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Visually impaired people in the UK have been adversely impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic due to an inconsistent approach between agencies and a failure to effectively manage key data. In this paper, fractures in the system already evident, particularly around the transition between health and social care, and the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has further starkly highlighted them, are presented. Key recommendations are proposed to improve the system and prevent such failings being repeated.
Debate on the role of charitable grant-making foundations often references concerns about their lack of transparency. There has, however, been limited empirical investigation of foundation transparency levels. In this study, we report the largest-ever investigation of transparency among grant-making foundations in England and Wales. Based on a novel dataset, which captures the level of grant-specific data published by more than 2,200 foundations over five years from 2014 to 2018 (inclusive), we find that: (a) overall, these foundations are transparent in their disclosure of grant-specific data; (b) the results also paint a picture of stability – of those foundations with published trustees’ annual reports and accounts in all five years of this study, 78 per cent had the same disclosure practice throughout; and (c) a specific regulatory change mandating grant-specific disclosure has not substantially increased levels of disclosure. This study therefore provides detailed evidence that contributes to and expands the conversation on English and Welsh foundation transparency.
This paper is intended as a contribution to the debate on the place of research in children’s services from a funder of social research and three researchers, two of whom spent (between them) 12 years in an organisation delivering services to children and young people. We draw on two studies, the first identifying the questions to which practitioners in social care wanted answers; the second describing the degree of ‘fit’ between funded research and practitioners’ questions. These inform a discussion of the kinds of research and research infrastructure needed to support high-quality social care services for children.
This chapter describes the significance of material qualities of the legacies produced by collaborative research that focuses on heritage. Collaborative research works partly through the intangible processes of networking, skills development and so on, but also often through encounters with things, places and landscapes. Material creations and outputs are also frequently made in collaborative research, and this chapter provides a frame of reference and comparative examples. Heritage research addresses problems of the material directly and so can give resources in this field to those working on other kinds of collaborative research. The chapter presents a series of narratives of materials from collaborative heritage projects, which in themselves reflect the forms of knowledge created by those projects. It concludes by noting the significance of being in touch with materials, and the significance of things and places in collaborative research, along with how with the distinctive politics of materials unfold through them.
Improving health in populations in which health is poor is a complex process. This book argues that the traditional government approach of exhorting individuals to live healthier lifestyles is not enough - action to promote public health needs to take place not just through public agencies, but also by engaging community assets and resources in their broadest sense.
The book reports lessons from the experience of planning, establishing and delivering such action by the five-year Sustainable Health Action Research Programme (SHARP) in Wales. It critically examines the experience of SHARP in relation to current literature on policy; community health and health inequalities; and action research. The authors make clear how this regional development has produced opportunities for developing general concepts and theory about community-based policy developments that are relevant across national boundaries and show that complex and sustained community action, and effective local partnership, are fundamental components of the mix of factors required to address health inequalities successfully.
The book concludes by indicating the connections between SHARP and earlier traditions of community-based action, and by arguing that we need to be bolder in our approaches to community-based health improvement and more flexible in our understanding of the ways in which knowledge and inform developments in health policy.
The book will be of interest to practitioners and activists working in community-based projects; students in community development, health studies and medical sociology; professionals working in health promotion, community nursing and allied areas; and policy makers working at local, regional and national levels.
This chapter discusses the idea of do-it-yourself (DIY) heritage, that is, heritage as it is produced through people’s actions, conversations, and relationships. The chapter looks at the Do-It-Yourself Heritage Day event and how it worked to create moments of connection — what the Ceramic City Stories team call the ‘Stoke Ping’. It draws on wider DIY traditions ‘to describe an ethos of horizontal community action, of mutual aid and of making alternatives now’. DIY approaches challenge models of exponential growth that often exist in funding, policy, and activism, and instead favour the magic of small moments and connections. Yet, they also show — through a recent innovative Heritage Lottery Fund initiative — how funding can be deployed to enable rather than constrain DIY horizontal, small-scale, and action-led approaches.
English
In the context of systematic reviews, statistical meta-analysis of findings is not always possible. Where this is the case, or where a review of implementation evidence is required, narrative synthesis of data is typically undertaken. Drawing on recently developed guidance aimed at those undertaking data synthesis – and information on the implementation of domestic smoke detectors – we present findings from a demonstration of the tools and techniques that can be used in a narrative synthesis. The work demonstrates how this process can be made more transparent, and suggests that using the tools and techniques can improve the quality of narrative synthesis.
Drawing on a nested qualitative study within REPROVIDE, a randomised controlled trial examining the effectiveness of a group-based domestic abuse perpetrator programme, this article explores accounts of domestic abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspectives of victims/survivors and perpetrators. Based on interviews with male perpetrators and female survivors, including with partner/ex-partner dyads, our study reveals the gendered effects of the pandemic on abusive perpetrator behaviour.
Findings are presented through themes addressing the different experiences of victims/survivors and perpetrators during the pandemic. Through an exploration of victim/survivor attempts to ameliorate intensified abuse through compliance (Theme 1), the way perpetrators put on a masculine ‘front’ (Theme 2), the gendered burden of domestic responsibilities (Theme 3) and highlighting the importance of continued specialist support (Theme 4), this article contributes to an understanding of gender inequalities underpinning pre-pandemic domestic violence and abuse and how perpetrators utilised inequalities during COVID restrictions. Some dyads reported relationships feeling more settled in the first UK lockdown, however, this was associated with increased opportunities for control that lockdown provided perpetrators. Both parties experienced changes in service responses. We articulate implications for safe working with perpetrators and families during future pandemics or social crises.
