Alfonso PezzellaMiddlesex University, UK · Department of Mental Health, Social Work and Interprofessional Learning
Alfonso Pezzella
PhD Candidate MSc. PGCHE, BSc. (Hons) | SFHEA
Currently leading an Erasmus+ funded project on "Developing a culturally competent and compassionate LGBT+ curriculum"
About
53
Publications
19,624
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146
Citations
Introduction
Alfonso is a Lecturer in Mental Health. He is working on various research projects on LGBT+ inclusion in health and social care and LGBT+ and mental health issues. Alfonso has a professional Twitter feed @AlfPezzella where he enjoys bringing the community together and discussing topics regarding mental health, LGBT, psychology and education.
Alfonso is chair of Sexuality and the Social Work International Interest Group, https://www.sexualityandsocialwork.com.
Additional affiliations
September 2012 - present
Position
- Lecturer
Description
- Programme Leader for MSc Mental Health Studies Programme Leader for MSc Mental Health Studies (Top-up) Programme Leader for MSc/PGDip Advance Clinical Practice (Mental Health) Programme Leader for PGDip Mental Health Practice
Education
September 2014 - December 2015
October 2011 - October 2012
September 2008 - July 2011
Publications
Publications (53)
Specifične značilnosti življenjskih potekov in preteklih izkušenj LGBT+ starih ljudi zahtevajo znanje in ozaveščenost zaposlenih v skrbstvenih poklicih. V članku s pomočjo mednarodne perspektive osvetlimo temeljne teme področja vključujoče oskrbe LGBT+ starih ljudi, s posebnim poudarkom na slovenskem kontekstu, in pri tem izčrpno uporabimo spoznanj...
IntroductionResearch suggests that specific training on LGBT+ issues may improve the competencies and skills of health and social care (HSC) professionals, which reduces the negative attitudes toward LGBT+ people. Despite this, there seems to be a lack of coverage of LGBT+ needs in HSC education. The present study aims to explore the specific LGBT+...
Introduction. The IENE projects (2008–2022) aim to promote a model for developing intercultural dialogue and enhance the ability to provide culturally competent and compassionate care for the health and social care professionals at national and European levels. The IENE 9 project, named “Developing a culturally competent and compassionate LGBT + cu...
Professional guidelines for social workers in relation to research use in practice, present social workers as consumers, rather than producers of research evidence. This approach aligns with a growing emphasis on the use of evidence-based practice within social work. This paper reports on a small mixed methods study with a cohort of BA social work...
Evidence shows issues with professional conduct and discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT+) people in health and social care, continue to exist in the UK. This indicates the need to ensure that health and social care professional education must include exploration of LGBT+ issues, in order to enable professionals to provi...
Podcast available at https://diversityinresearch.buzzsprout.com/1026718/8533178
Substantial evidence on the adverse impact of ageing on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) populations through the lack of inclusive care services has highlighted the need for education and training of the health and social care workforce to enhance their skills, knowledge and capabilities in this area. We describe a cross-national coll...
Introduction to Expansive Learning
This session sets the context for Expansive Learning - a blended-learning module which can be experienced solely online if a student chooses to. We support students to develop applied skills through active enquiry & reflection on their personal and professional identities. It is designed to address the needs of o...
Substantial evidence on the adverse impact of ageing on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) populations through the lack of inclusive care services has highlighted the need for education and training of the health and social care workforce to enhance their skills, knowledge and capabilities in this area. We describe a cross-national coll...
Do you work with refugee families, or wish and plan to?
Are you a trained/in-training healthcare professional, social worker, or volunteer?
Are you a migrant or refugee parent?
This free and certified online training event may be just right for you!
This training package will offer you the opportunity to enhance knowledge and skills in parentin...
The webinar is part of the IENE 8 project "Empowering Migrants and Refugees with Parenting Skills". Visit http://ienerefugeehub.eu/iene8/ for more information. Here is the link to register for the webinar room: https://tinyurl.com/y57xaytk or scan the QR code. The webinar will start at 13:00 (UK Time) sharp. Please make sure you login into the room...
The webinar is part of the IENE 8 project "Empowering Migrants and Refugees with Parenting Skills". Visit http://ienerefugeehub.eu/iene8/ for more information. Here is the link to register for the webinar room: https://tinyurl.com/y57xaytk or scan the QR code. The webinar will start at 13:00 (UK Time) sharp. Please make sure you login into the room...
Background
Issues with professional conduct and discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT+) people in health and social care, continue to exist in most EU countries and worldwide.
