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No / This article adopts a 'dialogical' relational perspective to explore the recently introduced initiative of coercive treatment for drug misuse in the UK. Conversational interviews were undertaken with 11 people who had been sentenced to the Drug Treatment and Testing Order. Receiving treatment for drug misuse is often storied within a motivational account that is expectant of a 'readiness to change'; such assumptions seem theoretically problematic when change is legally imposed. Therefore, moral and ethical concerns surround the introduction of this initiative, however the interview data illustrates the potential that participation might offer for the creation of 'counterstories' where a more moral self can be enacted. Our analysis suggests that this counterstory is co-constructed thus being an outcome of both self and other. Furthermore such stories appear fragile; constantly under assault from detrimental authoritative discourses that are not only part of wider social understandings around drug misuse but also permeate the policy and practice of coercive treatment.

No / Faith-based organisations (FBOs) have delivered services to vulnerable people for many years. They are frequently characterised by values also to be found within social work, notably a commitment to social justice. In the context of recent attempts by governments, notably in the USA, United Kingdom and Australia, to ‘roll-back’ the state, to ‘marketise’ and ‘privatise’ welfare services, FBOs are increasingly called-upon to tender for and volunteer to provide public services, including ‘social work’. In the United Kingdom, as elsewhere, religious beliefs are central to how many people conduct themselves, especially in response to personal crises and challenges. The authors’ previous research indicates that religious beliefs and traditions may have a profound impact (for good or ill or for both) on the actions of both individual service users and practitioners, but that social workers and agencies (whether faith-based or not) are often ill equipped to respond appropriately. They acknowledge both the positive contributions to public welfare of many faith-based organisations and the potential dangers inherent in relying on such agencies for services to vulnerable people. The authors argue that evaluations need to consider the effectiveness, appropriateness, ‘costs’ and ‘benefits’ of individual faith-based services in their particular contexts, and that their contribution needs to be analysed in relation to the varied nature and variable impact of such services. Social work has often struggled in its aim of challenging and addressing the structural causes of inequality as its efforts have been channelled towards meeting the needs of the individual. Current policy proposals provide potential opportunities to review and assess the contribution of neo-liberal approaches to welfare and to promote alliances amongst those members of different FBOs and other welfare providers to agree more collective, community-based approaches with an agreed agenda of creating a fairer society.

No / Accounts of the Catholic Church's response to those disclosing sexual abuse by clergy to diocesan safeguarding commissions (formerly child protection commissions) in England and Wales are analysed and compared. The accounts given and the conclusions reached by the Church and those it employs or has commissioned are considered alongside the experiences reported by survivors. The contrasts between these narratives are discussed using techniques underpinned by critical discourse analysis and highlighting service user perspectives. Reports for the period to 2010 and published in 2011 by the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission and Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors are discussed in detail, with the resulting analysis of the narratives emerging arguably reflecting a broader discourse. It is suggested that, despite attempts to present the situation differently, the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales continues to be hampered in its efforts to respond sensitively to the needs of those who have been abused, because, as an institution, it also continues to serve conflicting legitimacy communities, and that, as a result, it risks further alienating those victims and survivors who have been led to expect that their needs will be prioritised over the financial interests and reputation of the institution.

Yes / Over the last few decades the number of women becoming pregnant later on in life has markedly increased. Medical experts have raised concerns about the increase in the number of women having babies later, owing to evidence that suggests that advancing maternal age is associated with both a decline in fertility and an increase in health risks to both mother and baby. In recognition of these risks, experts have warned that women should aim to have their children between the ages of twenty and thirty-five. As a consequence, women giving birth past the age of thirty-five have typically been positioned as “older mothers.” In this paper we used a social constructionist thematic analysis in order to analyse how “older mothers” are represented in newspaper articles in the British press. We examined how the topics of “choice” and “risk” are handled in discussions of delayed motherhood, and found that the media position women as wholly responsible for choosing the timing of pregnancy and, as a consequence, as accountable for the associated risks. Moreover, we noted that newspapers also constructed a “right” time for women to become pregnant. As such, we discuss the implications for the ability of women to make real choices surrounding the timing of pregnancy.

No / The purpose of this paper is to interrogate ways in which sex and sexual orientation are excluded from the agenda of work relationships in one probation service. The research was conducted through conversational interviews with members of a team responsible both for supervision of colleagues and for development of supervisory practice. Straight and lesbian officers responded to a perceived lack of skills to effectively “work with” sexuality issues. Responses lead to discussion of the discursive “silence” of sex, and to the specific positioning of lesbian identity. Specifically, it critiques approaches to supervision that do not explicitly value lesbian experience. This small study does not include the voices of black or gay male officers. It also does not explore the experience of bisexuality. The finding of this research can be used to support development of good supervisory practice. The paper sheds light on day to day interactions that “silence” experience of sexual orientation. The paper draws on original research interrogating both lesbian and straight experience. In so doing it sheds light on both discursive practices of a sexual agenda and practice issues in supervision.

