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The challenges facing UK higher education are both well documented and controversial; however, pitted against this context is the requirement for psychology departments to provide an increasingly rich and diverse university experience for students, whilst ensuring progression and retention remain central to undergraduate provision. Despite the recognition that induction is of upmost importance in ensuring a successful transition from pretertiary to higher education, many universities are faced with changing budgets in the post-Browne era (Browne, 2010) across all aspects of academic life. Such a challenge presents departments with a unique paradox since student expectations continue to rise as the dominance of consumerism reaches fruition, whilst budgets continue to decrease. In acknowledging the importance of induction for both the overall student experience and for retention, the University of Worcester designed and successfully implemented an induction programme on a considerably reduced budget. A satisfaction questionnaire was completed by 136 undergraduate students inducted in 2011 and the results compared to those of 87 students from 2010 (where the induction budget was considerably higher). The results indicate similar levels of satisfaction and engagement with induction activities and whilst an off-site activity remains key to the success of induction, such an activity doesn't have to present considerable expense. This paper provides an overview of designing an induction programme on a reduced budget, presents satisfaction results from undergraduate students who completed induction in both 2010 and 2011, and presents suggestions for best practice in the design of induction events for psychology undergraduates.

Although assessment is acknowledged as being of central importance to the student learning experience, assessment practices have been consistently highlighted as one of the weakest features by the Quality Assurance Agency and identified by many as a crisis within higher education. This paper explores the use of Patchwork Text Assessment within a level 6 undergraduate psychology module and considers the potential of this method for enhancing the learning experiences of psychology undergraduates, facilitating the process of self-reflection and allowing students to make explicit the nature of their learning "journey". (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the evidence base of the Food Dudes healthy eating programme, specifically the short- and long-term effectiveness of the intervention for consumption of fruit and vegetables both at school and at home and displacement of unhealthy snack consumption. Design/methodology/approach - Articles were identified using Academic Search Complete, PsycARTICLES, Medline and PubMed databases keywords for the period January 1995 to August 2013. Articles were included if they reported an empirical evaluation of the Food Dudes programme aimed at children aged between 4-11 years. Articles were included regardless of geographical location and publication type (i.e. published and "grey" literature). Findings -- Six articles were included for review. Findings indicated that the programme was moderately effective in the short term; however, the long-term effectiveness of the programme is unknown. The ability of the programme to generalise to the home setting and to displace unhealthy snack foods also requires further investigation. Originality/value -- This is the first independent review of the Food Dudes programme. In light of the extensive roll out of the Food Dudes programme, an appraisal of the evidence surrounding the programme is timely. The review highlights that sustaining fruit and vegetable intake cannot be achieved through behaviour-based interventions alone and the long-term maintenance of fruit and vegetable consumption requires more than the implementation of an intervention found to be effective in a controlled research environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family-based programmes that emphasise lifestyle and behaviour change using psychological principles have been shown to be effective in targeting childhood obesity. While there is some evidence that evaluates UK familybased obesity interventions at a local level, no review to date has addressed this nationally. This review presents the available evidence from UK family-based childhood obesity interventions. Ten articles that met the inclusion criteria were included for review. The majority of programmes reviewed lasted 12 weeks, with only three studies providing follow-up data at 12 months or longer. Change in adiposity may be a short-term benefit of participation in a child weight management programme, but there is insufficient robust evidence to indicate that this benefit is long lasting and many studies were methodologically weak with limited internal validity. There is insufficient evidence to suggest how the inclusion of parents and the wider family may impact on the effectiveness of UK community based weight management programme for children and young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored how friendships made at antenatal classes preserve new mothers' well-being, postnatally. Eight women from the United Kingdom who had attended antenatal classes in the third trimester were interviewed following the birth of their first baby. Transcripts were analyzed using a constant comparative method. Findings suggest that friendships made at antenatal classes are not only unique but also support women's mental health and enhance self-efficacy because the women give and gain reassurance that their babies are developing normally. Such friendships may reduce demands on overstretched social and health-care services. Childbirth educators, midwives, and nurses can be encouraged to capitalize on the opportunity provided by antenatal classes to facilitate the formation of friendships that can help mothers to find "a new equilibrium." