News (1,679 posts)

Age-related brain diseases such as stroke, dementia, and late-life depression are a debilitating part of growing older, but people can lower their risk of these diseases through behavioral and lifestyle changes. In a new extensive systematic review, Mass General Brigham researchers identified 17 modifiable risk factors that are shared by stroke, dementia, and late-life depression. Modifying any one of them can reduce your risk of all three conditions.

An English phrase seems particularly apt here: Is this entire CPD system ‘fit for purpose’?

Professor Geraldine Macdonald’s research at the University of Bristol focuses on developing robust evidence for interventions social care policy and practice. A registered social worker, Professor Macdonald has been a long-standing advocate of the importance of rigorous research in social care and specialises in the evaluation of complex social interventions.

A paper led by academics at Northumbria University… points to figures outlining the scale of the challenges and increasing numbers of people impacted:
– Approximately 1.25 million people in the UK have an eating disorder
– 12.5% of 17 to 19-year-olds in England reported having an eating disorder in 2023, compared with 0.8% in 2017
– The financial cost of eating disorders to the English economy was estimated as £8 billion in 2020

Despite this growing demand, many communities face a severe shortage of mental health professionals such as psychologists, counselors, therapists, social workers, and psychiatrists, among others. To assess where these shortages are most acute, Addiction-Rep—a consulting firm for rehab and addiction treatment centers—analyzed data from multiple federal sources, measuring the number of mental health professionals per 10,000 residents in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas and all 50 states. The findings highlight significant disparities in mental health workforce availability, particularly in the South and pockets of the Mountain West.

As director of The Camden Life Center in Camden, New York, Jessica Perusse, LCSW-R, CSSW, has several ties to the students and faculty in the School of Social Work in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. Above: Jessica (center, with plaque)

With low overhead, abysmal wages, and largely nonperishable inventory, dollar store chains can easily be located nearly anywhere, including in small communities. Dollar chains are especially concentrated across the US South. In Louisiana alone, there are two dollar stores for every 10,000 people and almost half of those stores are in counties with fewer than 100 people per square mile. Their ubiquity has made dollar stores a Southern staple that is often the only choice for communities’ basic needs. While these stores continue to make money for shareholders, workers face a relentless grind of poverty wages, unsafe working conditions, and corporate-driven understaffing that puts safety at risk.

“This bill eliminates tenure,” said Sara Kilpatrick, executive director of the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors. “If certain administrators can call for post-tenure review at any time and fire a faculty member without due process, that is not real tenure, that is tenure in name only.”

BASW International Chair, Janet Walker considers social work’s important role in an increasingly unstable world.

Scottish Care says care packages which are 15 minutes in length, never mind five-minutes, are undignified and untenable. CEO of Scottish Care Donald Macaskill said social care is about relationships, not tasks, and people receiving care in their home deserve to be treated with dignity: “The growing use of five-minute visits to support some of our most valuable citizens is quite frankly obscene.

The day I learned my great-grandfather was a killer, certain aspects of my own life became clear to me, snapping into focus with an almost audible click. I grew up hearing that my great-grandfather had been a powerful man who was equal parts obstinate, harsh and unlikeable. But until that day, I had no idea he had also been capable of maiming and killing thousands of people without remorse. As horrific as that realisation was, it was also revelatory. It led me to reflect on the power of addiction and the toxicity of family secrets, what counts as poison and what counts as elixir, and whether and how redemption is possible, and for whom.

Good news for worms: Researchers have found a treatment that extends roundworms’ lives by up to a factor of ten. They’ve also learned how to give mice an extra 50 percent of healthy longevity. And a healthy-life-extending treatment is now being tested on dogs whose owners are eager to keep their beloved pets around as long as possible. But what about us? Can medical science help more people—perhaps even most—live past 90 and longer in good health?

