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Using a mixed methodology comprising interviews, case file analysis and descriptive statistics, this study aims to examine the experiences of all 43 young people in Wales subject to secure accommodation orders between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2018.

Children in the UK aged 10–17 years who are deemed to be at a significant level of risk to themselves or others may be subject to a secure accommodation order, leading to time spent in a secure children’s home (SCH) on welfare grounds. Following a rise in the number of children in Wales referred to SCHs for welfare reasons, this paper describes these young people’s journeys into, through and out of SCHs, giving insight into their experiences and highlighting areas for policy and practice improvements.

Findings indicate that improvements in mental health support and placement availability are key in improving the experiences of this particularly vulnerable group of young people throughout their childhood.

Other practical implications of the study’s findings, such as improvements in secure transport arrangements, are also discussed.

While the findings are limited by the reliance on self-report methods and the size of the study, namely, the small number of young people with experience of SCHs who were able to participate, the findings build on the existing knowledge base around children’s residential accommodation and provide new insights into how best to support these children.

People in prisons have a high prevalence of poly-traumatisation throughout their life span. The behavioural and emotional sequalae of trauma are likely to be managed across the whole organisation. However, there is still a lack of clarity about the key components of a trauma-informed approach within the custodial context. This study aimed to gather in-depth knowledge of staff views on the components of an optimal trauma pathway in a prison and the organisational factors that influence its implementation.

The authors’ research design is qualitative, involving in-depth, semi-structured interviews with eight members of staff from different professional backgrounds at a single prison in the UK that houses sentenced and remand prisoners. Data was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Three super-ordinate themes were identified within the data. Firstly, components of a trauma-informed pathway included sub-themes of asking about what has happened and knowing how to respond; providing specialist approaches; enabling residents to cope; screening and detection; and a compassionate relational approach. Secondly, organisational factors were associated with sub-themes of culture and leadership, resources and systems and processes. Thirdly, staff factors were associated with sub-themes of skills development and training, staff well-being and support and staff attitudes.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD in prisons are under-detected, and there are complex psychosocial factors within prisons that mediate the effectiveness of psychological therapies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first exploration of staff perspectives on the components of a trauma-informed pathway within custodial settings. Future directions should involve the piloting and evaluation of the components of the trauma-informed pathway, with a focus on longer-term outcomes and exploration of the organisational factors that impact on effectiveness.

“Food deserts” in British cities are partly the result of the expansion of multiple food retailing. New large stores force smaller stores to close down, thus depriving local residents of food shopping opportunities. Examines this proposition through an analysis of changes in consumer access to food shopping in Cardiff over the last 20 years. Shows that although accessibility scores have increased in Cardiff since 1980 they have increased at a faster rate in higher income areas. In a pocket of deprived areas accessibility has declined over the decade. Thus, there has been a polarisation effect with a widening gap in accessibility scores across the city.

Parental advocacy is an emerging area of research and policy interest in Wales and across the UK. Although there is little research in the UK context to date, international research has indicated that parental advocacy can improve the relationship between parent and professional in the field of child protection social work. This paper aims to ascertain how the implementation of a parental advocacy programme supports parents to play a meaningful role in decision-making when children’s services are working with them and their families.

This study used interviews, surveys and focus groups to obtain qualitative data from 18 parents, seven parent advocates, two advocacy managers and four social workers, to explore the potential impact of parental advocacy on decision-making. The study identified challenges in implementing parental advocacy, particularly relating to awareness of the service. Participants also discussed experiences of the child protection system and how parents are supported by advocates.

Despite challenges surrounding implementation, initial findings were encouraging, and generated examples of how parental advocacy services have helped parents to understand children’s services and develop relationships of trust with social care professionals. In doing so, this study identified potential mechanisms that may be useful to support future service delivery.

This paper and research is novel as it explores parental advocacy within the Welsh context. Although there has been research conducted into parental advocacy, this has largely come from the USA. This research comes from the evaluation of an innovative and promising parental advocacy scheme in Wales.

Many retail and business areas in Britain’s inner cities find difficulties in competing with modern retail developments in town centre and off‐centre locations, and are in decline as a result. This paper examines one such area, in Cardiff, Wales, and reviews the steps which could be taken to halt decline and revive the area’s economic and social role in the community. The views of traders and local residents concerning possible improvements to the area are explored, through consultations carried out through the local Community Forum and a survey carried out by students from Cardiff University. The paper concludes with a discussion of the main “agents for change”, in particular the crucial role of the local authority in facilitating environmental and economic change.

Involvement of parents/carers may increase effectiveness of primary school-based alcohol-misuse prevention projects through strengthening family-based protective factors, but rates of parental engagement are typically low. This paper reports findings from an exploratory trial of a school-based prevention intervention – Kids, Adults Together (KAT), based on the Social Development Model, which aimed to promote pro-social family communication in order to prevent alcohol misuse, and incorporated strategies to engage parents/carers. The purpose of this paper is to assess the feasibility and value of conducting an effectiveness trial of KAT.

