Search results

Evaluation of treatment can be seen as part of a wider concern to measure quality of care, as well as about the need to monitor and improve the effectiveness of services. Quality of life issues will be of increasing interest to those involved in the commissioning of health‐care services. Cancer is used to illustrate how the quality of life of patients, both during and after treatment, can be measured and the information used by purchasers to consider the relative effectiveness of different methods of treatment. This in turn can inform the overall purchasing strategy of commissioning agencies.

A series of consultations between patients treated surgically for colorectal cancer and their hospital consultants were examined to establish the main focus of the consultation at various stages in the post‐surgical period. The results showed that follow‐up consultations were predominantly doctor driven. Patients interviewed less than 12 months since the time of surgery (short‐term group) were more likely to receive a longer consultation with a significantly higher number of verbal interactions (questions, responses) than patients more than 12 months since surgery at the time of interview (long‐term group). Furthermore, patients in the short‐term group played a greater participatory role within consultations than patients in the long‐term group. The predominant focus throughout all consultations was biomedical, with little attention afforded to patients’ expressions of post‐operative anxiety. At present, it appears that out‐patient consultations play a minimal role in either detecting or addressing psychosocial morbidity amongst colorectal cancer patients in the post‐surgical period.

The user voice has been diminished by New Labour's increased reliance on regulation and inspection, notably in Best Value. Reflecting on community care implementation, the paper contends that within Best Value users may maximise their influence in an evidence‐based practice frame.

The flu ‘epidemic’ and the ‘shortage’ of beds within the NHS dominated the headlines in the first weeks of the twenty‐first century. That this very twentieth‐century issue should have reared its head so soon is perhaps unsurprising. However, it is disappointing that discussions about health should, yet again, be so focused on the provision of acute care.

This paper aims to detail the work of Nasa Begum in the disabled people's movement in the UK.

The paper provides information on Nasa's background and her work as a social worker, researcher and activist in the disability movement.

Nasa was a black disabled woman who used mental health services. This paper focuses particularly on how she brought the perspectives of black disabled people to the disabled people's movement and the health and social care field.

The paper demonstrates that Nasa has left a clear legacy of principles that show how things can and should be done when policy makers and service providers want to work in an inclusive way.

A NETWORK OF COMMUNITY‐based service for people in Fareham and Gosport with enduring mental illness was developed by Southern Focus Trust ‐ formerly the Portsmouth Housing Trust. The experience of setting up this supported living service has demonstrated how flexibility and open working with clients have been able to meet the changing needs of people with enduring mental illness. The flexibility of the service has meant that residents have been able to remain in their home as their needs change and hospital admission is prevented.

Commencing with publications in the 1970s, the purpose of this paper is to review the historical writing about Australian and New Zealand teachers over the past 50 years.

The paper incorporates men and women who led and taught in domestic spaces, per-school, primary, secondary and higher education. It is structured around publications in the ANZHES Journal and History of Education Review, and includes research published in other forums as appropriate. The literature review is selective rather than comprehensive.

Since the 1980s, the history of New Zealand and Australian teachers has mostly focussed on women educators in an increasing array of contexts, and incorporated various theoretical perspectives over time.

The paper highlights key themes and identifies potential directions for research into Australian and New Zealand teachers.

Biological understandings of mental illness are promoted by both anti-stigma campaigners and increasingly by activists protesting against social security cuts. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the pitfalls of the “illness” conceptualisation for reducing discrimination, comments on divisions between those arguing for a right to work and those who seek a right not to work, and proposes bridge building and more effective messages, drawing on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Review of relevant evidence on the effectiveness or lack of it of the “mental illness is an illness like any other” message in anti-stigma work, and discussion of grey literature from campaigners and bloggers.

There is a growing body of evidence that the “illness like any other” message entrenches rather than reduces stigma and discrimination: this message should not be used in anti-discrimination work. At the same time some social security bloggers and campaigners have argued they are “sick” in order to resist efforts to compel them to seek work or face sanctions; whilst older disability rights campaigners have argued for the right to work. The paper argues for new bridge building and use of evidence based messages in campaigning.

This paper is based on review of evidence on the impact of using the “illness” message to reduce stigma and discrimination; and on discussion of campaigns and blogs. It is not based on a systematic review of campaigns.

There is a need for campaigns that support rights holistically – the right to a decent standard of living and the right to work. This requires bridge building between activists, which could usefully be rooted in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The “illness” conceptualisation is harmful to the effort to reduce stigma and discrimination. Mental health staff can act as allies to those they serve in securing all these rights.

This is the only recent paper to analyse the evidence that the “illness like any other” message is harmful in anti-stigma work, together with its implications for the recent phenomenon of mental health campaigners moving from opposition to the medical model, to a new argument that they are “too sick” to work. This paper suggests ways forward for everyone with an interest in combatting stigma and discrimination.