BACKGROUND: English youth typically do not sufficiently engage in the types and intensities of physical activity that develop muscular fitness. The aim of this study was to use a combination of qualitative techniques to explore adolescent boys' understanding, perceptions, and experiences of physical activity and the role muscular fitness plays within boys' physically active lifestyles. METHODS: Focus group interviews with a write, draw, show, and tell activity were conducted with 32 adolescent boys aged 14-16 years from 3 secondary schools. Three separate sources of data (frequency counts, verbatim transcripts, and visual data) were generated and were pooled together and triangulated. Data were analysed deductively, first using the Youth Physical Activity Promotion model as a thematic framework, and then inductively. RESULTS: Physical activity was frequently associated with organised sport, and most boys were unaware of current UK physical activity guidelines. Co-participation was frequently reported as a reinforcing factor to physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: There was a perceived lack of opportunity to participate in muscular fitness activities, particularly in school, and knowledge of how to conduct muscular fitness activities was limited. The contribution of physical education was highlighted as being key to facilitating exposure to muscular fitness activities.

Schools provide an opportunity to enhance muscular fitness of English youth during physical education (PE). Continued professional development (CPD) among teachers may improve muscular fitness activity delivery in schools. This study sought to assess the feasibility and acceptability of an online CPD programme to enhance PE teachers' knowledge of muscular fitness activity. METHODS: Co-production of an online CPD platform was undertaken with five secondary school PE teachers. A quasi-experimental pre-post control group design for the CPD was adopted (CPD group <i>n</i> = 76, control <i>n</i> = 32). Upon CPD completion feedback was solicited for qualitative analysis. RESULTS: Pre-and-post CPD knowledge quiz data were available from 65 participants (55.4% male). The median knowledge quiz change score was significantly higher in the CPD group than in the wait list control group (CPD score vs. control score; U =37, z = -5.96, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01). Three primary themes reflecting factors associated with the acceptability and feasibility were (1) practical application, (2) support and resources, and (3) knowledge and confidence. CONCLUSIONS: Co-production of an online CPD programme can improve knowledge and affect practice. PE teachers that completed the CPD reported the online platform was beneficial to overcoming the limitations of face-to-face CPD such as time and financial constraints and suggested the content covered was beneficial and appropriate to their teaching. Future work is required to establish links between teachers' learning following CPD, the translation into PE practice and student MF outcomes.

We examined the compositional associations between the intensity spectrum derived from incremental acceleration intensity bands and the body mass index (BMI) z-score in youth, and investigated the estimated differences in BMI z-score following time reallocations between intensity bands. School-aged youth from 63 schools wore wrist accelerometers, and data of 1453 participants (57.5% girls) were analysed. Nine acceleration intensity bands (range: 0−50 mg to ≥700 mg) were used to generate time-use compositions. Multivariate regression assessed the associations between intensity band compositions and BMI z-scores. Compositional isotemporal substitution estimated the differences in BMI z-score following time reallocations between intensity bands. The ≥700 mg intensity bandwas strongly and inversely associated with BMI z-score (p < 0.001). The estimated differences in BMI z-score when 5 min were reallocated to and from the ≥700 mg band and reallocated equally among the remaining bands were −0.28 and 0.44, respectively (boys), and −0.39 and 1.06, respectively (girls). The time in the ≥700 mg intensity band was significantly associated with BMI z-score, irrespective of sex. When even modest durations of time in this band were reallocated, the asymmetrical estimated differences in BMI z-score were clinically meaningful. The findings highlight the utility of the full physical activity intensity spectrum over a priori-determined absolute intensity cut-point approaches.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of 24-hour time-use compositions with mental health in a large, geographically diverse sample of UK adolescents. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, secondary data analysis. SETTING: Millennium Cohort Study (sixth survey), a UK-based prospective birth cohort. PARTICIPANTS: Data were available from 4642 adolescents aged 14 years. Analytical samples for weekday and weekend analyses were n=3485 and n=3468, respectively (45% boys, 85% white ethnicity). PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcome measures were the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ, socioemotional behaviour), Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ, depressive symptoms) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE, self-esteem). Behavioural exposure data were derived from 24-hour time-use diaries. RESULTS: On weekdays, participants spent approximately 54% of their time in sleep, 3% in physical activity, 9% in school-related activities, 6% in hobbies, 11% using electronic media and 16% in domestic activities. Predicted differences in SDQ, MFQ and RSE were statistically significant for all models (weekday and weekend) that simulated the addition or removal of 15 min physical activity, with an increase in activity being associated with improved mental health and vice versa. Predicted differences in RSE were also significant for simulated changes in electronic media use; an increase in electronic media use was associated with reduced self-esteem. CONCLUSION: Small but consistent associations were observed between physical activity, electronic media use and selected markers of mental health. Findings support the delivery of physical activity interventions to promote mental health during adolescence, without the need to specifically target or protect time spent in other activities.

Purpose: This study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of staff perspectives of enablers and barriers to multidisciplinary team (MDT) collaboration and the role of psychological safety (PS) within a high secure forensic inpatient hospital. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative ethnographic design was adopted. Data were sourced for thematic analysis from 10 observations of treatment meetings, 13 in-depth interviews, and informal conversations among 49 professionals belonging to seven professions, between March 2017 and June 2018. Findings: Four central themes were discovered: a shared approach to care, informal relationships, leadership–power–hierarchy, and PS – influenced by all and influencing all. The absence of a shared approach to care, informal relationships, inclusive leadership, construction of meetings, perceived equality between professions, and feelings of belonging and value to the MDT exert the greatest influence on PS and MDT collaboration. Practical implications: Leaders and knowledgeable staff are advised to: - adopt an inclusive leadership style, - give meeting ownership and chairing to professions low in the hierarchy – design a multidisciplinary concept of treatment with informal relationships, and establish clear roles/responsibilities that enhance equality, value, and belonging to promote PS and diminish perceived power distance between professions. Originality/value: MDT collaboration that aims to socially construct knowledge and share information about patients through communication in meetings is not possible without first consciously creating a safe organisational culture and local context that enables staff to overcome the perceived power distance between professions.

