2.      Walton, A. and Collins, T. (2022) The experiences of older adult members of a combined lunch club and assisted shopping group and the perceived value in their occupational lives: A qualitative study. Health Science Reports. doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.912 (MSc OT student)

3.      Young, S. and Collins, T. (2022) Factors influencing the use of aquatic therapy: an occupational perspective. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, doi.org/10.12968/ijtr.2021.0083 (MSc OT student)

4.      Adams, R., Atkin, H., Lee, R., Hackett, S. & Hackett, K., (2022) Exploring potential for occupational therapy practice models within areas of social deprivation: a qualitative inquiry within a community-centred food cooperative. British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 1-9 (online first). doi: 10.1177/03080226221092689. (MSc OT student)

5.      Lee, R.L., Coulson, C., Hackett, K. (2021) The Social Practices of Food Bank Volunteer Work. Social Policy and Society 1-18. doi:10.1017/S1474746421000555 (MPH student)

6.      Murray-Mendes S, Martinez AR, Hackett KL. (2021) Identifying Occupational Therapy Research Priorities in Trinidad and Tobago: A Group Concept Mapping Study. Occupational Therapy International. (MSc OT student)

7.      Davidson, L., Scott, J. & Forster, N. (2021) Patient Experience of Integrated Care within the United Kingdom: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Care Coordination, doi:10.1177/20534345211004503 (MPH student)

8.      Aladeokin, A., Haighton, C. (2019) Is adolescent e-cigarette use associated with smoking in the United Kingdom? A systematic review with meta-analysis. Tobacco Prevention and Cessation: 5;15 (MPH student)

·       Care experienced young people’s experiences of accessing their records

·       Peer mentoring for young people with care experience 

·       Support for care experienced mothers

·       The myth of absent fathers

·       Working with families seeking asylum

·       Effective ways of intervening with fathers

·       The experiences of families in Public Law Outline

·       The return home of children who are looked after

·       Life story books for adopted children 

The findings of these projects will be used to inform policy and practice for children and families in South Tyneside. The Council are hosting an event on 9^th December for practitioners and elected members to come along and listen to students talk about the findings of their research. 

 

Funded by Marie Curie - Apr 21-Mar 23

PI's: Joanne Atkinson and Amanda Clarke

Co-I's: Sonia Dalkin, Angela Bate, Caroline Jeffery

RA's: Kathryn McEwan and Melissa Girling

 

Iterative approach to analysis and novel methodology has meant papers already in production and high profile presentations undertaken.

Will be making recommendations for policy, practice, and further research.

Watch this space!

The university’s International Mobility programme is open to all, but many of our students cannot afford to go or have caring responsibilities. 

We addressed this by linking students with professionals and other students online in Zimbabwe, Spain, Modlova, Brazil and South Africa using online technologies that are cost neutral and open to all students. We developed collaborative learning materials and discussion forums providing collective learning opportunities. At these online teaching sessions, we explored practice (for example fostering), concepts such as poverty, the role of the state, etc. These interactions provide students with a space to be confronted by different perspectives and develop more complex modes of moral and intellectual reasoning, whilst developing cultural humility. The evaluation of this learning shows that students are more prone to use international perspectives, draw on a wider range of literature and reflect more critically on their own practice. 

 

 Here are a just a couple of examples of how we try to do this which appear to be particularly effective:

Student Led Group Facilitation 

Students engage in a number of ‘live’ projects to develop and apply their guidance & counselling skills. In second year, students are given a brief to design and deliver group work on a range of topics (for example ‘decision making’ or ‘communication skills’) for a target audience. In the past, this has been with year 8 students at a local high school, more recently with Health Education & Social Care Foundation Year students at Northumbria. Students are responsible for working in small groups to plan, develop and deliver the resources (with tutor support) and it is a good example of student led learning that has had a significant impact on student’s self-efficacy and motivation.  Even some of the less motivated or confident students really seem to step up to the responsibility– something which, to start with, is very much out of their comfort zone. Graduates also reflect on how useful this experience is in their future careers and the more recent collaboration with Foundation Year students has provided added benefits of peer to peer support. 

Mend the Gap: removing barriers through collaboration

This option module for BA Hons Guidance & Counselling students (both at Northumbria and at Kaplan, Singapore) and BSc Health & Social Care students is part of a growing European network of innovative collaborative projects. It aims to identify and do something about areas of life experience where there are gaps in knowledge that create barriers in understanding between professionals and the people they work with. Students work alongside a range of people who have experienced discrimination or oppression in some form (for example refugees) to learn from each other and to work together as equals on the development of a series of projects. As a result of this module, students have been proactive in setting up community projects and speaking at international conferences. Feedback suggests that this is a transformational experience for them and the people they work with.  

