Search

The article discusses the challenge of using freedom of information (FOI) legislation for health policy research. It discusses the use of FOI as a health policy research tool and identifies causes for concern about the use of FOI requests including strain on for public bodies handling FOI requests and preference of agencies for working through informal channels. It stresses the need to value the principles of transparency and democratic accountability to maintain an effective FOI regime.

This article explores how solicited paper diaries, and the accompanying materials, are carefully handled over the course of one research project. It foregrounds the value of attending to mundane moments with research materials, by tracing tangible material encounters together with intimate fieldnote reflections. Through drawing upon theories of materiality with feminist and relational ethics of care, this article centralises paper diaries as a key mediator of relationships and care within research. It considers the micro processes of choosing diaries, posting them, receiving and storing them and tracing the emotionally charged moments as a researcher in everyday research situations. Such reflections, from the perspective of the researcher, look to offer insights into research relationalities and care. It argues that these momentary fieldwork reflections extend understandings of material methodologies by emphasising relational intimacies as a researcher and connects material and sensory understandings with feminist ethics of care and researcher reciprocities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: The Cardiff Self‐Injury Inventory (CSII) is a short (1 min), relatively nonintrusive, measure of previous self‐injury behaviors written in English. It measures self‐injury with suicidal intent and without such intent, covers actions versus thoughts, and has two time periods (lifetime vs recent [defined as the last 3 months]). The study aimed to examine its psychometric properties and its relationship to more well‐established measures. Methods: A UK community sample of 184 participants completed the CSII and two other measures of self‐harming (Deliberate Self‐Harm Inventory [DSHI] and Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire–Revised [SBQ‐R]) in March 2020–May 2020. Fifty participants also repeated these measurements 1–2 weeks later. Results: The CSII showed strong psychometric properties with internal reliability of 0.87 and a test–retest of 0.82. The subscales also showed strong psychometric properties. The CSII showed strong concurrent validity to the other measures of self‐injury (SBQ‐R, r = 0.70; DSHI, r = 0.81). A factor analysis supported the idea that there are two distinct components to the overall CSII score arising due to the distinction between suicidal and nonsuicidal behaviors. Conclusion: The CSII has good psychometric properties in this population and can be used as a fast, nonintrusive, measure of different self‐injurious behaviors for clinical or research purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media narratives play a crucial role in framing marine conservation dilemmas by depicting human actors, such as fish consumers or the fishing industry, as responsible for negative effects of their actions on species and ecosystems. However, there is little evidence documenting how such narratives affect preferences for reducing bycatch. Behavioral science research shows that people can act less prosocially when more actors are responsible for a collective outcome (responsibility diffusion effect) and when more victims need to be helped (compassion fade effect); thus, the media's framing of actors and victims may have a significant effect on preferences. We conducted the first test of responsibility diffusion and compassion fade in a marine context in an online experiment (1548 participants in the United Kingdom). In 9 media narratives, we varied the type of actors responsible for fisheries bycatch (e.g., consumers and industry) and victims (e.g., a single species, multiple species, and ecosystems) in media narratives and determined the effects of the narratives on participants' support for bycatch policies and intentions to alter fish consumption. When responsibility for negative effects was attributed to consumers and industry, the probability of participants reporting support for fisheries policies (e.g., bycatch enforcement or consumer taxes) was ∼30% higher (odds ratio = 1.32) than when only consumers were attributed responsibility. These effects were primarily driven by female participants. Narratives had no effect on personal intentions to consume fish. Varying the type of victim had no effect on policy support and intentions. Our results suggest that neither responsibility diffusion nor compassion fade automatically follows from increasing the types of actors and victims in media narratives and that effects can depend on the type of outcome and population subgroup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global pandemic perpetuates, keeping the population vaccinated will be imperative to maintain societal protection from the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus. However, while empirical evidence regarding predictors of the intention to receive a first COVID-19 vaccine has amassed, our understanding regarding the psychological and behavioral drivers of continued COVID-19 vaccination remains limited. In this pre-registered study (UK: AsPredicted#78370|Australia: AsPredicted#81667), factors predicting the intention to receive a COVID-19 booster vaccine were investigated in two adult samples from the UK (N = 1222) and Australia (N = 1197) that were nationally representative on factors of age, gender, and geographic location. High levels of booster intent were found (73% and 67%, respectively). Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling (ESEM) revealed three key predictors of the intention to receive a booster vaccine that emerged across both UK and Australian samples: concern regarding the COVID-19 virus, positive perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccines, and the perceived severity of side effects experienced to the last COVID-19 vaccine dose. Several additional factors (age, months since the last COVID-19 vaccine, familiarity with side effects, and regularly receiving the influenza vaccine) were present in the Australian dataset. These findings provide important evidence that targeting psychological perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccine and virus may serve to maintain participation in the COVID-19 vaccination programme, paving the way for future behavioural research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To understand patients' perceptions and experiences of directly observed therapy (DOT) for tuberculosis treatment in the UK. Method: Patients receiving DOT as part of their TB treatment participated in semi-structured and audio-recorded interviews. Data were analysed using a framework approach. Results: Non-adherence was driven by socio-cultural, mental health, employment and discrimination factors. Patients valued DOT for its support and social connection but those in employment feared it could lead to disclosure and social discredit. Conclusion: TB patients experience social isolation and fear discrimination. DOT offers a degree of social connection and support for marginalised patients but fails to tackle fundamental barriers to adherence such as mental health issues, addictions, housing and discrimination. Practice implications: Flexible patient-centred methods of DOT should be offered throughout patients' treatment. Research into multi-agency responsibility for promoting adherence needs to be commissioned, implemented and evaluated. Telemedicine and nurse-led clinics may improve access to care and improve patient experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The international conference on behavioural addictions was established in 2013 as a forum to explore new ways of understanding human behaviour. The Reward Foundation: Love, Sex and the Internet, a non-profit organisation based in Scotland, UK, has been active in communicating the knowledge generated by the behavioural addiction science community since 2017. Method: In this case study, we explore the different approaches of The Reward Foundation to inform client-facing professionals, and the wider public, about opportunities to integrate knowledge from behavioural addiction research into their practice. Communication channels examined include face-to-face teaching in secondary schools and creating lesson plans for school teachers. We also look at the effectiveness of creating in-person and online training courses for professionals in the sexual health, legal, educational, therapeutic and counselling fields. Challenges with reaching a wider public through websites and public information programmes are also discussed. Results: Five years of developing and delivering programmes involving compulsive sexual behaviour disorder has demonstrated the need to understand how to best present content for maximum effectiveness. It is grounded in developing tools through face-to-face interaction with real clients. However, it is clear that the in-person model does not scale and online teaching tools and information websites have much more potential to disseminate the insights generated by the research community. Conclusions: The development of high impact communications programmes benefits from development involving wide and deep feedback loops with representative samples of the target audience. Online tools then allow this to scale to reach the whole world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades, there have been two main streams of data used for driving behavior research: trajectory data collected from the field [such as using video recordings and global positioning systems (GPS)] and experimental data from driving simulators (where the behaviors of the drivers are recorded in controlled laboratory conditions). Previous research has shown that the parameters of car-following models developed using simulator data are not directly transferable to the field. In this research, we investigate the differences in detail and compare alternative methods to overcome the problem. Two types of approaches are tested in this regard: (1) econometric approaches for increasing model transferability--Bayesian updating and combined transfer estimation--and (2) joint estimation using both data sources simultaneously. Car-following models based on a stimulus-response framework are developed in this regard, using experimental data collected at the University of Leeds Driving Simulator (UoLDS) and detailed trajectory data collected at California Interstate 80 (I-80), in the US, and the UK Motorway 1 (M1). The estimation results of the initial models show that car-following models using driving-simulator data are closer to the UK (M1) data than the I-80 data but not directly transferable. Performances of the proposed approaches for improving transferability are evaluated using t-tests for individual parameter equivalence and transferability test statistics (TTS). The results indicate that the transferability can be improved after parameter updating, and the combined transfer estimation is found to outperform the