‘You are labelled by your children’s disability’ – A community-based, participatory study of stigma among Somali parents of children with autism living in the United Kingdom

AbstractThe effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in preventing new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in the general community is still unclear. Here, we used the Office for National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey—a large community-based survey of individuals living in randomly selected private households across the United Kingdom—to assess the effectiveness of the BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioNTech) and ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (Oxford–AstraZeneca; ChAdOx1) vaccines against any new SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive tests, split according to self-reported symptoms, cycle threshold value (<30 versus ≥30; as a surrogate for viral load) and gene positivity pattern (compatible with B.1.1.7 or not). Using 1,945,071 real-time PCR results from nose and throat swabs taken from 383,812 participants between 1 December 2020 and 8 May 2021, we found that vaccination with the ChAdOx1 or BNT162b2 vaccines already reduced SARS-CoV-2 infections ≥21 d after the first dose (61% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 54–68%) versus 66% (95% CI = 60–71%), respectively), with greater reductions observed after a second dose (79% (95% CI = 65–88%) versus 80% (95% CI = 73–85%), respectively). The largest reductions were observed for symptomatic infections and/or infections with a higher viral burden. Overall, COVID-19 vaccination reduced the number of new SARS-CoV-2 infections, with the largest benefit received after two vaccinations and against symptomatic and high viral burden infections, and with no evidence of a difference between the BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1 vaccines.

Download Full-text

Siblings’ experiences of growing up with children with autism in Taiwan and the United Kingdom

Research in Developmental Disabilities ◽

10.1016/j.ridd.2018.09.001 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 83 ◽

pp. 206-216 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Hsiao-Wei Joy Tsai ◽

Katie Cebula ◽

S.H. Liang ◽

Sue Fletcher-Watson

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Growing Up ◽

The United Kingdom

Download Full-text

The Impact Of COVID-19 On Out-Of-Hours Adult Hospice Care: An Online Survey

10.21203/rs.3.rs-535007/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Felicity Hasson ◽

Paul Slater ◽

Anne Fee ◽

Tracey McConnell ◽

Sheila Payne ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Community Based ◽

Out Of Hours ◽

Care Services ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Palliative Care Services ◽

The Impact

Abstract BackgroundGlobally COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the provision of healthcare, including palliative care. However, there is little evidence about the impact of COVID-19 on delivery of out-of-hours specialist palliative care services in the United Kingdom. The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the delivery of out-of-hours community-based palliative care services.Methods A national online census survey of managers of adult hospices in the United Kingdom was undertaken. Survey were emailed to managers of adult hospices (n=150) who provided out-of-hours community palliative care services. Fifteen questions related specifically to the impact of COVID-19 and data were analysed thematically.ResultsEighty-one responses to the survey were returned (54% response rate); 59 were complete of which 47 contained COVID-19 data. Findings indicated that COVID-19 impacted on out-of-hours community-based palliative care. To meet increased patient need, hospices reconfigured services; redeployed staff; and introduced new policies and procedures to minimize virus transmission. Lack of integration between charitably and state funded palliative care providers was reported. The interconnected issues of the use and availability of Personal Protective Equipment (n=21) and infection control screening (n=12) resulted in changes in nursing practices due to fear of contagion for patients, carers and staff. Conclusions Survey findings suggest that due to increased demand for community palliative care services, hospices had to rapidly adapt and reconfigure services. Even though this response to the pandemic led to some service improvements, in the main, out-of-hours service reconfiguration resulted in challenges for hospices, including workforce issues, and availability of resources such as Personal Protective Equipment. These challenges were exacerbated by lack of integration with wider healthcare services. More research is required to fully understand the implications of such changes on the quality of care provided.

Download Full-text

Engineering cohesion: a reflection on academic practice in a community‑based setting

Cultural Intermediaries Connecting Communities ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447344995.003.0012 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 167-178

Author(s):

Arshad Isakjee

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

Academic Community ◽

Social Policies ◽

Community Based ◽

Academic Practice ◽

Self Reflection ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Heath Community ◽

Turn Over ◽

Different Parts

Social policies in the United Kingdom have undergone a ‘community turn’ over the last two decades, with emphasis increasingly on ‘community cohesion’ rather than ‘social disadvantage’ and exclusion. Whilst academics have explored this trend, there is less reflective work on academic community-based practice that operates on the same terrain. This chapter offers critical self-reflection of our academic practice within the community budgeting and commissioning phase in Balsall Heath, Birmingham. Reflecting on the processes of bringing different parts of the Balsall Heath community together for the project, we consider not just the challenges of ‘constructing community’ in this way, but also, the logics that underpin it.

Download Full-text