Chris Papadopoulos

University of Bedfordshire · Institute for Health Research IHR

Families play a crucial role in determining the mental health of the autistic individual(s) they are caring for. However, the stigma associated with autism can impair caregiver health. To investigate this, empirical evidence pertaining to stigma’s impact on informal caregivers’ mental health was systematically reviewed. All twelve included studies...

This trial represents the final stage of the CARESSES project which aimed to develop and evaluate a culturally competent artificial intelligent system embedded into social robots to support older adult wellbeing. A parallel group, single-blind randomised controlled trial was conducted across older adult care homes in England and Japan. Participants...

Whilst there is a growing body of research about autistic girls, much less is known about the experience of mothering an autistic girl, and the potential impact of the diagnosis. This study qualitatively explored the diagnostic journey of 12 mothers in the UK to identify the meanings attributed to their daughter's diagnosis. A thematic analysis was...

Background Autistic individuals encounter numerous barriers in accessing healthcare, including communication difficulties, sensory sensitivities, and a lack of appropriate adjustments. These issues are particularly acute during MRI scans, which involve confined spaces, loud noises, and the necessity to remain still. There remains no unified approac...

Background: Black African and Caribbean women in the United Kingdom (UK) experience poorer maternity care outcomes compared to their White counterparts. Understanding their experiences is essential for addressing these disparities. Aim: The study aimed to synthesise evidence on the maternity care experiences of Black African and Caribbean women in...

Background: Autistic individuals might undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination for clinical concerns or research. Increased sensory stimulation, lack of appropriate environmental adjustments, or lack of streamlined communication in the MRI suite may pose challenges to autistic patients and render MRI scans inaccessible. This study a...

Transcultural Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in Health and Social Care provides health and social care professionals with a deeper understanding of the incredible opportunities brought by the emerging field of AI robotics. In addition, it provides robotic researchers with the point-of-view of healthcare professionals to understand what the he...

Transcultural Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in Health and Social Care provides healthcare professionals with a deeper understanding of the incredible opportunities brought by the emerging field of AI robotics. In addition, it provides robotic researchers with the point-of-view of healthcare professionals to understand what the healthcare sec...

This chapter describes the final stages of the H2020 CARESSES research project which aimed to develop and evaluate a culturally competent artificial intelligent system embedded into social robots to support the well-being of older adults residing in long-term care settings in England and Japan. The chapter describes the aims of the trial phase of t...

Some of the key considerations regarding the roll-out and implementation of socially assistive robots in care settings have to do with ethical issues. This chapter provides readers with an overview of some of the main concerns that have emerged in the literature on ethics in socially assistive robotics (SAR) along with opportunities to reflect on t...

Abstract: Background: Although an increasing number of studies have reported on nutrition transition and unhealthy eating habits (UEHs) worldwide, there is a paucity of studies on UEHs in the Arab region, particularly in Libya. Aim: This study investigated the associations between obesity among Libyan adults and UEHs. Methods: A cross-sectional sur...

Preparing health and social care workers to work with socially assistive artificially intelligent robots in health and social care environments

Aim: The study aimed to explore the views and attitudes of care home workers about the socially assistive robot that was trialled in their workplace, in order to identify training needs in relation to the hypothetical future use of these robots in their workplace. Background: Care home workers face challenging workload conditions which may require...

https://www.independentnurse.co.uk/blogs-article/why-mandatory-vaccination-for-care-home-staff-makes-sense/238796/

Most studies on socially assistive robots (SARs) in elder care are conducted in care homes and recruit participants with some degree of cognitive impairment. The ethical dimension in these studies thus requires careful attention, suggesting that the researchers involved should be offered specific research ethics training. To meet this need in CARES...

This study presents findings from a feasibility trial, testing an 8-week psychosocial stigma protection intervention (SOLACE) designed to improve the mental health of parents of autistic children. Seventeen parents were stratified then randomly assigned to either SOLACE (n = 9) or control group (n = 8). Retention and adherence rates were excellent...

Column for 'The Spectator' magazine. https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-case-for-full-lockdown

Background Parents and carers of autistic children report poor mental health. Autism stigma is a strong contributing factor to poor parental mental health, yet there are currently no interventions available that are evidenced to improve parents' mental health in part through increasing resilience to stigma. Childcare and travel are well known barri...

A new study led by the Institute of Education at University College London, in collaboration with the University of East London and the University of Bedfordshire, has shed light on the experiences of the parents and carers of autistic children and young people during lockdown in the UK. The findings reveal that many families feel let down by the g...

Background: Organ donor registration helps guide decision making for families. UK general practice provides the facility to register on the NHS Organ Donor Register, but only to new patients. An intervention was developed to present a registration opportunity to existing patients in this setting. Aim: To assess the feasibility and acceptability...

Background This article describes the design of an intervention study that focuses on whether and to what degree culturally competent social robots can improve health and well-being related outcomes among older adults residing long-term care homes. The trial forms the final stage of the international, multidisciplinary CARESSES project aimed at des...

