27 September 2013

Reflections from MRC/CSO SPHSU's Unit Director, Sally Macintyre, as she stands down after 30 years 

In a few weeks I’m stepping down as director of the MRC CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit after 30 years. Although I’m looking forward to handing over the directorship (five five-yearly reviews from MRC Head Office is quite enough), I look back with great affection on the MRC. The MRC has supported me in one way or another since 1970, when it funded my Masters course in “Sociology as applied to medicine”.

People are often surprised to hear that as a sociologist, I’ve been funded by the MRC for so long. They think the MRC only funds laboratory-based biomedical science — as exemplified by the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology — and clinical trials.

read  the full blogg  http://www.insight.mrc.ac.uk/2013/09/24/keeping-social-sciences-in-the-mrc-family/

http://www.sphsu.mrc.ac.uk/news/reflections-from-our-unit-director,-sally-macintyre,-as-she-stands-down-after-30-years.html

26 September 2013

CSO Postdoctoral Training Fellowship

Dr Claudia Geue (Research Associate, Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment (HEHTA)) has recently been awarded a prestigious CSO Postdoctoral Training Fellowship investigating:

‘The effect of geography and socioeconomic status on health care costs at the end of life: implications for resource allocation and expenditure projections in Scotland’

This study will develop methods that allow researchers to accurately predict healthcare costs at the end of life and will explore how these costs are determined by disease types, geography and socio-economic status. Such research will improve precision when allocating scarce resources, ensuring that those most in need receive appropriate funds.

Dr Geue will receive mentoring support from Professor Alastair Leyland (Associate Director (MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit), Professor Olivia Wu (Professor of Health Technology Assessment, HEHTA) and Dr Jim Lewsey (Senior Lecturer in Medical Statistics, HEHTA).  

26 September 2013

Research Fellowship Opportunity

The MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (SPHSU) transferred into the University of Glasgow in June this year. The Unit sits within the Institute of Health and Wellbeing and in the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences.  

Four fellowships are offered as part of a programme to maximise the benefits of the transfer by creating new collaborative links that will facilitate strategically important population health research and help build research capacity.  There are 3 Research Fellowships offered at Grade 7 (004729) and an additional Research Fellow/Grade 8 or Senior Research Fellow/Grade 9 (004730).

read and apply: Research Fellowship Opportunity

23 September 2013

INSTITUTE MEMBER RECOGNISED IN MEDICAL BOOK AWARDS

The work of Professor  Chris Williams was recognised at the annual British Medical Association Medical Book and Patient Information Awards, held in London on  Tuesday 17 September 2013.

The  I Feel So Bad I Can’t Go On book (aimed at preventing suicide) was Winner in the Popular Medicine Category. Writing about this book the award panel commented:

“This is a unique and very well-presented self help guide for patients with suicidal thoughts which uses a form of cognitive behavioural therapy to guide the reader through their own thoughts and emotions. The text is clear and broken up into manageable sections and the tone is supportive without being patronising. The writing style is engaging and instructive without being patronising or making assumptions about the situation of the patient. The graphics used in the book help to support the content and emphasise the text. The layout and presentation of the book is excellent and the content is condensed into a manageable pocket-sized guide.”

A second book by Dr Williams (24 Hours to Get a Job That Fires You Up: Getting On Target For Work)  was Highly Commended in the Health and Social Care category.

see more: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bma-library/9798424546/

read more: http://bma.org.uk/about-the-bma/bma-library/medical-book-awards/medical-book-awards-winners-by-category

£2 million Awarded for ‘Lost in Translation’ Research 

Dr Ross White from the Institute of Health and Well-being is among a group of academics at the University of Glasgow who have received £2 million from the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) Translating Cultures programme.

The research programme will seek to explore the difficult area of translation and interpretation, working in partnership with a wide variety of partners that includes Creative Scotland and the Scottish Refugee Council.‌

International academics from Bulgaria, Arizona and Gaza will come together with those from the University of Glasgow in innovative ways to examine some of the issues that occur during interpretation and translation.  For example, the use of interpreters on the borders of Europe in Bulgaria and Romania as these countries begin to work with the European Convention on Human Rights.

read more Lost in Translation

Nursing/Allied Professional Investigator Award

GPPC affiliate member of staff Richard Lowrie has received the Nursing/Allied Professional Investigator Award 2013 from the European Society of Cardiology.

