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From learning to action: exploring barriers and strategies for embedding lessons learned through a social learning lens
Get PDFPurpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the barriers to implementing lessons learned in project-based organisations and how they can be effectively captured and embedded to create knowledge that drives project success and organisational performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a qualitative research design to explore the perceptions and experiences of project practitioners through the lens of social learning theory (SLT). Semi-structured interviews were conducted to uncover individual project practitioners’ views and opinions about lessons learned in the project environment to facilitate project success.
Findings
The findings indicate that effective application of lessons learned and knowledge sharing significantly enhances project success by fostering a culture of collective learning and continuous improvement. The key barriers identified are misinterpretation of lessons learned, lack of mentoring, knowledge hiding, non-participation from relevant stakeholders and lack of a collaborative environment.
Practical implications
Organisations should formulate clear guidelines, implement robust knowledge repositories and standardise lesson-learned processes to foster uniform understanding within and across projects. Organisations should also invest in training programs and promote mentorship and top management support to foster a culture of learning and accountability.
Originality/value
The paper presents a unique avenue to understanding lessons learned in the context of project-based learning. It highlights barriers and strategies across dimensions and explores them through a participatory and social lens. By using an SLT theoretical framework, the study provides a fresh perspective on how knowledge can be shared and utilised within project organisations. It bridges gaps in literature and provides actionable insights, making it highly valuable to both academic and practical fields
Understanding the effectiveness and underlying mechanisms of lifestyle modification interventions in adults with learning disabilities: a mixed-methods systematic review
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Adults with learning disabilities face increased risks of unhealthy lifestyle behaviours, including alcohol consumption, smoking, low physical activity, sedentary behaviour and poor diet. Lifestyle modification interventions that target health-risk behaviours can prevent or reduce their negative effects. The goal of this project was to investigate the effectiveness and underlying mechanisms of lifestyle modification interventions in adults with learning disabilities.
Methods
A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to determine the effectiveness of lifestyle modification interventions and their components in targeting health risk behaviours in adults with learning disabilities. Major electronic databases, clinical trial registries, grey literature, and citations of systematic reviews and included studies were searched in January 2021 (updated in February 2022). We included randomised and non-randomised controlled trials targeting alcohol consumption, smoking, low physical activity only, sedentary behaviour and poor diet in adults (aged ≥ 18 years) with learning disabilities. Studies were also coded based on the extent of use of theories and behaviour change techniques in interventions. Risk of bias in studies was assessed using appropriate tools. A realist synthesis of qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods literature was conducted to complement the systematic review findings by identifying key intervention mechanisms that are likely to improve the health of adults with learning disabilities. Data were synthesised in the form of a programme theory regarding complex causal mechanisms and how these interact with social context to produce outcomes. All findings were integrated into a logic model. A patient and public involvement group provided input and insights throughout the project.
Results
A total of 80 studies with 4805 participants were included in the systematic review. The complexity of lifestyle modification interventions was dismantled by identifying six core components that influenced outcomes. These components could be present in interventions targeting single or multiple health risk behaviors, either as individual elements or in various combinations. Interventions on alcohol and smoking behaviours were found to be effective, but this was based on limited evidence. The effectiveness of interventions targeting low physical activity only or multiple behaviours (low physical activity only, sedentary behaviours and poor diet) was mixed. All interventions had a varying level of statistical significance. The intervention-level network meta-analysis for weight management outcomes showed none of the interventions was associated with a statistically significant change in outcomes when compared to treatment as usual and each other. Similar findings were observed in the component network meta-analysis. A variety of theories and behaviour change techniques were employed in the development and adaptation of interventions. Most studies had a high and moderate risk of bias.
A total of 79 studies, reporting the experiences of more than 3604 adults with intellectual disabilities and over 490 caregivers, were included in the realist synthesis. The resulting programme theory highlighted the contexts and mechanisms relating to support involvement, negotiating the balance between autonomy and behaviour change, fostering social connectedness and fun, the accessibility and suitability of intervention strategies and delivery, along with the broader behavioural pathways to lifestyle change. It also brought out the importance of working with people with lived experiences when developing and evaluating interventions. Our logic model, bringing together the findings of both syntheses, provides guidance on the design of future interventions.
Discussion
This study was the first comprehensive mixed-methods evidence synthesis to explore lifestyle modification interventions targeting multiple unhealthy lifestyle behaviours in adults with learning disabilities. We conclude that future research could benefit from codeveloping interventions and population-specific assessment frameworks with people with lived experiences. There is a need for more high-quality research with appropriate outcomes and a focus on qualitative and mixed-methods research to better understand what works for whom and why.
