72,817 research outputs found
Undocumented immigrants and rights in the EU addressing the gap between social science research and policy-making in the Stockholm Programme. CEPS Liberty and Security in Europe, December 2009
No full textUndocumented migrants are one of the most vulnerable groups in the EU. This report assesses the main findings and synergies of a selection of EU-funded research projects on irregular immigration and the status of undocumented migrants. It reveals that the results emanating from social science research contrast with the EU policy documents adopted in light of the forthcoming Stockholm Programme – the third multi-annual programme on an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. The authors argue that acknowledgement of the findings of independent research is lacking in EU policy, which continues promote a control-based approach to migration that has profound ethical and human rights implications. The report concludes with a set of policy recommendations aimed at overcoming the current inconsistencies in EU and national policies as well as in practices on irregular migration under the mandate of the Stockholm Programme
Housing through Social Enterprise: Report of Phase 1 – Research Scoping Exercise
No full textThe Housing through Social Enterprise project aims to explore the health impacts of social enterprises working in the housing/homelessness sector. The project has two phases - Phase I aims to clarify the key issues through a desk-based evidence review and scoping work with partner organisations, and Phase II examines the impacts of social enterprises through direct research with tenants. This report sets out the findings from Phase I, providing the background to the project in terms of the existing research evidence and the policy context, and summarising the scoping work that has been undertaken with partner organisations to design the research
Executive Summary: Evaluation of the ‘Connecting Residents in Scotland’s Care Homes’ Programme
No full textThis report details the findings from the ‘Connecting Residents in Scotland’s Care Homes’ (hereafter CRSCH) programme evaluation. The evaluation was commissioned by the Scottish Government Technology Enabled Care programme in conjunction with the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre (DHI). The project sought to evaluate the programme from the perspectives of all stakeholders, including residents, care staff, managers, family and friends of residents, and policymakers. The evaluation goal was to identify how far the programme is meeting its objectives, the issues influencing its effectiveness and the individual and organisational factors that will influence its continued scale up and sustainability over the longer term
Kennisbasis WOT Fisheries 2011 - what is in the Programme?
No full textThe KBWOT Fisheries programme is core to the maintenance and development of the expertise that underpins the statutory obligations of fisheries monitoring and advice for the Netherlands. The structure of the KBWOT Fisheries programme for 2011 changed to reflect the recent discussions on the research direction between IMARES, CVO and EL&I. One of the strengths of the structure of the KBWOT Fisheries programme was the bottom up approach to calls for projects to fulfil the research priorities. This however was seen as giving the programme the potential to miss strategic needs of both the science development within IMARES and the research questions of EL&I, thus the programme now also contains a specific project request on an research subject relevant to IMARES and EL&I needs. The KBWOT Fisheries programme will fund 12 projects in 2011. The projects will investigate competition in exploited fish communities, long term changes in eel populations, the spawning habitat of mackerel, sub-stock structure in fish, trawling impact on benthic communities, quality assurance in fish aging, surveys of shellfish, maturity staging of fish and acoustic methods. Plus a targeted project specifically designed to research needs of IMARES and EL&I will be carried out into the trade-offs in FMSY targets for North Sea flatfish fisheries
Recommended from our members
Creativity, School Ethos and the Creative Partnerships programme.
No full textThis report was commissioned by the national organisation Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE) which runs the ‘flagship creative learning programme’, Creative Partnerships. Its aim was to ‘evaluate the nature and impact of Creative Partnerships on school ethos’.
The research methods involved qualitative studies of five schools exemplifying good or interesting practice, supplemented by the research teams’ previous research knowledge.
The report discusses creative school ethos under the headings: considerate, convivial and capacious.
The report includes a literature review on ‘ethos’ and associated concepts such as ‘climate’ or ‘culture’
KB - WOT Fisheries Research; programme for 2010
No full textLNV programme WOT 5 covers the execution of statutory tasks (WOT) in fisheries carried out by DLO. Part of the KB programme, presented in this report, contains resources earmarked to maintain and develop the expertise needed to carry out the WOT programme. As well as maintaining expertise, innovation is an important part of the programme. The programme is also part of the Wageningen UR Kennisbasis and comes under the theme KB01: “Groene en blauwe ruimte”. This report describes the allocation and utilisation of the Kennisbasis budget in 2010. The available budget in 2010 is €621 000. The structure of the KBWOT programme is similar to that in 2009. The money is spent through projects, each of which is described in this report. The projects are split up into four priority research areas: A) Influence of changes in the environment on marine ecosystems, B) impact of fisheries on ecosystems, C) changing fishery management, D) maintenance and international exchange of key WOT expertise. These priority research areas have been developed with the agreement of LNV. All of these areas fall under the wider WUR kennisbasis themes
Designing and implementing a communications strategy: lessons learnt from HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health Research Programme Consortia.
