David J. Pevalin

In seeking to understand the relationship between housing and health, research attention is often focussed on separate components of people’s whole housing ‘bundles’. We propose in this paper that such conceptual and methodological abstraction of elements of the housing and health relationship limits our ability to understand the scale of the accumulated effect of housing on health and thereby contributes to the under-recognition of adequate housing as a social policy tool and powerful health intervention. In this paper, we propose and describe an index to capture the means by which housing bundles influence health. We conceptualise the index as reflecting accumulated housing ‘insults to health’—an Index of Housing Insults (IHI). We apply the index to a sample of 1000 low-income households in Australia. The analysis shows a graded association between housing insults and health on all outcome measures. Further, after controlling for possible confounders, the IHI is shown to provide additional predictive power to the explanation of levels of mental health, general health and clinical depression beyond more traditional proxy measures. Overall, this paper reinforces the need to look not just at separate housing components but to embrace a broader understanding of the relationship between housing and health.

The contemporary school environment in England has been identified as stressful for both staff and pupils. School-based interventions aimed at improving well-being and mental health have shown mixed results. The Principle Based Model (PBM) of Mind, Consciousness, and Thought is an untried intervention in English schools and as a working model there is a paucity of research into its potential. The aim of this mixed-methods pilot study was to investigate the effectiveness of the PBM as a means of increasing the psychological well-being of staff and pupils. The study was a 16-week pre, post, and follow-up study using the Friedman Well-Being Scale (FWBS) as a measure of psychological well-being, and analyzed using matched sample t tests and repeated measures ANOVA. The study was carried out in a high school in the east of England with 10 staff and nine pupils. The staff and pupils involved received the PBM as a psychoeducational program. During the follow-up period, six members of staff and one pupil were interviewed and the transcripts analyzed using Thematic Analysis. The pre to post total FWBS scores showed an increase in psychological well-being for both staff and pupils but only the change for pupils was statistically significant. Post to follow-up total FWBS scores for both staff and pupils showed no significant change. This study provides some initial evidence to suggest that the PBM may be a useful tool for schools to utilize in attempting to increase psychological well-being.

The purpose of this study was to explore associations of spiritual well-being, spiritual perspective, and religiosity with self-rated health in a convenience sample of 340 adult Jordanian Arab Christians. Data were collected through church and community groups. Results indicated that spiritual well-being and religiosity were positively associated with self-rated health, but in the final regression model only spiritual well-being retained a significant association after controlling for the other spiritual and religious measures. In conclusion, spirituality and religiosity are important to Jordanian Arab Christians’ health and well-being, and the implications for nursing practice are explored.

Aims and objectives: This study develops a new instrument, the Spiritual Care Intervention‐Provision Scale, and assesses its psychometric properties in an Arab Muslim nurse sample. The Spiritual Care Intervention‐Provision Scale was developed to measure the frequency with which nurses provided aspects of spiritual care.Background: Most of the available spiritual care instruments were developed in the West and reflect a predominantly Christian tradition. A review of the literature on spiritual care in nursing revealed that no instrument exists for measuring spiritual care interventions provided by nurses to Arab Muslim patients.Design: A cross‐sectional descriptive and correlational design.Methods: Following an extensive literature search, review by an expert panel and a pilot study which included patients' views regarding aspects of spiritual care provided by nurses, the final version of the Spiritual Care Intervention‐Provision Scale was tested in a convenience sample of 360 Jordanian Arab Muslim nurses. Correlational and factor analysis were used.Results: The internal consistency of the Spiritual Care Intervention‐Provision Scale was high, with α coefficient of 0·85. The exploratory factor analysis supported a two‐factor structure for the Spiritual Care Intervention‐Provision Scale as hypothesised. A significant positive correlation between the Spiritual Care Intervention‐Provision Scale and religiosity was in the expected direction though small in magnitude.Conclusions: This study initiates the development of an instrument for the provision of spiritual care intervention by nurses that balances the religious and existential dimensions of spirituality. The Spiritual Care Intervention‐Provision Scale exhibited acceptable evidence of internal consistency and validity among Jordanian Arab Muslim nurses. Further work was suggested to firmly establish all aspects of this new scale.Relevance to clinical practice: This culturally specific instrument contributes to the evaluation of the provision of spiritual care by Jordanian Muslim nurses to their patients, to guide them in providing a comprehensive and appropriate spiritual care interventions and to examine the effect of spiritual care on various aspects of patient's quality of life.

Little is known about the role of age and gender in the association between psychosomatic symptoms and common mental illness in Ghanaian adolescents. This cross-sectional study examined age and gender as moderators between psychosomatic symptoms and common mental illness using data from a school-based survey (N = 770). Males reported higher psychosomatic symptoms and common mental illness, while younger adolescents reported higher common mental illness only. Psychosomatic symptoms were positively associated with common mental illness, but age and gender did not moderate this association. Interventions aimed at reducing the prevalence rate in psychosomatic symptoms are crucial in decreasing common mental illness in Ghanaian adolescents.

This paper contributes insights into the role of tenure in modifying the relationship between housing affordability and health, using a cross-national comparison of similar post-industrial nations—Australia and the United Kingdom—with different tenure structures. The paper utilises longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey and British Household Panel Survey to examine change in the mental health of individuals associated with housing becoming unaffordable and considers modification by tenure. We present evidence that the role of tenure in the relationship between housing and health is context dependent and should not be unthinkingly generalised across nations. These findings suggest that the UK housing context offers a greater level of protection to tenants living in unaffordable housing when compared with Australia, and this finds expression in the mental health of the two populations. We conclude that Australian governments could improve the mental health of their economically vulnerable populations through more supportive housing policies.

Background: People in prison have a higher burden of blood-borne virus (BBV) infection than the general population, and prisons present an opportunity to test for BBVs in high-risk, underserved groups. Changes to the BBV testing policies in English prisons have recently been piloted. This review will enable existing evidence to inform policy revisions. We describe components of routine HIV, hepatitis B and C virus testing policies in prisons and quantify testing acceptance, coverage, result notification and diagnosis. Methods: We searched five databases for studies of both opt-in (testing offered to all and the individual chooses to have the test or not) and opt-out (the individual is informed the test will be performed unless they actively refuse) prison BBV testing policies. Results: Forty-four studies published between 1989 and 2013 met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 82% were conducted in the USA, 91% included HIV testing and most tested at the time of incarceration. HIV testing acceptance rates ranged from 22 to 98% and testing coverage from 3 to 90%. Mixed results were found for equity in uptake. Six studies reported reasons for declining a test including recent testing and fear. Conclusions: While the quality of evidence is mixed, this review suggests that reasonable rates of uptake can be achieved with opt-in and, even better, with opt-out HIV testing policies. Little evidence was found relating to hepatitis testing. Policies need to specify exclusion criteria and consider consent processes, type of test and timing of the testing offer to balance acceptability, competence and availability of individuals.