for whom new training is required is 'capacity professionals' working in and with residential care facilities. These professionals (including Independent Mental Capacity Advocates and Best Interests Assessors) typically have a social work background and have specialist training regarding the 2005 Mental Capacity Act , the provisions of which have a direct relevance to DNACPR recommendations. We report on a survey and focus groups that probed the experiences of this professional group during the pandemic. We recruited 262 participants by approaching civil society organisations in which capacity professionals are well represented; twenty-two participated in follow-on focus groups. We used manifest content analysis and descriptive statistics to analyse the results. Our findings contribute to an emerging picture of what transpired in residential care homes during the first year of the pandemic and help to provide an empirical and normative basis for the development of the new guidance and training for which the CQC has called. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lockdown restrictions imposed across the UK in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had a profound impact on many people's health and wellbeing. People were encouraged to be active, but population surveys suggest some groups found this easier than others. We explored the changes in health, wellbeing and physical activity levels among a sample in the UK who experienced the sudden loss of a weekly community-based physical activity opportunity, parkrun. A sample of UK parkrun participants responded to two surveys: pre-COVID-19 in January/February 2019 and during the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2020. Outcomes were happiness, life satisfaction, connections with others, physical health, mental health and physical activity. The sample was stratified by gender, age, deprivation status, physical activity and number of parkruns completed. Demographics were reported using descriptive statistics; distributions between sub-groups were compared using Chi-square tests while differences in outcomes were determined using the Mann–Whitney U test. Open text responses were also analysed. Happiness, life satisfaction, connections with others, physical health and mental health of 450 parkrun participants were negatively impacted for all sub-groups, although the impact was not experienced equally. Physical activity fell by 6% while happiness and life satisfaction fell by 12%. People experienced the worst negative impact on their connections with others. The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the wellbeing of a greater proportion of females, younger adults, inactive people, those from higher deprivation areas, and those who had completed fewer parkruns. There is evidence that the wellbeing of those who were more active, and those more involved in a community-based physical activity initiative pre-pandemic, was less negatively affected during the COVID-19 lockdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Public Health registrars (SpRs) were an important component of the workforce that contributed to the COVID-19 response. This study explores their contribution and the impact the early stages of the pandemic had on their learning and training. Methods Data were collected from SpRs in the London and Kent, Surrey, Sussex training programme between July and September 2020 through a mixture of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. A thematic analysis of interview transcripts was undertaken to identify themes. Results 35/128 SpRs responded to the survey and 11 were interviewed. SpRs were placed across a range of organizations and made a significant contribution to the COVID-19 response. Overall, SpRs learned important skills but working on the response may for some have impacted negatively on training. A number of facilitators and barriers to learning were identified. Conclusion The study findings highlight the opportunities for learning created by the pandemic. However, changing projects and the desire of SpRs to contribute to the response meant the impacts on training were mixed. Future deployment of SpRs should consider the balance of responsibility and pace when delegating work, as well as the need to supervise effectively and support remote working to maintain good mental wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. Pain assessment in older adults with cognitive impairment is often challenging, and paramedics are not given sufficient tools/training to assess pain. The development of a mobile app may improve pain assessment and management in this vulnerable population. We conducted usability testing of a newly developed iPhone pain assessment application with potential users, in this case as a tool for clinical paramedic practice to improve pain assessment of older adults with cognitive impairment. Methods. We conducted usability testing with paramedic students and a Delphi panel of qualified paramedics. Participants studied the app and paper-based algorithm from which the app was developed. The potential use for the app was discussed. Usability testing focus groups were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using a thematic approach. Proposed recommendations were disseminated to the Delphi panel that reviewed and confirmed them. Results. Twenty-four paramedic students from two UK ambulance services participated in the focus groups. Usability of the app and its potential were viewed positively. Four major themes were identified: 1) overall opinion of the app for use in paramedic services; 2) incorporating technological applications into the health care setting; 3) improving knowledge and governance; and 4) alternative uses for the app. Subthemes were identified and are presented. Discussion. Our results indicate that the pain assessment app constitutes a potentially useful tool in the prehospital setting. By providing access to a tool specifically developed to help identify/assess pain in a user-friendly format, paramedics are likely to have increased knowledge and confidence in assessing pain in patients with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part of the "conventional wisdom" on the subject of the size distribution of earnings is that earnings are approximately lognormal, but with an upper tail which is better described by the Pareto function. The primary purpose of this paper is to re-examine these propositions, using British New Earnings Survey data disaggregated by occupational groups. We have several reasons for feeling that such a re-examination is timely. First, most previous studies have considered the distribution among all employees, while theoretical considerations suggest that disaggregated