The Social Impact Of Participation In Culture And Sport

House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee - This report finds that opportunities to reap major benefits in criminal justice, education and health are being missed by the failure of government to recognise and harness social impact. Click here for link to King's blog

Admissions of inequality: emergency hospital use for children and young people

Does a child's socioeconomic background have an effect on rates of admissions to hospital for common conditions such as asthma, diabetes or epilepsy?  Report from the Nuffield Trust.

Poverty is at the heart of mental health crisis

There has been a massive increase in calls to the Metropolitan police involving mental health problems, with as many as one every five minutes. Insp Brown from the College of Police attributes this to cuts in mental health services and of course this will have a clearly adverse effect, but what is the source of all this distress? It is generally conceded that poverty can be both a determinant and a consequence of poor mental health.

Psychosocial pathways and health outcomes

This report highlights the current evidence that exists about the relationships between social determinants, psychosocial factors and health outcomes.

It also provides a conceptual framework that focuses on the psychosocial pathways between factors associated with social, economic and environmental conditions, psychological and psychobiological processes, health behaviours and mental and physical health outcomes.

Loneliness Epidemic Growing into Biggest Threat to Public Health

Loneliness and social isolation could be a greater public health hazard than obesity, and their impact will continue to grow, according to research presented at the 125th annual convention of the American Psychological Association.

“Being connected to others socially is widely considered a fundamental human need — crucial to both well-being and survival. Extreme examples show infants in custodial care who lack human contact fail to thrive and often die, and indeed, social isolation or solitary confinement has been used as a form of punishment,” said Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Brigham Young University.

Retirement Leads to Less Stress – But Not If You’re Poor

New research suggests that retirement may widen inequalities in stress and health.

The new study, published in the Journal of Gerontology, shows that poorer people, or people in low status occupations, often have poorer health and higher biological stress response levels upon retirement, while people in high status jobs have lower stress levels.

Tackle poverty, improve mental health

Mental health discourse welcomed an unexpected participant this month. Prince Harry, the fifth in line to the throne, spoke publicly about seeking counselling following his mother’s sudden death in his pre-teen years. Rightly, mental health charities praised his intervention, highlighting as it did that even extreme privilege cannot shelter us from depression, anxiety or any other psychiatric illness. Our bodies are fragile, and our minds equally so: this message is increasingly accepted as people with mental health problems, campaigners and medics alike have fought to end stigma by building a national conversation on mental health, but we also need to tackle poverty.

Dying from inequality: socioeconomic disadvantage and suicidal behaviour

This report by the Samaritans links higher risk of suicide with inequality and calls for greater awareness of the risks of suicide and for direct support to those with unstable employment, insecure housing, low income or in areas of socioeconomic deprivation.

Childhood poverty can rob adults of psychological health

A large and growing body of research shows that poor kids grow up to have a host of physical problems as adults.

Now add poor psychological health to the list, a Cornell University researcher says.
A sweeping new study, conducted by following participants over a 15-year period, is the first to show that childhood poverty can cause significant psychological damage in adulthood.