Peer Mentoring 

For a number of years we have run a peer mentoring programme where second year students mentor first years to support them in their transition to university.  This has received very positive feedback (students have reported increased motivation for study) and has won awards in the past.  It’s a good way of offering an additional layer of support for first years while allowing second years to develop their guidance & counselling skills within the mentoring context.  At this point in the student journey, the second year students are supported to take a more active role in their learning by leading the process and make decisions about how mentoring will be offered. It also has other benefits as it helps to foster a sense of group identity/support which is a key feature of the programme and something which students comment on very positively.  

 

GD was an advisor to DEFRA during Covid

GD is currently working with the Department for Levelling Up and the Foods Standards Agency.

•       Newcastle has implemented a public health approach to tackling Criminal Exploitation and Serious Violence within its strategy development and delivery planning. 

•       The shared responsibility for the strategic plan has been driven by the four statutory partnership boards in the city (Safeguarding Adults, Safeguarding Children, Youth Justice and Community Safety). 

•       The pandemic has had a significant effect on delivery of services, on engagement and retention of vulnerable clients as well as on broader drug supply markets and associated violence 

•       The pandemic is likely to have increase inequalities on already vulnerable communities including health inequalities, and:

•       Anecdotal reports suggest higher levels of violence (including within services) and significant youth or peer on peer violence, increased weapon carriage, and:

•       Changes in substance use (with the latest drug related death figures also rising) including for young people and young adults

•       Practitioner feedback highlights things have changed, risk has increased for vulnerable clients and engagement has reduced but they are not quite clear as to the reasons or detail 

•       Following the pandemic interventions and measures implemented on 23rd March 2020 the Project aims to review ‘what has changed’? 

•       This Project will take an ‘action research’ approach on understanding changes and impact of Criminal Exploitation and Serious Violence (CESV) on vulnerable communities in Newcastle-upon-Tyne from a public health perspective

1.      The wider CESV environment: What are the ‘push/pull’ factors in the broader context that might exacerbate CESV and health impacts among vulnerable and marginalised communities?

2.      Data: Where are the knowledge gaps and what emerging or novel sources (e.g. social media) might fill them?

3.      Partners: In what ways have the partnership boards/police Violence Reduction Unit (VRU)/stakeholders and other agencies responded effectively to COVID lockdown and how can lessons learned be retained in anticipation of future challenges?

4.      Communities: What have been the key CESV impacts related to the pandemic for existing/known populations and for those whose vulnerability has been directly caused by it?

A multiple methods approach will be applied, including: 

1.      Scoping literature review 

2.      Stakeholder Interviews 

3.      Focus Groups and:

4.      Data Analysis

Work with the public, including vulnerable communities and young people, will include narrative and creative methodologies and public researchers where possible and appropriate

1.      Participation and engagement with ‘experts’ is essential in understanding what has changed, current threats, risks and in helping inform practitioners about how best to respond 

2.      By engaging people in the process (frontline workers, those in recovery, drug / alcohol users, family members etc) through interactive enquiry, their views and perceptions will help inform and drive training, teaching and feedback as well as improving practice and delivery 

3.      Practitioners are requesting additional training and this work will help inform the planning and delivery, considering what already exists

1.      Appointing a Research Assistant (RA) to conduct fieldwork

2.      Recruiting and training peer researchers (experts by experience) from existing forums and networks 

3.      Monthly Project Team meetings, and:

4.      Dissemination of findings and/or outputs

•       Work of the peer researchers, stakeholder interviews and focus groups is paramount 

•       This will lead to the formation of a feedback cycle – Participants are updated regularly throughout the work and continue to add to this:

•       Producing feedback at quarterly practitioner learning events while:

•       ‘Products’ will be developed (e.g. in the form of a shared training and teaching programme) 

Lead – Professor Mike Rowe Northumbria University, Co-Lead Rachael Hope NCC, Co-Lead Spt Jamie Pitt Northumbria Police, Research Co-Investigator Dr. William McGovern Northumbria University, Research Co-Investigator Dr. Michelle Addison Durham University, Research Co-Investigator Dr. Georgios Antonopoulos Northumbria University, Research Co-Investigator Dr. John Cavener Northumbria University, Research Co-Investigator Dr. Steph Scott Northumbria University, Senior Research Assistance, Lydia Lochhead Northumbria University, Project Advisor Steve Hulme Northumbria Police, Research Assistant Daniel Lloyd NCC, Research Assistant Claire Toas, NCC, Research Assistant/Quality Assurance Will Linton, Director Scottish Violence Reduction Unit  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Navigating Through Life aims to:

§  Understand pathways associated with particular outcomes of young people in and transitioning from OHC;

§  Map pathways and the lived experience of young people as they transition to leave OHC and after exiting OHC;

§  Identify key factors for meeting the cultural, social and developmental needs associated with successful transitions; and

§  Identify Aboriginal family and community perspectives on the barriers and enablers important to the achievement of developmental milestones from a cultural perspective.