data might be more appropriate. We elaborate this point in Section 1 of the paper. Second, the method of estimating the parameters of the Pareto and lognormal functions has not always been given the attention it deserves. In Section 2 we address this issue, and also refer briefly to the related one of goodness of fit. The remainder of the paper presents parameter estimates for the Pareto and lognormal functions, using first aggregate data (Section 3), and then distributions within occupational groups (Section 4). Section 5 compares these two sets of results, and at the same time re-assesses the conventional wisdom of the superiority of the Pareto function in the upper tail. Section 6 summarizes our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Food processing facilities represent critical infrastructure that have stayed open during much of the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the burden of COVID-19 in this sector is thus important to help reduce the potential for workplace infection in future outbreaks. Methods We undertook a workplace survey in the UK food and drink processing sector and collected information on workplace size, characteristics (e.g. temperature, ventilation), and experience with COVID-19 (e.g. numbers of positive cases). For each site, we calculated COVID-19 case rates per month per 1000 workers. We performed an ecological analysis using negative binomial regression to assess the association between COVID-19 rates and workplace and local risk factors. Results Respondents from 33 companies including 66 individual sites completed the survey. COVID-19 cases were reported from the start of the pandemic up to June 2021. Respondents represented a range of industry subgroups, including grain milling/storage (n = 16), manufacture of malt (n = 14), manufacture of prepared meals (n = 12), manufacture of beverages (n = 8), distilling (n = 5), manufacture of baked goods (n = 5), and other (n = 6), with a total of 15 563 workers across all sites. Average monthly case rates per 1000 workers ranged from 0.9 in distilling to 6.1 in grain milling/storage. Incidence rate ratios were partially attenuated after adjusting for several local and workplace factors, though risks for one subgroup (grain milling/storage) remained elevated. Certain local and workplace characteristics were related to higher infection rates, such as higher deprivation (5 km only), a lower proportion of remote workers, lower proportion of workers in close proximity, and higher numbers of workers overall. Conclusions Our analysis suggests some heterogeneity in the rates of COVID-19 across sectors of the UK food and drink processing industry. Infection rates were associated with deprivation, the proportions of remote workers and workers in close proximity, and the number of workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Measurement of UK food insecurity has historically been inconsistent, making it difficult to understand trends. This study contributes by reporting and analysing data from a national survey conducted in line with UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recommendations and standard methods, providing an internationally comparable pre-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) snapshot of food insecurity. Methods Data came from a nationally representative 2019 UK sample (N  = 2000) surveyed by Ipsos-Mori. Prevalence of food insecurity was assessed using the UN FAO Food Insecurity Experience Scale. Logistic regression was used to model food insecurity in relation to geographic and socio-demographic variables. Results Severe food insecurity was reported by 3% of the sample, an increase of 66.7% over the last directly comparable UK analysis (Gallup World Poll data from 2016 to 2018). Indication of some degree of food insecurity was reported by 14.2% of the sample and tended to be higher amongst younger age groups, those on lower incomes, and home renters (as opposed to owners). No geographic variables were significantly associated with food insecurity prevalence. Conclusions The finding that prevalence of severe food insecurity was already increasing before the COVID-19 pandemic, across all areas of the UK, is cause for concern. Our results provide an important benchmark for assessing the impact of COVID-19 on food insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Medication adherence is critical in the successful management of lupus. There is very limited existing literature on reasons why non-adherence is not reported. This study explores the impact of current and previous medical experiences on patient satisfaction, adherence and reporting of non-adherence. Methods Mixed methodology involved thematic analysis of in-depth interviews (n  = 23) to further explore the statistically analysed quantitative survey findings (n  = 186). Results This study identified five themes: (i) physician-patient discordance and a 'hierarchy of evidence' in medication decisions; (ii) the association of adherence with satisfaction with care; (iii) the persisting impact of past adverse medical experiences (AMEs); (iv) the dynamic balance of patient-physician control; and (v) holistic care, beyond a purely medication-based focus. Improving quality of life (43% of participants) and a supportive medical relationship (24%) were the main reasons for adherence. Patient-priorities and self-reported symptoms were perceived as less important to physicians than organ-protection and blood results. Non-reporters of non-adherence, non-adherers and those with past AMEs (e.g. psychosomatic misdiagnoses) had statistically significant lower satisfaction with care. The importance of listening to patients was a key component of every theme, and associated with patient satisfaction and adherence. The mean rating for rheumatologist's listening skills was 2.88 for non-adherers compared with 3.53 for other participants (mean difference 0.65, P = 0.003). Conclusion Patients would like more weight and discussion given to self-reported symptoms and quality of life in medication decisions. Greater understanding and interventions are required to alleviate the persisting impact of past AMEs on some patients' wellbeing, behaviour and current medical relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) permeated social work practice before coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In addition to ICT-based formal services (e.g. e-counselling), social workers used ICTs informally as an adjunct to face-to-face practice. Building on our previous research, our cross-sectional online survey examined social workers' informal use of ICTs in four countries: Canada, the USA, Israel and the UK. The survey was administered through Qualtrics software among social