Homes In Glasgow Research Articles

Grappling with The Glasgow Effect: A critical artistic pedagogy to explode destructive success fantasies

The Glasgow Effect is the name given to a public health mystery: Why do people in Glasgow, Scotland, die younger than similar post-industrial UK cities such as Manchester and Liverpool? Ellie Harrison appropriated this name to title an artwork where she confined herself to Glasgow for 2016. During that year the only vehicle Harrison used was her bike and she actively engaged with a variety of communities where she lives. The artwork’s invocation of Glasgow’s poor health record in combination with the £15,000 of public funding awarded to Harrison hit a nerve with some Glaswegians that led to outrage on Facebook. Subsequently, Harrison and her artwork were demonized by a broader UK media. Why fund a middle-class English artist’s ‘poverty safari’ in Glasgow when so many others never have the chance to leave? This article grapples with the educative potential of The Glasgow Effect. Harrison began the project because her teaching job in Dundee required her to ‘write and submit a significant research grant application’. That application’s success prohibited Harrison from travelling from her home in Glasgow to her job in Dundee; making her unable to teach. By enacting a complete dematerialization of markers of success – motorized travel and related carbon emissions – the artwork, and subsequent book, publicly challenge preconceived notions of ‘good career progression’, offering a critical artistic pedagogy that explodes success fantasies that hang on internationalization, excess travel and ultimately vast amounts of carbon emissions.

Mission (im)possible: Engaging care homes, staff and residents in research studies.

Objectives:With increasing age the risk of institutionalization increases. To address the problem of underrepresentation of care homes and their residents in future research studies, we aimed to explore care home staff members’ thoughts on barriers, challenges, facilitators and key aspects of engaging in research studies.Methods:Five staff members from four care homes in Glasgow and Barcelona were interviewed. Transcription of the interviews was completed verbatim and an inductive thematic analysis was conducted to understand the difficulties and challenges they perceive for engaging in research studies.Results:Three themes emerged that encapsulated the staff members’ perspectives. ‘Too much to deal with’ included two subthemes; ‘interested but with support’ encapsulated four subthemes; and ‘on the residents’ terms’ highlighted three subthemes. Staff members showed interest in engaging in research studies if a clear management support accompanied by a whole team approach was evident. The involvement of the resident’s relatives was seen as essential if residents were to be supported to be engaged.Conclusions:Despite the small sample size, the perspectives of staff members, irrespective of country, provided valuable insights for informing researchers on best approaches to maximize care home and resident engagement in research.

Rehabilitation Medicine Assessment of Nursing Home Residents

Abstract: Aims: To assess the disability level, the rehabilitation potential and the service received by young adults (16-65) with neurological disabilities Subjects & Settings: Pilot cross sectional study of 12 Adults with neurological disabilities (mean age 50); originally residents in one nursing home, now living in 1 of 8 nursing homes in Glasgow. Method: Structured medical interview, Barthel Index, Office of Population Census Survey (OPCS) Disability Form, review of drug charts. Results: There were 7 patients with acquired brain injury, 2 multiple sclerosis, 2 peripheral neuropathies, and one dementia. Prior to admission to nursing homes two patients received inpatient rehabilitation; no others had rehabilitation medicine assessment. 5 patients received community rehabilitation input. Planned medical reviews were rare. 6 patients had significant spasticity and 4 had significant pain. OPCS scores ranged from 1 to 10 with 4 patients scoring ≤ 6; Barthel index, 0 to 100, with 4 patients ≥ 90. Conclusion: Larger studies, cognitive assessment and nursing needs measurement are justified. All of these may help some residents to return to community living.

