Heritability studies attempt to estimate the contribution of genes (vs. environments) to variation in phenotypes (or outcomes of interest) in a given population at a given time…
Abstract
Purpose
Heritability studies attempt to estimate the contribution of genes (vs. environments) to variation in phenotypes (or outcomes of interest) in a given population at a given time. This chapter scrutinizes heritability studies of adverse health phenotypes, emphasizing flaws that have become more glaring in light of recent advances in the life sciences and manifest most visibly in epigenetics.
Methodology/approach
Drawing on a diverse body of research and critical scholarship, this chapter examines the veracity of methodological and conceptual assumptions of heritability studies.
Findings
The chapter argues that heritability studies are futile for two reasons: (1) heritability studies suffer from serious methodological flaws with the overall effect of making estimates inaccurate and likely biased toward inflated heritability, and, more importantly (2) the conceptual (biological) model on which heritability studies depend – that of identifiably separate effects of genes versus the environment on phenotype variance – is unsound. As discussed, contemporary bioscientific work indicates that genes and environments are enmeshed in a complex (bidirectional, interactional), dynamic relationship that defies any attempt to demarcate separate contributions to phenotype variance. Thus, heritability studies attempt the biologically impossible. The emerging research on the importance of microbiota is also discussed, including how the commensal relationship between microbial and human cells further stymies heritability studies.
Originality/value
Understandably, few sociologists have the time or interest to be informed about the methodological and theoretical underpinnings of heritability studies or to keep pace with the incredible advances in genetics and epigenetics over the last several years. The present chapter aims to provide interested scholars with information about heritability and heritability estimates of adverse health outcomes in light of recent advances in the biosciences.
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Simon Gibbon and Najat Khalifa
Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are increasingly recognised as an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Psychiatric patients, and especially those in forensic units, may be at…
Abstract
Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are increasingly recognised as an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Psychiatric patients, and especially those in forensic units, may be at increased risk of ADRs. Detection and documentation of previous ADRs are essential in reducing the risk of future ADRs. A baseline audit was undertaken, and subsequently the recording of ADRs on the drug cards of patients in a forensic psychiatry unit was re‐audited. Poor levels of documentation of ADRs were found. Following the baseline audit, a number of simple measures were undertaken which improved performance at re‐audit.
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Sarah N. Mitchell, Antoinette M. Landor and Katharine H. Zeiders
Research has shown that for young adults, marital attitudes (e.g., desire, importance, and expectation) are associated with relationship quality. However, how this association…
Abstract
Research has shown that for young adults, marital attitudes (e.g., desire, importance, and expectation) are associated with relationship quality. However, how this association plays out for young adults of color is less known. Additionally, the influence of skin tone perception on the relationship between marital attitudes and relationship quality remains understudied. To explore these associations, the authors examined African American and Latinx young adults (N = 57, Mage = 20.71 years, SD = 1.28; 75.4% female) attending a Midwestern university. Exploratory results indicated that marital expectations were positively associated with relationship quality in that young adults who expected to marry one day, reported greater relationship satisfaction, commitment, and intimacy in their current relationships. Additionally, skin tone perception moderated the association between marital attitudes and relationship quality in two ways (i.e., between expectations and satisfaction and between importance and intimacy). Collectively, findings suggest that differing levels of marital attitudes and skin tone perception contributes to young adults’ perceptions of relationship quality. Considering these psychological factors of attitudes, skin tone perception, and relationship quality, together with systemic racial/ethnic discrimination, the authors discuss future research and practice considerations.
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This paper aims to introduce the concept of adaptive agency and illustrate its emergence in the field of English teaching in a number of countries using England over the past…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to introduce the concept of adaptive agency and illustrate its emergence in the field of English teaching in a number of countries using England over the past 30 years as a case study. It examines how the exceptional flexibility of English as school subject has brought many external impositions whilst its teachers have evolved remarkable adaptivity.
Design/methodology/approach
It proposes several models of agency and their different modes, focussing finally on adaptive agency as a model that has emerged over a 30-year period. It considers aspects of this development across a number of countries, mostly English speaking ones, but its chief case is that of England. It is principally a theoretical paper drawing on Phenomenology, Critical Realism and later modernist interpretations of Darwinian Theory, but it is grounded by drawing on two recent empirical projects to illustrate English teachers’ current agency. It offers a fresh overview of how agency and accountability have interacted within a matrix of official policy and constraint.
Findings
Adaptive agency has become a necessary aspect of teacher expertise. Such a mode of working creates great emotional strains and tensions, leading to many teachers leaving the profession. However, many English teachers whilst feeling controlled in the matrix of power and the panopticon of surveillance, remain resilient and positive about the future of the subject.
