“Football can help tackle smoking and obesity”

The Guardian ("A force for good: football can help tackle smoking and obesity" Monday 08 April 2013) reports on the "Football fans in training" scheme, funded the the Scottish Government and the Football Pools, and targeting men men aged 38 to 65 with a high BMI, with quotes from IHW's Dr Cindy Gray. 

Masters in Public Health and Master of Primary Care teams to develop "1+1" programmes with China's Sun Yat Sen University

Exciting developments in the pipeline for two of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing's postgraduate taught programmes, as staff work with colleagues at Sun Yat Sen University to deliver ‘1+1’ Masters in Public Health and Master of Primary Care programmes, with the first group of students expected to join us in 2013/2014. [Find out more...]

"Compassion in healthcare is inhibited by threat and fear"

In a letter to The Guardian ["Threats cannot make healthcare workers more compassionate" Monday 01 April 2013] a group of clinicians including Mental Health and Wellbeing's Professor Andrew Gumley consider the impact of threat and fear on NHS workers' capacity to show empathy and compassion. 

New research group launched

The Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment (HEHTA) group held a formal launch event on 12 March 2013. [Find out more...]

Mason Medical Research Fellowship

Congratulations to Julie Langan who has been awarded a Mason Medical Research Fellowship to start her PhD studies on 'Patterns and predictors of physical health comorbidity and mortality in major mental illness'.  Julie was also recently selected as one of only 25 trainee psychiatrists from across Europe to attend the European Psychiatric Association's Summer School on 'Comorbidity between mental and physical disorders' in Strasbourg, France, 7-10 June, 2013. Julie is working with Dr Danny Smith, Reader in Mental Health and Dr Roch Cantwell, Consultant in Perinatal Psychiatry.

Professor Dame Sally Macintyre, Director of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing, receives Suffrage Science award

‌‌On International Women's Day (08 March 2013) Sally Macintyre was one of 12 female scientists in the fields of engineering, physical sciences, and medicine recognised at a ceremony in London. Descendants of suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, great-granddaughter Helen and her daughter Laura, awarded the women bespoke heirloom jewellery, reminiscent of the specially crafted jewellery received by noted women of the suffrage movement.

Bringing together the arts and the sciences, the heirloom jewellery was designed by students at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. The designs were showcased at a pop-up exhibition during the event, which also launched the publication Suffrage Science: 2013, comprising interviews with the nominated women scientists, who represent those who are at the forefront of science today. Science writer and broadcaster, Vivienne Parry, who conceived of the heirloom jewellery scheme, hosted a debate on whether Nobel prize-winning physicist Marie Curie would have made it as a woman in science today.

As Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England, commented at the inaugural launch of Suffrage Science: "A successful career in science is always demanding of intellect, hard work and resilience; only more so for most women".

In 2015 these 12 women will pass on their heirloom jewellery to the next group of excellent female scientists and communicators, in a bid to encourage them to make their way to the top. Recent reports suggest men are six times more likely than women to work in science, engineering or technology. The tradition of passing on the heirlooms aims to promote a future in which more women stay in science and pursue leadership roles.

[For more general information on Suffrage Science please visit http://www.csc.mrc.ac.uk/ss2013]

22 March 2013

Women’s lives at risk as they stop taking breast cancer treatment too early ‌| BBC, Guardian, Scotsman

 ‌

March 2013

New publication

"The globalisation of mental illness" | The Psychologist, Volume 26, Part 3, March 2013

Ross White, Mental Health & Wellbeing

28 February 2013 

House-warming improvements linked to better health

House-warming improvements linked to better health (Reuters Health)  In a review of existing evidence on the health value of fixes to housing, researchers say that improving buildings to enhance "thermal comfort" - with central heating or insulation, for instance - pays off in both physical and mental wellbeing. "I think the main message is that housing improvement can improve health, especially if it's warmth and energy improvements targeting people with respiratory illnesses," said Hilary Thomson, the study's lead author from the Medical Research Council in Glasgow, UK. Several studies have tied poor housing conditions to poor health, but there are some questions about the quality of evidence for that link, according to Thomson and her colleagues. They write in the journal The Cochrane Library that doubts arise because researchers have trouble teasing apart the effects of poor housing and other factors that may play a role, such as age and poverty. The most common housing conditions tied to poor health, they write, are air quality, heat and humidity conditions, radon, noise, dust, tobacco smoke, falls and fires. 