For more information: http://www.escardio.org/congresses/esc-2013/congress-news/Pages/awards-winners-congress-2013.aspx

 4 September 2013

                                                                                                                                                        
Dr Colin McCowan, Robertson Centre for Biostatistics, has recently spoken on BBC Radio Scotland, Real Radio, LBC (London’s Big Conversation) and BBC Radio 5 Live.  His article was the front page lead for the Times and is in the Telegraph, Glasgow Herald and Scotsman.

‌500 lives and £30 million a year could be saved if patients are better supported to follow guidance on tamoxifen

Breast Cancer Campaign researchers undertook an economic evaluation of adherence to tamoxifen and

 the costs associated with low adherence. They revealed that, on average, the equivalent of an additional £6,000 is spent on other medications and hospitalisation for each patient with poor adherence. Encouraging women to take their full course of tamoxifen could save 500 lives every year and bring substantive benefit to NHS budgets potentially freeing up nearly £30 million per year across the UK, the equivalent of 20 radiotherapy machines (linacs).

Dr Colin McCowan (University of Glasgow with colleagues at the University of Dundee) examined prescription records for 1263 women to calculate how closely they had followed the one a day pill regime and for how long, over the full five year treatment duration. If women had collected less than 80% of their prescription they were classed as having low adherence to their treatment. 

Read more......

SCOTLAND - HONG KONG POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP 2012-2013

“The Scottish National Health Service as a model for addressing multi morbidity in Primary

Care: Implications for Healthcare Reform in China and Hong Kong”.

Haoxiang (Harry) WANG, a post-doctoral researcher from the School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, gained one of these prestigious awards, launched by the Scottish Government in collaboration with the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong, to work with Professor Stewart Mercer, General Practice and Primary Care, for 6 months from July 2013.

There is a global trend to strengthen Primary Care, especially for both Hong Kong and mainland China, where comprehensive Primary Care reforms are taking place through the establishment of the Primary Care Office in Hong Kong and the Healthy China 2020 ambitious strategic plan for mainland China.  Meanwhile, there is a great transition of disease burden with non-communicable chronic diseases becoming the number one health threat.  There is a rising prevalence of multimorbidity (the co-existence of two or more chronic diseases within an individual) which is associated with high mortality, high morbidity and increased healthcare utilisation in both primary and secondary care.  Multimorbidity is the norm rather than the exception in many countries and thus highlights an urgent need for a coordinated and integrated approach at the Primary Care level. Harry will compare the prevalence of multimorbidity in mainland China and Scotland, and the factors predicting hospital admission in multimorbid patients in both countries.  He will also review policy agendas on the issue of integrated care in both countries.

This study is anticipated to draw successful lessons from the Scottish Primary Care model to add evidence and further develop a coordinated and comprehensive approach in detection, treatment, and management for the large population with multimorbidity at Primary Care level in both mainland China and Hong Kong.  It is hoped that Harry’s visit will lead to further comparative research on Primary Care models and multimorbidity in Scotland, Hong Kong and China in the long term.

CSO CLINICAL ACADEMIC TRAINING FELLOWSHIP

Congratulations to Dr David Blane who has been awarded a prestigious CSO Clinical Academic Training Fellowship to start his PhD studies on:

"Understanding the role of Primary Care in the Management of Co-Morbid Obesity: A Mixed Methods Programme." 

There are only four awarded annually after a very competitive interview, and David was the only GP to receive one.  David has been a clinical academic fellow in General Practice and Primary Care since August 2011, completing a Master of Public Health with distinction in September 2012.  His supervisors will be Professor Kate O'Donnell, Dr Sara Macdonald (both GPPC) and Dr David Morrison (Public Health).

