Contraceptive choices for women with learning disabilities

‘Contraceptive choices for women with learning disabilities’ is an Open University research project, supported by a grant from Open Society Foundations (Grant No: OR2014-12989). This inclusive project set out to explore women’s contraceptive decision-making and sought to include women with mild to moderate learning disabilities as well as women with high support needs. Between December 2014 and April 2015 we interviewed 19 women living in several locations across the United Kingdom

Epistemic fit and the mobilisation of management knowledge in health care

We discuss the mobilisation of management knowledge in health care, drawing on six qualitative case studies in a diverse range of health care settings. Drawing on theory about management knowledge and practices’ ‘fit’, and emergent theory about ‘epistemic stances’, we explain how cultural/institutional, political and epistemic fit and clashes between the norms, interests and epistemic stances of different communities affected knowledge mobilisation in these settings. We also highlight the key role of knowledge brokers in ‘fitting’ knowledge within contexts as part of their own identity work. Yet we note that knowledge brokers’ ability to mobilise and fit knowledge depended on having a senior role or senior level support, and credibility/legitimacy with dominant communities. We suggest that our novel concepts of ‘epistemic fit’ and ‘fitting’ are useful in explaining the process of knowledge mobilisation, particularly in complex pluralistic health care contexts containing multiple epistemic communities which produce, use and value knowledge in different ways

Connecting for innovation: Four universities collaboratively preparing pre-service teachers to teach in rural and remote Western Australia

In 2010 a group of teacher educators from four universities, experienced in rural and remote education, formed the Tertiary Educators Rural, Regional and Remote Network (TERRR Network). The collaborative goal was to improve the quality of graduates taking appointments beyond the metropolitan areas of Western Australia. The TERRR Network developed a research project to improve the capacity of universities to prepare teachers for employment in rural and remote locations. A range of outcomes emerged from the project, including: 1) the development of seven rural and remote-oriented curricula modules linked to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers; 2) a cross-institutional field experience, and; 3) the development of a community of practice involving the Department of Education, universities and schools to address the logistical implications of placing pre-service students in rural and remote locations. This paper reports on the five phases of the project design, with a focus on learning in the field and concludes with reflections on the collaborative process used by the four universities in order to ensure that research evidence informs future policy and program development

Learning to teach with simulation : historical insights

Simulation-based learning (SBL) has been trialed and embedded in many disciplines and professions over many years to practice complex skills before embarking on real-life applications. Much research has confirmed the benefits of SBL and found simulations are among the most effective means to facilitate the learning of complex skills across domains. Yet, despite this evidence-based support for SBL, teacher education continues to be slow to adopt and embed SBL within their programs. This paper compares literature on two of the longest and widest adopted simulated programs in teacher education, Second Life and simSchool—to gain insight into the research types, findings and reasons for limited implementation. The findings support previously confirmed pedagogical benefits of SBL increasing student self-efficacy and reveal commonalities and differences between the two simulated platforms and a lack of adoption of SBL that centres around costs, accessibility and technical issues. The findings are positioned in practice-theory literature and highlight SBL’s ability to provide preservice teachers with a ‘third space’ where theory can be practiced, rehearsed and reviewed virtually before real classroom transference occurs. We offer recommendations that will stimulate future research and support wider adoption of SBL in Initial Teacher Education (ITE)

“Everyone has a story to tell”: A review of life stories in learning disability research and practice

In this paper, the authors review life stories in learning disability research and practice since the 1960s. Although there is consistent evidence of their value in giving people a voice and an identity beyond the service label, they are not widely used in the provision of health and social care. This is despite long‐standing policy commitments to person‐centred practice. The paper explores possible barriers to the use of life story work and what further research is needed if they are to be more widely and effectively used in practice

A preliminary randomized double blind placebo-controlled trial of intravenous immunoglobulin for Japanese encephalitis in Nepal

BACKGROUND: Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus (JEV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus found across Asia that is closely related to West Nile virus. There is no known antiviral treatment for any flavivirus. Results from in vitro studies and animal models suggest intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) containing virus-specific neutralizing antibody may be effective in improving outcome in viral encephalitis. IVIG's anti-inflammatory properties may also be beneficial. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We performed a pilot feasibility randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of IVIG containing anti-JEV neutralizing antibody (ImmunoRel, 400mg/kg/day for 5 days) in children with suspected JE at two sites in Nepal; we also examined the effect on serum neutralizing antibody titre and cytokine profiles. 22 children were recruited, 13 of whom had confirmed JE; 11 received IVIG and 11 placebo, with no protocol violations. One child (IVIG group) died during treatment and two (placebo) subsequently following hospital discharge. Overall, there was no difference in outcome between treatment groups at discharge or follow up. Passive transfer of anti-JEV antibody was seen in JEV negative children. JEV positive children treated with IVIG had JEV-specific neutralizing antibody titres approximately 16 times higher than those treated with placebo (p=0.2), which was more than could be explained by passive transfer alone. IL-4 and IL-6 were higher in the IVIG group. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: A trial of IVIG for JE in Nepal is feasible. IVIG may augment the development of neutralizing antibodies in JEV positive patients. IVIG appears an appealing option for JE treatment that warrants further study. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01856205

Leadership development in higher education : a literature review and implications for programme redesign

Leadership development (LD) activity and its effectiveness has not been explored rigorously across changing university settings globally. As Higher Education settings change radically throughout the world, Higher Education professionals are operating in more uncertain environments, and leaders are taking increasingly complex and diverse approaches to their leadership roles. LD activities therefore become important in supporting this highly complex context, yet little is known in the literature about LD and its impact in Higher Education. We examine peer‐reviewed work on LD in Higher Education settings globally to understand what may be learned about its content, processes, outcomes and impact. Our results suggest the current literature is small‐scale, fragmented and often theoretically weak, with many different and coexisting models, approaches and methods, and little consensus on what may be suitable and effective in the Higher Education context. We reflect on this state of play and develop a novel theoretical approach for designing LD activity in Higher Education institutions

Surviving through story: Experiences of people with learning disabilities in the covid19 pandemic 2020–2021

Background: History starts from where we are now ‐ it is not just things that happened a long time ago. The global pandemic began in 2019. It has changed the lives of people with learning disabilities. We began our project during the first lockdown in April 2020. We came together to set up a website to collect stories and support and learn from each other about how to survive and keep strong. Storytelling is very important because it helps us understand what is going on. It is also a way to capture the history of people with learning disabilities at a very difficult time. We know that thousands of people with learning disabilities became ill and died in the flu epidemic of 1918. But nobody recorded their stories in their own words. We want to make sure this does not happen again, so we created an archive to help us remember. Methods: The project was managed with an advisory group of people with and without learning disabilities who met monthly to monitor the collection and analysis of stories on the site. A site audit was performed regularly to determine the themes in the stories and who had submitted. The article describes the progress of the project, the stories we have shared, and the challenges we have faced. Conclusions: We discuss how people with learning disabilities have been presented in the media and our views about the way we are not heard, or always shown as vulnerable victims. We have found many sad stories, but also positive ones about people being creative and supportive. We look forward to the future and share our ideas about how society could be different and more inclusive. Being part of this project has given us confidence to know we are not alone, and shown us how we can help with the recovery