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Young people transitioning from child to adult mental health services are frequently also known to social services, but the role of such services in this study and their interplay with mental healthcare system lacks evidence in the European panorama. This study aims to gather information on the characteristics and the involvement of social services supporting young people approaching transition.

A survey of 16 European Union countries was conducted. Country respondents, representing social services’ point of view, completed an ad hoc questionnaire. Information sought included details on social service availability and the characteristics of their interplay with mental health services.

Service availability ranges from a low of 3/100,000 social workers working with young people of transition age in Spain to a high 500/100,000 social workers in Poland, with heterogeneous involvement in youth health care. Community-based residential facilities and services for youth under custodial measures were the most commonly type of social service involved. In 80% of the surveyed countries, youth protection from abuse/neglect is overall regulated by national protocols or written agreements between mental health and social services, with the exception of Czech Republic and Greece, where poor or no protocols apply. Lack of connection between child and adult mental health services has been identified as the major obstacles to transition (93.8%), together with insufficient involvement of stakeholders throughout the process.

Marked heterogeneity across countries may suggest weaknesses in youth mental health policy-making at the European level. Greater inclusion of relevant stakeholders is needed to inform the development and implementation of person-centered health-care models. Disconnection between child and adult mental health services is widely recognized in the social services arena as the major barrier faced by young service users in transition; this “outside” perspective provides further support for an urgent re-configuration of services and the need to address unaligned working practices and service cultures.

This is the first survey gathering information on social service provision at the time of mental health services transition at a European level; its findings may help to inform services to offer a better coordinated social health care for young people with mental health disorders.

There is a growing policy imperative to promote positive mental health as well as prevent the development of mental health problems in children. This paper summarises the findings of published systematic reviews evaluating such interventions. A search was undertaken of ten electronic databases using a combination of medical subject headings (MeSH) and free text searches. Systematic reviews covering mental health promotion or mental illness prevention interventions aimed at infants, children or young people up to age 19 were included. Reviews of drug and alcohol prevention programmes and programmes to prevent childhood abuse and neglect were excluded because these have been the subject of recent good quality reviews of reviews. A total of 27 systematic reviews were included. These targeted a range of risk and protective factors, and a range of populations (including parents and children). While many lacked methodological rigour, overall the evidence is strongly suggestive of the effectiveness of a range of interventions in promoting positive mental well‐being, and reducing key risk factors for mental illness in children. Based on this evidence, arguments are advanced for the preferential provision of early preventive programmes.

The aim of this article is to summarise the available evidence from systematic reviews about the effectiveness of interventions to prevent or treat child physical abuse and neglect. A computerised search was undertaken of major electronic databases up to December 2005 using key search terms. Only systematic reviews were included in which the primary studies evaluated the effectiveness of targeted or indicated interventions for child physical abuse or neglect. A total of 31 systematic reviews were identified and 15 met all the inclusion criteria. They covered a range of interventions/services, including home visiting, parenting programmes, multi‐component interventions, intensive family preservation services, family‐focused casework and multi‐systemic family therapy. There was limited evidence of the effectiveness of services in improving objective measures of abuse and neglect, due in part to methodological issues involved in their measurement, but good evidence of modest benefits in improving a range of outcomes that are associated with physical abuse and neglect, including parental and family functioning and child development. The results also showed some interventions (eg. media‐based and perinatal coaching) to be ineffective with high‐risk families. The evidence provided by these reviews has clear implications for children's services in the UK and other western developed countries.

This study aims to explore how young people in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands and Croatia, experienced leaving CAMHS and identified a range of factors impeding optimal discharge or transition to adult mental health services (AMHS).

Interviews about discharge or transition planning, including what information was provided about their ongoing mental health needs, undertaken with 34 young people aged 17–24, all previous or current attendees of CAMHS. Some interviews included accounts by parents or carers. Data were thematically analysed.

A number of previously well-documented barriers to a well-delivered discharge or transition were noted. Two issues less frequently reported on were identified and further discussed; they are the provision of an adequately explained, timely and appropriately used diagnosis and post-CAMHS medication management. Overall, planning processes for discharging or transitioning young people from CAMHS are often sub-optimal. Practice with regard to how and when young people are given a diagnosis and arrangements for the continuation of prescribed medication appear to be areas requiring improvement.

Study participants came from a large cohort involving a wide range of different services and health systems in the first pan-European study exploring the CAMHS to adult service interface. Two novel and infrequently discussed issues in the literature about young people’s mental health transitions, diagnosis and medication management were identified in this cohort and worthy of further study.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) provide an innovative educational technology, which has become widely used for distance learning by independent learners. However, there has been little work so far to study the effects of using MOOCs as part of a blended classroom approach in which learning activities take place both online and in a traditional classroom setting. The purpose of this study is to investigate the aspects of blended MOOC usage in the context of a computing course for first-year undergraduates at a UK university.

The MOOC was implemented on a purpose-built platform that supports learners to make informed choices about their learning path. This research investigates students’ capacity for self-regulated learning (SRL) and understands their preparedness for independent study, profile the general areas of SRL strength and weakness, which may affect their ability to learn effectively in a self-directed environment. An existing survey instrument, based on a six-dimensional conceptualization of SRL was adapted to investigate the self-regulation in the MOOC study.

The results demonstrate that the dimensions of self-evaluation and time management represent particular areas of weakness for these students. Furthermore, profiles of SRL for individual students show considerable differences in capability within the study. However, the deficiencies in SRL dimensions contrast with the students’ of generally high levels of attainment. This leads us to question the validity of the existing SRL. Furthermore, a high level of social interaction and help-seeking was reported in relation to the MOOC study indicating the increasing importance of social learning and the importance of co-regulation for SRL.

