BackgroundResearch suggests outdoor activity in green spaces is important for children’s mental, emotional and social wellbeing. A recognised green space intervention is “Social and Therapeutic Horticulture” (STH). We discuss findings from a pilot STH intervention, “A Haven of Green Space” conducted in North West England. The target group were school children aged 9–15 years experiencing behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. This exploratory study aims to assess the mental wellbeing of the children pre- and post-intervention, and assess the value of the evaluation methods and “Five Ways to Wellbeing” evaluation framework.MethodsThe intervention involved 6 monthly sessions with two horticulturists and a psychotherapist. Sessions were participatory with the development of selected greenspaces at each school directed by the children. Evaluation was situated in the “Five Ways to Wellbeing” framework, using a mixed-methods pre- post-evaluation design. Existing public mental health evaluation methodologies were adapted for use with school children: Mental Well Being Impact Assessment (MWIA) and Wellbeing Check Cards. The MWIA was analysed qualitatively identifying over-arching themes. The quantitative wellbeing check cards were analysed by mean score comparison.ResultsResults were collected from 36 children across the three participating schools, and suggest that the Haven Green Space intervention was associated with improved mental wellbeing. MWIA factors relating to mental wellbeing (“emotional wellbeing” and “self-help”) were positively impacted in all three schools. However, findings from the wellbeing check cards challenge this, with worsening scores across many domains.ConclusionsA key study limitation is the pilot nature of the intervention and challenges in adapting evaluation methods to context and age-range. However, results indicate that group based socially interactive horticulture activities facilitated by trained therapists are associated with positive impacts upon the mental and emotional wellbeing of children experiencing behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. Further research is needed to verify this, and to support using the “Five Ways” in intervention development and evaluation. Finally, we recommend continued efforts to develop age-appropriate evaluation methods.

The converging clinical effectiveness of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) Spironolactone and Eplerenone has made their safety profiles/cost-effectiveness key determinants of "agents of choice" across a broad range of clinical indications. The clinical biology of the aldosterone molecule and its range of effects in varied organ systems have been well elucidated from recent mechanistic and systematic studies. Clinical experience with Spironolactone is well established, as is its adverse effects profile. The range of adverse effects experienced with Spironolactone subsequently led to its modification and synthesis of Eplerenone. Recent published reports have confirmed lower prevalence rates of sex-related adverse effects attributable to Eplerenone compared to Spironolactone. There is, however, not much to choose between these agents in regards to other adverse effects including hyperkalemia and kidney failure. As was the experience with Spironolactone, as more robust observational data on Eplerenone accrues, it is possible that the real-life experience of its adverse profile may be discordant with that reported by randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs). In addition, its metabolism by the vulnerable and highly polymorphic cytochrome dependent pathway also makes it susceptible to various drug interactions. The potential implication of the latter (including morbidity and mortality) may take years to evolve.

Common mental disorders (CMD), such as depression and anxiety disorders that affect mothers with young children, are a major public health issue in developing countries. This study investigates the prevalence of CMD and its associated factors among mothers attending a well-child clinic in Mombasa, Kenya. In this cross-sectional study, 429 women were screened for the presence of CMD using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire–20 (SRQ-20). Social support and social stress were measured using the OSLO Social Support Scale and the Life Events Checklist. The prevalence of CMD was 20%. High SRQ scorers were more likely to be single or separated/divorced compared with low scorers. Language, neighborhood, and financial difficulties were found to be significant independent correlates of CMD through multiple logistic regression analysis. Rates of CMD among mothers with young children in Kenya are high. This is important for nurses and pediatricians whose contact offers them an opportunity to detect CMD and refer mothers for appropriate support.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has increasingly been employed to establish whether there is a specific brain neural network dedicated to maternal responsiveness. We undertook systematic review and meta-analysis of all studies in which healthy new mothers were exposed to visual stimuli of own versus other infants to determine the quality of evidence for a dedicated maternal neural network. Systematic literature review revealed a pattern of specific neural responses commonly induced by visual infant paradigms. Brain areas consistently reported as activated in mothers in response to own versus unknown infant included the left thalamus, bilateral pre-central gyrus, left limbic lobe, uncus, amygdala and left caudate. These regions are implicated in reward, attention, emotion processing and other core social cognitive skills. Meta-analysis, however, revealed a more limited subset of brain areas activated in mothers specifically in response to their own versus unknown infant and suggested considerable inter-study variability. Further work is needed if functional imaging is to become an objective tool for the assessment of neural pathways associated with distinct patterns of maternal care behaviour. Such a tool would be invaluable in developing biomarkers of neural activity associated with healthy maternal care and for monitoring treatment/intervention effects of costly parenting interventions.

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Background:Perinatal depression (PND) has adverse effects on the well being of the mother-infant dyad. Women with PND often show different patterns of help seeking behaviour.Objective:We aimed to examine the association between PND and the reporting of health events and healthcare use in a cohort of British women of Pakistani origin.Method:Participants were recruited from antenatal clinics in the North West of England and followed up 6 months postnatal. Sixty-seven women diagnosed with depression using the Schedule for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) were compared with 156 non depressed controls in terms of reporting of health events elicited using the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS). Health events included any condition that involved attending primary or secondary care.Results:Depressed mothers were 1.5 times more likely to report a health event within the perinatal period (p=0.005) and 1.8 times more likely to report a health event (0.031) outside the perinatal period. Depressed mothers were more likely to attend secondary care services for their children (p=0.001) but there was no significant difference in terms of attendance at primary care.Conclusion:Depressed mothers were more likely to report personal health events and more likely to access secondary care rather than primary care services for health events affecting their children. This highlights the hidden costs of this condition and the need for adequate diagnosis and management of this treatable but under recognised illness.