Full citation: Thomson H, Thomas S, Sellstrom E, Petticrew M. Housing improvements for health and associated socio-economic outcomes. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD008657. DOI: 

"Call to screen prisoners for brain injuries" | Scotsman, Scotsman.com

Tom McMillan, Mental Health & Wellbeing

Dr Michael A Akeroyd, Honorary Lecturer, MRC Institute of Hearing Research (Scottish Section) 

GPs to prescribe self-help books for mental health problems | The Guardian

PLOS One article referred to in article by Chris Williams and the team from the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics

Researchers claim NHS drug decisions 'are flawed | BBC News

Comments by Dr Andrew Walker, Robertson Centre for Biostatistics

'Abundance of bad food' makes poorest obese, says minister | The Guardian

International Journal of Obesity "Does area of residence affect body size and shape?", A Ellaway, A Anderson and S Macintyre

Self-help books 'treat depression' | BBC News

IHW's Chris Williams, was featured on BBC's Top News story

13 January 2013 

'Parent-infant vocalisations at 12 months predict psychopathology at 7 years'

This paper, co-authored by Philip Wilson and Clare Allely, received significant media attention:

HeraldScotland 
Examiner.com
Growing Your Baby
The Kids Doctor
ChildUp.com
KidsDr

This project  used video data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), an ongoing population-based study based in Bristol. 

The world's first study of reactive attachment disorders in schoolchildren by Dr Helen Minnis has revealed that more than 5000 Scottish youngsters of primary school age or under could have a condition that can cause them to form poor or inappropriate relationships with adults - HeraldScotland 

Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment (HEHTA) course

Systematic review and meta-Analysis of direct, indirect and mixed treatment evidence

Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment (HEHTA) course

Decision analytic modelling for economic evaluation

Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment (HEHTA) course

Economic evaluation in clinical trials  

Public health in an uncertain future

Presenter: Professor Hilary Graham, (Department of Health Sciences,University of York)
Venue: East Quad Lecture Theatre, 226, Main Building
Time: 15.15 (refreshments beforehand)
Link: http://ihw18apr.eventbrite.co.uk

What matters? Population health sciences and setting priorities in public health

Presenter: Professor Sandro Galea, (Columbia University, Chair of the Institute of Health & Wellbeing Scientific Advisory Committee)
Venue: TBD
Time: 15.15 (refreshments beforehand)
Link: http://ihwmay2.eventbrite.co.uk

Analysing media reporting of public health issues and policies

Presenter: Dr Shona Hilton, (Programme Leader, Understanding and Uses of Public Health Research, MRC Social & Public Health Sciences Unit)
Venue: TBD
Time: 15.15 (refreshments beforehand)
Link: http://ihw5june.eventbrite.co.uk

Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment (HEHTA) course

Introduction to STATA 

[Find out more about HEHTA]

16 to 17 April 2013

Introduction to systematic reviews of complex interventions

This course aimed to provide participants with an introduction to:

• the key principles of systematic review and evidence synthesis;
• planning and conducting a systematic review of interventions;
• managing a review which includes diverse sources of evidence (different study designs, qualitative & quantitative data), and multiple outcomes.

(HEHTA) Launch Event

The launch event provided an opportunity to find out about what we do, to meet the team, for us to learn more about you and to foster future collaborations. It comprised an afternoon of short presentations on HEHTA’s research themes, the new MSc programme and examples of current collaborations and PhD research.  [Find out more...]

"Green space and health"

Professor Rich Mitchell, Public Health - Centre for Research on Environment, Society and Health (CRESH) took part in a conference on 11 March on green space and health which showcased results from a Scottish Government funded project. The project it focused on is called GreenHealth and is a collaboration between GU, The James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen and Edinburgh University.

The four year project was funded by the Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) Division. It was designed to assess and explore the contribution of green and open space to public health and well-being in Scotland. The GU remit was to conduct epidemiological analysis of the associations between a) the amount of green space in a neighbourhood and the health of the resident population and b) people's use of green space for exercise/recreation and their health and well-being.

There was good media coverage of some of our results from this project back in June 2012. A summary of our results were presented at the meeting, which was attended by delegates from national and local government, NGOs and people responsible for landscape planning and management in both the public and private sector.

The conference was covered by blog and twitter (@CRESHnews, and http://cresh.org.uk).

IHW Research Day

The 2013 IHW Research Awayday was attended by 71 members and affiliates of the institute. The programme is available here .

Presentations

• Can candidacy help us understand perception and experiences of health?
• Case study (1) REF impact
• Case study (2) Care Measure
• Case study (3) Widening access to psychological therapies
• How does our environment affect our health, and how do we know?
• Life course determinants of health
• Reducing health inequalities: potential of social groups and mobile technologies
• The potential for research and new technologies to enhance health and wellbeing
• What research on inequalities in health might actually make a difference?

Facilitator's Report (pdf file)

IHAWC Student-Led Conference

• Conference report
• Facebook link ‌