Research Initiative: Test the Impact of a Radio Campaign Addressing Child Mortality

Source:

DEVELOPMENT NETWORKS - The Communication Initiative's Social Networking Space

Introduction and comments:
http://networks.comminit.com/healthcommunication/node/200774


Development Media International (DMI) is conducting a 3-year randomised controlled trial to test the hypothesis that a radio campaign can reduce the large number of children dying before their fifth birthday in Burkina Faso. As detailed at the link below (see Related Summaries), the research involves the broadcast, beginning in March 2012, of health messages using radio spots (60-second adverts) and radio phone-in programmes. With the goal of engaging the public with health issues in order to change behaviours, this is a research initiative to evaluate a public health intervention delivered to 7 randomised geographic areas (clusters) across Burkina Faso with 7 additional clusters being used as controls.

Methodologies: 

 

Supervised by 2 people affiliated with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), this independent survey is based on interviews with 5,000 mothers in the 7 intervention zones and 7 control zones halfway into the research intervention period (midline data).

Practices:

....

"For a full summary of the midline results please go to this link where there is also a link to the DMI summary paper."

The Global Health Research Process Map

As a conceptual ready reckoner Hodges' model helps us locate, isolate and contextualise the commonly cited 4Ps. In the h2cm matrix below I have related the 4Ps, as before, to the four care domains:

individual
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

group

PURPOSE	PROCESS
PRACTICE	POLICY

I raise this learning of a new process oriented resource for global research produced by The Global Health Network.

Processes are critical.  

Think of the relationship of purpose, practice and policy in relation to triage and emergency care? When I reflect on a situation even if the priority, context is process driven I am mindful of the bigger picture.

+++++++++++++++

The Global Health Network has launched a brand new, interactive Global Health Research Process Map, the first digital toolkit designed to enable researchers anywhere in the world to initiate rigorous global health research studies.

As the HIFA community know all too well, health research is often lacking in the regions where evidence to improve health is needed most. Crucial evidence is not being generated because doctors and nurses lack access to training, information, and support. Effort is also regularly duplicated or conducted using different criteria in different territories and studies, and sometimes it falls by the wayside from lack of simple resources and guidance on best practice. The Global Health Research Process Map (http://processmap.org/) is set to change this. It’s an open-access internationally-available online resource that guides every process and method needed to initiate a health research study. For each step researchers and their staff are provided with the information, support and training that they need to successfully run a health study. Researchers will also gain the opportunity to engage with their peers along the way, aiding collaboration and the spread of ideas.

The Process Map was released just over one week ago, and has already generated nearly 2,500 views from around the world. It is the product of four years of best practice gathered and refined by the research community who use the pioneering Global Health Network to guide and support their effort to conduct research in challenging settings. The Global Health Network works like an online science park for exchanging knowledge, sharing research methods and facilitating collaboration among global health professionals to fuel faster and better evidence to improve health. The Global Health Network facilitates global partnerships between researchers ­ allowing researchers in low-resource settings and those with more support to learn from each other ­ and conduct research studies in places where this is difficult and unusual.

The Process Map is a pioneering research tool that centralises the information and resources that researchers anywhere in the world need to develop and initiate rigorous and effective global health studies. It has the potential to revolutionise the current process, speeding the development of new drugs and vaccines, and improving how diseases are managed. With this toolkit, researchers can access the guidance, training and support that they need in order to run their own studies. This is important because there is much evidence that shows that locally-led research rarely happens in low-income settings because health workers lack research skills and any access to training and support. Therefore the Global Health Network is meeting that gap and the Global Health Research Process Map will take them through the process of conducting accurate research, step-by-step. 

Visit the tool today, and click on each node to access formally written information, links to eLearning courses, guidance articles, discussions, blogs, up-to-date news, and all sorts of tools and templates which will help you complete each step. As with everything else on the Global Health Network, it’s completely free and open-access, and always will be. Your feedback is always greatly appreciated, so feel free to have a look and leave comments, either here* or on the map itself.

