Young people from Armed Forces Families: Post-16 education and training
The Service Children’s Progression (SCiP) Alliance community identified a low awareness and understanding of the challenges, strengths and pathways of young people in Armed Forces families (Service children) in post-16 education. In response, the Alliance carried out scoping research and convened a summit of key stakeholders in July 2021 to consider the way forward. This report examines these inputs and draws recommendations for a national strategy to address support for Service children in the 16-19 phase. Service families may move frequently, with little agency and at short notice. Frequent separation, anxiety during deployment and the stress of transition out of the military may also present considerable potential for diverse and unique impacts on young people as they approach post-16 education and training.
Abstract: Context: In response to the opioid crisis, federal guidelines were implemented, including the Veterans Health Administration's (VA) Opioid Safety Initiative in 2013. The impact of policies on patients near the end of life is unknown. Objective: Examine temporal trends in opioid prescribing, pain, and opioid overdoses among Veterans near the end of life. Methods: Retrospective, time series analysis of VA decedents between October 2009 and September 2018 whose next-of-kin participated in VA's Bereaved Family Survey (BFS). Using multivariate regression to adjust for sociodemographic and clinical covariates, we examined temporal trends in outpatient opioid prescribing, uncontrolled pain based on BFS report, and opioid overdose-related hospitalizations, in the last month of life, overall and by clinical diagnosis (cancer versus non-cancer). Results: Among 79,409 decedents, mean daily outpatient opioid dose in morphine milligram equivalents in the last month of life decreased from 4.6 mg in 2010 to 2.1 mg in 2018 (adjusted change -0.20 mg/year; P