Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

Symposium Review: 25th Anniversary of Moral Boundaries by Joan Tronto

The main purpose of this paper is to draw attention to some facts and ideas that perhaps can help to identify problems or fields for development and research within the evaluation of training. Topics for group discussion are preceded by material on some basic concepts of evaluation and educational measurement. The ratio scale, the interval scale, the ordinal scale, and the nominal scale are given as examples of kinds of scales used in educational measurement; the problem of norms is discussed; potential purposes of evaluation or educational measurement are outlined; and some characteristics of a good measuring instrument are explained. The author also defends the inclusion of evaluation as an Integral part of a model for planning and carrying out educational programs. (BW) *********************************************************************** Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort * * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. *********************************************************************** U S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION &WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EVALUATION OF TRAINING

/pdf/evaluation-of-training-4s7htqhxas.pdf

Evaluation of Training.

https://courses.washington.edu/efuture/Wolsink2000.pdf

Wind power and the NIMBY-myth: institutional capacity and the limited significance of public support

Venous leg ulcers can occur when blood returning from veins in the legs to the heart is slow or obstructed. These ulcers can take a long time to heal (weeks or months) and can cause distress to patients, as well as being very costly to the health service. Compression bandages help blood to return to the heart from the legs, and there are a variety of types of bandage systems available; some are just a single bandage, while others require the application of several different types of bandages to the leg. Compression stockings are sometimes used as an alternative to compression bandages. This review examined the effectiveness of compression bandages versus no compression, and compared different types of compression bandages and stockings. We looked at how well these different treatments work in terms of ulcer healing. We found that applying compression was better than not using compression, and that multi-component bandages worked better than single-component systems. Multi-component systems (bandages or stockings) appear to perform better when one part is an elastic (stretchy) bandage. A very detailed analysis showed that a system called the 'four-layer bandage' or '4LB' (i.e. four different bandages applied to the leg, including an elastic one) heals ulcers faster than the 'short-stretch bandage' or 'SSB' (a type of bandage with very minimal stretch).

/pdf/compression-for-venous-leg-ulcers-3fhsu78vyz.pdf

Compression for venous leg ulcers

Objectives: To establish the relative cost effectiveness of community leg ulcer clinics that use four layer compression bandaging versus usual care provided by district nurses. Design: Randomised controlled trial with 1 year of follow up. Setting: Eight community based research clinics in four trusts in Trent. Subjects:
233 patients with venous leg ulcers allocated at random to intervention (120) or control (113) group. Interventions: Weekly treatment with four layer bandaging in a leg ulcer clinic (clinic group) or usual care at home by the district nursing service (control group). Main outcome measures: Time to complete ulcer healing, patient health status, and recurrence of ulcers. Satisfaction with care, use of services, and personal costs were also monitored. Results: The ulcers of patients in the clinic group tended to heal sooner than those in the control group over the whole 12 month follow up (log rank P=0.03). At 12 weeks, 34% of patients in the clinic group were healed compared with 24% in the control. The crude initial healing rate of ulcers in intervention compared with control patients was 1.45 (95% confidence interval 1.04 to 2.03). No significant differences were found between the groups in health status. Mean total NHS costs were £878.06 per year for the clinic group and £859.34 for the control (P=0.89). Conclusions: Community based leg ulcer clinics with trained nurses using four layer bandaging is more effective than traditional home based treatment. This benefit is achieved at a small additional cost and could be delivered at reduced cost if certain service configurations were used. Key messages Leg ulcer clinics based in the community using four layer compression bandaging can be more clinically effective than usual care provided by the district nursing service Community based leg ulcer clinics could be provided more cost effectively than usual home based care for venous leg ulcers Recurrence of venous leg ulcers is an important variable that should be measured in future trials of venous leg ulcer care It is difficult to measure improvements in health related quality of life among people with venous leg ulcers

https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/316/7143/1487.full.pdf

Cost effectiveness of community leg ulcer clinics: randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND A prospective quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate the effect of training CPNs to undertake psychosocial intervention with families caring for a relative with schizophrenia.

