The growing concern about poor dietary practices among low-income families has led to a 'victim blaming' culture that excludes wider social and environmental factors, which influence household food choices. This small-scale qualitative study investigated influences on the diets of young children in families on a low income in the West Midlands, UK. Using semi-structured interview schedule, rich data was gathered through individual interviews with 11 mothers of pre-school children. Information was collected about the type and range of food given following the introduction of solid foods including factors influencing parent's knowledge and diet, sources of nutrition advice and financial constraints. Food accessibility and storage issues were also explored. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using a modified grounded theory approach. Findings highlighted that parents and professionals may have different interpretations about 'cooking from scratch'. The results indicated that some parents have poor understanding of what constitutes a healthy diet. However, most parents included fruit and vegetables to varying degrees and were motivated to give their children healthy foods, suggesting that, with adequate support and information, the diets of these children could be improved. There was evidence that when striving to improve the diet of their children, many parents' diets also improved. The findings from this small-scale in-depth study highlighted a number of issues for local and national policy and practice in the area of nutrition and child health in the early years.

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Background Students are a vulnerable group for the indirect impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly their mental health. This paper examined the cross-national variation in students' depressive symtoms and whether this can be related to the various protective measures implemented in response to the initial stage of the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods Student data stem from the COVID-19 International Student Well-being Study, covering 26 countries during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Country-level data on government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were retrieved from the Oxford COVID-19 Tracker. Multilevel analyses were performed to estimate the impact of the containment and economic support measures on students' depressive symptoms (n = 78 312). Results School and workplace closures, and stay-at-home restrictions were positively related to students' depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic, while none of the economic support measures significantly related to depressive symptoms. Countries' scores on the index of these containment measures explained 1.5% of the cross-national variation in students' depressive symptoms (5.3%). This containment index's effect was stable, even when controlling for the economic support index, students' characteristics, and countries' epidemiological context and economic conditions. Conclusions Our findings raise concerns about the potential adverse effects of existing containment measures (especially the closure of schools and workplaces and stay-at-home restrictions) on students' mental health.

FABTOTS, Fit Active Bodies babies and toddlers, was a community-based intervention programme targeting parents of children up to the age of three. It consisted of 2 hour weekly sessions over a six week period aimed at building parental confidence and fostering positive parenting through nutrition, physical activity and lifestyle choices. The programme was delivered by staff at the 18 Children Centres and one teenage pregnancy centre in Sandwell, one of most deprived and ethnically diverse towns in the UK. This paper outlines the development of FABTOTS and an evaluation of the short term impact of the pilot programme on the 173 parents who took part in the first year.Mixed methods of data collection were used; group discussions with the participants took place at the end of each session and facilitators' observations were noted for process evaluation. Participants completed a questionnaire about their experience of FABTOTS and behavioural changes. After six months, 25 participants took part in a follow up telephone interview to identify the sustainability of the reported behavioural changes.Findings suggested that the programme was feasible and sustainable in the short term but highlighted a number of issues: recruitment, acceptability, retention, duration and content of the programme. Challenges in developing rigorous acceptable tools for data collection in an area with predominantly low literacy rates were noted. Evaluation of its long term sustainability is highly recommended.

There is a growing evidence about the role of social prescription on health and wellbeing [1][2][3]. Social prescription programme can act as a primary or secondary intervention for a range of public health issues including obesity, mental health, parenting skills, life skills and address inequality in health and wealth.Using the innovative "Gym for Free" [4] case study, this paper re visited the impact and outcome of this pilot public health policy initiative in promoting health and redressing inequality in an inner-city deprived area in Birmingham.In addition, there is not enough information available about the process and challenges of translating research findings into policy and practice. This paper will describe the process, and outcomes of translating the findings of this research into implementation of "Be Active" a social prescription policy for the population in Birmingham, UK.