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This paper is a report of a qualitative study in which the aim was to investigate how counsellors who identified as practising members of a world religion or faith experienced undertaking counsellor training in the UK. All four participants were final year students on BACP accredited counsellor training programmes and identified as practicing Christians. Data was collated via semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings point to trainees experiencing significant anxiety with regard to talking about their faith during training for fear of eliciting negative judgments. As a result, participants either avoided talking about their religion or sought to defend it against negative perceptions. Participants tended to feel more comfortable talking to supervisors or therapists rather than their peers about religion when it was relevant to the client work or to personal issues. All participants reported receiving limited teaching input around religion and mental health on their programmes and felt this was a neglected area in counsellor training.

Purpose: Refugees and asylum seekers worldwide face numerous barriers in accessing health systems. The evidence base regarding who and what helps refugees and asylum seekers facilitate access to and the navigation of the health system in the UK is small. This study aims to address this gap by analysing 14 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with refugees and asylum seekers of different countries of origin in the UK to identify where, when and how they came into contact with the health-care system and what the outcome of these interactions was. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were chosen as the key method for this study. In total, 14 individual interviews were conducted. A trauma-informed research approach was applied to reduce the risk of re-traumatising participants. Findings: The paper identifies key obstacles as well as "facilitators" of refugees' and asylum seekers' health-care experience in the UK and suggests that host families, friends and third-party organisations all play an important role in ensuring refugees and asylum seekers receive the healthcare they need. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first qualitative study in the UK that looks at comprehensive health journeys of refugees from their first encounter with health services through to secondary care, highlighting the important role along the way of facilitators such as host families, friends and third-party organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Globally, pioneers in children's palliative care influenced this speciality's development through individual initiatives leading to diverse models of care. Children's and young adults' hospices have now been established around the world. However, service provision varies widely leading to inequities both within countries and internationally. Aim: To describe and classify existing approaches to paediatric palliative medicine in children's and young adults' hospices across the UK. Design: A mixed methods study conducted by telephone interview. Setting/participants: Thirty-one leaders of children's hospice care, representing 28 services, 66% of UK children's and young adults' hospice organisations. Results: A geographic-specialist classification was developed through integration of findings, enabling hospices to be classified as Regional specialist, Regional non-specialist, Local specialist and Local non-specialist. Both qualitative and quantitative data demonstrated diversity and inequity in paediatric palliative medicine provision. Of 159 doctors (63.5% of whom were general practitioners) working in participating hospices only 27.5% had specialist training in paediatric palliative medicine. The majority of participating hospices (67.9%) did not have involvement from a paediatric palliative medicine consultant. Conclusions: Internationally, the integration of specialist children's palliative care teams with existing services is a current challenge. Despite differing approaches to children's palliative care world-wide, models of care which facilitate integration of specialist children's palliative care could benefit a range of countries and contexts. The geographic-specialist classification could be used to inform recommendations for a networked approach to paediatric palliative medicine within children's and young adults' hospices to promote equity for children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a report of a qualitative study in which the aim was to investigate how counsellors who identified as practising members of a world religion or faith experienced undertaking counsellor training in the UK. All four participants were final year students on BACP accredited counsellor training programmes and identified as practicing Christians. Data was collated via semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings point to trainees experiencing significant anxiety with regard to talking about their faith during training for fear of eliciting negative judgments. As a result, participants either avoided talking about their religion or sought to defend it against negative perceptions. Participants tended to feel more comfortable talking to supervisors or therapists rather than their peers about religion when it was relevant to the client work or to personal issues. All participants reported receiving limited teaching input around religion and mental health on their programmes and felt this was a neglected area in counsellor training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are no published empirical research studies exploring transgender people's experiences of seeking and receiving counselling or psychotherapy outside of gender identity clinics within the UK. As a result, counsellors know little about why transgender people seek counselling, who they seek counselling from, and what their experiences are of receiving counselling. Aim: To address this gap in the literature, this study investigated transgender people's experiences of seeking and receiving counselling or psychotherapy outside of gender identity clinics within the UK. Funding for this study was provided by a BACP Seedcorn grant. Method: A mixed method small‐scale qualitative research design was employed, comprising an online survey and five semi‐structured interviews. Findings: Participants tended to seek counselling on two or more occasions and received between 2 and 12 sessions. Participants sought counselling for common psychological concerns as well as gender identity and coming out issues. A fear of being discriminated against and exploring gender for the first time were significant barriers in seeking help. Participants reported mixed experiences of counselling but valued a therapeutic relationship in which they felt affirmed, listened to and understood. Discussion: The findings from this study mirror aspects of previous research conducted in the USA concerning transgender clients' experiences of counselling. However, these findings point to the importance of recognising the potential vulnerability transgender clients experience when seeking counselling and the need for therapists to develop greater awareness, knowledge and competence regarding working with transgender clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a wide range of interventions, the effective promotion of breastfeeding continues to be challenging, particularly among women from communities where infants are usually formula milk fed. It has been suggested that infant feeding education in primary schools might enable positive breastfeeding attitudes to be adopted that could influence choices in adulthood. However, little is known about children's awareness or receptiveness to this subject, and there is a lack of evidence on which to base potential educational interventions. Although breastfeeding research in primary schools may perhaps appear unnecessary or premature, a case for study in this field can be demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea that what is good for the environment is good for business has come to dominate environmental thinking and provides one of the cornerstones of ecological modernization. Studies of this win–win philosophy have tended to concentrate on large companies. This study considers how the UK refrigeration and baking industries have responded to the main drivers for change. By eliciting managers' views of environmental issues through semi-structured interviews, the problems and opportunities facing these two industries are explored. The responses were remarkably similar, given the different characteristics of the two industries. The interviews revealed that legislation maintains its pre-eminence as a motivation for change. Win–win situations arising out of environmental legislation were found in some SMEs; however, for most the perception was one of lose–win. The demand for environmental products and processes, necessary for win–win, has yet to materialize. Companies, therefore, remain driven by the commercial, rather than the environmental, imperative. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the Medical assessments provide evidence of the negative impact of the UK's accommodation centres on the health of asylum seekers. It mentions that the use of and conditions within these disused military barracks have been severely criticized by the UK courts, inspectorates, the Welsh Assembly, medical organizations and the British Red Cross.