LB706, introduced by Omaha Sen. Terrell McKinney, would require emergency dispatchers to screen incoming calls for signs of mental health-related issues, such as threatening self-harm or severe distress. Under the bill, if mental health concerns are present, the dispatcher would flag the call as a “mental health priority,” prompting dispatch of an APS social worker alongside an officer.

Dr. Barbra Teater leads a panel on different career choices for social workers.

Powerful lobbying has quietly exempted finance from an EU sustainability law, risking Europe’s environmental and human rights commitments.

Under the legislation, New Jersey would join an interstate agreement, known as the Social Work Licensure Compact, that would allow social workers licensed at the clinical and master’s levels here to practice in other states that are also members of the compact without obtaining multiple state licenses.

The new legislation essentially limits how much judges can reduce a prison sentence for mitigating factors (such as a guilty plea, young age or mental ability). A regulatory impact statement from the Ministry of Justice estimated it would result in 1,350 more people in prison. This and other law changes are effectively putting more people in prison for longer. By 2035, imprisonment numbers are expected to increase by 40% from their current levels, with significant cost implications.

Long believed to be particularly associated with males, new research is revolutionising our understanding of autism

“I can imagine the criticism we would receive if we had information about a very dangerous situation, potentially dangerous situation, that a child was about to be born into, and we said we should do nothing until that child is born,” Chris Winters, the department’s commissioner, said at the meeting.

The AMHP Leads Network, representing the Approved Mental Health Professionals of England and Wales has criticised the change, a position supported by the British Association of Social Workers. AMHP Leads Network Co-Chair Kirsten Bingham expressed grave concerns:

‘The proposal is deeply troubling and will have disastrous unintended consequences for both individuals in crisis and those responding to mental health emergencies. As the key decision maker under the Mental Health Act 1983, we strongly urge the House of Commons, to reject this amendment.

Lately, there have been many headlines on scientific fraud and journal article retractions. If this trend continues, it represents a serious threat to public trust in science. One way to tackle this problem – and ensure public trust in science remains high – may be to slow it down. We sometimes refer to this philosophy as slow science. Akin to the slow food movement, slow science prioritises quality over speed and seeks to buck incentive structures that promote mass production.

But Chua Hoi-wai, chief executive of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service and veteran policy advocate behind the setting up of the poverty commission, conceded that influencing the government had become more challenging, pointing to a paradigm shift in governance culture.

Nearly half of people who are affected by ketamine use disorder are not seeking any support or treatment, according to a new study led by the University of Exeter and University College London (UCL)

Michaela Raj, manager of the Emotional Wellbeing Team at Wakefield Council, reflects on winning the Children and Young People’s Champion category at the CYP Now Awards 2024.

If experience is a song, mood is the bassline. As your thoughts and sensations flow by, it’s your mood that provides the emotional undercurrent. It predisposes you to respond in certain ways to a dynamic and changing world. If you’re in a positive mood, a beautiful sunset pulses with awe and appreciation; a first sip of coffee hums with comfort amid the morning’s busy schedule. Conversely, if you’re in a bad mood, forgetting your wallet while shopping immediately introduces sharp notes of gloom and irritation.

Peer review as we know it arose in the mid 20th century as the demand for specialised research grew following the end of the second world war. Contrast this with the 18th and 19th centuries, when peer review was undertaken mainly by editors of learned societies and university publishing presses. Today, peer review is done largely by external peer reviewers who have been asked by a journal’s editor to conduct a review of a manuscript focusing on the quality and value of the research.

Members of the Crisis Response Team, which has police officers and social workers, who have expertise in mental health and de-escalation techniques, deployed together to respond to mental health and substance abuse issues within the city.

When a Veteran who has bravely served our country is without a home, there’s another kind of army standing by to help. Our team of social workers connects Veterans with the resources and support they earned through their service, putting them back on the path to housing and independence.

Since her teens, Anna Beecher used drinking as a gateway to sexual encounters, a mask for both her vulnerability and accountability. It took falling for someone in the sober light of day to realise what love was