1,721,006 research outputs found
The impact of information, education and communication (IEC) strategies in malaria prevention and control during pregnancy in Africa.
Get PDFBackground: Malaria continues to pose a complex public health problem amongst pregnant women in Africa (Schantz-Dunn & Nour 2009; Antwi 2010), accounting for over 90% of the global malaria burden (WHO 2002; Morel et al. 2005; Schantz-Dunn & Nour 2009). However, little is known about the impact of information, education and communication (IEC) strategies in malaria prevention and control among pregnant women in Africa. Aims and Objectives: The study sought to identify: evidence of impact of IEC strategies; feasibility, appropriateness, meaningfulness and effectiveness of the IEC strategies; challenges; best practices and key lessons to inform governments, policymakers, health partners, the academic community, directors, managers of health, frontline health professionals and health educators at institutional and community levels. Moreover, the study aimed to develop a theoretical framework to enhance the understanding of issues related to implementation of IEC strategies. Methods: A mixed method approach was adopted. This consisted of a systematic review of evidence within the African context and an evaluation methodology involving a contextually based survey of Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. The systematic review involved a structured search of relevant databases and websites, and hand search strategies. Three sets of evidence were identified and aggregated using a narrative synthesis approach. A survey questionnaire reflecting the outcomes of the review was sent to health professionals and lay persons in the countries under study. Primary data were analysed using SPSS Version 15.0. Non-parametric tests and sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the nature of opinions among respondents within and across countries. Findings: 3,440 studies were identified during the systematic review. Out of this number, 57 met the inclusion criteria. Following critical appraisal, 50 studies met the criteria for methodological quality. Ten IEC strategies were identified. These were: Staff training and orientation Advocacy Community mass education campaigns House-to-house sensitisation Health education in health units Visiting places of worship Womens group meetings Integrated health education campaigns Symbolism versus message delivery Audience segmentation versus information delivery. The survey reveals a high level of awareness of IEC strategies among respondents in the African countries studied. The evidence of impact reported by respondents supported the findings of the systematic review. However, there were some differences, and some concerns still remain regarding the extent of impact. The study suggests that using an IEC strategy implementation equation could enhance the understanding of issues related to implementation of IEC strategies. Implications of the findings are outlined, including implications for professional practice in relation to IEC programme implementation, most especially among nurses and midwives. IEC roles and responsibilities of key actors are also proposed. Conclusions: Despite the challenges of adopting a mixed method approach, the study highlights an important relationship between evidence and practice. This approach also helped to ensure that a comprehensive multiperspective view of IEC strategies was achieved. In designing and implementing IEC programmes, clients must be involved in order to encourage community ownership and programme sustainability. Attitudinal change and commitment is required by all stakeholders in order to achieve and maintain impact on malaria in pregnancy. Finally, while recognising the essence of feasibility, appropriateness and meaningfulness of a given strategy, it is worth noting that the key message from this study is that no one single strategy on its own appears ideal. Therefore, there is the need to pay equal attention to both institutional and community-based strategies. Doing one thing alone will not work; more evidence of impact is required to know what works and in what context
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
An analysis of policy to practice developments in nursing, midwifery and allied health professions within Scotland from 2005 to 2010.
Get PDFIn the new millennium the Scottish government has been seeking effective practice developments in Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions (NMAHPs) through setting up numerous policy initiatives to improve patient care both directly and indirectly. Despite the fact that many of these initiatives have been subject to individual commissioned evaluations, to date, no systematic integrative study has been carried out in Scotland. This thesis addresses this deficit with the aim of constructing better understanding of key lessons and issues in regard to policy contexts, processes and outcomes. Based on a constructivist approach and case study methodology, this study consists of: critical review of literature in relevant cognate areas; critical review of selected commissioned reports and other documentary analysis; case studies of four selected policy initiatives using twenty four in-depth semi-structured interviews; and integrative analysis and synthesis featuring framework analysis and application of relevant theoretical perspectives to enable explanation. At micro level this has provided insight into how and why selected policy initiatives were developed and implemented, based mainly on the perspectives of the various participants involved in the policy initiatives. At macro-level, cross case study enabled identification of key generic lessons such as policy internal and external alignment, good leadership at all levels and effective communication. In doing so the thesis also illuminates relationships between clusters of policy initiatives and their continuous development. In particular, a new explanatory model of policy to practice change has also been developed in this thesis, building from relevant theoretical perspectives and empirical research. The thesis suggests that the new model will be useful for the analysis of policy through to practice both from top down and bottom up perspectives. Finally, the findings have significant implications for future policy, education, practice and research. The thesis concludes with a summary of its contributions and related recommendations
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Nursing by the long stretch of the arm: an exploration of community nursing middle managers' experiences of role enactment within Community Health Partnerships in three regions of Scotland.