Thank you!
Tamzin

Tamzin Furtado
Project Manager
The Global Health Network

*My source: HIFA2015
 

ENS4Care: Evidence Based Guidelines for Nurses and Social Care Workers for the deployment of eHealth services

From the ENS4Care website:

“Innovative, high quality, safe and cost-effective national healthcare systems are dependent upon policy-makers and stakeholders developing and implementing high-quality eHealth services”
(Sheikh et al., 2011)

This is particularly the case under the current social and economic situation plaguing EU Member States. ENS4Care is designed as response to this need with an ultimate aim of contributing to an evidence based deployment of eHealth services in the EU and Europe. While Member States are individually striving to respond to a growing demand for quality, safety, equity and access, they are at the same time challenged to be innovative with regards to the sustainability of their healthcare system. Furthermore, in order to render health and social protection more adequate and sustainable, there is a need to invest in health and social care staff´s skills and capabilities to support people in need (Social Investment Package, 2013). The identification of these skills together with the exchange of good, innovative, implemented and cost-effective solutions and approaches is increasingly needed. In this context, the policy initiatives set out in the Digital Agenda ensure that the European Commission, closely cooperates with EU Member States, and different stakeholders, are the driving forces to making clear implementation proposals in the field of eHealth services. http://www.ens4care.eu/projects/policy/

My source: GANM (Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery)

CAPITAL [ take ] II or III ...

Thomas Piketty's economic data 'came out of thin air'

(The Guardian)

French economist's bestselling book on growing inequality in west undermined by 'inexplicable' data, says Financial Times

While they debate the data

the evidence

and how this looks 

from the left:                               :from the right

let's not forget the center and ask

where is the neutral, objective space where values must reside?

global health, development, nursing, health information, education

My original source:

FT Weekend, 24-25 May, 2014.

Update 17 June 2014 c/o Channel 4 News UK:

3-day Short Course in Systematic Reviewing and GRADE, 2-4 July 2014, UCL and NCCMH

Dear all,

I’d be very grateful if you could forward this onto any colleagues you think would be interested in attending. Many thanks.

Introduction to Systematic Reviewing and the GRADE Approach
3-day short course
UCL, London

Led by Dr Craig Whittington, with over 10 years’ experience developing NICE clinical guidelines and Cochrane reviews.

• A practical approach to systematic reviewing taught by experts developing clinical guidelines for NICE.
• Get the latest advice about GRADE, the sensible and transparent approach to grading quality of evidence and strength of recommendations, adopted by the Cochrane Collaboration.
• Bring an idea for a systematic review; leave with a protocol and toolkit to get the work completed to the very highest standard.

Please visit:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/clinical-psychology/CORE/short-courses/grade-approach.htm

To book please email snaqvi AT rcpysch.ac.uk
Best wishes,
Sabrina Naqvi

Sabrina Naqvi
Project Manager
National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health
The Royal College of Psychiatrists
3rd Floor | 21 Prescot Street | London E1 8BB
Website: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk

Help Doctoori.net deliver Health Information For All

Doctoori brings to you, high quality, reliable health information in the Arabic language, through our syndicated partnership with NHS Choices. Our engaging, patient focused articles and interactive tools provide an invaluable, trusted health resource for you and your family. 

Doctoori is more than just a website. Whether you want advice on how to get fit, which super foods actually boost your health, or a guide to your pregnancy and keeping your baby healthy, we have it covered. Also if you need to see a clinician face-to-face, our find a clinic healthcare directory will give you the information you need to choose who is best for you.

Our UK based editorial team ensure all our articles are:

• Based on the latest medical evidence
• Rigorously reviewed
• Thoroughly monitored to ensure they are up to date
• In keeping with the high standards set by the Information Standard.

Doctoori.net

 ..... with you on your journey to better health

My source: Zain Sikafi CEO and Founder of doctoori.net  - info AT doctoori.net

Better information means better care

BBC Radio 4: Inside Health 21 January 2013

Margaret McCartney and Mark Porter ask whether the anonymity of patient records on a new NHS database can be guaranteed?

NHS: Your records:

Using information about the care you have received, enables those involved in providing care and health services to improve the quality of care and health services for all. The role of the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) is to ensure that high quality information is used appropriately to improve patient care. 

NHS England has therefore commissioned a programme of work on behalf of the NHS, public health and social care services to address gaps in information. Our aim is to ensure that the best possible evidence is available to improve the quality of care for all.  ...

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/thenhs/records/healthrecords/Pages/care-data.aspx

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ------------------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

individual

my interests	scientific interests
social interests	commercial interests

group - population

National Leading Health and Wellbeing Programme 2013/14: From Transition to Transformation

Dear Colleague

Call for applications to join the national programme on 'Leading Health and Wellbeing from Transition to Transformation' (2013/14) starting November 2013

I write to invite you to nominate key senior staff in your organisation, partnerships or networks to join the National ‘Leading Health and Wellbeing Programme for 2013/14 - from Transition to Transformation’. 

Durham University, working Public Health England and a range of key partners, has designed this programme as one of a portfolio of Health and Wellbeing leadership programmes. Speakers on the one year programme will include a wide range of national experts in the fields of health and wellbeing improvement, leadership and system improvement methodologies, backed up with personal development tools, coaching and action learning support.