Research limitations/implications
This is to some extent a personal and reflexive account of a lived history, supported by research and other evidence.
Practical implications
Adaptive agency enables teachers to conceptualise the frustrations of the role but to celebrate how they expertly use their agency where they can. It makes their work and struggle more comprehensible. In providing the concept of harmonious practice, it offers the hope of a return to more satisfying professional lives.
Originality/value
This paper offers an original concept, adaptive agency, and discusses other valuable conceptualisations of agency and accountability. It combines a unique individual perspective with a fresh overview of the past three decades as experienced by English teachers in England.
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Purpose – This chapter problematizes the concept of the “American Dream” – important for Messner and Rosenfeld’s Intuitional Anomie Theory (IAT).Design/methodology/approach – The…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter problematizes the concept of the “American Dream” – important for Messner and Rosenfeld’s Intuitional Anomie Theory (IAT).
Design/methodology/approach – The author uses work from political science, specifically Adcock and Collier in conversation with Gerring to consider if the American Dream concept is “good.” The author continues by contending that the work on the state, its power and reach, can assist with the reconceptualization of IAT and the American Dream concept theoretically and methodologically.
Findings – The author finds that the American Dream concept, while not completely inadequate, significantly departs from Adams’ original definition in The Epic of America while also being associated with mixed findings as it relates to race and the likelihood of violence. The author concludes that through critical work (e.g., Moten’s “The Case for Blackness” and Ahmed’s “Phenomenology of Whiteness”) that in order to better develop this basis of desire in the American Dream concept there is a need to integrate a growing body of work that critically engages with the legacy of racial violence and racialized social conditioning. The author concludes that by studying the ontology/phenomenon of race, understandings of cultural desire may be understood in order to inform IAT.
Originality/value – This chapter provides a framework for evaluating concepts with interdisciplinary conversations with political science. The author’s findings also add to a body of work that, through cross-disciplinary conversations, work to tease out the socio-ecological and historical conditions that influence the interaction of structure and culture that lead to anomie and ultimately deviance.
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Simon Gibbon, Edward Silva, Rupinder Kaler, Inti Qurashi, Mrigendra Das, Jon Patrick, Manjit Gahir, Douglas Gray, Lakshmanan Ramachandran and Anthony Maden
High‐secure hospital patients often have complex presentations that are marked by co‐morbidity, violence, histories of poor concordance with oral medication, and treatment…
Abstract
Purpose
High‐secure hospital patients often have complex presentations that are marked by co‐morbidity, violence, histories of poor concordance with oral medication, and treatment resistance. The ability to give a long‐acting medication with a low propensity for extra pyramidal side effects is of potential value to clinicians treating these patients. Risperidone Long‐acting Injection (RLAI) is the first long‐acting atypical antipsychotic medication and may be potentially useful in this population. This paper aims to investigate this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
This was a retrospective, naturalistic study to investigate the use and effectiveness, using hard outcome measures, of RLAI in the four UK high‐secure psychiatric hospitals. Hospital pharmacy databases at Ashworth, Broadmoor, Carstairs and Rampton hospitals were used to identify all patients who had been prescribed RLAI. Anonymised data were then obtained from the pharmacy databases and case notes which were then pooled.
Findings
A total of 159 patients were prescribed RLAI, most of whom had schizophrenia. The mean length of treatment with RLAI was 65 weeks (range two to 260 weeks) and the mean maximum dose was 43.2 mg every two weeks (range 25‐75 mg every two weeks). No serious adverse effects were reported. In total, 42 per cent (67) patients responded to RLAI in as much as that they either remained on it in the long‐term or were discharged to conditions of lower security whilst taking it. As there was no control group, it is not possible to determine if RLAI was a significant factor in such discharges to conditions of lower security. Of those patients who failed to respond to RLAI, 44 per cent were subsequently treated with clozapine.
Originality/value
This pragmatic multi‐centre study of a small but complex patient group demonstrated that RLAI was effective in 42 per cent of patients and was well‐tolerated.
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This paper aims to review the need for and development of specialist deaf secure mental health services.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the need for and development of specialist deaf secure mental health services.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a review article; it begins by giving a brief overview of deafness and the relationship between deafness, mental health problems and offending. Following this, relevant literature and Department of Health (DoH) guidance is summarised and a description of the current UK services is given.
Findings
In 2001, Young et al. highlighted the needs of deaf mentally disordered offenders and the requirement for specialist forensic mental health services for this group. Since then several DoH guidance documents have been published that, amongst other things, highlighted the need to develop deaf forensic mental health services. There have now been substantial service developments in this area but substantial gaps remain – most notably, a lack of specialist mental health provision for deaf prisoners.
Originality/value
The paper offers insights into the development and future of deaf forensic mental health services.