METHOD Patients meeting predetermined criteria were allocated to either an initial waiting-list control group or a delayed intervention group. The CPNs were trained to offer family interventions to a total target group of 48. Treatment was eventually accepted by 85%, of whom 81% (n = 34) were followed-up for 12 months. Families received a weekly mean session of 47 minutes (compared with 33 minutes in the controls). The main outcome measures are frequency and severity of symptoms (KGV), social functioning (SFS) and days in hospital. Carers' minor psychiatric morbidity (GHQ) and knowledge (KASI) are also reported.

RESULTS In the patient group both the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia improved significantly (P < or = 0.001 and P < or = 0.01 respectively) to 12-month follow-up, as did a global measure of social functioning (P < or = 0.001). Tentative evidence was also collected that family intervention reduced in-patient episodes. Benefits for relatives included a decrease in minor psychiatric morbidity (P < or = 0.05) and an increase in knowledge about neuroleptic drugs (P < or = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS The study offers some evidence that CPNs can be taught to improve the outcome for families who care for a relative with schizophrenia.

The outcome of training community psychiatric nurses to deliver psychosocial intervention.

Brooker et al. (2002) conducted a systematic review of research into the mental health of prisoners. Their final report included a review of the epidemiology of the prison population, an overview of the interventions used to treat the major mental health disorders in both the general and prison populations, and a review of service delivery and organisation for prisoners with mental health disorders. The review found a high prevalence of mental health disorders in prison populations, with up to 15% of prisoners having four or five co-existing mental disorders. This review has been updated, using the same methodology, to include literature dated from 2002 to August 2006. This paper presents findings from the epidemiology section of the updated review, which includes 18 new studies. The recent studies largely reflect the findings of earlier research. However, some studies in the updated review focus on countries where little of this type of research has previously been conducted. The prevalence of mental hea...

A systematic review of research on the epidemiology of mental health disorders in prison populations: a summary of findings

Over the last ten years, the policy of successive governments in the United Kingdom has been to focus service provision on people who experience serious mental health problems. Policy pronouncements have recently culminated with the publication of 'Modernising mental health services' (DoH, 1998). This new vision commits funding to a whole new raft of initiatives one of which is described as 'more and better trained staff'. The training of mental health professionals in skills subsumed under the title of 'psychosocial interventions' (PSI) has been provided in formal accredited programmes since 1992. The programmes aim to teach mental health professionals the skills to work with people with serious mental health problems with curricula that are based upon research evidence about effective interventions. This paper describes the development of 'psychosocial intervention' training to date. It reviews the studies that have evaluated the impact of such training. It concludes that whilst investment in PSI traini...

A decade of evidence-based training for work with people with serious mental health problems: Progress in the development of psychosocial interventions

Aims. To assess the value of opportunistic screening in Accident and Emergency (A&E) for patients with alcohol-related problems and provision of an intervention . Design. Screening of A&E attendees for the purpose of recruitment to a randomized trial of a counselling intervention . Setting. A General Hospital A&E department . Participants. All 17 000 adult A&E attendees, during a 6-month period and all nursing staff working within the department . Measurements. Patients' self-reported alcohol consumption, responses to the CAGE questionnaire (four questions designed to identify problem drinking) and proportions offered, and taking up offer of help . Findings. Only 4663 (28%) adult attendees at A&E were actually screened and of these 2% declined and 25% were judged unable to answer. Of the rest, 86% drank alcohol, with 22% drinking in excess of current guidelines or with two or more positive answers to CAGE. Only 41% (264) of those drinking to excess were offered help and 88% of these declined it. This left 13 patients to be included in the trial . Conclusion. There is a significant need for an effective intervention in this area but considerable barriers exist to testing the efficacy of potential screening strategies and interventions.

Charlie Brooker

Papers

Cost effectiveness of community leg ulcer clinics: randomised controlled trial

The outcome of training community psychiatric nurses to deliver psychosocial intervention.

A systematic review of research on the epidemiology of mental health disorders in prison populations: a summary of findings

A decade of evidence-based training for work with people with serious mental health problems: Progress in the development of psychosocial interventions

Problems encountered with opportunistic screening for alcohol-related problems in patients attending an accident and emergency department.