Charles McKean: An Appreciation

How does one start to express appreciation of someone like Charles McKean, without whose irrepressible energy and stimulating – sometimes even irritating – enthusiasm, I doubt that many of us would be here today? He was a ‘one-off’ individual who not even a great writer of fiction would have found easy to invent! Charles grew up in Glasgow, one of three sons of a consulting civil engineer. His ten years at boarding school were not, as the old saying goes, the happiest days of his life. Can you imagine Charles as an obedient and well-behaved small prep-school boy, or even a teenage Fettes boy, walking the streets of Edinburgh in a chocolate and magenta striped blazer? He would surely have been always questioning, challenging and being generally noncompliant. Back home in Glasgow in the school holidays, Charlie and his brothers John and Richard learnt how to engage their capacity for independent thought through campaigning. These were, of course the early 1960s and the days of major urban road schemes. What those of us who campaigned against the Edinburgh Inner Ring Road at this time may have forgotten is that the M8, which was actually built through Glasgow and with which we are all familiar, is only about a quarter of what was originally intended. The teenage McKeans were active in opposing the part of the urban motorway which threatened Provand’s Lordship and the setting of Glasgow Cathedral itself, to the extent that their father was warned by the then Glasgow Corporation that, unless the boys shut up, his civil engineering consultancy, McKean & Co., would receive no more public sector work in the city. They didn’t, and the practice suffered accordingly. Charles clearly benefited from the education he received and, among other things, learned to write. He went to the University of Poitiers for six months and from there to Bristol to read for a degree in Philosophy, English, History and French. It seems to have been at this time that he discovered Architecture: in Bristol itself, which he compared to Edinburgh, in Bath and through visiting medieval churches and cathedrals in Somerset and beyond, Bath Abbey, Wells Cathedral and many others. By the time he graduated in 1968, Architecture and writing had become his favourite things and his professional life was

Chapter 16 Domestic, family and social activities and a social history intrusion

Most of the following is based on C. J. Gregory's (unpublished mss) account of life at home in Glasgow, unless otherwise stated, except for the author's additions in square brackets []. Although the account of social customs might seem superfluous, these have changed so much that correctly appreciating the setting in which Gregory lived and worked, requires their inclusion. There is no question that his home activities throw very significant light on his amazing continued productivity right up to, and even after, formal retirement. [On the west, slightly less smokey, side of Glasgow, lay the new 1870 university buildings which capped Gilmore Hill. East of the university was the steep-sided Kelvin River valley and then the ground rose sharply to the next hill to the east, which was partly covered by relatively expensive] late 19th century tall solid sandstone terraces, three or four stories high (each with high ceilings) plus basements and attics and crowned by Park Circus and partly surrounded by Kelvingrove Park. Most of the terraces were divided vertically into spacious houses for the well-to-do, but along the northern edge stood a short row of tenements, Park Quadrant, including Number 4 into which the Gregorys moved. This was Gregory's home for over 25 years (Figs 16.1 & 16.2). Fig. 16.1. Aerial view in the early 2000s, looking south, of Park Quadrant and Park Circus (after cleaning of the stone) showing the hilltop situation. Park Quadrant is the short incomplete north-facing row in the foreground with Number 4 near the middle, being the only front slightly obscured by a tree. With acknowledgements to Colin Baxter Photography Ltd, Grantown-on-Spey, PH26 3NA. Fig. 16.2. Close-up of the outside front of 4 Park Quadrant, taken in 2005, after the stone had been cleaned. Courtesy of Professor B. J. Bluck. In Scotland, since 1693, a tenement …

Public awareness of oral cancer and associated risk factors is low

A survey was carried out over a three-year period (2004-2007) in Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres or in patients' homes in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland. Participants included young patients diagnosed with oral cancer. Data were collected by interview using a semi-structured interview schedule. The interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic framework and with the aid of NVivo qualitative analysis software (Version 8). The majority of the cohort knew that smoking and alcohol could cause oral cancer. None thought it would happen to them, however. Descriptions of symptoms varied widely and several participants used self-treatment modalities provided from a pharmacy. There were various causes of patient delay, and self-treatment was not the only cause. Reinterpretation of symptoms without seeking professional help was not uncommon. None of the patients suspected that they had oral cancer until it was confirmed by their general practitioner (GP) or general dental practitioner (GDP). The study confirms gaps in understanding and awareness of oral cancer. Most survey participants had heard of oral cancer. However, they did not think their symptoms were indicative of cancer and they self-managed the problem. The culture of not bothering the GP/GDP unless the condition was perceived as serious is a barrier to early diagnosis and treatment. Findings support that further public awareness of oral cancer and its symptoms is required to alert the public that if their symptoms persist beyond three weeks, they need a professional opinion.