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite having high smoking rates, there have been few tailored cessation programmes for male Bangladeshi and Pakistani smokers in the UK. We report on a qualitative evaluation of a community-based, outreach worker delivered, intervention that aimed to increase uptake of NHS smoking cessation services and tailor services to meet the needs of Bangladeshi and Pakistani men. Methods: This was a longitudinal, qualitative study, nested within a phase II cluster randomised controlled trial of a complex intervention. We explored the perspectives and experiences of five outreach workers, two stop smoking service managers and a specialist stop smoking advisor. Data were collected through focus group discussions, weekly diaries, observations of management meetings, shadowing of outreach workers, and one-to-one interviews with outreach workers and their managers. Analysis was undertaken using a modified Framework approach. Results: Outreach workers promoted cessation services by word of mouth on the streets, in health service premises, in local businesses and at a wide range of community events. They emphasised the reasons for cessation, especially health effects, financial implications, and the impact of smoking on the family. Many smokers agreed to be referred to cessation services, but few attended, this in part being explained by concerns about the relative inflexibility of existing service provision. Although outreach workers successfully expanded service reach, they faced the challenges of perceived lack of awareness of the health risks associated with smoking in older smokers and apathy in younger smokers. These were compounded by perceptions of "lip service" being given to their role by community organisations and tensions both amongst the outreach workers and with the wider management team. Conclusions: Outreach workers expanded reach of the service through taking it to diverse locations of relevance to Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. The optimum method of outreach to retain and treat Bangladeshi and Pakistani smokers effectively in cessation programmes needs further development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although it is now widely endorsed that children should as far as possible rate their own health related quality of life (HRQL), there are situations where proxy information on child HRQL may be useful, especially where a child is too ill or young to provide their own HRQL assessment. There is limited availability of generic HRQL scales that have a parallel child and parent version and that are reliable, valid, brief, comprehensible and suitable for use in UK populations. The aims of this study were therefore to develop and validate a parent version of the anglicised Manchester-Minneapolis Quality of Life child form (MMQL-UK (CF)) and to determine the level of association between the child and parent versions of this form. Methods: This study was undertaken concurrently with the anglicisation and validation of the MMQL, a measure of HRQL developed for use with children in North America. At that time, no parent version existed, so the MMQL form for children (MMQL-UK (CF)) was used as the basis for the development of the MMQL-UK parent form (PF). The sample included a control group of healthy children and their parents and five exemplar groups; children diagnosed with asthma, diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease and their parents, children in remission from cancer and their parents and children in public care and their carers. Consistency of the MMQL-UK (PF) components were assessed by calculating Cronbach's alpha. Validation of the parent questionnaire was undertaken by comparing MMQL-UK (PF) component scores with comparable components on the proxy PedsQL™ quality of life scales, comparing MMQL-UK (PF) component scores between parents of healthy and chronic disease children and by comparison of component scores from children and their parents or carers. Reproducibility and responsiveness were assessed by retesting parents by follow-up questionnaires. Results: A total of 874 children (completing MMQL-UK (CF)) and 572 parents or carers (completing MMQL-UK (PF)) took part in the study. The internal consistency of all the MMQL-UK (PF) components exceeding the accepted criterion of 0.70 and the construct validity was good with moderate correlations being evident between comparable components of the MMQL-UK (PF) and the proxy PedsQL™. Discriminant validity was demonstrated with significant differences being identified between parents of healthy children and those with chronic conditions. Intra-class correlations exceeded 0.65 for all MMQL-UK (PF) components demonstrating good reproducibility. Weak to moderate levels of responsiveness were demonstrated for all but social functioning. The MMQL-UK (PF) showed moderate parent-child correlation with the MMQL-UK (CF) for all components. The best correlations were seen for those components measuring the same construct (Pearson's r ranged from 0.31 to 0.61, p < 0.01 for equivalent components). Conclusion: The MMQL-UK (PF) showed moderate to good correlations with the MMQL-UK (CF) component scores. The MMQL-UK (PF) will be of use when comparing child and parent/carer perception of the impact of a child's condition on their HRQL or where the child is too ill or young to provide their own report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study which examined the administration of physical punishment by parents in Great Britain. Methodology; Results; Discussion.