Anastasia Fadeeva

There is a growing need to support the health and well-being of retired adults. Some evidence suggests that retirement transition can provide an opportunity for public health initiatives (Heaven et al., 2016). However, to increase the effectiveness of the potential interventions, more holistic models that acknowledge the complexity of the retirement process are needed. The aim of the present study was to gain an in-depth understanding of retirement adjustment and to explore the key components of successful retirement adaptation by examining the lived experiences of retired adults. A qualitative research design was used and included four focus groups ( n = 18) and individual interviews ( n = 10) conducted with participants, aged 58 to 82 years, retired for various durations from manual- and non-manual occupations. The data were subjected to thematic analysis. A new retirement adjustment (R-Adj) framework that incorporates multiple layers of contributors to retirement experiences was suggested. The three core components of R-Adj were identity rebuilding, social interaction, and independence, all of which anchor on activity engagement. The identified elements of R-Adj remained relevant for positive retirement experiences at different stages. However, the retirement transition might be the optimal time for interventions because it is when the most noticeable changes in social circles, identity, lifestyles, and the most prominent call for independence occur. It is proposed that the R-Adj components should be considered when designing public health initiatives for the retired population.

Violence is recognised as a cause of health harm, but it is not consistently or adequately captured in healthcare data systems. While administrative health records could be valuable sources of information for measuring violence, they remain underutilised in violence-related research. The present research aims to examine the suitability of violence indicators in emergency care, primary care, and linked healthcare datasets. Descriptive analyses were conducted with the 2015/16 Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency (HES A&E) and the 2021/22 Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS). The potential of the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and the South Wales Violence Surveillance dataset (a police and emergency department (ED) dataset linked by Public Health Wales) were shown using available evidence. Among the discussed datasets, the South Wales Violence Surveillance dataset has the most detail about violent acts and their contexts, while the CPRD includes a more extensive range of socioeconomic factors about patients and extensive linkage with other datasets. Currently, detailed safeguarding information is routinely removed from the ECDS extracts provided to researchers, limiting its utility for violence research. In the HES A&E, only physical violence was consistently recorded. Addressing these issues has the potential to improve the use of health administrative data in research on violence.

Background: Due to the ageing population, the extent and impacts of violence in later life could become increasingly prominent. However, there is a lack of evidence on violence and its effects in older age, which impedes prevention measures. The present research draws on data collected from two nationally representative population health surveys - the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) 2014 and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) to examine associations between violence and health outcomes in older adults in England. Methods: APMS is a cross-sectional design and collected data on violence and abuse as well as mental health in adults aged 16+. Multivariable regression analyses were run to measure associations between violence and common mental disorder (CMD) in adults aged 60+ in comparison with the younger population group (16-59). ELSA is a panel data study, which has collected information on health, social, and economic lives of individuals aged 50 and over every two years since 2002. In wave 3, ELSA included questions on childhood abuse and life experiences of physical and sexual violence. Logistic multilevel regressions were used to examine associations between violence and subsequent limiting illness and depression. Results: Violence conferred an independent risk for CMD (AOR 2.2, 95% CI:1.0-4.8) based on the APMS data. According to ELSA results, physical violence (AOR 2.50, 95%CI 1.69-3.68) and childhood abuse (AOR 2.47, 95%CI 1.51-4.04) were associated with the development of limiting illness, with sex differences between men and women observed. Conclusions: Violence remains a problem that affects older people and presents risks to their health. Moreover, earlier life victimization could cause long-lasting health impacts that persist in later life. To mitigate the challenges associated with the ageing population, policies and interventions should focus on the prevention of violence and its long-lasting effects on health.

Violence reduction is a United Nations (UN) sustainable development goal (SDG) and is key to both public health and criminology. The collaboration between these fields has the potential to create and improve prevention strategies but has been hampered by the usage of different definitions and measurements. This paper explores the definitions and measurements of violence by the World Health Organization, UN, and Council of Europe to arrive at a harmonized framework aligned with the SDGs. Violence and abuse are defined by these organizations as intentional actions that (are likely to) lead to harm, irrespective of physicality or legality. When recording violence and abuse, health- and justice-based administrative systems use different codes which cannot directly be translated without resorting to broad overarching categories. Additionally, the identification of the number of victims, perpetrators, and events is challenging in these systems due to repeat victimization/offending, multiple victims/perpetrators, and multiple engagements with services associated with a single event. Furthermore, additional information on the victims (e.g., ethnicity) and events needs to be registered to evaluate progress toward the SDGs. We propose a framework to record violence that includes individual and event identifiers, forms of violence and abuse (including physical, sexual, and psychological), harm, and individual and event characteristics.

Traumatic deaths of military personnel can have tragic consequences for the lives and health of bereaved significant others. To mitigate the effects, the UK Armed Forces enhanced the support for bereaved military families. However, little is known about whether the support has been satisfactory. The present research applied mixed methods to explore the experiences of bereaved UK military families (N = 264) with different types of support and how it historically changed over time. The findings suggest that although support has improved, further improvements are required in the provision of financial information, administrative support, and access to psychological support for all bereaved family members.