Attached to this email are further details of the programme which commences in November 2013.  Those taking part in it will be able to better understand the new public health system in England and hear about developments elsewhere in the UK.  They will also be able to  share progress, issues and aspirations around the shift of public health functions and services to local government, the implementation of Health and Wellbeing Boards, Clinical Commissioning Groups, Public Health England and Health Education England, as well as all other aspects of improving health and reducing health inequalities  at national and local levels.

Individual applications are very welcome, but for maximum benefit it is recommended that multiagency teams of 3-4 people working on a shared agenda from across local partnerships, in particular Health and Wellbeing Boards, apply to join the programme. A substantial discount applies to applications from teams of four or more.

This one year evidence-based leadership programme has now been well tested and externally evaluated, and has been run at both national and regional levels in association with the LGA.  It has been run across Yorkshire and Humberside, the North East, South Central, and has been run in Scotland with the support of NHS Scotland.  We are well aware of, and fully appreciate, the immense pressures and challenges arising from the present economic situation and from the major changes underway but, as I’m sure you’ll agree, we believe these developments make the need for such systems leadership programmes all the more timely and necessary. Leading in new ways beyond boundaries across places and systems is essential if limited resources are to have maximum impact in meeting the complex challenges facing those engaged in health improvement and wellbeing. 

The advisory board for the programme comprises a range of national organisations, with the programme serving as a platform for delivering key policy messages and developing leadership and improvement skills across the health and wellbeing community.  We have an extensive network of well over 600 senior individuals who have been through this one-year programme and who continue to be part of a national network of improvement leaders. 

Please do help spread the word about this programme by cascading the information through your local public health and partnership networks. The closing date for applications is 5pm Monday 30th September 2013.

Finally, do not hesitate to contact me directly (d.j.hunter at durham.ac.uk) or the Programme Director, Dr Catherine Hannaway (c.j.hannaway at durham.ac.uk), for further information or to answer any queries you may have. All details, including module dates, cost, eligibility criteria and an on-line application form can be found at: << Click Here >>

With kind regards, David 

David J Hunter

Professor of Health Policy and Management

School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health

Durham University

 

Michelle Cook
Programme Co-ordinator

Centre for Public Policy and Health

School of Medicine Pharmacy and Health

Durham University

Queen's Campus

Stockton-on-Tees

TS17 6BH

 

*: michelle.cook at durham.ac.uk

Evidence and the increasing effect of parallax

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

individual

from here ...	EVIDENCE
from here...	and here

group - population

Additional link: parallax

An International Bill of the Rights of Man (reissued)

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

individual

How do we address the mental health status of our leaders?	How can science and technology work positively to assure the Rights of All, to secure evidence of war crimes? Where does the biosphere stand (side-by-side : hand-in-hand)?
Should war crimes once perpetrated be relegated to cultural memory: baggage carried forward for generations anew to avenge? How must they do this other than learning (remembering) how to hate? What are the important lessons; of what must be remembered and what we should forget?	An International Bill of the Rights of Man

group - population

ForAge International Conference, Budapest 30 Sept - 1 Oct 2013

The Future of Learning for Older People in Europe

Learning from Experience    

30 September – 1 October 2013

Budapest, Hungary

http://www.foragenetwork.eu/en/database/item/140-forage-2nd-international-conference/

To coincide with the United Nations International Day of Older People on 1 October, the ForAge Grundtvig Multilateral Network is holding a Pan-European Conference to examine trends and developments in learning in later-life and what can be learned from the experience of European initiatives in this field. The programme includes the following topics:

• The context for later-life learning in 21st Century Europe and the role of ForAge
• Improving the quality of training of those trying to reach potential older learners
• The benefits of later-life learning and the supporting evidence
• Experiences of other European networks as information sources and influencers as well as providing expert opinion about future actions
• Perspectives from international adult education organisations
• Emerging issues and the further development of later-life learning
• Older learners’ perspectives
• Oral and poster presentations of European Projects on later-life learning

Keynote speakers include:

• Hungarian Ministry of Human Resources, Department of Social Affairs 
• Professor Dr László Iván, President of the Hungarian Academy of Elder People
• Dr Alan Tuckett OBE, President of the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE)
• Dr Michael Sommer, Infonet coordinator, Akademie Klausenhof, Germany
• Professor Franz Kolland, University of Vienna, Austria

More details.