The article focuses on studies related to general professional nursing issues, particularly factors affecting recruitment and retention of nurses working in acute hospital settings. They include "Overseas Nurses in the National Health Service: A Process of Deskilling," "Burnout and its Correlates Among Nursing Staff: Questionnaire Survey," and "Work-Related Factors and Violence Among Nursing Staff in the European NEXT Study: A Longitudinal Cohort Study."

For young men, a consequence of surviving childhood malignancy can be iatrogenic infertility. Current health policies focus on the elimination of "post code lotteries" in cancer services. The extent to which sperm cryopreservation services for young men at risk of infertility from cancer treatment are provided and standardised within the United Kingdom and Ireland, was therefore the subject of this research. This paper draws on data from a three-stage study to describe sperm cryopreservation services for adolescent males, identifying current provision of sperm cryopreservation at the majority of United Kingdom Children's Cancer Study Group (UKCCSG) centres. In particular, the ways in which services are managed and written information provided to patients and their families was focused upon. Nurses from 18 of 22 UKCCSG centres responded to a questionnaire, six nurses from the replying centres participated in further, focused interviews. Results suggested that, during a 1 year period, approximately 118 adolescent males within the United Kingdom and Ireland could potentially have benefited from cryopreservation services. Of the responding centres, 15 offered a cryopreservation service. However, the majority (n=14) lacked consistency and co-ordination in their service provision. The provision of written information to this patient group was limited and analysis revealed all was of a poor quality. Findings from the study led the researchers to conclude that all young men at risk of iatrogenic sterility from cancer treatment could benefit from the production and systematic application of national guidelines and that standardising sperm cryopreservation services would fit with current health policy.