Trial registration
This trial is registered as PROSPERO CRD 42020223290.
Funding
This award was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme (NIHR award ref: NIHR128755) and is published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 29, No. 4. See the NIHR Funding and Awards website for further award information
Reframing rape: from consent to responsibility
No full textThis article proposes a rethinking of rape, with a model that can be applied to other sexual offences. It starts from the proposition that a sexual penetration is a prima facie legal wrong, which requires justification. This imposes an obligation on the person penetrating another to have sufficiently good reasons to justify the penetration. The justificatory reasons are only provided by a reasonable belief in consent, richly understood. Rape should, therefore, be redefined as a sexual penetration without a reasonable belief in the other’s consent. This means the focus in rape trials should not be on whether the victim consented, but rather on whether the defendant had good reasons to believe there was sufficiently rich consent
The Ghosts of Architecture: Point Clouds, Affect and Collaged Hauntopias.
Get PDFClear+Park (C+P) use 3D laser scanning to create works that operate across architecture, installation, and media arts. C+P capture, edit and manipulate point-cloud data to document spaces, create speculative projects and spatial propositions; creating digital images and animations that engage with and respond to specific site narratives.
In their work, C+P create complex assemblages that combine 3D rendering and post-production effects to create spatial collages that operate between the actual and the virtual. Using the veracity and verisimilitude of the scans opens a powerful opportunity to critique traditional forms of representation where conceptions of authenticity and specificity of place can be radically questioned. In the same way, the images of architectural photography do not simply reflect the inherent qualities of the architecture but actively construct those qualities
Prediction of the infecting organism in peritoneal dialysis patients with acute peritonitis using interpretable Tsetlin Machines
Get PDFMotivation
The analysis of complex biomedical datasets is becoming central to understanding disease mechanisms, aiding risk stratification and guiding patient management. However, the utility of computational methods is often constrained by their lack of interpretability, which is particularly relevant in clinically critical areas where rapid initiation of targeted therapies is key.
Results
To define diagnostically relevant immune signatures in peritoneal dialysis patients presenting with acute peritonitis, we analysed a comprehensive array of cellular and soluble parameters in cloudy peritoneal effluents. Utilizing Tsetlin Machines, a logic-based machine learning approach, we identified pathogen-specific immune fingerprints for different bacterial groups, each characterized by unique biomarker combinations. Unlike traditional ‘black box’ machine learning models, Tsetlin Machines identified clear, logical rules in the dataset that pointed towards distinctly nuanced immune responses to different types of bacterial infection. Importantly, these immune signatures could be easily visualized to facilitate their interpretation, thereby allowing for rapid, accurate and transparent decision-making. This unique diagnostic capacity of Tsetlin Machines could help deliver early patient risk stratification and support informed treatment choices in advance of conventional microbiological culture results, thus guiding antibiotic stewardship and contributing to improved patient outcomes.
Availability and implementation
All underlying tools and the anonymized data underpinning this publication are available at https://github.com/anatoliy-gorbenko/biomarkers-visualization
Gender and Diversity Responsive Coaching: Building Capacity Through Relational, Feminist-Informed, Intersectional, Transdisciplinary, and E/Affective Coach Development
Get PDFAttempts towards achieving gender equality are widely considered to be ‘wicked’ problems and continue to be a global priority in line with other United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In sport, longstanding gender inequities are reproduced and perpetuated through problematic heteropatriarchal, ableist, and colonial sporting structures and cultures. These negatively impact women and girls and gender expansive people, as well as their access to quality sporting experiences across different pathways. As key actors within sporting ecosystems, sport coaches have a critical role to play in terms of supporting the development of inclusive, ethical, and equitable sporting environments and, more broadly, in the mainstreaming of quality sporting experiences for all. Therefore, the development of a gender and diversity-sensitive, -responsive, and -transformative coaching workforce should be a critical concern. This position paper builds on previous empirical work which has identified gaps in coaching knowledge alongside a range of problematic understandings and assumptions which currently shape coaches’ ‘gender-responsive’ coaching practices. It does so by identifying challenges and ways forward for enhanced coach learning and development strategies targeting the development of a more gender and diversity-responsive coaching workforce
Theories and Practices of Knowledge and the Universal Particular in Epistemology