The Lancet: Several articles on health in China and HIFA2015

As well as highlighting some very useful papers, the post below c/o HIFA2015 is also an appeal as follows:

HIFA currently has only eight members in China (compared with 510 in India and 655 in Nigeria), and we would welcome more. If you have contacts with health professionals, researchers and/or policymakers in China, please invite them to join us at www.hifa2015.org


Dear HIFA members,

This week's Lancet includes several articles on health in China. One of them explores the challenge of evidence-based public health policy. Here is the citation and selected extracts:

Fan Jiang, Jun Zhang, Xiaoming Shen. Towards evidence-based public health policy in China.
The Lancet, Volume 381, Issue 9882, Pages 1962 - 1964, 8 June 2013 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61083-1
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)61083-1/fulltext?_eventId=login

'In China, most biomedical and even public health research stops at publication. We believe that completing a public health study is not the end of the process, but, in many cases, marks the beginning of the next phase in which research results are applied to solve real-life problems. Efforts are warranted to raise such awareness among researchers and policy makers.'

'A clear, streamlined system is crucial to promote evidence-based public health policy at a large scale. Several mechanisms might be useful. First, a platform for bilateral communication between researchers and policy makers is needed to improve mutual understanding and to establish an effective and efficient dialogue channel. In addition to informal public meetings and knowledge brokers, rapidly spreading social media has been shown to be a very useful means to obtain feedback.11, 12 [...] Although still early in a long journey, China is moving towards evidence-based public health policy.4 With the right knowledge, attitude, and practice, adequate investment in the capability and capacity of implementation, and an efficient system, this goal will be reached.'

[The editor of HIFA2015 also mailed the following to the list]

A Comment in The Lancet makes an observation that is highly relevant to global health professionals, and especially those who undertake systematic reviews (which are often limited to papers in English):

'Any attempt to analyse global data needs to access work published in Chinese. This need is not straightforward to address, but the east-west collaboration of Chan and colleagues is exemplary. The western, anglophone hegemony in the generation and dissemination of research is coming to an end. This change creates challenges for peer review and synthesis of knowledge, but western investigators should no more assume that their Chinese counterparts have published high quality research in English than vice versa.'

Martin J Prince. Dementia in China: east-west collaboration bears fruit. The Lancet, Volume 381, Issue 9882, Pages 1967 - 1968, 8 June 2013.
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60770-9 Cite or Link Using DOI
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)60770-9/fulltext

The full text is freely available, after free online registration.

Best wishes,
Neil

HIFA2015 profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is the coordinator of the HIFA2015 campaign and co-director of the Global Healthcare Information Network

Evidence Network Newsletter [II]

I posted about this over two years ago. Here is a revisit, prompted by the arrival of the April Evidence Network e-Newsletter c/o Alan Gomersall at the Centre for Evidence & Policy, King’s College London:

Founded in 2001 as part of an ESRC-funded initiative, the Evidence Network is an information resource aimed at anyone concerned with evidence-informed policy and practice (EBPP) in the broad field of social and public policy.

You have to join but it is very worthwhile for those as noted above.

This issue includes an invitation for submissions to the Research Synthesis Methods Journal:

... Papers may address any aspect of research synthesis, including information retrieval aspects such as searching for studies to incorporate into evidence syntheses such as systematic reviews, health technology assessments and guidelines.

Papers on topics in fields such as the health and social sciences are welcome if they can also demonstrate relevance to general research synthesis.  Papers reporting the results of a particular research synthesis are not, however, appropriate unless the focus is exclusively on an innovative or instructive methodological feature.  To promote widespread dissemination that will enhance methodological innovation and synthesis practice, the articles in this journal must be accessible to a broad and interdisciplinary audience. ...

In addition there's a new website for The Alliance for Useful Evidence, systematic reviews, information for practice and much more across seven-eight pages.

Scaling Up mHealth: Where Is the Evidence? PLoS Med essay (c/o HIFA2015)

Dear HIFA members,

An essay in the open-access journal PLoS Medicine discusses the evidence base for mHealth and makes recommendations for scale-up. Below is the citation, summary points, selected extracts and recommendations for scale-up. The full text is available here:
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001382

Best wishes,
Neil Pakenham-Walsh
HIFA moderator
[ HIFA2015: Healthcare Information For All by 2015 ]

CITATION: Tomlinson M, Rotheram-Borus MJ, Swartz L, Tsai AC (2013) Scaling Up mHealth: Where Is the Evidence? PLoS Med 10(2): e1001382. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001382

SUMMARY POINTS
- Despite hundreds of mHealth pilot studies, there has been insufficient programmatic evidence to inform implementation and scale-up of mHealth.
- We discuss what constitutes appropriate research evidence to inform scale up.
- Potential innovative research designs such as multi-factorial strategies, randomized controlled trials, and data farming may provide this evidence base.
- We make a number of recommendations about evidence, interoperability, and the role of governments, private enterprise, and researchers in relation to the scale up of mHealth.