workers across Canada (n  = 2,609), the USA (n  = 1,225), Israel (n  = 386) and the UK (n  = 134), and analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 26. The findings substantiate the ubiquitous use of informal ICTs in social work practice, as an adjunct to face-to-face treatment, across the four countries. Given the current, unprecedented context of COVID-19, we discuss the meaning of our findings related to access, ethical considerations (e.g. professional boundaries) and supervision in the context of restricted face-to-face practice. We discuss the implications for social work practice, education and research, and conclude that in the COVID-19 context, there is an even greater need for research, clinical discussion, supervision and policy on informal ICT use in social work practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the outcomes of surveys analyzing the career prospects of astronomers in Germany and Great Britain while mentioning cultural differences between communities and gender bias in both. Topics discussed include the AstroFrauenNetzwerk (AFN) survey which involved women only, change in the number of female directors among the nine research institutions of the Max Planck Society in Germany and duration of contracts for early-career astronomers being heterogenous in all surveys.

In the article the author highlights a paper by Andrew Lee and colleagues, which pointed out that public health specialists in the UK are not trained enough to understand their global responsibilities. She opines the present training and accreditation processes need to undergo changes, and highlights the importance of sharing information on a global basis in view of the recent spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and H1N1.

Important claims have been made for what has been termed the dynamic analysis of poverty. However, apart from references to Rowntree's mention of the life cycle in his 1901 survey, the earlier history of these approaches has been neglected. This article seeks to document the historical origins of the two main UK birth cohort surveys—the 1946 National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD) and the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS). It locates their origins within wider historical contexts, and shows how their focus changed. In the absence of guaranteed long-term funding, especially for the NCDS, each generation of researchers needed to make a fresh case for a follow-up survey. It is this need, and for this reason, that the birth cohort surveys can shed so much light on the history of social science research in post-war Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we describe the photometric calibration of data taken with the near-infrared Wide Field Camera (WFCAM) on the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT). The broad-band ZYJHK data are directly calibrated from Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) point sources which are abundant in every WFCAM pointing. We perform an analysis of spatial systematics in the photometric calibration, both inter- and intradetector show that these are present at up to the ∼5 per cent level in WFCAM. Although the causes of these systematics are not yet fully understood, a method for their removal is developed and tested. Following the application of the correction procedure, the photometric calibration of WFCAM is found to be accurate to ≃1.5 per cent for the JHK bands and 2 per cent for the ZY bands, meeting the survey requirements. We investigate the transformations between the 2MASS and WFCAM systems and find that the Z and Y calibrations are sensitive to the effects of interstellar reddening for large values of , but that the JHK filters remain largely unaffected. We measure a small correction to the WFCAM Y-band photometry required to place WFCAM on a Vega system, and investigate WFCAM measurements of published standard stars from the list of UKIRT faint standards. Finally, we present empirically determined throughput measurements for WFCAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common finding in analyses of geographic mobility is a strong association between past movement and current mobility. We argue that one of the driving forces behind this pattern is the strength of local social ties outside the household. We use data from the British Household Panel Survey on the location of the three closest friends and the frequency of meetings with them. We estimate the processes of friendship formation and residential mobility jointly, allowing for correlation between the two processes. Our results show that a larger number of close friends living nearby substantially reduces movement of 20 miles or more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse household unit non-response in six major UK Government surveys by using a multilevel multinomial modelling approach. The models are guided by current conceptual frameworks and theories of survey participation. One key feature of the analysis is the investigation of the extent to which effects of household characteristics are survey specific. The analysis is based on the 2001 UK Census Link Study, which is a unique source of data containing an unusually rich set of auxiliary variables. The study contains the response outcome of six surveys, linked to census data and interviewer observations for both respondents and non-respondents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of financial factors as constraints to innovation in the UK is explored using data on individual returns to the second and third Community Innovation Surveys. It is found that financial factors do impact upon innovative activity and that impact is more severe in higher tech sectors and for smaller enterprises. These results extend but largely confirm the results in the extant literature by using a different approach to the standard cash flow based method, encompassing a wider class of investment phenomena (innovation rather than just R&D) and exploiting a new data base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the measurement error in determining the probable changes in employment characteristics based on the two surveys conducted in Great Britain. The first survey was part of the European Household Panel Survey and the second one was a part of the Improving Survey Measurement of Income and Employment. The characteristics of the respondents' employment include the type of occupation, employment and supervisory status, as well as the type of industry or organization. The surveys revealed that the proactive dependent interviewing is an effective questioning method in determining the reduction of measurement error in relation to the changes in employment characteristics.