The initial findings of a study evaluating the perspectives of learners and educators in higher education institutions (HEIs) in England.

Prisoner suicide rates are consistently higher than rates among communities outside prisons. Between 2012 and 2016, England and Wales’s prison suicide rates more than doubled, hitting record numbers in 2016. Often those most invested in prison safety are those personally impacted, and campaigns by prisoners’ families can have material effects on imprisonment. This article critically reflects on a collaboration between an academic research team (who authored this article), a bereaved mother and a theatre company, which aimed to raise awareness of prison suicide through verbatim film. Drawing upon interviews with the filmmakers and audience surveys, we examine the potentials and challenges of such collaborations. We conclude that film can engage audiences within and beyond social science, making complex subjects accessible, humanising marginalised people and potentially inspiring social change, but a sustained ethic of care is required to mitigate harms and manage expectations, which may involve difficult decisions for researchers.

Transitions to online learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged how group-based activities were delivered. This paper explores how a quantitative social research design project allowed insights into digital pedagogy. Transition to group working in breakout rooms required planning to be centred on an imagined student learning experience. As a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA), this included understanding the dynamics by group, supporting learning in the digital space, presenting accessible materials, facilitating the learning process across multiple groups, and (re)planning teaching sessions successfully for the online milieu. Breakout rooms are dispersed digital learning spaces and were in use at a time when students were experiencing significant declines in mental health, challenges with digital exclusion, disengagement, and a lack of online confidence in peer-to-peer relationships (Peper et al., 2021; Savage et al., 2020). Addressing these key factors required a more student-centred planning approach, based on individual and group needs, in ways which were not seen within face-to-face delivery. Drawing on experiences of the potential for isolation and uncertainty for students in breakout room spaces, I reimagined the digital space in terms of material presentation, facilitating student empowerment, and communicating and managing across multiple breakout rooms concurrently. These strategies contributed towards positive student experiences, providing pedagogical insights into newer online teaching practices for GTAs.

Evidence suggests early activity-dependent experiences post brain injury can support neuroplastic regeneration and reorganisation of the brain for improved functional recovery. It is imperative that this early phase of recovery includes opportunities for meaningful occupation in a motivating environment. Hospitals embody a complex system of cultural symbols and actions yet this cultural influence on Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) recovery has been poorly researched in general acute UK hospitals. The aim of this study was to explore how hospital culture influenced the experience of meaningful occupation and recovery for ABI survivors. As an interpretivist study, symbolic interactionism provided the theoretical framework for an ethnographic methodology. Methods of data collection included 144 hours of participant observation on the wards of a general hospital in Northwest England and twenty-three semi-structured interviews. Participants were purposively selected adults admitted following an ABI, and their significant others. Data were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Three themes were constructed from the data: Occupation disconnect ‘too much and too boring’; A way of ‘being’ in hospital; Acceptance ‘that’s how it is’. An overarching theme also captured an umbrella concept: Hospital is the wrong place for recovery. Hospital culture has encompassing tendencies, a characteristic of total institutions, stifling person-centred care and limiting opportunities for ABI survivors to experience meaningful occupations resulting in occupational injustice and adaptive coping strategies that are not beneficial for recovery. This is of great concern during a critical period of neuroplastic brain recovery. Recommendations for policy and practice include expedited discharge from the acute hospital because current cultural processes do not facilitate recovery. Furthermore, this study recommends enhanced training for healthcare staff to optimise acute ABI recovery through embedding person-centred care and opportunities to engage in occupation for health and activity-dependent neuroplasticity. Practical changes on the wards are recommended such as providing clocks, televisions and changing intrusive call bell systems. Greater attention is needed to facilitate circadian rhythm to improve sleep as an occupation integral to brain injury recovery.

BACKGROUND: Limited research has examined whether accumulation of discrimination over time is associated with worse mental health and whether such experiences are related to socioeconomic status (SES). METHODS: A sample of UK adults with self-reported discrimination experiences (n = 3863) was taken from three waves of the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2015–2020). Multinomial logistic regression assessed associations between SES (income, education, occupation) and cumulative discrimination (number of timepoints discrimination was reported). Logistic regression models assessed prospective associations between cumulative discrimination and probable mental health problems (GHQ-12; 4+ threshold). RESULTS: Those with lower income were more likely to report discrimination at one timepoint (vs. none). No SES measures were associated with experiencing discrimination at multiple timepoints. Participants who reported one timepoint of discrimination (vs. no experiences) were significantly more likely to report probable mental health problems (OR = 1.47, p < .001, 95% CI 1.20–1.80). Moreover, compared to those experiencing one timepoint, participants reporting multiple timepoints of discrimination were significantly more likely to report probable mental health problems (OR = 1.46, p = .002, 95% CI 1.15–1.86), indicating a cumulative association between discrimination and mental health. There was limited evidence that SES moderated this cumulative association. LIMITATIONS: Mental health measures were based on self-report questionnaires and not a clinical diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Amongst a sample of UK adults, perceiving discrimination at multiple timepoints increased the likelihood of experiencing probable mental health problems. There was limited evidence that this cumulative association differed by SES. National measures designed to reduce discrimination may benefit mental health.