As BA Hons Guidance & Counselling is unique in being the only undergraduate programme in the UK that qualifies students to enter the career guidance profession upon graduation, we were invited to be part of this growing network of practitioners and have been instrumental in its development.  

The benefits for our students are clear – the increased profile of the programme means that an increasing number of employers are aware of our students and are keen to recruit them.  For the past 3 years our final year students have been ‘headhunted’ by employers and continue to be in demand.  In an attempt to attract them into the profession, employers have also provided additional placements, internships and mentoring opportunities for level 4 and 5 students.  We continue to build this reputation and celebrate the success of our graduates as they continue to take the profession by storm!

Other research projects focus on the DfE’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, which provides £220M p.a to all 152 higher tier local authorities across England to provide food and activities for over 750,000 children living in underserved communities. The DfE acknowledged the input of Professor Defeyter’ s expertise and participated, alongside members of Parliament, in a co-design sprint that shaped the HAF framework. Professor Defeyter is also a founding member of the HAF Alliance, a new coalition to help local authorities make a success of the government’s expanded £220 million Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, ensuring multiple benefits for children, families and communities who have been hit hard by the pandemic, building on the prior work of the Healthy Living Lab that made a significant contribution to the School Holidays (Meals and Activities) Bill. The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Alliance pools the expertise of some of the UK’s leading not-for-profit organisations and local authorities who have years of experience working in communities to alleviate inequalities, food poverty and inactivity. Northumbria University is one of the founding members of the Alliance following its research undertaken by the Healthy Living Lab into school and community breakfast clubs, school meals, holiday activity and food programmes, food insecurity and holiday hunger. Recently, Professor Defeyter led an inter-disciplinary project with colleagues from the School of Design to co-produce with senior stakeholders and young people a new framework for HAF+. A policy round-table is due to be held, with government, in the New Year and meetings with a number of government departments, Ministers, and MPs from across both houses are being planned for 2023. Professor Defeyter is also co-lead of the Health and Inequalities sub theme of the Insights North East Project, and is currently working with the Department of Levelling Up on multiple projects across the North East. 

Relevant publications, books, book chapters and Parliamentary Papers are available on PURE.

 

We’re working to support GTRSB communities into and within higher education through a portfolio of research and widening participation projects in our department, including: 

 

·      Research exploring the higher education experiences of GTRSB students (PI: Natalie Forster, Co-Is: Martin Gallagher)

·      SRHE funded research exploring the representation of GTRSB communities in widening participation research, policy and practice (PI: Natalie Forster, Co-Is: Martin Gallagher and Christina Cooper)

·      Research funded by Go Higher West Yorkshire into higher education opportunities for GTRSB young people (PI: Dr Natalie Forster, in partnership with external colleagues) 

·      Ongoing PhD project (Martin Gallagher) exploring equality and diversity training from a GRT autoethnographic perspective (Supervisors: Dr Natalie Forster, Dr Jane Davies and Professor Monique Lhussier) 

 

Collectively, this work helped inform a National Good Practice Pledge developed by colleagues at Buckinghamshire New University. It also feeds directly into Northumbria’s widening participation practice, and our own implementation of the Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen and Boaters into Higher Education Pledge. 

 

In June 2021, we co-created a radio broadcast with community members and Skimstone Arts to celebrate Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month (https://www.skimstone.org.uk/the-open-page). We also hosted an online seminar from Dr Rosaleen McDonagh (writer, activist, and PhD graduate from the department). Awareness raising training has been provided for Northumbria staff, and ongoing developments towards the pledge include an internship project to review GTRSB inclusion across the Northumbria curriculum, and plans to develop sports outreach activities with young people from GTRSB communities in the region. 

Northumbria University were founding members of Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health, a collaboration of the five North East Universities in a unique partnership to deliver world-class research to improve health and wellbeing and tackle inequalities. Since its launch in 2008, SWECW staff have been active contributors and undertake key leadership role: Susan Carr & Monique Lhussier Associate Directors, Susan also leads on Public Involvement and Engagement across Fuse, Sonia Dalkin, Natalie Forster, Gemma Wilson lead research programmes.  

Fuse has recently successfully bid to continue membership of the NIHR School for Public Health Research (2022-2026), a partnership between eight leading academic centres with excellence in applied public health research and evaluative practice in England providing excellent collaborations and opportunities for SWECW staff.

Developing collaborations to allow us to be abreast of and influence developments in this field is vital for good research practice. Through our work in the Public Involvement and Engagement workstream in Fuse we are connected with activities of the NIHR Centre for Engagement and Dissemination and are working to achieving Health Research Authority (HRA) recognition for good practice in and commitment to public involvement.  Reciprocal relationships with NIHR Research Design Service and Creating Connections Network involves us in  providing and accessing training across the regional and supports our ability to grow our repository of involvement  tools and protocols to ensure we are delivering timely and impactful involvement in all our work. 

- Northumbria academics support teenagers to take the lead in wellbeing research

- Supporting the parents of young people with mental health problems