No full textIn recent years there has been increasing recognition of the importance of strategic research communication. Health research organisations need to be able to communicate their research effectively to increase the probability that the findings influence policy and practice, and benefit those in greatest need. Many research funders are making communications a requirement of research funding. This paper reflects on the experience in developing and implementing communications strategies of several Research Programme Consortia funded by the Department for International Development.Different research topics will require different communications approaches in order to be effective. This is reflected in the diversity of strategies employed by different research programmes. Strategic research communications designed to influence policy and practice require different skills and expertise from those required for carrying out research and writing it up for publication in academic journals. Therefore researchers involved in communicating research should be supported in this work. One of the ways in which research programme consortia have sought to do this is through convening workshops to develop the communications skills of researchers from partner organisations. These have proven invaluable. Another way of providing ongoing support to those involved in communicating research is through a Communications Community of Practice. Where this has been used it has proven a good way to support researchers both with ideas and resources, but also a strong sense of belonging to a community that shares a common concern with communication. Developing strong partnerships with research users, other research organisations, knowledge intermediaries and other stakeholders is vital for effective communication.Embracing the challenges and opportunities presented by communicating research to influence policy practice is vital if research is to have maximum possible impact, and demonstrate its worth at a time when funding for health and development activities is at risk. Sharing lessons learnt in this process between research programmes is important to support this work
Improving the assessment and management of obesity in UK children and adolescents: the PROMISE research programme including a RCT
No full textBackground:
Five linked studies were undertaken to inform identified evidence gaps in the childhood obesity pathway.
Objectives:
(1) To scope the impact of the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) (study A). (2) To develop a brief evidence-based electronic assessment and management tool (study B). (3) To develop evidence-based algorithms for identifying the risk of obesity comorbidities (study B). (4) To conduct an efficacy trial of the Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Programme (HELP) (study C). (5) To improve the prescribing of anti-obesity drugs in UK adolescents (study D). (6) To investigate the safety, outcomes and predictors of outcome of adolescent bariatric surgery in the UK (study E).
Methods:
Five substudies – (1) a parental survey before and after feedback from the National Childhood Measurement Programme, (2) risk algorithm development and piloting of a new primary care management tool, (3) a randomised controlled trial of the Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Programme, (4) quantitative and qualitative studies of anti-obesity drug treatment in adolescents and (5) a prospective clinical audit and cost-effectiveness evaluation of adolescent bariatric surgery in one centre.
Results:
Study A – before the National Childhood Measurement Programme feedback, three-quarters of parents of overweight and obese children did not recognise their child to be overweight. Eighty-seven per cent of parents found the National Childhood Measurement Programme feedback to be helpful. Feedback had positive effects on parental knowledge, perceptions and intentions. Study B – risk estimation models for cardiovascular and psychosocial comorbidities of obesity require further development. An online consultation tool for primary care practitioners is acceptable and feasible. Study C – the Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Programme, when delivered in the community by graduate mental health workers, showed no significant effect on body mass index at 6 months (primary outcome) when compared with enhanced usual care. Study D – anti-obesity drugs appear efficacious in meta-analysis, and their use has expanded rapidly in the last decade. However, the majority of prescriptions are rapidly discontinued after 1–3 months of treatment. Few young people described positive experiences of anti-obesity drugs. Prescribing was rarely compliant with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance. Study E – bariatric surgery appears safe, effective and highly cost-effective in adolescents in the NHS.
Future work and limitations:
Work is needed to evaluate behaviour and body mass index change in the National Childhood Measurement Programme more accurately and improve primary care professionals’ understanding of the National Childhood Measurement Programme feedback, update and further evaluate the Computer-Assisted Treatment of CHildren (CATCH) tool, investigate delivery of weight management interventions to young people from deprived backgrounds and those with significant psychological distress and obtain longer-term data on anti-obesity drug use and bariatric surgery outcomes in adolescence.