other approaches. The findings of this study will enable a more effective usage of the driving simulator data for the estimation of mainstream mathematical models of driving behavior while the techniques used can be applied to other types of econometric models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studies in Law & Economics / Studia Prawno-Ekonomiczne is the property of Lodz Scientific Society / Lodzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Behavioral public administration is the analysis of public administration from the micro-level perspective of individual behavior and attitudes by drawing on insights from psychology on the behavior of individuals and groups. The authors discuss how scholars in public administration currently draw on theories and methods from psychology and related fields and point to research in public administration that could benefit from further integration. An analysis of public administration topics through a psychological lens can be useful to confirm, add nuance to, or extend classical public administration theories. As such, behavioral public administration complements traditional public administration. Furthermore, it could be a two-way street for psychologists who want to test the external validity of their theories in a political-administrative setting. Finally, four principles are proposed to narrow the gap between public administration and psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 20 years of research has enhanced our understanding about the methodological and ethical benefits and challenges of involving children and young people in research. Concurrently, the increasing bureaucratisation of research ethics governance within UK universities has reified expectations about the methods used to gain informed consent for research participation. This paper explores how social researchers in the UK are navigating this tension and whether there is any scope for innovation through the use of technologies in how children and young people provide informed consent to take part in research. We conclude there is a need for the co‐creation of research information with children and young people and greater transparency by sharing creative solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laughter is the most frequently transcribed paralinguistic feature in social research interview transcripts, occurring even where the transcriber gives no other indication of how words were said. It is thus a useful starting point for reconstructing aspects of interaction from the traces in standard social science research transcripts. First, we examine the practices of a transcriber in recording laughter by comparing transcripts from one project to the audio recordings. We then analyse the placement of these tokens in transcripts from other projects, considering their relation to the immediately preceding and following talk, drawing on Wallace Chafe’s (2007) interpretation of laughter as the expression of a feeling of ‘non-seriousness’. The laughter marks a transition away from and back to a serious frame. We argue that attention to the recording of laughter as a variable transcription practice can draw the attention of researchers using standard orthographic transcripts to interviewees’ orientations to topics and to the interview process itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although attention is paid to involving people with dementia as collaborators in research, the issue of place – where involvement actually occurs – has been neglected. This is significant because we know from the academic literature that places can adversely affect social relations and a person’s ability to participate as equal partners. This paper privileges place and documents our experiences of running residencies in the English Lake District with people with dementia – Houston, Gardiner and Wallace all have some form of dementia. In doing so we provide a model to reference for involving people with dementia in research and knowledge production, while simultaneously strengthening the evidence base for the residency as a method for participatory research. People with dementia participated in two residencies to co-produce a touring exhibition and educational resource as part of a research dissemination project. We found that by privileging place a more equitable, productive, healthier, and respectful way of involving people with dementia as collaborators in research dissemination could be realised. The project has wider implications for the involvement of people with dementia in not only research, but also public consultations, service evaluations, and policy-related work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible Summary People with learning disabilities should be included in research that is about them., There is a law in England and Wales called the Mental Capacity Act that has rules that researchers must follow., This paper shows how one researcher used those rules to ensure people with learning disabilities were able to be involved in a research project., Summary This study describes the experiences of a researcher negotiating consent with people with learning disabilities to become participants in a research study. The study was about how the Mental Capacity Act ( MCA) was applied to everyday decision-making in social care settings. However, before data collection could begin, the researcher had to follow the principles of the MCA and the requirements of ethical research practice. The study reports on the important role of gatekeepers in allowing (or preventing) access to potential participants. However, gatekeepers did not always act in a manner