New study to investigate mother-infant relationship in schizophrenia

Mental Health and Wellbeing's Professor Andrew Gumley has been awarded a grant from The Danish Council for Independent Research - Humanities (FKK) which will enable the building of collaboration with Dr Susanne Harder in the University of Copenhagen. The grant award (4,370,798DKK) over 36 months will support a two site study (Scotland and Denmark) investigating the "Mother-infant relationship in schizophrenia: exploring mechanisms of developmental risk and resilience". To support this project and expand opportunities for research collaboration between the Universities of Glasgow and Copenhagen Professor Gumley has been invited as a Visiting Professor within the Department of Psychology at the University of Copenhagen. Both countries have extensive and well developed data-linkage opportunities. In line with this Professor Gumley, Dr Sarah Barry (Robertson Centre for Biostatistics) and Dr Angus Macbeth (University of Aberdeen) have been awarded a grant (£74,844 over 18-months) from the Chief Scientist Office investigating "Maternity-related outcomes in women with a diagnosis of a non-affective psychotic disorder: a data linkage study in two Scottish Cohorts".

Award for psychiatric trainee

Filippo Queirazza, psychiatric trainee, has been awarded a place in the MRC/MRF PsySTAR PhD training scheme. Filippo was also awarded a commendation in the trainee research category of the Poster Prize at the International Congress of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Edinburgh this year. 

Poster prize for Mental Health and Wellbeing lecturer

Rajeev Krishnadas, Clinical Lecturer, was named the winner of the Trainee Research Poster Presentation Prize at the 2013 International Congress in Edinburgh, for his poster - "Evidence for functional ‘hyper-connectivity’ within a  ‘triple network model’ in Paranoid Schizophrenia". This research was conducted in collaboration with the Stanford Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience lab, Stanford University, which Rajeev visited as part of his Jim Gatherall travelling fellowship (2012/2013). 

MPC student awarded grant to attend international conference

Master of Public Health programme international student Shadrach Dare has been awarded a grant to attend the 3rd annual Commonwealth Residential School in August 2013 in Windsor Great Park, London. Entitled, ‘The world in 2113: What will it be like and how can we prepare?’ (https://www.acu.ac.uk/calendar/event/view?id=13), the event will focus on delegates’ consideration of the world one hundred years from now. Shadrach’s essay entry for the award was a development of the event’s theme from a public health perspective.

"Physical health of mentally ill must improve"

Mental Health and Wellbeing's Daniel Martin writes in the Scotsman about the poor physical health outcomes of people living with a major mental illness, possible explanations, and ways to address this within the health service. [Access Scotsman article...]

"Bi-polar patients 'undertreated' for common physical health problems"

Those diagnosed with bi-polar are more likely than the general population to be under-treated for common physical health problems like high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, according to new research, which looked at over 1,750,000 records from within 314 primary care practices in Scotland. The research, led by Mental Health and Wellbeing's Daniel Martin, Clinical Research Fellow identified patients with bi-polar disorder while the remaining acted as a control group. [Find out more...]

IHW director to receive two honorary degrees

Within the next week, IHW's director, Professor Dame Sally Macintyre, will be awarded two honorary degrees. On Thursday 4 July she will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Science (DSc) from UCL 'in celebration of her distinguished contribution to the population health sciences' and, on Tuesday 16 July, an Honorary Doctorate of Science (DSc) from Lancaster University 'to mark the outstanding contribution made to the field of medical sociology'.

"Statin drugs save healthcare systems money as well as saving lives"

Statins not only help save lives but are great value for money too, even in lower risk patients, according to a new study.

The cholesterol-lowering drugs are widely prescribed to people who have had heart attacks or strokes. They can also help prevent these events happening in people who have not previously developed cardiovascular disease. The NHS estimates that statins save 7,000 lives in the UK annually.

Some critics have urged caution in the use of statins in people who are otherwise healthy and have questioned whether it is worth the expense.

However, the latest study from the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics at the University of Glasgow shows clear health and financial advantages.

Dr Alex McConnachie, lead author, said: “Treating relatively healthy, middle-aged men with statins reduced the number of hospital admissions due to heart disease and stroke, leading to better quality of life for the men in the study, and saving money for the NHS. Treatment of even younger people at lower risk of future heart disease is likely to be cost-effective too."

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, used NHS statistics to follow 6,595 men from the west of Scotland who were aged 45-64 years at the start of the study and had high levels of cholesterol but no history of a heart attack. Half were given the drug pravastatin over five years and all the men were followed up for at least 15 years. This is the first time the cost-effectiveness of statins has been assessed in this way. [Find out more...] 

