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The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented for young people within the UK. The pandemic has presented particular challenges for vulnerable children and young people. For example, a recent study in the UK indicated that 83% of young people with existing mental health conditions said the pandemic had made their condition worse (Young Minds, 2020). To date, the impact upon populations such as young people in Secure Children’s Homes (SCHs) is unknown. This study aims to elucidate this area.

SCHs provide a safe, supportive environment for vulnerable young people who frequently present with multiple and complex needs. Young people residing within a SCH may be residing at the setting because of a Secure Accommodation Order under a Section 25 Order of the Children’s Act (1989) or for criminal justice reasons, i.e. serving a Remand period or custodial sentence. Preliminary research compared a baseline period to a follow-up period after the commencement of COVID-19 national lockdown measures within a SCH in the North of England to develop understanding of the impact for young people.

A significant decrease in overall incidents (t (5) = −6.88, p < 0.001), restraints (t (5) = −9.07, p < 0.001) and other incidents including assaults occurred during follow-up. The SECURE STAIRS framework supports trauma-informed care and enhances support within the setting. Consistent with the framework, provision of formulation meetings was significantly increased within the follow-up period (Welsh’s t (74) = −2.74, p < 0.001). Reflections and future recommendations are outlined.

The unanticipated results highlight the value of examining incident data within secure environments and could lead to effective practice changes for practitioners working within this domain. This research also demonstrates how frameworks such as SECURE STAIRS can be beneficial for vulnerable young people during periods of change and stress in mitigating some of the potential negative effects. The implementation of such frameworks within SCHs is still novel and thus evaluative research is valuable.

This practitioner-based manuscript describes the development and implementation of Focus on College Understanding and Success (FOCUS), a school-university programmatic model to develop College Access Literacy (CAL) among both students and educators in a Professional Development School (PDS) network. With an emphasis on teacher training, supplemental learning opportunities for students, and faculty-student-parent mentor/partnerships, this model was designed to apply a culturally responsive approach to achieving equity in college readiness programming.

The paper is conceptual in that it presents an innovative idea to stimulate discussion, generate new ideas, and advance thinking about a collective impact school-university partnership initiative focused on supporting underrepresented students in pursuing higher education goals through participation in the FOCUS program. A thematic analysis was completed on focus group data collected for both educators and students who participated in the project. Data focused on the identification of both strengths and challenges of program development and implementation.

The paper provides insights and ideas related to how to structure a college access and success program that focuses on the assets that underrepresented students bring to college readiness opportunities designed for them by centering their struggles while uplifting their personal, unique abilities. Our results validate a college readiness program design and implementation process that relies on asset-based theoretical frameworks including Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) model and Moll et al.’s (1992) Funds of Knowledge (FoK) framework.

This study shows how school-university partnerships are uniquely positioned to capitalize on the strengths of students and their families in designing college readiness programming. By considering the local context and culturally responsive approaches to program development and implementation, programs like FOCUS can build on community resources and the teacher-student relationship to increase College Access Literacy (CAL) in both students and their teachers.

In 2022, the Baltimore professional development school (PDS) partner schools, John Ruhruh Elementary/Middle School (JREMS) and Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) received funds through a Maryland Educational Emergency Revitalization (MEER) grant to determine (a) to what extent additional resources and professional development would increase JREMS teachers’ efficacy in technology integration and (b) to what extent NDMU professional development in the form of workshops and self-paced computer science modules would result in greater use of technology in the JREMS K-8 classrooms. Results indicated a statistically significant improvement in both teacher comfort with technology and integrated use of technology in instruction.

Survey data were collected on teacher-stated comfort with technology before and after grant implementation. Teachers’ use of technology was also measured by unannounced classroom visits by administration before and after the grant implementation and through artifacts teachers submitted during NDMU professional development modules.

Results showing significant increases in self-efficacy with technology along with teacher integration of technology exemplify the benefits of a PDS partnership.

This initiative was original in its approach to teacher development by replacing required teacher professional development with an invitation to participate and an incentive for participation (a personal MacBook) that met the stated needs of teachers. Teacher motivation was strong because teammates in a strong PDS partnership provided the necessary supports to induce changes in teacher self-efficacy.

Early access to senior decision makers and investigations has improved outcomes for many conditions. A surgical clinical decisions unit (CDU) was created to allow rapid assessment and investigation by on-call senior surgical team members to facilitate decision making and, if appropriate, discharge within a set time frame (less than four hours). The purpose of this paper is to compare outcomes for unscheduled general surgery admissions to the hospital before and after commissioning this unit.

Prospectively collected hospital episode statistics data were compared for all general surgical admissions for one year prior to (July 2010-June 2011) and two years after (July 2011-June 2013) the introduction of the CDU. Statistical analysis using the Mann Whitney U-test was performed.