The experiences of young oral cancer patients in Scotland: symptom recognition and delays in seeking professional help

To explore the early responses of young oral cancer patients in Scotland to the symptoms of their emerging condition, to understand the ways they seek help and to inquire into delay caused by not recognising symptoms associated with cancer. The survey was carried out in Maggie's Centres or in patients' own homes in Glasgow and Edinburgh among young patients diagnosed with oral cancer in the three years (2004-7) before the study. This study employed qualitative methods. Data were collected by interview using a semi-structured interview schedule. The interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic framework and with the aid of NVivo qualitative analysis software (Version 8). Most of the cohort knew that smoking and alcohol could cause oral cancer. None thought it would happen to them. Descriptions of symptoms varied widely and several had used self-treatment provided from a pharmacy. There were various causes of 'patient delay' and self-treatment was not the only cause. Reinterpretation of symptoms without seeking professional help was not uncommon. Nobody suspected they had oral cancer until it was confirmed by their GP or GDP. All thought that something so small and painless couldn't be a serious problem. The study further confirms gaps in understanding and awareness of oral cancer. Most had heard of oral cancer but they didn't think their symptoms were indicative of cancer and they self managed the problem. The culture of not bothering the GP/GDP unless it was perceived as serious is a barrier to earlier access. Findings support that further public awareness of oral cancer and its symptoms is required to alert the public that if their symptoms persist beyond three weeks they need a professional opinion.

Gnome sweet gnome.

When residents of Golfhill care home in Glasgow were asked what they would like to see in their new garden, they voted unanimously for the creation of a haven for gnomes.

CONVERSATION WITH JAMES MACMILLAN

I met with James MacMillan to discuss his cantata Seven Last Words from the Cross (1993). The conversation, which took place at MacMillan's home in Glasgow on 30 November 2007, ranged far beyond that particular piece and lasted for over 90 minutes. Whilst the conversation has been edited to remove repetitions, I have endeavoured to represent MacMillan's comments accurately.

David Drummond Hart

David Drummond Hart (“Drummond”) was born in Redlands Nursing Home in Glasgow on 28 July 1931. He grew up in Glasgow and went to Jordanhill College School, where he played...

Young adults with acquired brain injury in nursing homes in Glasgow.

To survey the characteristics, level of disability and services received by young adults with acquired brain injury (ABI) resident in nursing homes in Greater Glasgow. Telephone survey of 75 nursing homes followed by a questionnaire survey and review of medication cardexes. Included were all people under 65 years with ABI resident in nursing homes in Greater Glasgow between 1 February 2000 and 31 January 2001. Twenty-eight nursing homes in Greater Glasgow, Scotland (population 0.9 million). Young adults (16-64) with ABI. Structured questionnaire, Barthel Index, Office of Population Census Survey (OPCS) Disability Form, review of medication cardexes. Information was obtained on all cases identified in 75 nursing homes. There were 92 people with ABI in 28 nursing homes; 43/92 were in three homes. Only 42 had inpatient rehabilitation preadmission. Severe disability (OPCS categories 7-10) was found in 54 cases and minimal/minor disability (OPCS categories 1-2) in 18. Thirty-two exhibited challenging behaviour, nine of these were physically violent. Homes were staffed by unqualified assistants, supervised by nurses. No home itself offered rehabilitation, but some had accessed an NHS physical disability community team (28/92 cases) or other community teams (5/92). Proactive medical review was uncommon. Medication had been reviewed since admission in a minority (21/92). Most had regular visits from relatives. There is a wide range of disability in nursing home residents in Greater Glasgow. Proactive, routine review of medical, rehabilitation and medication needs is rare, as is rehabilitation pre and post discharge. This is serious given the likelihood of reduced intellectual and/or physical capacity in this population. Nursing homes should have hospital discharge reports that inform about immediate preadmission history, rationale for medication and placement. There is a need for regular and ongoing health service review of nursing home residents including potential for rehabilitation and return to community living.

Physiotherapy training in nursing and residential homes

Brenda Dunn, Norma Donald and Sue Gray discuss the role of physiotherapy in promoting and maintaining mobility in elderly residents in nursing and residential homes in Glasgow.

Survey of neuroleptic prescribing in residents of nursing homes in Glasgow.