"Just cutting down the number of cigarettes does not reduce smokers’ risk of early death"

A paper, led by Dr Carole Hart of Public Health and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, used two of the Midspan studies to investigate the effect that reducing the amount smoked had on mortality to 2010. Using data on over 5,200 smokers first screened in the early 1970s and who reported their smoking habits a few years later,  the research showed no difference in mortality in smokers who reduced the amount smoked compared with smokers who maintained their level of smoking. Those who stopped smoking altogether had lower mortality rates. Reducing smoking can only be advised as a step towards giving up completely. [Find out more...] [View paper...]

Multimorbidity paper wins RCGP Research Paper of the Year Award 2012

A paper by Bruce Guthrie and Karen Barnett of Dundee University and Institute of Health and Wellbeing's Stewart Mercer, Graham Watt and Sally Wyke has been awarded the prestigious Research Paper of the Year by the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Dr Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet, said "Rarely do we receive a research paper whose implications span clinical practice, public health, medical education, and research. The superb work by Karen Barnett et al is one such paper. Their important findings signal not only the particularly challenging social and pathological conditions in Scotland. They also point to a future medical practice worldwide that demands a recommitment to integrated, high-quality, comprehensive, and continuous care. That is, the very best of general practice."

The chair of NICE, Professor David Haslam, said: "This is a worthy winner of the Royal College's prize for research paper of the year. During my years in practice I saw countless patients struggling under the weight of having several conditions at the same time. This paper shows that almost a quarter of patients in Scotland have more than one illness and that most patients over 65 are affected. The burden of 'multimorbidity' falls unequally – with people from more deprived areas being more likely to have more than one condition. It's hardly surprising that people's mental health is likely to suffer as the number of illnesses affecting them rises. Although this paper focuses on the situation in Scotland, the implications are extremely relevant to the rest of the UK. I believe this is an issue the NHS and all organisations working to improve health, such as NICE, have to grapple with as a matter of real urgency."

The award by the RCGP gives recognition to an individual or group of researchers who have undertaken and published an exceptional piece of research relating to general practice or primary care. The paper won top prize in the primary care category and top prize overall. [Find out more...] [View paper...]

Enabling Health and Wellbeing in Later Life

A new report from IHW on a system that links older people to local community resources through their general practices.

The Enabling Health and Wellbeing in Later Life Project aimed to develop a system (BRIDGE – Building Relationships In Deprived General practice Environments) through which general practices in deprived areas can identify older people in need and help them access resources and/or participate in activities known to help prevent or delay disablement and enhance wellbeing.

We used participative methods with staff in general practices, community organisations and older people to understand, co-design and ‘road-test’ the system in 3 stages, including a knowledge exchange event.

The likely ‘active ingredients’ of a general practice based system included: a) Identification of a practice based link worker; b) Active identification of people in need; c) Building relationships with community service providers; d) Providing older people with up to date information about services; e) Supporting older people to engage with services; f) Feedback and follow up.

Practices, older people and community organisations easily made sense of BRIDGE, knew what they needed to do and maintained their enthusiasm and commitment throughout the project. However, they were hampered by the time available and the relatively low availability, accessibility and suitability of community resources in deprived areas. Practices had time to find and contact only a few local organisations, with variable success, in terms of their attraction to older patients. With more time, all practices felt that these links could be developed.

Improved linkage of practices to community assets is not a system that can be “switched on”, with large numbers of patients being processed from the outset; rather, it is a complex system, comprising many relationships which need building up over time, based on experiment and shared learning. Many of these links are horizontal, working across organisations. Allowing these links to develop organically through building relationships is likely to be more successful than a vertical “top-down” approach. If implemented in this way, BRIDGE has considerable promise.

You can download the full report as a pdf Bridge Report or view the ISSUU webpage copy  

Success in Europe – EuroFIT

‌Sally Wyke, Cindy Gray, Kate Hunt and Alex McConnachie of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing will be leading a new European project starting in November 2013. They have won €5,957,158.00 from the European Commission’s FP7 programme to develop and evaluate a programme (EuroFIT) to help men become more active and less sedentary in their lives. The project draws on sociological understandings of gender and social scientific evidence on lifestyle change in context and involves colleagues in the School of Computing Science and Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences. The EuroFit project has developed from the Football Fans in Training (FFIT) programme which is currently being delivered via clubs in the Scottish Premier League and is the subject of an ongoing randomised trial, the first in a professional sports setting in the world.