Get PDFAim: This thesis aimed to explore community nursing middle manager role enactment in managing change within Community Health Partnerships (CHPs) in three regions of Scotland from 2008-2011. Background: CHPs were established to play a key role in shifting care from the acute to the community setting. Within this context the community nursing workforce has been adapting roles in response to Scottish Government (SG) directives. However literature review demonstrated there has been very little research into the role of Community Nurse Middle Managers (CNMMs) in the midst of this change. This investigation sought to address this deficit in the literature. Design and Methodology: The study was conducted in four distinct phases comprising of the reflexive, foundational, recursive and expansive. A total of 42 semi-structured interviews were conducted over the period of investigation. The investigation was qualitative and phenomenological in character. A hermeneutic approach was adopted, broadly based on Heideggerian philosophy. More specifically this study drew on the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach of Jonathan Smith (1996). Main findings: In general CNMMs perceived that their jobs had become more complex, with the pace and intensity of work having increased. They held a wide range of responsibilities managing the challenges of driving change within a hierarchy and professional bureaucracy. Opportunities for education and learning were felt to have reduced. A small but significant proportion had left and some were considering leaving the NHS service. A primary motivation for CNMMs was maintaining an implicit connection with service users. They were proud to be members of the nursing profession and aligned their identity with their career history. This was perceived to influence their management and leadership style. In overcoming some of the personal challenges they faced they identified protective factors or assets to counteract stress. The application of a salutogenic perspective emerged as important in supporting this. Conclusion: The study has addressed a knowledge gap in literature. It contributes to understandings of NHS community nursing, middle management, role, change and Community Health Partnership literature. In particular it gives a voice to the perspectives of community nursing middle managers in Scotland. It suggests that much more attention needs to be paid to the needs, constitution and sustenance of middle managers in Scottish community nursing and that this has policy, practice, education and research implications
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
BECOMING: an analysis of narratives describing the experiences of nurses who have undertaken training in solution focused brief therapy.
Get PDFThis thesis is a study of the experiences of nurses who have undertaken training in Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). While the clinical outcomes of using SFBT, and other psychological therapies, to treat clients have been the subject of much research, the outcomes of training therapists to use SFBT has been relatively unexplored. It is, therefore, my intention to address, in part, this uncharted area of practice. Utilising a mixed methodology, the study is divided into two Stages. In Stage I, an original Solution Focused (SF) methodology is developed and used to conduct individual interviews with twenty participants. Interviews are transcribed and treated as narrative texts, and are then subjected to multi-factored analysis enabling the synthesis of a group narrative and the construction of a typology of experience. In Stage II, I conduct further in-depth interviews with three of the original participants and utilise a hermeneutic methodology, drawing on the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, to engage with the texts generated from these interviews. The texts are explored thematically, and through the nursing metaparadigm of Jacqueline Fawcett, and are compared with a metaparadigm of SF practice. The research suggests that training is SFBT can have a profound effect on the clinical practice, and professional identity, of nurses, and that this is related to the paradigm of nursing which informs their practice. Where the nursing paradigm is of the dominant assessment and delivery of care needs modality, SFBT training has little to offer the nurse; however, where the nursing paradigm reflects an interpersonal, dynamic modality based on shared relationships, training in SFBT can be a transformative experience for the nurse. This research makes an original contribution to the field of SFBT and to our understanding of the relationship between SFBT and nursing. Building on the work of earlier scholars, it argues that SFBT is congruent with some nursing paradigms, and not all nursing paradigms as previously suggested. It also advances our understanding of how the scope and field of SF practice may be delineated
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