In the United States concern about the often excessive use of neuroleptics in residents of nursing homes in the 1980s1 led to new legislation, which included guidelines on the use of these agents in nursing homes and also (uniquely) placed restrictions on physicians' prescribing of neuroleptics within nursing homes. We measured the prevalence of neuroleptic prescribing in nursing homes in south Glasgow and assessed what effects the American legislation might have if it were applied here. We visited 28 nursing homes in the south of Glasgow and examined the medicine dispensing sheets of all 909 residents. We identified those taking neuroleptics regularly and collected information on the drugs and dosages prescribed. We interviewed a senior member of nursing staff in each home to collect information on age, …

Age structure and dynamics of house dust mite populations

Age structure—the relative numbers of eggs, immatures and adults—in populations of the house dust mitesDermatophagoides pteronyssinus andEuroglyphus maynei was investigated in four sequential monthly samples taken from mattresses in each of eight homes in Glasgow, Scotland. Additionally, age structure ofD. pteronyssinus was determined in samples taken bimonthly for 6 months from nine quadrats of a double mattress. It was found that although age structure varied considerably with time, forD. pteronyssinus in different homes the most common structure was one in which immatures were dominant, then eggs and then adults (31% of samples). Immatures or eggs were dominant in 75% of samples. ForE. maynei the age structure was quite different: the most common structure was one in which adults were dominant, then immatures and then eggs (69% of samples). In different quadrats of a double mattress, mean age structure ofD. pteronyssinus underwent a shift towards higher proportions of immatures and then eggs during the sampling period, which reflected the increase in population density detected during this period. Life and fecundity tables were constructed forD. pteronyssinus andE. maynei using previously-available in vitro data on fecundity and survivorship rates and hypothetical values based on means derived from a number of studies. From the tables the stable age distributions were calculated and compared with the age structures of the natural populations. It was found that mean age structure of natural populations ofD. pteronyssinus was fairly close to the predicted stable age distribution, but those ofE. maynei indicated the populations were in decline during the sampling period, a fact confirmed by abundance data. The concept that the rate of increase of house dust mite populations can be estimated by determining age structure of mites isolated from dust samples was explored using the hypothetical population parameters ofD. pteronyssinus. It was predicted that quite large differences in fecundity and mortality would not drastically alter the proportions of eggs, immatures and adults in stable populations. Eggs as components of the house dust mite population are considered seriously for the first time. Those ofD. pteronyssinus andE. maynei were identified and differentiated by allometry. It is stressed that forD. pteronyssinus, during the sampling period, half or more of the mites in a dust sample may be represented as eggs, and to ignore them is to deliberately make a less accurate estimate of population density than could be otherwise achieved.

William Laird McKinlay, 1889-1983

William Laird McKinlay, one of the scientific staff of the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913-18, died at G1asgow on 9 May 1983 at the age of 94. The son of a factory moulder in the industrial town of Clydebank downriver from Glasgow, he became a pupil-teacher at the age of 14 and subsequently studied at the University of Glasgow where he graduated both M.A. and B.Sc. in 1910. It was during his student days that his aid was enlisted by Dr. W.S. Bruce in classifying specimens brought home by the Scottish Antarctic Expedition, and this was to change his life. In 1913 he was teaching mathematics in a Glasgow school when Bruce recommended him to Viljhalmar Stefansson for appointment as meteorologist and magnetologist. McKinlay travelled to Esquimalt, B.C., where he joined the main party aboard Karluk, commanded by the veteran Newfoundlander Bob Bartlett, with Stefansson himself in overall charge. Discord made itself felt at an early stage. When Karluk was trapped in the ice off the north shore of Alaska, Stefansson and his companions went hunting ashore; weather separated them from the ship which drifted to the west while Stefansson occupied himself with the sledge travel, at which he was adept, and discovered new lands to the far north. Karluk turned out to be less than ideal for work in ice, while her crew had only been hired for a round trip and were largely unprepared for privations. After drifting with the ice for over six months, the ship was crushed and sank. Four men made their way to Herald Island where they died. Four others struck out on their own and were never seen again. The others, eleven crewmen and scientists with two Eskimo men, one Eskimo woman, and two Eskimo children, took what supplies they could to Wrangel Island 80 miles away. Then Bartlett and the Eskimo Kataktovik made an epic journey across the ice to the Siberian mainland in search of help. Those who remained on Wrangel Island divided into small groups and eked out a miserable existence in which two died, ...; one seemingly shot himself. The remainder were rescued, thanks to Bartlett, in September of 1914. And McKinlay went to war as an officer in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Seriously wounded at Cambrai in 1917, he endured a long period of recuperation and limped for the rest of his life. ... He returned to teaching. It was only long after his retirement and the death of his wife, when he was moving with his daughter and her family to a new home in Glasgow, that his Arctic diaries and mementos aroused the curiosity of his granddaughters. He promised to write the story which turned into the book Karluk: The Great Untold Story of Arctic Exploration, published in 1976 when he was 87. Readers of that work, which was translated into many languages, will be aware that McKinlay was somewhat critical of Viljhalmar Stefansson. ... Perhaps his disappointment with Stefansson was heightened by McKinlay's being a scientist working in which he considered a scientific and thus a noble cause, with standards to which he felt Stefansson did not adhere. Yet it was not only in Stefansson that he was disappointed, for when he experienced comradeship in the army he realized that this is what had been entirely missing up north: it was the lack of real comradeship that had left the scars, not the physical rigours and hazards of the ice pack, nor the deprivations on Wrangel Island. ... [After] ... Karluk had been published, McKinlay turned to the writing of his autobiography, a story which is frequently hilarious and utterly gripping, with the emphasis being placed upon teaching. But it would be wrong to suggest that in old age he slaved over his typewriter. He delayed the revision of Karluk for his publishers for most of a glorious summer in which he felt priority must go to his roses. And when he wrote his autobiography, in his nineties, he still did enough in his garden to win a neighbourhood prize. ...