Concept and aim

20 million fans attend top division football games each week and many more watch football matches regularly on TV. Our social innovation is to attract men to lifestyle change through the personal connection and loyalty to the team they support. Our aim is to use this social innovation to change physical activity and sedentary behaviour, specially targeting low-SES groups. EuroFIT is supported by UEFA and top football clubs.

Workplan

End-users and policy-makers will be involved throughout the project. We will: a) produce a device (SitFIT) that provides real-time feedback on objectively measured sedentary time and physical activity; b) deploy and evaluate smartphone games to drive activity through social interaction (MatchFIT); c) integrate these with state-of-the-art evidence on behavioural change and its maintenance in a web-supported lifestyle programme delivered by top EU football clubs (EuroFIT). We will evaluate EuroFIT in a multi-centre randomised controlled trial in top professional football clubs across the UK, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal to assess impact on physical activity and sedentary behaviour, physical and mental health. We will investigate the correlates of long term changes and impact on participants’ families. Finally we will develop a robust strategy for replication of EuroFIT.

Impact

We will generate excellent research evidence on the use of social innovation for health. Social impact will include reductions in health risk, improvements in well-being and decreased inequalities as more men, especially those in low SES groups, are attracted to lifestyle change. Research impact will be generated through new understanding of the how health indicators respond to change in sedentary behaviour and physical activity and through new knowledge of long-term maintenance of lifestyle changes. Policy impact will result from the production of clear implementation strategies and the involvement of policy makers and opinion leaders from the outset, supported by a targeted communication strategy.

Leading social scientist to direct MRC Unit at Glasgow University

Professor Laurence Moore has been appointed as the new Director of the Medical Research Council/Chief Scientist Office Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (MRC/CSO SPHSU), University of Glasgow. He will succeed Professor Dame Sally Macintyre, who will step down in October after nearly 30 years at the helm of the Unit.

Professor Moore is currently Professor of Public Health Improvement at Cardiff University and founding Director of DECIPHer, a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence, which is a strategic partnership between Cardiff, Bristol and Swansea Universities. He is a social scientist and statistician with a particular interest in the development and evaluation of interventions to improve public health.

Working in multidisciplinary teams and in collaboration with policy makers, practitioners and the public, he has completed mixed methods evaluations of diverse interventions and programmes, which have then had a direct impact on policy and practice. These include evaluations of exercise referral schemes, fruit tuck shops, peer-led smoking prevention (the ASSIST trial), the free school breakfast initiative in Wales and smoking cessation in pregnancy.

Professor Anna Dominiczak, Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow, said:

“We are delighted that Professor Moore will join us. He has a long and distinguished track record in public health research and will be a great asset to Glasgow. Research and analysis plays a hugely important role in guiding public health policy and we look forward to continuing our contribution to this area under Professor Moore’s leadership.”

The Institute of Health and Wellbeing welcomes new MRC staff

The MRC/Chief Scientist Office Social and Public Health Sciences Unit was formally transferred to the University of Glasgow on 1 June 2013, although its Director Professor Dame Sally Macintyre has been a member of the University since 2008, and Director of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing since the College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Science’s inception in 2010. The Unit has always been embedded within the University, located on the main campus, with collaboration through shared research projects, studentships and appointments. The formal transfer of the Unit to the University is strategically important in providing the best environment for multidisciplinary research on social and environmental influences on health, and translating the knowledge gained for the improvement of human health.

Professor Dame Sally Macintyre

New Chair in Health Psychology

Rory O’Connor, a registered health psychologist and behavioural scientist, is taking up the new Chair in Health Psychology in July. Rory will be based with the Mental Health and Wellbeing Research Group within the Institute of Health and Wellbeing. 

A native of Northern Ireland, he completed his psychology training at Queen’s University of Belfast and he joins Glasgow after 10 years at Stirling University. He is also Honorary Professor of Psychology at University of Nottingham and President-Elect of the International Academy for Suicide Research. Although his primary research interest is on suicide and self-harm he is broadly interested in understanding how self-regulation processes are associated with health outcomes across a range of conditions and populations (having previously conducted work on diabetes, multiple sclerosis, problem alcohol use, smoking, and heart disease). He directs the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory (SBRL), the leading suicide/self-harm research group in Scotland, which is moving with him to Glasgow.

