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The purpose of this study is to consider how carer harm is understood, surfaced and responded to in contemporary policy, practice and research.

This paper offers a reflective commentary on the current “state of play” relating to carer harm drawing on existing research and related literature. This study focuses on how we define carer harm and what we know about its impact; lessons from, and for, practice and service provision; and (some) considerations for policy development and future research.

The authors highlight the importance of engaging with the gendered dimensions (and inequalities) that lie at the intersection of experience of care and violence and the need to move beyond binary conceptions of power (lessness) in family and intimate relationships over the life course. They suggest that changing how we think and talk about carer harm may support practitioners to better recognise the impact of direct and indirect forms of carer harm on carers without stigmatising or blaming people with care needs. The findings of this study also consider how carer harm is “hidden in plain sight” on two accounts. The issue falls through the gaps between, broadly, domestic abuse and adult and child safeguarding services; similarly, the nature and impact of harm is often kept private by carers who are fearful of the moral and practical consequences of sharing their experiences.

This study sets out recommendations to this effect and invites an ongoing conversation about how change for carers and families can be realised.

The purpose of this case study is to undertake a public involvement consultation with members of a rural and agricultural mental health support organisation to explore mental health research priorities and factors relating to research study design that may support or prevent participation.

A multi-methods approach was used for data collection for this case study: an online survey (n = 29) and qualitative community group discussions (n = 10). Findings are presented descriptively and analysed with content analysis to generate indicative research priorities and recommendations for future mental health research study design.

Three research priority themes were identified: improving rural health service provision; understanding the impact of rural living and working on mental health; improving community connections. Research design recommendations involve where to promote studies to increase engagement in rural and farming communities, communicating clarity over time and place and clear involvement of farmers and rural community members as part of the research team.

This is the first reported mental health research consultation case study exploring the views of rural and agricultural community members about aspects of research study design and local research priorities.

This research aims to introduce the concept of information snowballing, which shows the process of how individuals with a specific interest in food sustainability acquire information about and remain abreast of sustainability-related information in everyday life and food practices.

This study employed constructivist grounded theory to investigate the information acquisition practices of consumers of sustainable food around topics related to sustainability. The author collected data through pre-screening phone calls, photo diaries and in-depth semi-structured interviews by using theoretical sampling with nine sustainable food consumers; analyzed data through constant comparison and memoing; and validated findings via methodological jotting, data triangulation and peer-debriefing throughout the process.

The findings identify three stages of information snowballing: (a) learning by lifelong exposure and serendipitous information encountering; (b) constructing information landscapes; and (c) snowballing or gradually accumulating information.

This concept advocates for spreading sustainability-related information and awareness outside the context of formal education.

This study originates the concept of “information snowballing,” which evolves from the idea of snowball sampling, a common strategy for participant recruitment. Both of these terms lean on the idea that a snowball rolling downhill picks up more and more momentum and more and more snow as it travels; recruitment and information gathering show the same process of accretion through building momentum. Information snowballing highlights the individual’s agency in seeking relevant information sources, expressing one’s interests, constructing information landscapes—all activities that precede the serendipitous encountering and snowballing of information based on a particular interest. It also connects everyday information practices to information landscapes within the context of everyday food practices.

The term neurodiversity is used to discuss human neurological variation, differences in human cognition, and a social movement that aims to change the way that society views and responds to people who are neurodivergent. While the cognitive differences associated with autism are often discussed in terms of deficits, in recent years autistic autism researchers have been reframing autistic cognition from a neurodiversity-affirming lens that illuminates autistic strengths. Based on characteristics of autistic cognition from a neurodiversity-affirming perspective, this chapter describes neurodiversity-affirming autistic social entrepreneurship and systems thinking approaches and argues that all autistic-owned and -led businesses that align with the mission of the neurodiversity movement are by definition social enterprises. It is hoped that this chapter will assist in reframing autistic cognition from its current deficit conception and encourage the development of business support services that are more appropriate for autistic social entrepreneurs.