Objectives
The project IENE9 titled: “Developing a culturally competent and compassionate LGBT+ curriculum in health and social care education” ai...
This is Intellectual Output 2 (IO2) of the project “Developing a culturally competent and compassionate LGBT+ curriculum in health and social care education“ IENE9.
The aim of the project is to enable teacher/trainers of theory and practice to enhance their skills regarding LGBT+ issues and develop teaching tools to support the inclusion of LGBT+...
The context for this work is complex – all students are faced with academic stressors, which can be further compounded by factors including separation from their support networks and post-graduation job insecurity. Learners paying for their education have increased financial worries and high expectations of their academic achievement. Widening part...
Background:
There is a growing awareness of the need for LGBT + competency training to ensure that the health and social care services offered to older LGBT + people is affirmative and gender sensitive.
Objective:
To conduct a synthesis of the literature that describes the pedagogical principles, curriculum content and methods (teaching and asse...
Aim - To explore the role of art and culture in supporting student nurses to develop resilience and
professional sense of self in order to participate in a profession recognised as challenging.
Nurses must be self-aware and able to think critically in order to understand information, prioritise
actions and exercise professional judgement. They also...
By end of 2014, 59.5 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, generalized violence, or human rights violations. In 2015 more than 1,000,000 people arrived in Europe by sea and land. In the same year more than 3,000 migrants and refugees died at sea whilst trying to reach Europe.
The numbers of peo...
Introduction
Despite a significant number of Black and Ethnic Minority (BAME) mental health student nurses, to date there is limited literature on the experiences of BAME student nurses and their perception of the mental health nursing curriculum and whether this is culturally sensitive to their needs. There has also been no research to say whethe...
This report is based on our experiences of using a collaborative approach to identifying best practices for those involved in professional, vocational and community-based education and learning, in order to facilitate improved support for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) older people in health and social care. The best practices discus...
The session aims to give an awareness into the experiences of LGBTQ+ service users, the challenges faced and the importance for health and social care professionals to be aware of the needs of service users who identify with different gender identities, sexuality and sexual orientation.
This presentation will discuss research into the issues aroun...
February is the month we dedicate to celebrating LGBT History and achievements in gay rights in the UK, Europe and Worldwide. Although we have made significant progress in terms of LGBT rights, such as: the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013; the Equality Act 2010; Civil Partnership Act 2005; Gender Recognition Act 2004; Employment Equality (Sexu...
Social workers are the champions overlooking vulnerable LGBT+ children and adults and it is vital for social work practitioners and educators to join hands and provide both educational material and policies to protect LGBT+ rights.
Full article: https://www.northlondonsocialwork.co.uk/news/social-workers-champions-for-lgbt-rights-in-the-uk/#
Social workers and social work education has embedded a critical and often political pedagogy in educating social work students, which makes research methods and associated critical thinking skills, vitally important in training social workers of the future.
Read the full blog here http://northlondonsocialwork.co.uk/news/to-research-or-not-to-rese...
This chapter will explore key concepts of LGBT employees and their experience of disclosing their sexual identity and/or orientation in the workplace.
I present issues faced by LGBT employees in the workplace in relation to
discrimination and bullying, relationships with colleagues and managers
and the perceived impact of ‘coming out’ on their care...
https://www.facebook.com/myhyork/videos/vb.126969200979848/586715821671848/?type=2&theater
Students identifying on the transgender spectrum are significantly under-researched and under-reported in the education literature. Long term detrimental effects of gender-identity based discrimination and violence requires us to find more inclusive ways of supporting students with transgender identities. We report findings from a systematic review...
Curing 'homosexuality' or same-sex attraction has been a recurrent trope in Western psychiatry and mental health services for over a century. Despite the progress made in the UK with equality legislation, improvements in general social attitudes and the slowly increasing confidence of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals and communities (Car...
Welcome to this best practice guide which introduces you to the IENE5 Massive Open Online Course(MOOC) which was provided from January to March 2017. This guide provides general information about the content of this MOOC and provides some examples of the work the participants of the MOOC engaged in. It also includes the evaluation report of this MO...
The experiences and needs of students who identify on the trans*spectrum are underresearched
and under-reported in the literature. There is however an urgent need to
drive a search for and to support the implementation of more inclusive ways of
conceptualizing; understanding, listening and supporting students from nonheterosexual
identities in post...
