'It's Easily the Lowest I've Ever, Ever Got to': A Qualitative Study of Young Adults' Social Isolation during the COVID-19 Lockdowns in the UK.

(1) Background: Social connectivity is key to young people's mental health. Local assets facilitate social connection, but were largely inaccessible during the pandemic. This study consequently investigates the social isolation of young adults and their use of local assets during the COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK. (2) Methods: Fifteen semi-structured Zoom interviews were undertaken with adults aged 18-24 in the UK. Recruitment took place remotely, and transcripts were coded and analysed thematically. (3) Results: Digital assets were key to young people's social connectivity, but their use was associated with stress, increased screen time and negative mental health outcomes. The lockdowns impacted social capital, with young people's key peripheral networks being lost, yet close friendships being strengthened. Finally, young people's mental health was greatly affected by the isolation, but few sought help, mostly out of a desire to not overburden the NHS. (4) Conclusions: This study highlights the extent of the impact of the pandemic isolation on young people's social capital and mental health. Post-pandemic strategies targeting mental health system strengthening, social isolation and help-seeking behaviours are recommended.

"When the Fun Stops, Stop": An analysis of the provenance, framing and evidence of a 'responsible gambling' campaign.

When the Fun Stops, Stop, is a prominent 'responsible gambling' campaign in the UK, originally funded and delivered by the industry-initiated and funded Senet Group. Since the Senet Group's dissolution in 2020, the campaign has been overseen by the Betting and Gambling Council (BGC), the main gambling industry trade body. There has been no prior analysis of the activities, ideas and framing adopted by the Senet Group, who claimed to be acting as an industry 'watchdog' and oversaw what they characterised as a major public education campaign. We collated written and image-based material related to the Senet Group and its When the Fun Stops, Stop campaign from multiple sources. Guided by Entman's four functions of framing, we analysed the Senet Group's framing of the issues it sought to address, particularly harmful gambling, as well as its causes, and the solutions, focusing on the group's main activity: the delivery of the When the Fun Stops, Stop campaign. We also critically appraised an evaluation of the campaign funded by the Senet Group, using the findings to interrogate the stated claims about the campaign's effectiveness. The analysis showed that the Senet Group's framing of the problem, its causes, and proposed responses resemble those adopted by other industries and industry-funded groups. This involves portraying any harms caused by their products as limited to an atypical minority, rejecting upstream determinants of harm, and promoting individually-targeted voluntary measures, all contrary to the evidence of what works in health promotion, and what would characterise a public health approach. Neither the existing evidence base nor the evidence presented by the Senet Group support their claims about the campaign's effectiveness. These findings add to concerns about industry-funded campaigns in other areas. To minimise conflicts of interest, interventions intended to address gambling-related harms, such as public education campaigns, should be evidence-based and developed, implemented and evaluated completely independent of the industry and industry-funded organisations.