in keeping with the first principle of the MCA. Additionally, the dilemmas for a researcher in assessing participants' capacity to consent to the study are described, as are three approaches followed which supported people to decide for themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary The governments in the UK want people with learning disabilities to have a voice about what happens in their own life and also in policy., One way of doing this is through research. This paper looks at two inclusive research projects, which were about people using direct payments and personal assistants. The projects both employed people with learning disabilities., Each of these projects made a training pack from the research, so that they would help people with learning disabilities and their supporters. They also had some effects in ways that were not planned, because the government wanted to learn from them about inclusive research., All research seems to have most effect when there are many voices seeking change, including those of policy makers themselves., Inclusive research is a way of achieving 'choice and control'. But just like with direct payments and personal budgets, the best way in these projects was to have good support from other people who will listen to you, and help you decide things for yourself., Summary Participation, voice and control have long been central concerns in the research at Norah Fry. This paper focuses on inclusive research relating to choice and control, as experienced by people with learning disabilities who use personal budgets and direct payments, and aims to question how the process of inclusive research can be linked to wider outcomes. The paper gives a brief overview of two studies carried out by Norah Fry Research Centre, which were in partnership with self-advocacy groups and employed people with learning disabilities, between 1999 and 2007. Both in research and in everyday life, we question individual notions of 'choice and control', showing how relational autonomy was at the heart, both of the process of the inclusive research and also of the outcomes and findings. However, all social research seems to have greatest impact when there is a 'bandwagon effect' of policy and practice initiatives. The discussion considers how the impact of inclusive research designs can be at policy, practice and 'direct' user level and is often achieved by people with learning disabilities having a voice at the dissemination stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary Parents with learning difficulties often face lots of barriers to being the best parents they can. They often do not have the support they need., The Norah Fry Research Centre ( NFRC) found out how to support parents with learning difficulties. It developed a network to help professionals work with parents with learning difficulties., Some professionals are working well with parents. Many professionals do not have the time, training or support they need to work with parents in a more positive way., Summary This paper considers the impact of research and development work around parenting by adults with a learning difficulty undertaken at the Norah Fry Research Centre ( NFRC) since 2005. It discusses how our understanding of the support needs of parents with learning difficulties grew through an initial mapping study which led to the concept of 'Parenting with Support'. It then discusses the development of the Working Together with Parents Network which has endeavoured to continue to draw together and promote positive support for parents with learning difficulties and how the subsequent research at NFRC has been undertaken with a desire to further understand and support the development of this positive practice. It describes how this work has supported professionals already aware of parents with learning difficulties' support needs and but has yet to engage with the far wider range of professionals and agendas involved in supporting vulnerable families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible Summary People with learning disabilities have a right to be given easy information about research which is about their lives. At the Norah Fry Research Centre, we have tried to do that., We have employed a person with learning disabilities Julian Goodwin. In this paper, he looks back at the importance of the work he has done., We think about the questions and difficulties in making information about research 'easy'. For instance different people with learning disabilities need different types of information., Easy information is changing, and we need to look forward to better ways of getting research messages out to people with learning disabilities., Summary This paper discusses the provision of easy information about research to people with learning disabilities, their families and supporters. We explore some different ways we have used over the past 25 years, to make sure that research has the greatest impact both in the UK and abroad. We discuss first the process of providing easy-read versions of research at the Norah Fry Research Centre, where two of us, Goodwin and Townsley, worked on a series called Plain Facts funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. We have always used different media such as audio, but more recently, have started to use video as a way of getting information out to people with learning disabilities. We aim to present the 'easy information' work done at Norah Fry, to reflect on its impact, and set it within the context of the move towards accessible information more generally, questioning some of the premises about 'impact' on which accessible information is based. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background.That delusional and delusion-prone individuals ‘jump to conclusions’ is one of the most robust and important findings in the literature on delusions. However, although the notion of ‘jumping to conclusions’ (JTC) implies gathering insufficient evidence and reaching premature decisions, previous studies have not investigated whether the evidence gathering of delusion-prone individuals is, in fact, suboptimal. The standard JTC effect is a relative effect but using relative comparisons to substantiate absolute claims is problematic. In this study we investigated whether delusion-prone participants jump to conclusions in both a relative and an absolute sense.Method.Healthy participants (n = 112) completed an incentivized probabilistic reasoning task in which correct decisions were rewarded and additional information could be requested for a small price. This combination of rewards and costs generated optimal decision points. Participants also completed measures of delusion proneness, intelligence and risk aversion.Results.Replicating the standard relative finding, we found that delusion proneness significantly predicted task decisions, such that the more delusion prone the participants were, the earlier they decided. This finding was robust when accounting for the effects of risk aversion and intelligence. Importantly, high-delusion-prone participants also decided in advance of an objective rational optimum, gathering fewer data than would have maximized their expected payoff. Surprisingly, we found that even low-delusion-prone participants jumped to conclusions in this absolute sense.Conclusions.Our findings support and clarify the claim that delusion formation is associated with a tendency to ‘jump to conclusions’. In short, most people jump to conclusions, but more delusion-prone individuals ‘jump further’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the relationship of offenders' distress and responsibility with maladaptive personality traits, self-esteem, and offence-type. It also further validated the Distress and Responsibility Scale ( DRS; Xuereb et al., 2009a, Pers. Individ. Diff., 46, 465). A new sub-scale measuring social desirability was included and assessed in the DRS. Maladaptive personality traits and self-esteem were measured in relation to the following predictions: (1) that maladaptive personality traits would positively correlate with distress (2) that self-esteem would negatively correlate with distress and acknowledging responsibility. The sample was 405 male sexual, violent, and general offenders from a UK prison. Participants anonymously completed a questionnaire measuring the variables under investigation. The factor-structure of the DRS was confirmed via Confirmatory Factor Analysis after minor changes. No significant differences in distress and denial of responsibility were found between sexual, violent, and general offenders. Maladaptive personality traits positively correlated with chronic and offence-related distress, chronic self-blame, and minimization of offence harm. Chronic and offence-related distress and responsibility negatively related to self-esteem. The study concludes that the DRS has reached stability, and that the social desirability scale increases the measure's validity. Assessment and treatment for offence-related distress and denial of responsibility should be offered to all offence groups. Offenders would benefit from structured interventions to manage difficulties associated with maladaptive personality traits, including chronic distress and self-blame. Finally, it was concluded that self-esteem might serve a self-defensive function for offenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent increased suicide rate in the U.S. military has received widespread academic and media attention (Nock et al., 2013). "Big data" has been defined as large, complex, and linkable information (Khoury & Ioannidis, 2014) that can be used to investigate such changes in incidence at a population level. "Big health data" can revolutionize the future of epidemiological research, and this commentary discusses a specific example of how it can be used to progress suicide research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been recent policy moves aimed at encouraging individuals to lead healthier lives. The Cabinet Office has set up a ‘nudge unit’ with health as one of its priorities and behavioural approaches have started to be integrated into health-related domestic policy in a number of areas. Behavioural research has shown that that the way the environment is constructed can shape a person's choices within it. Thus, it is hoped that, by using insights from such research, people can be nudged towards making decisions which are better for their health. This article outlines how nudges can be conceived of as part of an expanding arsenal of health-affecting regulatory tools being used by the Government and addresses some concerns which have been expressed regarding behavioural research-driven regulation and policy. In particular, it makes the case that, regardless of new regulatory and policy strategies, we cannot escape the myriad of influences which surround us. As such, we can view our health-affecting decisions as already being in some sense shaped and constructed. Further, it argues we may in fact have reason to prefer sets of health-affecting options which have been intentionally designed by the state, rather than those that stem from other sources or result from random processes. Even so, in closing, this article draws attention to the largely unanswered questions about how behavioural