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The purpose of this paper is to report on findings from an evaluative research study which looked at a timed intervention model of practice comprising of up to 24 weeks of intensive meetings with adult service users set up by one local authority in England, to prevent and delay the need for care and support. A particular focus of this paper is on adults who hoard.

The study employed a mixed-methods design, consisting of interviews with service users (n=13), social workers (n=3), social work managers (n=2) and stakeholders from external services and agencies (n=6). It included a costing analysis of staff time and an analysis of goals of service users and “satisfaction with life” self-report questionnaires (n=20), completed at pre- and post-intervention stages.

There was evidence that social workers used strengths, relationship-based and outcome-based focused approaches in their work. The techniques used by social workers to engage, achieve change and assess effectiveness with service users varied. These techniques included the use of photographs to enable the service user to map and assess their own progress over time, encouraging hoarders to declutter and reclaim their living space. The service users valued the time the social workers spent with them and the way that they were treated with sensitivity and respect.

The study focused on one local authority in England; there was no comparison group. This, and the small sample size, means that statistical generalisations cannot be made and only limited conclusions can be drawn from the quantitative data.

The paper provides insights into the work undertaken by social workers with adults who hoard. It contributes to the body of knowledge on effective social work interventions with adults who hoard.

This article is based on a study that was commissioned by the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales. We report on the learning profiles and education needs of a cohort of young offenders who were recruited for the study. The research was a national cross‐sectional survey of 301 young offenders who were resident in custodial settings or attending youth offending teams in the community. The young people were assessed using the WASI and the WORD measures to obtain psychometric information (IQ scores and reading/reading comprehension ages). One in five (20%) young people met the ICD‐10 criteria for mental retardation (IQ<70), while problems with reading (52%) and reading comprehension (61%) were common. Verbal IQ scores were found to be significantly lower than performance IQ scores, particularly in male offenders. It is clear from these results that a large proportion of juvenile offenders have a learning disability, as characterised by an IQ<70 and significantly low reading and reading comprehension ages. The underlying aetiology of this association is less clear and may be a consequence of both an increased prevalence of neurocognitive deficits and the impact of poor schooling. There is some evidence that developmental pathways may be different for boys compared with girls.

Building a culture of safety in transportation is not dissimilar from building a culture of safety in health. Public health is widely known for protecting the public from diseases through milk pasteurization and chlorination of drinking water, and from injuries by implementing environmental and occupational safeguards and fostering behavioral change. Lifestyle and environmental changes that have contributed to the reductions in smoking and heart disease can also help change driving, walking and cycling behaviors, and environments. Stimulating a culture of safety on the road means providing safe and accessible transportation for all. The vision for a culture of traffic safety is to change the public’s attitude about the unacceptable toll from traffic injuries and to implement a systems approach to traffic injury prevention as a means for improving public health and public safety. Framing the motor vehicle injury problem in this way provides an opportunity for partnerships between highway safety and public health to improve the culture of safety.

The article aims to examine the process and challenges of setting up and implementing evidence‐based programmes in regular service systems.

The article offers a first‐hand account of a service manager seeking to implement Multisystemic Therapy and Triple P.

The process of setting up and implementing evidence‐based programmes involved significant challenges, including securing funding, managing stakeholders, finding suitable staff, arranging training, and managing supply and demand. Various relational, cultural and systemic issues need to be addressed if the professional system is to embrace evidence‐based programmes.

Few evidence‐based programmes in the UK have been implemented extensively in regular service systems. This is a first‐hand account of a rare attempt to do so.

This article reviews the contents of the previous year's editions of the Journal of Children's Services (Volume 2, 2007), as requested by the Journal's editorial board. It draws out some of the main messages for how high‐quality scientific research can help build good childhoods in western developed countries, focusing on: the need for epidemiology to understand how to match services to needs; how research can build evidence of the impact of prevention and intervention services on child well‐being; what the evidence says about how to implement proven programmes successfully; the economic case for proven programmes; the urgency of improving children's material living standards; how to help the most vulnerable children in society; and, lastly, the task of measuring child well‐being.

The purpose of this paper was to report on recent research about how students belonging to marginalised groups can be empowered.

The author searched for articles that covered the topic of empowerment, published in the past two years. The author selected two papers that each focus on a different group and illustrate processes of empowerment applicable in their contexts.

The first paper deals sensitively with the topic of in-fighting amongst Indigenous students at Canadian universities and how Canada’s colonisation history contributes to this. It also illustrates how Indigenous students are working together to improve universities’ recognition of their needs and rights. The second paper describes a consciousness-raising programme for Black girls in secondary schools in Pennsylvania, USA. Black girls attending the programme valued it and felt more connected with other Black girls. There was some dropout from the programme, but those who remained appeared to benefit.

These two papers represent important illustrations of some complex challenges facing marginalised groups and how their empowerment and inclusion can increase, with implications for their mental and physical well-being.