Although this study presents findings from a small data sample, it points to a number of areas for future implementation and exploration. Firstly, in line with the action research approach, students’ SRL could, in the future, be tested early in the course with the MOOC component being ideally placed to provide personalised support for each student in aspects which they may benefit from developing further. Secondly, for students in the cohort studied in this paper, a longitudinal study will track how their SRL develops as they progress through the degree. We feel that it is important to gain further qualitative data to understand how students work in practice and the strategies they adopt when confronted with different modes of learning. Finally, it is necessary to consider the conceptualisation of SRL to understand if existing instruments could be adapted to provide a more accurate assessment of the effectiveness of learners’ self-regulation.

There has been little research on the effects of using a MOOC as the online component of a blended classroom learning approach. This study has used a theoretical perspective of SRL to investigate the approaches to self-regulation adopted by undergraduate computer science students studying in a blended MOOC environment. The MOOC used for this purpose was developed on the innovative eLDa platform, allowing students to determine, track and visualise their individual path through topics and materials offered in the MOOC.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the contribution of scenario-based learning aimed at raising awareness of sustainability in health-care practitioners. The Lancet Countdown on Climate Change calls for urgent action on health and climate change; this requires appropriate knowledge, skills and competencies that can be gained through undergraduate education. The International Council of Nurses calls for leadership in nursing for sustainability; however, climate change and health are given little attention in nursing and health-care curricula.

A cohort of nursing and midwifery students was introduced to sustainability and climate change in the context of health care through scenario-based learning sessions in each of their three years of undergraduate education. Questionnaires were used to collect data on participant’s attitudes toward sustainability and climate change, how useful the educational sessions were and the extent to which their clinical practice had changed.

Significant differences were found between scores in Years 1 and 2 suggesting greater awareness of the importance of sustainability in nursing education and practice. Comparison of Years 2 and 3 scores found participants more likely to apply sustainability principles in clinical practice and challenge unsustainable practices in the work environment.

Further research is required to explore sustainability practice in postgraduate nurses/midwives. However, this study supports the need for sustainability education to be embedded within health-care professional degrees through applied and participatory pedagogical approaches.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate sustainability education and its impact on nursing attitudes towards practice.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have received wide publicity and many institutions have invested considerable effort in developing, promoting and delivering such courses. However, there are still many unresolved questions relating to MOOCs and their effectiveness in a blended-learning context. One of the major recurring issues raised in both academic literature and in the press about MOOCs is the consistently high dropout rate of MOOC learners.

In this study, we applied mixed methods as an exploratory case study, which prioritised the quantitative and qualitative approaches for the data collection processes. The data were collected using a MOOC Online Self-regulated Learning Questionnaire (MOSLQ) adapted and created from an existing measuring instrument. The quantitative data was analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Version 22) tool to conduct descriptive analysis. The qualitative results obtained from the transcribed focus group interviews in this study revealed the various behavioural patterns of how undergraduate students self-directed their learning. This focus group interview was conducted to reveal the various ways students organised and strategised their learning patterns in order to derive satisfaction in their distinctive learning behaviours and encourage motivation within their study approaches. Quantitative data collected online included a 30 items survey of which 17 respondents completed the survey items in the blended-learning study. The online course survey included 19 items of which data were gathered from 11 respondents.

Across the data, it is noticeable and clear that time management and goal setting were among the dimensions that are highly rated close to high level among SRL skills investigated in this study. We found that goal setting and task strategies predicted much better attainment of individuals controlling personal course goals, while help seeking was associated with lower goal attainment among majority of the participants.

The study also identified several challenges. For example, there were some challenges in learners completing the survey questions even when several reminders were sent out forth nightly. At this preliminary stage, learners participated as lurkers without engaging fully with other non-academic and academic interactive activities such as surveys, in course quizzes and forums. Most of the participants in this course said they enrolled to know more about the new trend MOOC, to make friends, to have fun and so on. Although, these are some of their intentions for participating, some of the participants at some points contributed to discussion forums.

Our platform currently allows learners to direct their learning within the course and also allow the choice of content prerequisite in order to recommend resources necessary for their learning. This study indicates the necessity to support SRL skills and directing development of self-determination skills among the participants. This study when applied to a larger sample will demonstrate effective measurement on areas of reliability and validity as results from this small sample has indicated some high SRL skill levels for individual learners within the research.

However, the success of any e-learning or MOOC platform should consider the following best practices and objectives: the learners' entire learning experience, the strategies used in developing the course content, the planning of the course delivery and the methods of delivery. Therefore, all e-learning platforms should be designed with a primary focus on the way students learn to improve their own learning skills and help them regulate their own independent learning habits. In another related study, the success of any e-learning course implementation should be carefully considered with regards to the course's underlying pedagogy and how learners engage with the content.

There are many e-learning platforms in existence globally, but little has been mentioned about the development of a MOOC platform in general that could allow independent learning and also adequately demonstrating the components and features used in these MOOC designs. This research's implication is to aid instructional designers to apply best practices in the development of an online course. The best approach in designing a good course is to consider the learners and how they could engage with the course resources independently and develop the ability to self-direct their learning. One of the main goals of e-learning platforms is primarily based on developing learning resources that would be suitable for linear course structure as directed by the course developer or instructor.

Not many weeks back, according to newspaper reports, three members of the library staff of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London were dismissed. All had refused to carry out issue desk duty. All, according to the newspaper account, were members of ASTMS. None, according to the Library Association yearbook, was a member of the appropriate professional organisation for librarians in Great Britain.