Keratinophilic fungi on cats and dogs

Using the “hairbrush sampling” technique, coats of 154 small animals (18 cats, 136 dogs) submitted for veterinary attention to a receiving home in Glasgow were examined for the presence of keratinophilic fungi. None of the animals showed clinical evidence of ringworm infection.Trichophyton terrestre was isolated in 3 instances, once from a cat and twice from dogs. T. rubrum and T. mentagrophytes were also isolated from a dog. Approximately 500 isolations of non-keratinophilic fungi were made.

Keratinophilic fungi on cats and dogs.

Using the “hairbrush sampling” technique, coats of 154 small animals (18 cats, 136 dogs) submitted for veterinary attention to a receiving home in Glasgow were examined for the presence of keratinophilic fungi. None of the animals showed clinical evidence of ringworm infection.Trichophyton terrestre was isolated in 3 instances, once from a cat and twice from dogs. T. rubrum and T. mentagrophytes were also isolated from a dog. Approximately 500 isolations of non-keratinophilic fungi were made.

Edward Provan Cathcart, 1877 - 1954

Edward Provan Cathcart died at his home in Glasgow on 18 February 1954, seven years after his retiral from the Regius Chair of Physiology in the University of Glasgow. His death has removed a well-known personality in academic circles in Scotland, a scientist of international reputation devoted in the broadest sense of the term to the study of his fellow men, and a man whose hum an sympathies and understanding had an influence on his associates which can hardly be over-estimated. E. P. Cathcart was born on 18 July 1877 in the town of Ayr. His forbears were practical people interested in agriculture and commerce, and in iron and steel. His father, Edward Moore Cathcart, was a merchant in the town of Ayr; his mother was the daughter of a rivet and bolt manufacturer whose home was at Invereck, near the village of Kilmun on the Firth of Clyde. His father died at the early age of 37, when Cathcart was only nine, and he with a younger brother and sister were brought up by the widowed mother. She, in addition to being a very good amateur painter who had gained several awards at the Glasgow School of Art, was in many ways a woman of intellectual attainment and personality.

Prof. A. A. Bowman

BY the death on June 12 of Prof. A. A. Bowman at his home in Glasgow, British philosophy has lost one of its most effective and attractive personalities.

The British Association

GLASGOW, Tuesday THE Association finds a fitting home in Glasgow, which has few rivals either in earlier or later scientific reputation. The force of long-continued scientific traditions, added to the present encouragement given to science, and I must also say, to the nearness of the finest holiday localities, makes this one of the most brilliant of recent meetings. Not only is the total number of members and associates attending very high, over 2,700, but the true chiefs of science are present in great strength. It cannot be said that the Association itself is this year at all below its high aims. The majority of papers are really scientific, and do not emasculate the truth in the effort to popularise it. Discussions have been very interesting, judging from the perseverance with which they have been listened to. The reception given by the people of Glasgow is worthy of the city, although it is possible that in the details and refinements of arrangement. Bristol excelled. This was especially manifested in regard to some of the excursions. But it is evident that the very best efforts of the north have been put forth in every way, and the general result is undeniably successful. The charming situation of the University Buildings, in which all the sections but one hold their meetings, is a very great advantage.