SELECTED EXTRACTS:
'A recent World Bank report tracked more than 500 mHealth studies, and many donor agencies are lining up to support the 'scaling up' of mHealth interventions [7]. Yet, after completion of these 500 pilot studies, we know almost nothing about the likely uptake, best strategies for engagement, efficacy, or effectiveness of these initiatives...  mHealth is in a period very similar to the early days of the Internet: not creating robust, interoperable platforms will ensure failure for mHealth initiatives to be scaled to improve health outcomes for at least the next decade.'

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SCALE UP OF MHEALTH
- Existing standards for research should be reconsidered in order to provide guidance as to when scale up is appropriate.
- mHealth interventions should be guided by a plausible theory of behaviour change and should use more than one technique depending on the targeted behaviour [38].
- We need to establish an open mHealth architecture based on a robust platform with standards for app development which would facilitate scalable and sustainable health information systems.
- Implementation strategies such as factorial designs that are able to test the multiple features of interventions must be explored, in order to provide the necessary evidence base.
- Scale-up of mHealth in LAMICs should be preceded by efficacy and effectiveness trials so that they are founded on an appropriate evidence base.
Governments, funders, and industry must cooperate in order to set standards to create a self-governing commercially viable ecosystem for innovation.

Radical Statistics Group: Journal #107 Health & Wealth

Mis-measurement of health and wealth – Issue 107 (2012)

See also:

Straight Statistics

The UK Statistics Authority

(Extreme) sensitivity to initial conditions: Employment - Sickness

There was an item today on BBC Radio 4's You and Yours on the government's Fit for Work tests.

The new fitness for work assessments have been under review. The discussion featured Professor Malcolm Harrington and his final report on the Work Capability Assessment Review and highlighted the humanistic and mechanistic dimensions of this very complex issue (see also the back-to-work programme?). Points raised include:

• the impact of certain medications and treatments on an individual's ability to partake in an interview;
• the meaningfulness of an appeals process that once won, then sees subsequent recalls;
• 4/10 appeals are won;
• the need to balance decision making and the computer based process, with the former utilising documentary evidence;
• people with mental health and cognitive problems may be less able to advocate for themselves.

What troubled me is (the admittedly) single example were a client attending a review was advised not to bring documentary evidence. What this does is to effectively switch OFF three of four care domains: SOCIAL, INTERPERSONAL and (remarkably) the SCIENTIFIC.

What are the purposes to which clinical assessments, tests, reviews can be put? Why do clinicians and the social care team create records?

Relying primarily upon, or being driven by a computer based algorithm makes this a POLITICAL 'exercise'.

As such it will be seen SPIRITUALLY as cold and uncaring.

POLITICAL neglect reinforcing similar neglect and disinterest in the CITIZENRY.

Associate Professor Fran Biley - Bournemouth University

It is with great sadness that this week I learned of the passing of Fran Biley. In 2003 I contacted Fran having heard he had worked up in Lancashire in the early 80s as a charge nurse on a then new elderly mentally ill unit. I could not resist the possibility that here was someone who perhaps knew of Hodges' model or had used it.

There were no major leads, but Fran always encouraged me in my preoccupation with Hodges' model. I did not have a sense that I was just being indulged, or that Fran was purely exercising good manners which I'm sure he had in abundance. Fran also provided support indirectly and so I will miss both his positive words and observations.

There may be some communications on the old PC to recover, as I've enjoyed following Fran's contributions over the years. The brilliant video on students and nursing theory which I posted here on W2tQ in 2010 and Fran's missives to various lists over the years, including:

From: Francis Biley at BOURNEMOUTH.AC.UK;
To: PSYCHIATRIC-NURSING at JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Sent: Thursday, 29 November, 2007 11:58:15 AM
Subject: [PSYCHIATRIC-NURSING] Evidence

Didn't Liam mention nursing in the original post somewhere? What about Peplau, Orlando, and Travelbee and perhaps a host of others who produced buckets full of evidence of whatever flavour you'd like to choose; and Barker as well of course, not added here as an afterthought, more as emphasis.

And as for contemporary, Orlando's book was published in ?61, and Travelbee died in 73 (I think??)....and we all (should) know Peplau's history (perhaps...)...and FNs Notes on Nursing is still on and off my book shelf like a yoyo.

Or is it that we've been influenced by psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists and etc to such an extent that these people (and nursing per se) have clearly disappeared from the horizon, or where never there in the first place?

I will keep going Fran! Many thanks.