Increased risk of domestic violence during and after pregnancy for people with schizophrenia, study finds

Pregnant and postpartum patients with schizophrenia are three times more likely to experience interpersonal (domestic) violence, compared with those without schizophrenia, a study carried out by the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto has found.

In a population-based cohort study of almost two million participants, 3.1 per cent of patients with schizophrenia had an emergency department visit for interpersonal violence during pregnancy or the first postpartum year, compared with 0.4 per cent of those without schizophrenia.

Public Health

Current awareness updates

The cost effectiveness of ecotherapy as a healthcare intervention, separating the wood from the trees.
Hinde S. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) 2021;18(-):11599.
[This paper explores the capacity for ecotherapy to be cost-effective as a healthcare intervention. We show that there is the potential for ecotherapy for people with mild to moderate common mental health problems to be cost-effective but significant further research is required.]

Community support versus health care services: time to change our definition of impact.
Evidence & Policy Blog; 2021.
[Non-profit community anchor organisations in England typically provide a range of support to local people, including wellbeing support, advocacy, social activities, and training and employment advice. This array of services takes a wider perspective on the determinants of health than the approach taken within the NHS, which generally focuses on mental and physical ill health. Despite the different approaches, the funding for organisations is often dependent on the impact on health outcomes.]

National Pregnancy in Diabetes (NPID) Audit Report 2019.
Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP); 2021.
[The National Pregnancy in Diabetes (NPID) Audit measures the quality of antenatal care and pregnancy outcomes for women with pre-gestational diabetes. Overall, there were 4,525 pregnant women with diabetes in 2020 – 325 fewer pregnancies than 2019 – of which, 54% had type 2 diabetes (44% had type 1 diabetes and 2% were recorded as having ‘other diabetes’). The audit includes analysis by age, ethnicity, social deprivation and weight.]

Better together: a public health model for mentally healthier integrated care systems.
Centre for Mental Health; 2021.
[According to this briefing paper, England’s 42 integrated care systems have an opportunity to protect and promote mental health in the communities they serve. The briefing explores how integrated care systems can address the social and environmental factors that affect people’s health in their communities.]

Saving lives, improving mothers’ care: lessons learned to inform maternity care from the UK and Ireland Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths and Morbidity 2017-19.
National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU); 2021.
[This report finds that pregnancy remains safe in the UK, with the overall maternal death rate showing a slight decrease. Among 2,173,810 women who gave birth in 2017-2019, 191 died during or up to six weeks after pregnancy, and 495 during or up to one year after their pregnancy. However, the findings show a continued inequality in the mortality rates for women of different ethnic backgrounds, ages and socio-economic circumstances.]

Ethnic and socio-economic Inequalities in NHS maternity and perinatal care for women and their babies.
Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP); 2021.
[This report describes inequalities in maternity and perinatal care for women and their babies in England, Scotland and Wales during the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2018. Using routinely collected data, care and outcomes experienced by women and babies using NHS maternity services are measured and stratified by ethnicity and by Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), a proxy for socio-economic deprivation.]

Fulfilling the promise: how social prescribing can most effectively tackle loneliness.
British Red Cross; 2021.
[This report draws on practical experience of delivering social prescribing services to those experiencing or at risk of loneliness through Red Cross Community Connector schemes.]

What works when evaluating social prescribing? A realist review report.
Wales School for Social Prescribing Research; 2021.
[An analysis of approaches used to evaluate social prescribing.]

Newcastle GP Services Social Prescribing Navigator Service: an independent evaluation.
North of England Commissioning Support Network; 2021.
[The aims of this evaluation were to: • Understand the update and usage of the service across Newcastle with regards population, conditions, and sites. • Analyse trends in unplanned access to secondary care. • Understand the experience and impact from the patient as end user of this service and navigators as deliverers of the service • Recommend data collection and analysis for the ongoing service to have greater comprehension of the impact of the service.]

The role of data in unlocking the potential of social prescribing.
Open Data Institute; 2021.
[A report by Frontier Economics for the ODI concludes there are a number of barriers to social prescribing reaching its full potential, including the lack of available data, and solid data infrastructure, such as statistics, maps and real-time service-use data that could help social prescribers and the providers of services to make decisions, build services and gain insight.]


Public Health

Current awareness updates

Promoting the sexual health and wellbeing of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[This resource provides information to support commissioners, providers and voluntary and community sector organisations in developing interventions for improved sexual health and wellbeing among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM).]

Promoting the sexual health and wellbeing of people from a Black Caribbean background: an evidence-based resource.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[This resource provides information to support commissioners, providers and third-sector organisations in developing interventions for improved sexual health and wellbeing in people from a Black Caribbean background.]

Mental health in prison.
House of Commons Justice Committee; 2021.
[This report finds that a disjointed and incoherent approach to care has left many prisoners suffering from mental health issues undiagnosed and unable to access care. It calls on the NHS, Ministry of Justice and the Prison and Probation Service to implement a system of integrated care that improves identification of mental health issues, provides seamless care while in prison and supports transition to care in community settings on release.]

The cost of eating disorders in the UK 2019 and 2020.
Hearts Minds and Genes Coalition for Eating Disorders; 2021.
[This report highlights the cost of eating disorders in the UK, in terms of financial costs to the NHS, the financial, social and emotional impact on individuals, families and wider society, and in terms of the ongoing loss of lives to illnesses that can be treated but that are currently subject to severe underfunding and lack of services.]