The study was a parallel-group cluster randomised exploratory trial with an embedded process evaluation. The study took place in south Wales, UK, and involved nine primary schools, 367 pupils in Years 5/6 (aged 9-11 years) and their parents/carers and teachers. Questionnaires were completed by pupils at baseline and four month follow-up, and by parents at six month follow-up.

Overall KAT was delivered with good fidelity, but two of five intervention schools withdrew from the study without completing implementation. In total, 50 per cent of eligible parents participated in the intervention, and KAT had good acceptability among pupils, parents and teachers. However, a number of “progression to effectiveness trial” criteria were not met. Intermediate outcomes on family communication (hypothesised to prevent alcohol misuse) showed insufficient evidence of an intervention effect. Difficulties were encountered in identifying age appropriate outcome measures for primary school-age children, particularly in relation to family communication processes. The study was unable to find comprehensive methodological guidance on exploratory trials.

It would not be appropriate to conduct an effectiveness trial as key progression criteria relating to intervention and trial feasibility were not met. There is a need for new measures of family communication which are suitable for primary school-age children, and more guidance on the design and conduct of exploratory/feasibility trials.

KAT achieved high rates of parental involvement, and its theoretical framework and processes could be adapted by other interventions which experience difficulties with recruitment of parents/carers.

The expansion by grocery retailers in the UK has been a subject of much speculation and continues to raise questions about the scope and format of future investment in new stores. Suggests that a more dynamic perspective of the strategies of individual retailers is central to understanding this issue. Examines competing perspectives of locational change and suggests that retail potential needs to be defined locally not just with reference to the quality of retail floorspace but also to the strategic objectives of competing organizations. Such a perspective highlights how the format and locational choices of competing retail organizations themselves might serve to blur the boundaries of local market potential. Illustrates this with reference to an exploratory case study of the evolution of grocery retailing in two UK cities, Cardiff and Manchester. Highlights the implications of the changes in competing formats for the stability of the local retail system and identifies some related research issues.

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the current state of literature on peer parental advocacy, offering practical insights and ideas for researchers and practitioners interested in this evolving field.

This narrative review is a comprehensive, critical and objective analysis of the current knowledge on peer parental advocacy.

Parental peer advocacy (PPA) has seen growing interest, with increasing research detailing the benefits and challenges. It is now being considered within children’s services across the UK, drawing upon the success of similar initiatives, especially in the USA. There is a compelling case for PPA, not least as it may contribute to resolving the longstanding challenges within children services of families having the opportunity to meaningfully participate in decision-making (Corby et al., 1996; Muench et al., 2017; Bekaert et al., 2021).

Parental advocacy (PA) continues to be an evolving area of academic research and policy development both in the United Kingdom and internationally. Emerging research suggests a compelling case for an expansion in PPA within child welfare and protection systems, specifically in case, program and policy advocacy.

PA continues to be an evolving area of academic research and policy development both in the United Kingdom and internationally. Emerging research suggests a compelling case for an expansion in PPA within child welfare and protection systems, specifically in case, program and policy advocacy.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first UK-based narrative reviews that critically analyses the research, highlighting the limitations and strengths of adopting PPA as an approach.

Several commentators have expressed concern over the methods used by the retail sector in the UK in deciding on the location and scale of future developments. Most firms appear simply to react to development opportunities as they arise, or make decisions on the basis of ‘hunch’. Very little statistical information is used to assist them. One reason for this must be that forecasting methods and factual information available are frequently quite inadequate to permit of reliable judgments about the performance of new stores in specified locations. This reflects not only the lack of retail turnover statistics at local level, but also the lack of detailed information about the routine shopping behaviour of representative samples of the population. In recent years there has been very little applied general research into shopping behaviour in the UK; consequently very little is known about many of its aspects, particularly those factors which influence and motivate people's choice of store for their everyday shopping trips. In this article the authors have a positive objective; after discussing existing sources of information they describe a new and potentially valuable source — the Cardiff shopping diary survey, which they themselves carried out in the first half of 1982. Finally, they deal with some ways in which the results of this survey can be put to practical use by retail organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to report findings on an initiative set up by The Welsh Assembly Government to provide free, healthy breakfasts to primary school children throughout Wales.

The research employed a cluster randomised controlled trial design with 58 schools in South, West and North Wales. Quantitative measures were taken at baseline, four months and 12 months.

With the injection of more money and effective services it was found that the free school breakfast initiative could help improve health and social inequalities.

This paper provides some of the background to the initiative, describes the evaluation and highlights some of the key methodological issues that arose during the course of the research.