The UK Government’s Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, published in 2022, set out a series of measures aimed at supporting schools and other bodies to help children whose home lives are blighted by violence. In this blog, Dawid Gondek from the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health describes new research conducted with colleagues from…
Taking a ‘positive’ look at child health development
Reducing, tackling and mitigating experiences that hurt or damage the physical and mental health of children as they grow up has been a major focus for policymakers, practitioners and researchers. In recent months research led by Rebecca Lacey looking at Adverse Childhood Experiences – their different impacts and lifecourse implications- has featured regularly on our…
Why it’s time to care more about the UK’s young caregivers
There have been growing concerns about the number of young carers in the UK and how looking after someone else might affect their life and put them at a disadvantage compared with their peers. Initial findings from a new study looking at the prevalence of caregiving among 16-29 year-olds in the UK has highlighted the…
What do we know about the health of young carers – and is it enough?
Care systems in many countries are underpinned by the efforts of huge armies of informal carers, many of whom are children. And while there is official recognition in some countries that these young carers suffer poorer health than their peers, there have been few studies highlighting the particular effects of caring on this group. Rebecca…
Are adverse childhood experiences linked to early drug use?
The long-term effects of childhood trauma have been subject to increased scrutiny by policymakers, practitioners and researchers as a growing body of evidence has drawn the links with mental health issues and other problems later on in people’s lives. In 2018, Rebecca Lacey from UCL’s ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies wrote for our blog…
Evidence for change: how do we improve the long term outcomes of children in care?
In a Child of our Time blog last year, a team of researchers from University College and Kings College London said it was time for ALL policy to consider the needs of care leavers. The call was based on research findings that have now fed into the just-published Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. The findings from…
Unpicking childhood trauma and its later life effects
There has been increased focus in recent years on the mechanisms which link early childhood trauma with poorer health outcomes later in life. In 2018, Rebecca Lacey from UCL’s ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies led a major project looking into how such early adversities (ACEs) can be linked to increased risk of health conditions…
Time for change: the NHS needs to take better care of ethnic minority mums and babies
There has long been evidence of the stark health inequalities faced by ethnic minority people in England and elsewhere. Despite this, there has been no significant change. One major area of concern is around pregnant and new mothers, in particular where discriminatory or racist treatment can affect their mental and physical health as well as…
Better housing and employment are key to preventing long-term mental health effects of the pandemic
Ministers have announced extra funding for mental health services and suicide prevention amid concerns over a surge in cases among young people during COVID-19. New research by Thierry Gagné, Alita Nandi and Ingrid Schoon looks more closely at the issue and finds strong differences in mental health responses to the pandemic with deprivation. Resources need…
Joining the dots between teenage infections and Multiple Sclerosis
Please note this is an updated version of an earlier post: More than 2.3 million people around the world have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and the large majority of those are over the age of 20. MS is not contagious but some inherited genetic characteristics influence risk of developing the disease. There is…