Trial registration:
Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN99840111.
Funding:
This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research programme and will be published in full in Programme Grants for Applied Research; Vol. 8, No. 3. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.published_or_final_versio
Testing innovative strategies to reduce the social gradient in the uptake of bowel cancer screening: a programme of four qualitatively enhanced randomised controlled trial
No full textBackground: Bowel cancer screening reduces cancer-specific mortality. There is a socioeconomic gradient in the uptake of the English NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (BCSP), which may lead to inequalities in cancer outcomes. / Objective: To reduce socioeconomic inequalities in uptake of the NHS BCSP’s guaiac faecal occult blood test (gFOBt) without compromising uptake in any socioeconomic group. / Design: Workstream 1 explored psychosocial determinants of non-uptake of gFOBt in focus groups and interviews. Workstream 2 developed and tested four theoretically based interventions: (1) ‘gist’ information, (2) a ‘narrative’ leaflet, (3) ‘general practice endorsement’ (GPE) and (4) an ‘enhanced reminder’ (ER). Workstream 3 comprised four national cluster randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of the cost-effectiveness of each intervention. / Methods: Interventions were co-designed with user panels, user tested using interviews and focus groups, and piloted with postal questionnaires. RCTs compared ‘usual care’ (existing NHS BCSP invitations) with usual care plus each intervention. The four trials tested: (1) ‘gist’ leaflet (n = 163,525), (2) ‘narrative’ leaflet (n = 150,417), (3) GPE on the invitation letter (n = 265,434) and (4) ER (n = 168,480). Randomisation was based on day of mailing of the screening invitation. The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) score associated with each individual’s home address was used as the marker of socioeconomic circumstances (SECs). Change in the socioeconomic gradient in uptake (interaction between treatment group and IMD quintile) was the primary outcome. Screening uptake was defined as the return of a gFOBt kit within 18 weeks of the invitation that led to a ‘definitive’ test result of either ‘normal’ (i.e. no further investigation required) or ‘abnormal’ (i.e. requiring referral for further testing). Difference in overall uptake was the secondary outcome. / Results: The gist and narrative trials showed no effect on the SECs gradient or overall uptake (57.6% and 56.7%, respectively, compared with 57.3% and 58.5%, respectively, for usual care; all p-values > 0.05). GPE showed no effect on the gradient (p = 0.5) but increased overall uptake [58.2% vs. 57.5% in usual care, odds ratio (OR) = 1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04 to 1.10; p < 0.0001]. ER showed a significant interaction with SECs (p = 0.005), with a stronger effect in the most deprived IMD quintile (14.1% vs. 13.3% in usual care, OR = 1.11, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.20; p = 0.003) than the least deprived (34.7% vs. 34.9% in usual care OR = 1.00, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.06; p = 0.98), and higher overall uptake (25.8% vs. 25.1% in usual care, OR = 1.07, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.11; p = 0.001). All interventions were inexpensive to provide. / Limitations: In line with NHS policy, the gist and narrative leaflets supplemented rather than replaced existing NHS BCSP information. This may have undermined their effect. / Conclusions: Enhanced reminder reduced the gradient and modestly increased overall uptake, whereas GPE increased overall uptake but did not reduce the gradient. Therefore, given their effectiveness and very low cost, the findings suggest that implementation of both by the NHS BCSP would be beneficial. The gist and narrative results highlight the challenge of achieving equitable delivery of the screening offer when all communication is written; the format is universal and informed decision-making mandates extensive medical information. / Future work: Socioculturally tailored research to promote communication about screening with family and friends should be developed and evaluated. / Trial registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN74121020. / Funding: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research programme and will be published in full in Programme Grants for Applied Research; Vol. 5, No. 8. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information
Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Beaufort Marine Biodiscovery Research Workshop
No full textThis publication presents the background and aims of the 2nd Annual Marine Biodiscovery Workshop 2009. Presentations relating to progress achieved in the marine biodiscovery research area through the Irish Beaufort Marine Biodiscovery Research Awards have been captured in extended abstracts.Marine research Sub-Programme 2007-'13Funder: Marine Institut
- …
