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Prison populations are growing globally with an increase in older and infirm prisoners, as well as longer prison sentences, meaning more prisoners are likely to die while incarcerated. This scoping review explored the experiences of death in prison custody on staff and relatives. Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL and PsycINFO were professionally searched, followed by a hand search. Empirical and non-empirical studies of deaths in prison custody were screened. Data extraction used Arksey and O’Malley’s framework. Thematic analysis was underpinned by Braun and Clarke for identifying, analysing and reporting patterns. From 12,127 citations retrieved, 174 were selected for full-text review and 22 were included in the final scoping review. Thematic analysis revealed four themes: (i) transformative effect, (ii) time delays, (iii) conflicts of interest and (iv) support. Prison staff avoided contaminating their personal lives. Families were distressed by inaccurate and untimely information, inappropriate constraints and poor communication. Staff balanced security and humanitarian needs. Bereaved relatives and staff felt isolated, alienated and unsupported. Unmet advocacy, communication and social care needs, poor end-of-life and bereavement care could be improved through staff training and social work intervention. Staff need psychosocial support, supervision and counselling.

This paper describes our experience during the past 2 years in establishing a computer-based laboratory for introductory psychology. Discussion includes selection of hardware; physical design of the laboratory; locating, reviewing, and selecting courseware; development of supplementary materials; operation and management of the laboratory; and integration of the laboratory into the curriculum. These factors are examined from the point of view of the decisions made, the difficulties encountered, and the lessons learned.

Purpose Heavy episodic drinking in young women has caused concern among many groups including public health professionals. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the experiences of young women’s alcohol consumption so as to facilitate better health education targeting. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative descriptive study examines the narratives of 16 young women’s experience of a “night out” framed as the Alcohol Consumption Journey. Findings The young women’s Alcohol Consumption Journey is a ritual perpetuated by the “experienced” and “anticipated” pleasure from social bonding and collective intoxication. The data showed three sequential phases; preloading, going out and recovery, which were repeated regularly. The young women perceived that going out was riskier than preloading or recovery and employed protective strategies to minimise risk and maximise pleasure. Alcohol was consumed collectively to enhance the experience of pleasure and facilitate enjoyment in the atmosphere of the night time economy. Implications for health interventions on collective alcohol consumption and perceived risk are presented. Originality/value The concept of socio-pleasure is valuable to explain the perpetuation of the young’s women ritualised Alcohol Consumption Journey. The binary concepts of mundane/celebration, individual/collective and insiders/outsiders are useful to illustrate the balancing of collective intoxication with group protective strategies in navigating the edge between risk and pleasure.

Asynchronous distance education options are rapidly becoming attractive to a number of audiences for a variety of reasons. Unlike synchronous models, asynchronous courses do not require extensive technological or facilities support, they do not require laborious scheduling formulas or restrictive time commitments. They offer students freedom in choosing times and locations of engaging in the course, and can be conducted with hardware and software readily available to most students. The present article outlines some of the issues that need to be considered when developing an asynchronous distance course. It describes the components of a course currently being offered using this model, and concludes with a discussion of some problem areas that students and faculty may face when engaging in this new course format.