There is an acceptance that social work values include unconditional positive regard and a belief in striving for social justice. Despite this, LGBTQ issues in the social work curriculum have been described as minimal. The social work programme at Middlesex University has a very diverse population of students, which gives the students a real opport...
This paper will explore the emerging findings of a survey on the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB and T) issues in health and social care curricula across HEIs in England. The research aims to survey the extent to which LGB and T issues are covered in the education and training of health and social care practitioners; attitu...
This is a teaching/learning tool to develop the understanding of culture, and the need for
awareness in intercultural communication. The tool will engage students/healthcare professional in learning
through reflection, knowledge acquisition and practical activities.
The tool is available free and can be used under the creative commons licence agre...
Background:
Compassion is an important concept in healthcare, and in addition, care should be delivered in a
culturally competent manner, taking into account the values, culture, and health beliefs of the individual. However, the training of nurses and other healthcare professionals may not adequately equip them to practice in a manner which is bo...
Background: The recent scandals involving poor healthcare put nurses under the spotlight in an attempt to understand how compassionate they are towards their patients.
The aim of this article is to investigate how compassion is embedded in the textbooks of the undergraduate mental health nursing degree.
Methods: A snapshot review of key textbooks...
Background: The recent scandals involving poor healthcare put nurses under the spotlight in an attempt to understand how compassionate they are towards their patients. To investigate how compassion is embedded in the textbooks of the undergraduate mental health nursing degree.
Methods: A snapshot review of key textbooks used, was conducted through...
The present study is an attempt to further explore the topic of sexual identify and disclosure in the workplace, specifically within higher educational institutions (HEIs).
Sexual identity is a current topic and is frequently researched. Despite the many attempts and fights for equal rights in the workplace, the choice to disclose one’s sexual ide...
Employing graduate students in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) is increasingly popular across different institutions in the United Kingdom. GTAs support students’ learning as well as assisting academics in preparing sessions and, at times, with research. The GTA scheme is seen as a developmental role for...
Questions
Questions (2)
I need a tool to explore cultural identity and hoping there is a widely used tool or scale for different cultures.
I am looking for a standardised questionnaire to measure people's attitudes towards LGBT issues. I have found the "Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Knowledge and Attitudes Scale for Heterosexuals" but I do not particularly like the language they use.
Projects
Projects (16)
This research agenda includes:
CARESSES is an international, multidisciplinary project whose goal is to design the first robots that can assist older people and adapt to the culture of the individual they are taking care of.
The robots will help the users in many ways including reminding them to take their medication, encouraging them to keep active, helping them keep in touch with family and friends. Each action will be performed with attention to the older person’s customs, cultural practices and individual preferences.
CARESSES is funded by the European Commission and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan. The project started on the 1st January 2017. http://caressesrobot.org/en/
IENE 10 Preparing health and social care workers to work with socially assistive artificially intelligent robots in health and social care environments has also just started. http://ieneproject.eu/IENE10/about-project.php
The project “EMPOWERING MIGRANTS and REFUGEE FAMILIES with PARENTING SKILLS”, aims to provide education and training to professionals and volunteers working with migrants and refuges in regards to parenting skills, health care of the family and psychological support.
It aims to enable them in providing support, knowledge and empowerment to migrant and refugee parents, which will help them to nurture, protect and educate their children under difficult circumstances.
The project focuses on expanding the existing Knowledge hub (Khub) (IENE6) for nurses, other health professionals and volunteers (http://ienerefugeehub.eu/). Khub is a center or focal point for exchange of knowledge, support, development, ideas.
This project was supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission [agreement number 2018-1-CY01-KA202-046848]
The project “Developing a culturally competent and compassionate LGBT+ curriculum in health and social care education“ aims to enable teacher/trainers of theory and practice to enhance their skills
regarding LGBT+ issues and develop teaching tools to support the inclusion of LGBT+ issues within health and social care curricula. The newly culturally competent and compassionate LGBT+
curriculum will be delivered though a MOOC which is aimed at health and social care teachers/trainers, workers, professionals and and learners across Europe and worldwide.
Goals of the project
The main achievements of the project will be
a)To develop teaching and learning tools to be used by health and social care educators/trainers in order to improve their own knowledge and confidence in teaching LGBT+ issues;
b)To develop the knowledge of health and social care professionals on how to support LGBT+ patients and meet their health care needs;
c)To produce a best practice guides on how to develop an LGBT+ inclusive curriculum;
d)To prepare and pilot a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to support the participants in developing an awareness of LGBT+ needs in health and social care across Europe and the world.
Visit https://iene-lgbt.com/