Long-term prisoners: the facts: England and Wales. October 2021.
Prison Reform Trust; 2021.
[In the last twenty years, the prison population has changed hugely. Sentences for more serious crimes have become longer and far more people will now spend 10 or more years in prison. Meeting the challenges of this change will shape the prison landscape for the foreseeable future.]

Measuring Children and Young People’s Subjective Wellbeing.
What Works Centre for Wellbeing; 2021.
[While we have very good national data on the wellbeing of adults, the national statistics on children and young people’s wellbeing in the UK, is not collected regularly, or nationally. The Measures Bank is a searchable database of measures, a resource for policy-makers and practitioners to identify appropriate measures for children’s wellbeing for use in their specific context.]

Characteristics of women who stop smoking in pregnancy.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[Experimental analysis of data from the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS), April 2018 to March 2019.]

NHS population screening: identifying and reducing inequalities.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[Guidance and resources to support providers and commissioners in reducing screening inequalities.]

Physical activity: promotion within primary and secondary care.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[Report and learning from the evidence base and local practice of physical activity promotion in the NHS. The report provides practitioners, commissioners and policy makers with the factors that influence successful integration and implementation of physical activity promotion in primary and secondary care. It focuses on understanding how to integrate physical activity promotion into preventative and treatment care and support for people living with one or more long-term conditions.]

Behaviour change: helping health professionals deliver brief interventions.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[This report focuses on how we can use behavioural science to support healthcare professionals to deliver brief interventions for alcohol, smoking and Making Every Contact Count (MECC) programmes. It includes examples of the barriers and facilitators that affect whether healthcare professionals deliver brief interventions. The report also includes examples of behaviour change techniques (BCTs) that could be used to support and encourage healthcare professionals to deliver brief interventions.]

Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week

4th – 9th May 2021

This week is dedicated to talking about mental health issues that arise during or after pregnancy. The ILPA have collated a range of resources to offer support for those parents suffering with their mental health, including appropriate podcasts, book recommendations and support organisations. Take a look at the resources here.

The library also has a range of books to support staff when working with patients. Some of our titles include:

Please get in touch by emailing: academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk if you would like us to issue you any books relating to this topic.

Public Health

Current Awareness

Suicide awareness materials: do they help people with suicidal ideation?
The Mental Elf; 2020.

(Hanzla Amir and Derek Tracy summarise a recent online randomised controlled trial on the effects of suicide awareness materials on people who feel suicidal, which finds that the Papageno effect is real and that stories of hope and recovery can help.)

Whole systems approach to obesity.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.

(A guide and set of resources to support local authorities with implementing a whole systems approach to address obesity and promote a healthy weight.
7 December 2020: Added ‘Engaging NHS system leaders in whole systems approaches to physical activity’.)

Supporting public health: children, young people and families.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.

(Documents to support local authorities and providers in commissioning and delivering maternal and child public health services from preconception up to 24 years. 8 December 2020: Updated to include the 6 maternity high impact area guides.)

How England will end new cases of HIV: final report and recommendations.
HIV Commission; 2020.

(The HIV Commission is an ambitious, independent process to find the path to ending new HIV transmissions and HIV-attributed deaths in England by 2030. Its report sets out 20 achievable and evidence-based actions that need to be taken if this goal is to be met.)

Obesity Profile: December 2020 update.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.

(Obesity Profile online data tool: update with new data from the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) for academic year 2019 to 2020.)

What people are telling us: a summary, July – September 2020 Healthwatch, 2020

(Between July and September 2020, more than 38,082 people shared their experiences of using health and social care with Healthwatch. This briefing is a summary of the key issues that the public are telling us about, including access to NHS dental care; the support provided in care homes; and accessing Covid-19 tests.)

Interventions to prevent intimate partner and sexual violence Public Health England (PHE), 2020

(A guidance resource from PHE to help tackle the root causes of violence and
change behaviours that lead to violence. It includes a summary of research and good practice in bystander interventions.)

Covid 19

Updates on the Covid 19 Pandemic

Update on COVID-19 pandemic.
BMJ Best Practice; 2020.

(Epidemiology: updated data on children and pregnant women; updated risk factors (solid organ transplant). Aetiology: updated data on viral shedding in immunocompromised people. Emerging: WHO Solidarity trial results published; NIH recommends against casirivimab/imdevimab as standard of care for patients with mild to moderate disease; UK trial starts investigating use of colchicine. Prevention: first vaccine authorised for use in the UK; WHO updates guidance on mask use in community settings.)

Mask use in the context of COVID-19.
World Health Organization (WHO); 2020.

(This document provides updated guidance on mask use in health care and community settings, and during home care for COVID-19 cases. It is intended for policy makers, public health and infection prevention and control professionals, health care managers and health workers. Updated 1 December 2020.)

COVID-19: vaccination programme guidance for healthcare practitioners.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.

(Guidance for healthcare practitioners about the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination programme. 4 December 2020: Update report: details on page 3.)

COVID-19 vaccination: women of childbearing age, currently pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.

(Information for all women of childbearing age, those currently pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding on coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination.)

Covid-19 Insight: issue 5.
Care Quality Commission (CQC); 2020.

(In this month’s report, we build on the learning about good practice in infection prevention and control that we discussed in the last issue by focusing on care homes. We also present the key findings from a survey to understand the experience of inpatients who were discharged from hospital from April to May 2020, when the first wave of the pandemic was at its height.)