No full textThis contribution offers a critical analytical overview of the main theories of knowledge in addition to exploring practices as to how knowledge can be achieved. Such theories as the cognitive, the constructivist, the behaviourist, the humanist and the connectivist theory are explored in this chapter. Additionally, the paper juxtaposes learning practices in the theoretical disciplines with those in the positivist disciplines. In this respect, law as a discipline is compared, for instance, with other theoretical disciplines but also with positivist disciplines. Furthermore, considering the interdisciplinary nature of this contribution, the author proceeds with exploring key findings and ideas in the area from such disciplines as philosophy, psychology, law, and pedagogy. When it comes to the practical ways by which knowledge can be attained, the deployment of reason (Plato), the senses (Aristotle), ideas of the intellect (Descartes), conditioning (Pavlov), experience (Russell, Polanyi & Kolb), association (modern discipline of psychology), kinaesthesia and play (ludo and experimental pedagogy) are all given consideration. The chapter concludes with the idea that knowledge, indeed knowledge in law, can be attained through multiple and diverse practices, whereas the different theories of epistemology may be explanatory of certain modes and patterns of knowledge as opposed to them acting as grand theories that explain the totality of angles and facets of knowledge. The paper advocates the thesis that knowledge per se is not a relative matter but the ways by which different individuals attain knowledge may often be relative to learner, the pedagogue’s key task being the deployment of multiple and diverse approaches which will cater and cover for the needs of as many learners as possible. In this respect, the chapter promotes the idea that the quest for universals in epistemology is one that would be achieved through the due recognition of the particular and the relative in didactic operations
The critical role of platelet adenylyl cyclase 6 in haemostasis and thrombosis
Get PDFBackground
Platelet activation is constrained by endothelial-derived prostacyclin (PGI2) through cyclic adenosine-5’-monophosphate (cAMP) signalling involving multiple isoforms of adenylyl cyclase (AC). The roles of specific AC isoforms in controlling haemostasis remain unclear and require clarification.
Objectives
To understand the specific contribution of AC6 in platelet haemostatic and thrombotic function.
Methods
A platelet-specific AC6 knockout (AC6-KO) mouse was generated. Biochemical approaches were used to determine intracellular signalling, with flow cytometry, tail bleeding time assays and in vivo thrombosis by ferric chloride were used to measure the haemostatic and thrombotic importance of platelet AC6.
Results
Loss of AC6 resulted in diminished accumulation of platelet cAMP in response to PGI2, while basal cAMP was unaffected. We found no differences in phosphodiesterase 3A (PDE3A) activity, suggesting the defect was in generation rather than hydrolysis of cAMP. Consistent with this, phosphorylation of PKA substrates, vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein and glycogen synthase kinase were diminished but not ablated. Functional studies demonstrated that the inhibition of thrombin-induced fibrinogen binding and P-selectin expression by PGI2 was severely compromised, while inhibition of GPVI-mediated platelet activation was largely unaffected. Under conditions of flow formed stable thrombi, but in the absence of AC6, thrombi were insensitive to PGI2. In vivo diminished sensitivity to PGI2 manifested as significantly reduced tail bleeding and accelerated occlusive arterial thrombus formation in response to vascular injury that were highly unstable and prone to embolisation in AC6-KO mice.
Conclusions
These data demonstrate that AC6 is linked directly to PGI2-mediated platelet inhibition and regulation of haemostasis and thrombosis in vivo
A Qualitative Study of the Barriers to and Factors Enabling Sport Participation for People with Sight Loss from Ethnically Diverse Communities in the UK
Get PDFThere is a growing body of evidence regarding the barriers to participation in sport for people with sight loss and for people from ethnically diverse communities. However, far less is known about the experience of people with sight loss who are also from ethnically diverse communities. Semi-structured interviews with people with lived experience and focus groups with civil society organisations that work with people with sight loss in the UK were undertaken. The aim was to explore how issues concerning ethnicity, culture, and heritage overlap with sight loss to affect sport participation. This research found that the intersecting occurrences of sight loss and ethnicity/cultural factors, as well as other socio-demographic factors like gender, compound and exacerbate the barriers to sport participation for people with sight loss from ethnically diverse communities. Further research is needed in different settings to unpack the heterogeneity related to sight loss, ethnicity, and sport
Future roles for communicators in digital media-arenas: Boxturners and global diplomats
Get PDFDigitalization is affecting not only the corporate communication function within organizations, but also giving rise to numerous new and unpredictable digitally-influenced societal issues. The more these changes occur, the greater the responsibility of communicators to monitor and manage these effects. To make sense of these effects, this article introduces the novel Digital Media-Arena (DMA) Framework (Badham et al., 2022, 2024) which outlines 14 digital spaces where organizations, stakeholders, and publics communicate today. The article then examines new emerging roles for corporate communications in the digital realm
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