Rachel Allan appraises an observational study, which evaluates a complex behaviour service for people with challenging behaviour. The service, which used the principles of positive behaviour support, showed some short-term improvement, but this was not maintained at 12 months.
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Jill Manthorpe discusses a case study on how the emotional and moral labour of care workers operates in residential settings.
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For some people with learning disabilities, difficulties in eating and swallowing mean that enteral tubes are used to consume food and sometimes to take medication.
Here, Fawn Harrad looks at a Belgian study in which researchers observed whether staff in residential settings were following guidelines in the use of enteral feeding tubes to administer medications.
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Farhana Mann summarises an observational study of mood instability in people with mental illness, which explores its relationship with days spent in hospital, frequency of admissions, the likelihood of being sectioned and the chance of being prescribed antipsychotics and mood stabilisers.
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Jenny Fisher takes on an Australian study about community development and how umbrella bodies work for networking between organisations and neighbourhoods. She considers the implications of the findings for the UK refers to some other helpful research on the topic.
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Lucy Simons and Chris Sampson appraise a recent evaluation of peer-led self-management training for people with severe mental illness.
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Chris Sampson reports on a discussion paper produced by the Centre for Economic Performance, which looks at the impact of competition on management quality in hospitals.
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This cross-sectional study using secondary data and binary logistic models compared the hypothyroidism prevalence at general medical practice (GMP) level with fluoride levels in the drinking water. A positive association was identified although only a small number of confounders were adjusted for which suggest that further clarification is required.
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Adults with Williams syndrome are said to have a highly social personality, but can find it difficult to form and maintain relationships.
Here we report on a recent observational study which compared parent and self-report measures of social behaviour to observations of real life social situations.
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Kirsten Lawson dons her walking boots and reports on the national Walks for Health (WfH) programme, which has been investigated in an observational study looking at the mental, emotional and social well-being of people who participate in woodland walks.
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