Yes / Our aim is to provide an understanding of the experience of women with IBD who have made the transition to motherhood. Twenty-two mothers with IBD were recruited from around the UK. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using thematic analysis. The central concept – Blurred Lines – offers a novel frame for understanding the transition to motherhood with IBD through identifying parallels between having IBD and becoming, and being, a mother. Parallels clustered into three main themes: Need for Readiness, Lifestyle Changes, and Monitoring Personal and Physical Development. Hence, women with IBD are in some ways well prepared for the challenges of motherhood even though, as a group, they tend to restrict their reproductive choices. We recommend health professionals initiate conversations about reproduction early and provide a multidisciplinary approach to pregnancy and IBD in which women have confidence that their on-going treatment will be integrated successfully with their maternity care. / Crohn’s & Colitis UK [grant number SP2013/2].

No / Lay involvement in public health programmes occurs through formalised lay health worker (LHW) and other volunteer roles. Whether such participation should be supported, or indeed rewarded, by payment is a critical question. With reference to policy in England, UK, this paper argues how framing citizen involvement in health only as time freely given does not account for the complexities of practice, nor intrinsic motivations. The paper reports results on payment drawn from a study of approaches to support lay people in public health roles, conducted in England, 2007e9. The first phase of the study comprised a scoping review of 224 publications, three public hearings and a register of projects. Findings revealed the diversity of approaches to payment, but also the contested nature of the topic. The second phase investigated programme support matters in five case studies of public health projects, which were selected primarily to reflect role types. All five projects involved volunteers, with two utilising forms of payment to support engagement. Interviews were conducted with a sample of project staff, LHWs (paid and unpaid), external partners and service users. Drawing on both lay and professional perspectives, the paper explores how payment relates to social context as well as various motivations for giving, receiving or declining financial support. The findings show that personal costs are not always absorbed, and that there is a potential conflict between financial support, whether sessional payment or expenses, and welfare benefits. In identifying some of the advantages and disadvantages of payment, the paper highlights the complexity of an issue often addressed only superficially. It concludes that, in order to support citizen involvement, fairness and value should be considered alongside pragmatic matters of programme management; however policy conflicts need to be resolved to ensure that employment and welfare rights are maintained. / National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation Programme (project number 08/1716/206).

Yes / This article summarises the standpoint of the Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society regarding the current position of qualitative research in psychology in the United Kingdom. The article is in three parts. Part one documents the historical development of the section, outlining its rationale, remit, and current activities. These activities aim to champion and develop qualitative methods in psychology, supporting high quality work regardless of epistemological or ontological position. Part two considers the current context of our work, describing not only how qualitative methods are valued in the United Kingdom but also how this recognition is undermined, particularly through the operationalisation of our national research assessment (the Research Excellence Framework). We also consider the challenges that Open Science poses for qualitive researchers. Part three highlights some of the significant contributions of UK-based qualitative researchers to psychology, with a particular focus on feminist-informed research, discourse analysis, and interpretative phenomenological analysis, before pointing to future exciting possibilities based on research exploring the affordances of digital technologies and innovative synthesising across epistemologies and disciplinary boundaries.

No / Germany in 1945 was crammed with millions of people displaced by war, deportation, Nazi slave labour, and flight before the advance of the Red Army. Many of them, including Poles and the Baltic peoples of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, refused to return to their communist-controlled homelands. Simultaneously in Italy, the Middle East and Britain, there were more than 100,000 Polish military personnel under British command, along with their dependants. Most of these were survivors of the one and a half million Poles deported to Siberia by the Soviet security police. Based on official documents and the words of the survivors and their children, this book describes the brutal uprooting of these people, their subsequent terrible experiences in the Soviet and Nazi forced labour camps and prisons, and their ultimate settlement in Britain. Here the newcomers created communities, integrated into British life while attempting to preserve their cultures and identities, and experienced how ethnic minorities relate to the host society. 'This book is a fascinating history of the Polish and Baltic communities who arrived in the United Kingdom shortly after the Second World War. The author relies on interviews with elderly members of these communities and on documents from the Public Record Office. It was perhaps the last opportunity to obtain these important oral histories and Lane is the first British researcher to do so.' - International Affairs 'Its originality lies in the author's ability to weave personal stories into the otherwise dry facts concerning population movements. In this respect, the book becomes an inspiring social history.'