This new edition of Ann Bowling's well-known and highly respected text has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect key methodological developments in health research. It is a comprehensive, easy to read, guide to the range of methods used to study and evaluate health and health services. It describes the concepts and methods used by the main disciplines involved in health research, including: demography, epidemiology, health economics, psychology and sociology.The research methods described cover the assessment of health needs, morbidity and mortality trends and rates, costing health services, sampling for survey research, cross-sectional and longitudinal survey design, experimental methods and techniques of group assignment, questionnaire design, interviewing techniques, coding and analysis of quantitative data, methods and analysis of qualitative observational studies, and types of unstructured interviewing. With new material on topics such as cluster randomization, utility analyses, patients' preferences, and perception of risk, the text is aimed at students and researchers of health and health services. It has also been designed for health professionals and policy makers who have responsibility for applying research findings in practice, and who need to know how to judge the value of that research.

Research Methods in Health. Investigating health and health services

Death is the new sex, last great taboo in Western society and Western medicine, as Richard Smith discusses in his editorial (p 129). In the trinity of births, marriages, and deaths, only death does not have glossy magazines devoted to stylish consumption at the attendant ceremonies. On the web, of course, …

Death and dying

E-Moderators are \"the new generation of teachers and trainers who work with learners online\" (p. viii) using Computer-Mediated Conferencing (CMC) as a learning tool, regardless of the subject they are teaching. They are the focus of E-Moderating, a recent book which provides both a theoretical framework for developing online learning using CMC (part one), and a wealth of practical advice (part two). The book is supported by a Web site. The author, Gilly Salmon, a distance education specialist with the Open University Business School in the UK, provides a five-step model of effective online education, along with copious examples of how the model relates to real-life online learning contexts. Salmon proposes that, by basing learning on a constructivist model, it is e-moderators that can make the difference in online education as they convene, direct, summarize, and archive synchronous and asynchronous discussions.

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E-Moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online

Developing teachers: the challenges of lifelong learning

(2000). Learning and Teaching about Values: A review of recent research. Cambridge Journal of Education: Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 169-202.

Learning and Teaching about Values: A review of recent research

Background
The concept of a ‘specialist nurse’ has existed for many years and related education programmes are proliferating. However, while literature clearly outlines the roles and practice of registered nurses and advanced practice nurses, those of specialist nurses remain unclear and nursing specializations across Europe need clarifying.

Aim
This pilot study aimed to explore the competencies, education requirements and regulation of specialist nurses in Europe.

Design
A descriptive cross-sectional survey.

Methods
An online questionnaire named ‘Specialist nurse and specialization in Europe’ was sent to 550 members of the European Federation of Nurse Educators and ten members of the European Specialist Nurses Organizations. Snowball sampling was then used to build a convenience sample of nurse educators, clinical nurses and specialist nurses, national nursing association members, and chief nursing officers from all European countries. Besides quantitative aspects, responses to open-ended questions were analysed using a qualitative content analysis process.

Results
A total of 77 experts from 29 European countries responded to the questionnaire. Findings highlighted variations in titles, levels and length of education, certification, regulation and scope of practice for specialized nurses in Europe. Analysis of the promoted competencies revealed dominant clinical and technical aspects of the role with a high level of knowledge.

Conclusions
The study emphasized the need to improve standards for education, certification and regulation for specialist nurses. Interpretation of the role and competencies is diverse with a weak presence of health policy that would enhance and develop the specialities.

Implications for nursing and health policy
To address the current lack of provisions for automatic recognition of specialist nurses, common training frameworks corresponding to the relevant level of the European Qualifications Framework should promote lifelong learning and mobility, and enhance levels of health care and patient safety.

Specialist nurse in Europe: education, regulation and role.

Background: Most studies report that being parents of a child with cancer is a stressful experience, but these have tended to focus on mothers and few have included both parents. Moreover, studies have focussed on families in Western countries and none have been published examining the psychological outcomes for parents living in an Arabic country. This research explores the stress levels of Jordanian parents caring for a child with cancer in order to identify the psychological needs of parents in this environment and to explore how mothers and fathers stress levels might differ. Methods: The study was carried out in Jordan using the Perceived Stress Scale 10-items (PSS10). The questionnaire was completed by 300 couples with a child who has cancer and a comparison group of 528 couples where the children do not have any serious illness. Multivariate backward regression analysis was carried out. Results: Analysis adjusting for spousal stress and sociodemographic predictors revealed that stress levels of mothers with a child who had cancer remained significantly higher than mothers whose children did not have any serious illness (p<0.001). However, having a child with cancer did not show a significant association with the fathers’ reported stress scores (p=0.476) when spousal stress was in the model, but was highly significant once that was removed (p<0.001). Parental stress was analysed for those with a child who has cancer and in models which included spouse’s stress scores, sociodemographic and cancer-related predictors 64 % of the variance was explained for mothers (adjusted R 2 =0.64, p<0.001) and fathers (adjusted R 2 =0.64, p<0.001). Models excluding spousal stress scores explained just 26 % of the variance for fathers and 22 % for mothers. Conclusions: This is the first study into the psychological outcomes for parents living in an Arabic country who care for a child with cancer. Both mothers and fathers with a child diagnosed with cancer reported higher stress levels than those from the normal Jordanian parent population. Mothers and fathers of children with cancer reported significantly different levels of stress to each other but models reveal significant contributions of the stress score of fathers upon mothers, and vice versa. The findings provide evidence of the need for psychological support to be developed for families caring for a child with cancer in Jordan.

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Parental stress when caring for a child with cancer in Jordan: a cross-sectional survey

Empowering children and young people

1.Human Relations in Education 2.Taking Control of Conditioning the Self in Human Relations 3.Communication Skills for the Classroom and Pastoral Care 4.Channels of Communication 5.Stress and Relaxation 6.Developing Relationships in Groups.

Human relations in education

1. Teachers and Counselling 2. A Model for Counselling in Schools 3. Exploration of Concerns and Feelings 4. Strategies for Intervention 5. Empowering Children and Young People 6. The Emotional Development Curriculum 7. Peer Counselling and Support 8. Empowering Parents and Families 9. Cultural Issues in Counselling 10. Coping with Loss and Trauma 11. Counselling for Sensitive Issues 12. Counselling and Guidance of Parents 13. Learning to Collaborate: Working Across the Divide 14. Coping with Stress and Avoiding Burnout 15. Ethical Issues in Counselling for Teachers

Carol Hall

Papers

Specialist nurse in Europe: education, regulation and role.

Parental stress when caring for a child with cancer in Jordan: a cross-sectional survey

Empowering children and young people

Human relations in education

Counselling Pupils in Schools : Skills and Strategies for Teachers