Background A shortage of organ donors exists in the UK and targeting family consent is key for increasing donation consent rates. Registration on the NHS Organ Donor Register (NHS ODR) facilitates this, as it guides families on their loved ones donation preference. In general practice, an opportunity to register is provided, however only to new pat...

Libya is following the trend observed in developing countries of steadily becoming more obese, such that obesity in Libya has reached epidemic proportions in the twenty-first century. The prevalence of obesity in Libya has more than doubled in the last three decades, with the numbers of overweight and obese adults being continuing to grow. Therefor...

Parents and family carers of autistic children report poorer mental health than any other parents. Stigma surrounding autism plays a significant role in the mental health of family carers of autistic children, often leaving families feeling isolated. Yet there are currently no interventions available to support families with stigma. In order to gui...

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is progressive and advance medical condition in which the kidneys fail to perform their primary functions. The occurrence of CKD is on the increase globally which made it a public health issue. Depression among CKD patients is a complex and common phenomenon. The complexity of depression in CKD is associat...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209161.].

Background Stigma is prominent in the lives of autistic individuals and their families and contributes significantly to the challenges faced by families raising an autistic child. Parents and carers can feel blamed for their child’s behaviour, feel socially excluded and isolated and suffer from low self-esteem and poor psychological well-being. Thi...

Purpose: Previous research has found that international students can experience poor mental health, low levels of life satisfaction, self-esteem and high levels of loneliness when studying in a foreign country. No study has directly compared these between international and home students studying in the UK. The paper aims to discuss these issues. D...

The nursing literature shows that cultural competence is an important requirement for effective healthcare. We claim that personal assistive robots should likewise be culturally competent, that is, they should be aware of general cultural characteristics and of the different forms they take in different individuals, and take these into account whil...

The NHS Organ Donor Register (NHS ODR) is a centralised database for U.K. residents wishing to be organ donors. Opt-in membership to the NHS ODR demonstrates an expression of a wish to donate, which can be key in decisions made by family members at time of death. By examining the demographic breakdown of the 24.9 million registrants, campaigns can...

Background New interventions are required to increase the number of people donating their organs after death. In the United States of America (USA), general practice has proved to be a successful location to increase organ donor registration. However, a dearth of research exists examining this in the United Kingdom (UK). due to the unique challenge...

Research focusing on the development of socially assistive robots (SARs) that will promote the health, well-being and quality of life of older persons and of their caregivers has been growing in recent years. This growth has prompted a great deal of ethical reflection on the future of SARs in care, but there is an increasing awareness of the divide...

Background: There are a range of multifaceted behavioural and societal factors that combine to contribute to the causes of obesity. However, it is not yet known how particularly countries' cultural norms are contributing to the global obesity epidemic. Despite obesity reaching epidemic proportions in Libya, since the discovery of oil in 1959, ther...

Background: There is a lack of research pertaining to the links between built environment attributes and obesity in adults in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. In the Libyan context, no previous studies have been conducted to investigate this relationship. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine associations between perceived neighbourhood...

Self-stigma is linked with a variety of deleterious consequences for the stigmatised individual. Much of the past research on self-stigma focuses on younger adults; however, little is known about the self-stigma experience among institutionalised older adults with mental health problems. This study aims to explore experiences of self-stigma among o...

Objective: To identify, appraise, and synthesize research evidence on the prevalence of domestic violence (DV) among pregnant women in Nigeria. Method: We conducted a systematic review of all published studies between April 2004 and June 2016. Comprehensive searches were conducted on electronic databases such as PubMed, CINAHL, Global Health, MEDLI...

Background Previous research has proposed that primary care interventions to increase organ donation rates can help address the discrepancy between organ donation rates and the number of patients awaiting transplant. However, no systematic review has been conducted to examine interventions in this setting. Objective To synthesise evidence from pre...

Cultural competence is a well known requirement for an effective healthcare, widely investigated in the nursing literature. We claim that personal assistive robots should likewise be culturally competent, aware of general cultural characteristics and of the different forms they take in different individuals, and sensitive to cultural differences wh...

What is known about this topic? • Advances in breast screening services have led to improvements in early detection, reduced mortality and better management of breast cancer. • Low uptake of the national breast screening programme and delayed presentation of breast cancer symptoms means that mortality from breast cancer continues to be high among B...

What is known about this topic? • Advances in breast screening services have led to improvements in early detection, reduced mortality and better management of breast cancer. • Low uptake of the national breast screening programme and delayed presentation of breast cancer symptoms means that mortality from breast cancer continues to be high among B...

The nursing literature shows that cultural competence is an important requirement for effective healthcare. We claim that personal assistive robots should likewise be culturally competent, that is, they should be aware of general cultural characteristics and of the different forms they take in different individuals, and take these into account whil...

Fact Sheet of the EU-JP H2020 Project CARESSES

Background: Despite further recent research into the consequences associated with human sex trafficking, scant evidence associated with the mental health outcomes among victims of sex trafficking remains, including within Nepal where trafficking continues to be a growing problem. Aim: To investigate the prevalence and explanatory factors of depress...