More patients were discharged within 24 hours (12 per cent vs 20 per cent, p < 0.001) and total hospital stay decreased (4.6 days vs 3.2 days, p < 0.001) following introduction of CDU. Admission via A & E (273 vs 212, p < 0.01) was also decreased. Overall there was a 25.3 per cent reduction in emergency surgical admissions. No difference was noted in 30-day readmission rates (47 vs 49, p=0.29).

The introduction of a CDU in has increased early discharge rates and facilitated safe early discharge, reducing overall hospital stay for unscheduled general surgical admissions. This has decreased fixed bed costs and improved patient flow by decreasing surgical care episodes routed through the emergency department (ED). In all, 30-day readmission rates have not been influenced by shorter hospital stay. Service redesign involving early senior decision making and patient investigation increases efficiency and patient satisfaction within unscheduled general surgical care. Not original but significant in that the model has not been widely implemented and this is a useful addition to the literature.

There is a growing emphasis on the need to integrate research and practice in the fields of domestic and sexual violence. However, additional research is needed to identify strategies for key stakeholders to use to bridge research and practice in these areas. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The current study analyzed qualitative data collected during a statewide conference for researchers and practitioners whose work addresses domestic and/or sexual violence.

The findings provide information about building effective researcher-practitioner collaborations, developing methodologically sound studies that address practice-relevant research questions, and identifying steps that funders, state coalitions, researchers, and practitioners can take to advance the integration of research and practice.

Additional research is needed to evaluate specific approaches to better integrating research and practice related to domestic and sexual violence.

Researcher-practitioner collaborations offer numerous benefits to advancing research and practice related to domestic and sexual violence. Additional guidance and tangible support is needed to foster these collaborations.

This study used data collected during an innovative conference that brought together researchers and practitioners. The data have implications for furthering the integration of research and practice related to domestic and sexual violence.

This review arises from a series of multidisciplinary Franco‐British workshops which were supported by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR). More than 30 participants from a range of institutions and agencies were involved in compiling the material in this review (Appendix I). The workshops offered an opportunity to exchange ideas from research on the relationships between migration, health and well‐being in Britain and France. In the following discussion we compare and contrast experiences in the two countries, with the aim of assessing the importance of international, national and local contexts, in their various cultural, social and political dimensions, for the relationships of interest. Drawing on these ideas, we suggest the definition of a future international research agenda.

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a pilot trial, investigating the accessibility provided by a tablet computer (Apple iPad) to individuals with visual impairment. The study was designed around an N-of-1 randomised controlled trial (RCT), which was replicated for 12 participants. It served as an opportunity to evaluate the use N-of-1 trials in studies involving people who are visually impaired.

The study centred round an N-of-1 RCT, comparing the accessibility provided by control equipment (Windows computer) against the intervention equipment (Apple iPad). Twelve participants conducted six tests on the equipment as per randomisation, followed by a quantitative-based evaluation and short interviews.

One-sided individual randomisation tests showed a significant result for overall satisfaction in favour of the tablet at the 0.05 significance level for seven of the participants. Participants identified several strengths of the iPad in helping a partially sighted user in accessing the internet: inbuilt zoom and magnification options; increased control as a result of the touch screen; and accessibility tools being built into the operating system. The main limitation suggested was the way the zoom function operates by enlarging the onscreen keyboard. This caused difficulties for those with more severe visual impairments using this function in inputting text.

There has been limited research to substantiate positive reviews of the tablet computer for low-vision users. The results of this pilot study gives evidence in support of these potential benefits, and demonstrates the importance of a more thorough investigation.

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to effectively end race-conscious admissions practices across the nation, this paper highlights the law’s commitment to whiteness and antiblackness, invites us to mourn and to connect to possibility.

Drawing from the theoretical contributions of Cheryl Harris, Jarvis Givens and Chezare Warren, as well as the wisdom of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissenting opinion, this paper utilizes CRT composite counterstory methodology to illuminate the antiblack reality of facially “race-neutral” admissions.

By manifesting the impossible situation that SFFA and the Supreme Court’s majority seek to normalize, the composite counterstory illuminates how Justice Jackson’s hypothetical enacts a fugitive pedagogy within a dominant legal system committed to whiteness as property; invites us to mourn, to connect to possibility and to remain committed to freedom as an intergenerational project that is inherently humanizing.

In a sobering moment where we face the end of race-conscious admissions, this paper uniquely grapples with the contradictions of affirmative action as minimally effective while also radically disruptive.

This paper reports on the key findings of a study into the outcomes and costs of community care for a large cohort of people with learning disabilities, supported in 12 study sites across England, who left various long‐stay hospital 12 years ago as part of a centrally monitored and evaluated government policy initiative on deinstitutionalisation. It represents the last follow‐up of a raft of linked longitudinal evaluations, conducted at four time points over a twelve‐year period. The paper identifies the findings from the last follow‐up and interprets and presents them as summary observations and trends in relation to the findings in learning disability, briefly reviewing them in relation to wider evidence on deinstitutionalisation and community care in England.