The COVID-19 ‘lockdown’ and multiple school closures disrupted the daily lives and routines of the entire UK population. However, adolescents were likely particularly impacted by such measures due to this time being key for social and educational development. This qualitative study explored young people’s experiences of lockdowns and school closures. Fifteen secondary schools within south-west England were initially contacted and three schools participated in recruitment efforts. From December 2020 to March 2021, 25 students aged 14–15 participated in a combination of individual interviews (n = 5) and focus groups (n = 3). Findings revealed diverse experiences of the pandemic and highlighted the complexity of experiences according to individual student contexts. Three main themes were identified: (1) Learning environments; (2) Connection to peers; (3) Transition, adaptation and coping. These findings highlight the value young people place on face-to-face social contact with close friends, and the sense of structure provided by school, with implications for future home-based learning. Further in-depth qualitative research is needed to continue to understand the varied experiences during the course of the pandemic, particularly longer-term impacts on mental health and learning.

Recovery-orientated care is becoming generally accepted as the best practice, and continued development in the ways it is practiced is necessary to ensure improvement of ongoing care. Forensic patients often experience double stigmatization (the dual stigma of mental illness and offending behaviour) and during admission to hospital may lose touch with their community supports. While working through their personal recovery, patients develop therapeutic relationships with their multidisciplinary team members. When positive, these relationships can enhance a patient's recovery. Clinical staff members participated in 88 in-depth interviews, which were transcribed, reviewed, and analysed using thematic analysis. From analysing the data, main themes and subthemes emerged related to staff's perceptions of therapeutic relationships. When developing relationships, staff need to overcome receptiveness issues by increasing trust through understanding their preconceptions, reducing stigma, sharing innocuous stories, and giving patients the time they need. The key pillar underpinning all traits ascribed to patients and staff is collaboration and approaching treatment protocols with a social approach is essential to enhancing recovery. Staff shared a holistic view of recovery that incorporated the benefits of positive relationships and the need to create a sense of home within the institution.

Background : Sexual harassment occurs within the nursing profession globally, challenging the health and safety of nurses and the quality and efficiency of health systems. In Sri Lanka, no studies have explored this issue in the health sector; however, female employees face sexual harassment in other workplace settings. Objective : To explore female nurses’ perceptions of workplace sexual harassment in a large state hospital in Sri Lanka. Methods : This is a qualitative study conducted in an urban, mainly Buddhist and Singhalese context. We invited all female senior and ward nurses working in the hospital to participate in the study. We conducted individual in-depth interviews with four senior nurses and focus group discussions with 29 nurses in three groups. Results : The nurses described a variety of perceived forms of sexual harassment in the hospital. They discussed patient-perpetrated incidents as the most threatening and the clearest to identify compared with incidents involving doctors and other co-workers. There was significant ambiguity regarding sexual consent and coercion in relationships between female nurses and male doctors, which were described as holding potential for exploitation or harassment. The nurses reported that typical reactions to sexual harassment were passive. Alternatively, they described encountering inaction or victim blaming when they attempted to formally report incidents. They perceived that workplace sexual harassment has contributed to negative societal attitudes about the nursing profession and discussed various informal strategies, such as working in teams, to protect themselves from sexual harassment in the hospital. Conclusions : Sexual harassment was a perceived workplace concern for nurses in this hospital. To develop effective local prevention and intervention responses, further research is required to determine the magnitude of the problem and explore differences in responses to and consequences of sexual harassment based on perpetrator type and intent, and personal vulnerabilities of the victims, among other factors.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic, school closures, and social distancing measures have disrupted young people's daily routines, learning, and social relationships. We examine the changes in adolescent mental health over time and explore the relationship between how connected students felt to their school and peers before the pandemic and how this affected their mental health during school closures and on return to school. MethodsThis is a longitudinal three-wave panel survey with students aged 13-15 years in 17 secondary schools across the South West of England. Students completed a self-report survey before the pandemic (October, 2019), during the first UK lockdown (May, 2020), and shortly after returning to school (October, 2020). Matched data across all three waves were available for 603 students. Anxiety and depression were measured using the Hospital Anxiety & Depression Scale (HADS). School connectedness was measured using six items adapted from the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) scale. Peer connectedness was measured using a seven-item subscale as published by Jose, Ryan, and Pryor (2012). The study was approved by the University of Bristol Medical School ethics committee (reference 84883). Findings There was an overall decrease in anxiety score from before the pandemic (median 7, IQR 4-11) to during the first UK lockdown (median 6, IQR 3-10). Wilcoxon signed-rank tests indicated that this difference was statistically significant (z=-7•061, p<0•0001). Anxiety levels then increased on return to school (median 8, IQR 4-11), which was also statistically significant (z=6•983, p<0•0001). No changes were observed for levels of depression over the three timepoints. Low school connectedness at baseline predicted a significant increase in anxiety when students returned to school (β 1•33, 95% CI 0•55-2•11; p=0•001). No significant association was found between low peer connectedness before the pandemic and anxiety levels on return to school (β 0•53, 95% CI -0•24 to 1•30; p=0•175).Interpretation Our findings suggest that most students adapted well to school closures, and in fact experienced less anxiety than before the pandemic. Students who reported feeling poorly connected to school before the pandemic are likely to experience higher levels of anxiety on return to school. This study highlights the need for routine mental health and wellbeing monitoring in schools to identify key areas of support and to inform school-based public health interventions.