This paper defines the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) Early Data Release (EDR). UKIDSS is a set of five large near-infrared surveys being undertaken with the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope Wide Field Camera (WFCAM). The programme began in 2005 May and has an expected duration of 7 yr. Each survey uses some or all of the broad-band filter complement ZY JHK. The EDR is the first public release of data to the European Southern Observatory (ESO) community. All worldwide releases occur after a delay of 18 months from the ESO release. The EDR provides a small sample data set, ∼50 deg2 (about 1 per cent of the whole of UKIDSS), that is a lower limit to the expected quality of future survey data releases. In addition, an EDR+ data set contains all EDR data plus extra data of similar quality, but for areas not observed in all of the required filters (amounting to ∼220 deg2). The first large data release, DR1, will occur in mid-2006. We provide details of the observational implementation, the data reduction, the astrometric and photometric calibration and the quality control procedures. We summarize the data coverage and quality (seeing, ellipticity, photometricity, depth) for each survey and give a brief guide to accessing the images and catalogues from the WFCAM Science Archive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Base of thumb OA (BTOA) is a common age-related disease that has a significant negative impact on quality of life, while little is known about the structure and pathways of interface services. Our aim was to assess disease burden, referral pathways, service structure and management pathways in UK interface services. Methods A structured questionnaire was carried out with a participating clinician at each centre to detail the local guidelines and management of BTOA. Five patients referred with BTOA were prospectively identified in each of 32 UK interface centres. Results Most centres (72%) had a local guideline and a standardized treatment regime consisting of education (100%), joint protection (100%), range of motion exercises (84%), strengthening exercises (88%), splintage (100%) and use of assistive devices (78%). No centre routinely offered a steroid injection at the first appointment and no centre had a specific threshold for offering an injection. Injection delivery was variable. Most patients had not been referred previously (82%). Most patients used analgesia (72%), but a minority of patients had been treated with a splint (46%), therapy (43%) and steroid injection (27%) prior to their latest attendance. Conclusion Most BTOA patients newly referred to interface services have been treated with analgesics and have not received comprehensive multimodal intervention. The management of BTOA at interface services is standardized in terms of education, splintage and therapy. However, there is a lack of standardization in terms of both the threshold for, timing of and mode of delivery of injection therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have a greater impact on people with disabilities than non-disabled people. Our aim was to compare the short-term impact of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and first lockdown on the employment and financial security of working age adults with and without disabilities in the UK. Methods Secondary analysis of data collected in Wave 9 and the special April, May and June COVID-19 monthly surveys of 'Understanding Society', the UK's main annual household panel study. Results During the first 3 months of the introduction of the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, respondents with disability were more likely than their peers to be working reduced hours and experience higher levels of financial stress. These differences were attenuated, but not eliminated, when estimates were adjusted to take account of pre-lockdown financial status. Conclusions Working age adults with disability were particularly disadvantaged by the financial impact of the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has stated the need for a disability-inclusive COVID-19 government response. The results of our analysis suggest that these pleas have either not been heeded, or if measures have been implemented, they have so far been ineffectual in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Munich Near-Infrared Cluster Survey (MUNICS) is a wide-area, medium-deep, photometric survey selected in the K′ band. It covers an area of roughly 1 deg[sup 2] in the K′ and J near-IR passbands. The survey area consists of 16 6×6 arcmin[sup 2] fields targeted at QSOs with redshifts 0.5