He is the UK National Representative for the International Association for Suicide Prevention and he serves on the Scientific Review Board of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. He is also a member of the Chief Scientist’s Office Population and Health Services Research committee, the Scottish Government’s Prevention of Suicide and Self Harm Working Group and the editorial boards of Psychology & Health, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior & Suicidology Online.

New leadership fellow

Dr Katie Robb is a psychologist who joined the Institute of Health and Wellbeing as a leadership fellow after 12 years at the UK’s leading Health Behaviour Research unit at UCL with Professor Jane Wardle. She currently holds a Cancer Research UK Post-doctoral Fellowship which was secured following the completion of her PhD on perceptions of cancer risk and a first post-doc on population-based flexible sigmoidoscopy bowel screening. Katie’s current fellowship is focused on increasing informed uptake of bowel screening by improving the information sent to people invited. Katie is delighted to have joined the University of Glasgow, and to have been awarded a leadership fellow in MVLS with its dual strengths in behavioural science and cancer research. Her research interests include public understanding of cancer and optimising the early detection of cancer, and she is eager to meet and form collaborations with colleagues across the University.

Invited talk

Professor Andrew Briggs, Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment, was invited by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers - Biomedical Division, to speak at their Symposium: Medical Device and Health Technology Assessment on 20 June, Hong Kong. [Find out more... )‌

Award for contribution to audiology

Congratulations to Michael Akeroyd (Director, Scottish Section, MRC Institute of Hearing Research), who has been awarded the 2012 Thomas Simm Littler Prize of the British Society of Audiology, for his contribution to research on binaural psychophysics and hearing impairment. The Thomas Simm Littler prize was established in 1970 to honour Dr Thomas Simm Littler, a pioneer of British audiology. The prize is awarded in recognition of an academic contribution to the discipline of audiology. The presentation will be made at the BSA Annual Conference in September

New appointments

Michael Akeroyd (Director, Scottish Section, MRC Institute of Hearing Research) has been elected to the VicePresident of the International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology http://www.icra.nu/ and to Council (and Trustee) of the British Society of Audiology.

20 June 2013

The science of hearing loss

Dr Owen Brimijoin of the Scottish Section of MRC Institute of Hearing Research co-presented an event at the Cheltenham Science Festival earlier in June. Along with Lord Michael Berkeley (composer, and presenter on BBC Radio 3), he gave a talk on the science of hearing loss and how it can affect your life. Afterwards they answered questions from the audience for 20 minutes.

Unit director celebrated as part of MRC centenary

One-day meeting to celebrate Sally Macintyre's contribution to health inequalities research and policy

Sally Macintyre has been a leader in the field of Social and Public Health research in the UK and beyond for more than 30 years. She has made particular contributions in the field of social inequalities in health and is a proponent of using robust methods to evaluate the impact of social interventions on health. Her contribution to science was recently recognised by being one of 12 women to be given a Suffrage Science award.

On Monday 17 June, Sally's contribution to research and policy was celebrated at a one day meeting held in the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In a series of presentations, experts and close colleagues of Sally reflected on changes in debates around health inequalities over the last 30 years; the role Sally has played in these; and the challenges that are a priority for the coming decade.

Contributors included: David Armstrong, Peter Craig, Steve Cummins, Ana Diez Roux, Andrew Fraser, Hilary Graham, Graham Hart, Kate Hunt, Catherine Law, Mark Petticrew, Steve Platt, Karien Stronks, and Sally Macintyre.

06 June 2013

Should we be doing more to support people with mental illness?

Dr Danny Smith, Reader of Mental Health, appeared on STV's Scotland Tonight programme to talk about bipolar disorder and suicide. [View here...]

04 June 2013

Measuring Memory in Dementia:  Improving the assessment skills of Scotland's health care professionals

A team from the University's Institute of Health and Wellbeing led by Professor Jonathan Evans, Professor of Applied Neuropsychology, and supported by funding from NHS Education for Scotland, has developed an online training programme, The ACE III Trainer, to train health care staff to administer, score and interpret the Addenbrookes Cognitive Examination III, a new version of a widely used test for testing memory in people suspected of having dementia.  The ACE III Trainer is being launched during Alzheimer Scotland's Dementia Awareness Week (3-9th June). [Read more ...]