Background A growing older adult population is leading to increased admission rates to long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and residential care homes. Assisted healthcare services should be flexible, integrated, and responsive to older adults’ needs. However, there is a limited body of empirical evidence because of the recruitment chall...

The importance and power of self-stigma among parents/carers (defined as caregivers in this article) is a psychological phenomenon that is not clearly understood and is often overlooked. This may be because the stigma spotlight has traditionally, with good reason, shined most strongly upon the issue of ‘public stigma’ and far less on other forms of...

Background: A number of primary studies have now assessed mental illness stigma within the Greek culture. A synthesis and appraisal of all available evidence is now required and will contribute to our growing understanding of the relationship between the cultural context and the formation of stigmatising attitudes. Aim: To systematically review the...

Background Disparity exists in maternal and infant birth outcomes of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women giving birth in the United Kingdom (UK) compared to the majority. There is therefore a need to reconsider existing maternity service provision to ensure culturally competent services. The purpose of this scoping review was to ascertain what s...

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are among the most vulnerable people in the world today. Previous research highlights that conflict-induced forced displacement can cause problems with mental health and wellbeing. This study aimed to contribute to this body of knowledge by investigating the mental health, quality of life, and life satisfaction a...

Loneliness has been found to relate to a wide range of harmful health outcomes. The adverse effects of loneliness upon people's lives emphasise the importance of understanding its nature and process. A number of theoretical and conceptual foundations have been proposed by scholars and are discussed and reflected upon in this article. The discussion...

Background Older adults experience age-related physiological changes that increase sensitivity and decrease tolerance to alcohol and there are a number of age-related harms such as falls, social isolation and elder abuse, which are compounded by alcohol misuse. Despite this unique vulnerability and the fact that the number of older adults is increa...

Accessible summary The study aimed to examine the occurrence and type of mental illness stigma that exists in the Greek culture. One hundred and eleven individuals who viewed themselves as belonging to the Greek culture completed a questionnaire that measured different types of stigma and their level. These people lived in either England or Greece....

HIV/AIDS is one of the most important public health challenges facing Nigeria today. Recent evidence has revealed that the adolescent population make up a large proportion of the 3.7% reported prevalence rate among Nigerians aged 15–49 years. School-based sexual health education has therefore become an important tool towards fighting this problem....

In the previous paper we described a model explaining differences in rates of conflict and containment between wards, grouping causal factors into six domains: the staff team, the physical environment, outside hospital, the patient community, patient characteristics and the regulatory framework. This paper reviews and evaluates the evidence for the...

There is increasing evidence that university students are particularly susceptible to feelings of stress. Given that many post-graduate healthcare students work with patients, the negative outcomes associated with feelings of stress may also impact upon the patient population. This study investigated the prevalence and risk/ protective factors of s...

OBJECTIVE: Attainment of safe, calm inpatient psychiatric wards that are conducive to positive therapeutic care is crucial. On such wards, rates of coerced medication, seclusion, manual restraint and other types of containment are comparatively low, and, usually, rates of conflict-for example, aggression, substance use, and absconding-are also low....

Objective: To combine the results of earlier comparison studies of in-patient aggression to quantitatively assess the strength of the association between patient factors and i) aggressive behaviour,ii) repetitive aggressive behaviour. Method: A systematic review and meta-analysis of empirical articles and reports of comparison studies of aggress...

The aim of this study is investigate whether the cross-cultural value paradigm 'individualism-collectivism' is a useful explanatory model for mental illness stigma on a cultural level. Using snowball sampling, a quantitative questionnaire survey of 305 individuals from four UK-based cultural groups (white-English, American, Greek/Greek Cypriot, and...

Introduction In 2007, the MSc Public Health course at the University of Bedfordshire developed and launched a distance learning mode as an alternative to its existing 'taught' (classroom-based) mode of learning. Part of the rationale for its conception was the growing number of international students registering for the course. Also, a number of ov...

To systematically review the types and proportions of antecedents of violence and aggression within psychiatric in-patient settings. Empirical articles and reports with primary data pertaining to violence and aggression within adult psychiatric in-patient settings were retrieved. For each study, prospective antecedent data were extracted. The extra...

The main objective of this study was to learn more about what increases or decreases the likelihood of patient conflict (such as verbal abuse, violence, and rule breaking) and containment (such as seclusion, manual restraint, and enforced medication) events in acute inpatient psychiatric wards. Line graphs that mapped the total conflict and contain...

L. The antecedents of violence and aggression within psychiatric in-patient settings. Objective: To systematically review the types and proportions of antecedents of violence and aggression within psychiatric in-patient settings. Method: Empirical articles and reports with primary data pertaining to violence and aggression within adult psychiatric...

In Greece, alcohol is considered to be an important part of their culture and binge‐drinking behaviours are largely avoided. However, using other substances including illicit drugs is traditionally frowned upon. As part of our investigation into advancing our understanding of the meaning of substance use in native and migrant Greeks, we investigate...