"Alcohol sales fall due to ban on multi-buy promotions"

A report published today, co-authored by Jim Lewsey of IHW's Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment Unit, shows a 2.6% decrease in the amount of alcohol sold per adult in Scotland in the year following the introduction of the Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Act in October 2011. [Find out more...] [View full report...]

New book charts the history of obstetric ultrasound

To mark one of the most important medical developments to come out of the University of Glasgow in the twentieth century, a new book by Institute of Health and Wellbeing's Professor Malcolm Nicolson has just been published. Imaging & imagining the fetus charts the development of obstetric ultrasound, both in terms of the technical and social history of ultrasound imaging – from early experiments in Glasgow in 1956 to its ubiquitous use in maternity clinics throughout the developed world by the end of the twentieth century. [Find out more...] [Read related Scotsman article...]

Bipolar disorder

Mental Health and Wellbeing's Danny Smith appears on BBC World News to respond to a new book on bipolar disorder. [View this on YouTube...]

16 May
2013

Research from Professor Rich Mitchell and Dr Rebecca Shaw

Research from Professsor Rich Mitchell and Dr Rebecca Shaw was mentioned in a House of Lords debate on 16 May, 2013. The debate centred on the contribution of outdoor activities to the United Kingdom economy and to the health and well-being of the population. The research cited was completed by Mitchell and Shaw in 2009. They followed a group of children (average age 13) undertaking an outdoor education scheme; the John Muir Award. The children completed questionnaires before, during and then 18 months after, their Award experience. The study showed massive inequalities in experience of outdoor environments. Children living in the poorest circumstances were over 6 times likely to have had no prior experience of wild places than their more affluent peers. The study showed that participation in the Award increased aspirations for visiting the outdoors, particulary among the most deprived children, but it did not affect actual visiting behaviour.  Summary of research    Full report.

Scientists comment on maternal influenza and bipolar disorder

Experts including Mental Health and Wellbeing's Danny Smith comment on a study published in JAMA Psychiatry [Find out more...] 

“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

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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  

Austerity: An Experiment on the People of Europe.

Presenter: Professor Martin McKee, (Professor of European Public Health at LSHTM, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)

Venue: Level 5 Suite, Sir Alwyn Williams Building, Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow, G12
Time: 10.30-1130am
Details: Austerity isn’t working. It isn’t good for the economy – the UK economy is still well below what it was pre-crisis while the economies of Greece and Spain rapidly descending into a downward spiral.
Further info/book a place https://ihwseminar071013.eventbrite.co.uk

Cognitive Therapy to Reduce Harmful Compliance with Command Hallucinations: Results of the MRC COMMAND Trial

Presenter: Professor Max Brichwood, Professor of Youth Mental Health, Warwick University

Venue: Wolfson Medical School, Yudowitz Seminar Room

Time: 3.30pm-4.30pm

Details: Professor Birchwood pioneered the concept and practice of early intervention in psychosis in the UK and internationally. He opened the UK's first Early Intervention in Psychosis service in 1994, informed by these conceptual innovations which he translated into the mental health policy framework for the DH (2001) as part of the NHS 'National Plan'. The service attracted Beacon status and has been replicated with over 125 teams across the country.

'Command hallucinations are among the most distressing, high risk and treatment resistant symptoms for people with psychosis; however, currently, there are no evidence-based treatment options available for this group.  A cognitive therapy grounded in the principles of the Social Rank Theory, has now concluded, which is evaluated in terms of its effectiveness in reducing harmful compliance with command hallucinations.  This is a single blind, intention-to-treat, multi-centre, randomized controlled trial comparing Cognitive Therapy for Command Hallucinations + Treatment as Usual with Treatment as Usual alone.'

Further info/book a place  https://ihwseminar211113.eventbrite.co.uk

Evidence that challenges decision makers;  Experiences and examples from the Chair of a NICE Technology Appraisal Committee

Presenter: Dr Amanda Adler, Consultant Physician, Clinical Lead, Addenbrookes's Hospital, Cambridge.
Venue: TBC
Time: 3.30pm-4.30pm
Details: This talk will describe the appraisal process at NICE and present a number of provocative examples of evidence (clinical, economic, statistical) presented to the Committee, presenting it with challenges in how to interpret the evidence, and to make decisions based on it.

Further info/book a place hhttps://ihwseminar150114.eventbrite.co.uk

Applying Behavioural Science to Developing and Evaluating Behaviour Change Interventions

Presenter: Susan Michie, Professor of Health Psychology, University College London.
Venue: TBC
Time: 3.30pm-4.30pm
Details: Susan Mitchie She is a chartered clinical and health psychologist, and elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, the European Health Psychology Society (EHPS) and the British Psychological Society (BPS). She is Past President of the EHPS and Past Chair of the BPS's Division of Health Psychology. 

Interventions to change behaviour have had variable success. To some extent, this reflects limitations in the scientific methods we use to study and change behaviour. To improve intervention effectiveness, we need to be able to identify effective behaviour change techniques (BCTs) within complex interventions and understand their mechanisms of action. 

Further info/book a place  https://ihwseminar120314.eventbrite.co.uk

Mens Health: Medical Myth and Media Mendacity

Presenter: Dr Ian Banks, President European Mens Health Forum (EMHF).
Venue: TBC
Time: 3.30pm-4.30pm
Details: Ian is a GP, official spokesman on men’s health issues for the British Medical Association (BMA), and President of the European Men’s Health Forum. Ian wrote the BBC book ‘The Trouble with Men’ in 1996 to accompany the television series of the same name, and he is also author of the NHS Direct Healthcare Guide and Website.

Further info/book a place https://ihwseminar310314.eventbrite.co.uk

Presenter: David Stuckler, MPH, PhD, is a Senior Research Leader in Sociology at University of Oxford and research fellow of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Chatham House.
Venue: TBC
Time: 3.30pm-4.30pm
Details: My research integrates political economy and public health. Currently I am focusing on three areas of population health and development:

1) Macro-social and -economic determinants of health, 2) Political economy of global health and development, and 3) Comparative social welfare.   

Further info/book a place https://ihwseminar230414.eventbrite.co.uk

 14 May 2014

Making Health Services Safer, Clinical Perspectives on Suicide Prevention

Presenter: Professor Nav Kapur, Professor of Psychiatry and Population Health.
Venue: TBC
Time: 3.30pm-4.30pm
Details: Nav is Professor of Psychiatry and Population Health at the University and an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust.
He is Head of Research at the Centre for Suicide Prevention in the University, - Suicide continues to be major public health problem internationally and approaches to prevention need to be multi-faceted. This talk will focus on the findings of our research on the prevention of suicide, particularly in people with mental illness or those who have self-harmed. 

Further info/book a place https://ihwseminar140514.eventbrite.co.uk

Presenter: Dr Weinberg, Fellow in Sociology, Director of Studies, Kings College Cambridge.
Venue: TBC
Time: 3.30pm-4.30pm
Details: In 2011 Darin won the Melvin Pollner Prize in Ethnomethodology from the American Sociological Association's Section on Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis and the Outstanding Article Award from the Social Problems Theory Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Further info/book a place https://ihwseminar110614.eventbrite.co.uk

Glasgow health Economics Seminar Series (GhESS)

a collaboration between Glasgow University and Glasgow Caledonian University

1st October 2013

Professor Stephen Birch

Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and Manchester

Centre for Health Economics, University of Manchester, UK

The Dynamics of Implementation and the Problem of Boundaries: What Happens When Healthcare Innovations Cross Gaps?

Presenter: Professor Carl May, (Asspcoate Director of Research at Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Southampton University)
Venue: Teaching Room GPPC, 124 Observatory Road, Glasgow, G12 8UZ
Time: 3.30pm-4.30pm
Details: Professor Carl May is a social scientist with longstanding interests in professional knowledge and practice, implementation studies of complex healthcare interventions and health technologies using organisational ethnography and discourse analysis, and theory building and testing.

Further info/book a place https://ihwseminar190913.eventbrite.co.uk

Love in the time of randomised controlled trials

Presenter: Professor Nicholas Lennox, (Director of the Queensland Centre for Intellectual and Developmental Disability)
Venue: Level 5 Suite, Sir Alwyn Williams Building, Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow, G12
Time: 3.30pm-4.30pm
Details: This presentation should be of interest to Institute members across all our research groups. It will describe how research has changed health policy for people with intellectual disabilities in Australia and elsewhere.
Further info/book a place ihwseminar220813-affiliate1.eventbrite.com

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

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

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

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 ‌