research translates into policy and regulatory initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the ‘integrated conception of competence’ as conceived by Paul Hager and David Beckett and suggests that its characterization in terms intended to distance it from behaviouristic and reductionist notions of competence is not sufficient to differentiate it from other models. Taking up Hager and Beckett’s idea that competence must be inferred from behaviour, it is suggested that this indicates how the integrated conception is more properly distinguished by virtue of the method used rather than what it is that is assessed. Drawing on the work of Wittgenstein and Donald Davidson, it is argued that it is possible to discern two logically distinct methodological approaches to competence assessment, allowing a clear distinction to be made between the integrated conception and the kind of approach which predominates in the UK’s framework of vocational qualifications. While the latter is shown to be rightly criticized for its deficiencies, in contrast the integrated conception is seen to suggest a methodological approach that is capable of acknowledging the full richness of occupational practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background Behaviour management techniques ( BMTs) are utilised by dentists to aid children's dental anxiety ( DA). Children's perceptions of these have been underexplored, and their feedback could help inform paediatric dentistry. Aim To explore children's acceptability and perceptions of dental communication and BMTs and to compare these by age, gender, and DA. Design A total of sixty-two 9- to 11-year-old school children participated in the study. Children's acceptability of BMTs was quantified using a newly developed Likert scale, alongside exploration of children's experiences and perceptions through interviews. anova and t-tests explored BMT acceptability ratings by age, gender, and DA. Thematic analysis was used to analyse interviews. Findings Statistical analyses showed no effect of age, gender, or DA upon BMT acceptability. Children generally perceived the BMTs as acceptable or neutral; stop signals were the most acceptable, and voice control the least acceptable BMT. Beneficial experiences of distraction and positive reinforcement were common. Children described the positive nature of their dentist's communication and BMT utilisation. Conclusion Dental anxiety did not affect children's perceptions of BMTs. Children were generally positive about dentist's communication and established BMTs. Children's coping styles may impact perceptions and effectiveness of BMTs and should be explored in future investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global trends in public health nursing ( PHN) suggest the value of community-based social research. However, it is not always clear how social research relationships may be of benefit to PHN or how such skills can best be learned and applied. To advance this understanding, we present a qualitative analysis of the development of social research relationships in PHN. Using a background literature review as a foundation, our qualitative mixed method strategy involved a comparative case-study analysis based on the authors' participant observation in two distinct postnatal group settings. Our findings suggest that participant observation facilitates the advancement of social research relationships through practitioner-research management of role conflict. Reflexivity and reciprocity is an emergent relational process, which relies upon a de-professionalization of the traditional PHN role. Conversely, social research relationships help build PHN capacity for family health needs assessment. Thus, we contend that the application of participant observation enables the development of social research relationships, which advance the practice of PHN in postnatal support settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The methods literature on research with children recognises the challenges of negotiating informed consent with this group. Special 'child-friendly' techniques are advocated to overcome these challenges. We argue that, upon closer inspection, research with children foregrounds more fundamental problems with informed consent that are not easily resolved. Drawing from three ethical texts commonly consulted in our own research fields, we highlight problems of information, understanding, authority, capacity and voluntarity. We conclude that informed consent is more problematic than is generally admitted, and that researchers would benefit from more openly acknowledging its limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fitting of dynamical systems to psychological data offers the promise of addressing new and innovative questions about how people change over time. One method of fitting dynamical systems is to estimate the derivatives of a time series and then examine the relationships between derivatives using a differential equation model. One common approach for estimating derivatives, Local Linear Approximation (LLA), produces estimates with correlated errors. Depending on the specific differential equation model used, such correlated errors can lead to severely biased estimates of differential equation model parameters. This article shows that the fitting of dynamical systems can be improved by estimating derivatives in a manner similar to that used to fit orthogonal polynomials. Two applications using simulated data compare the proposed method and a generalized form of LLA when used to estimate derivatives and when used to estimate differential equation model parameters. A third application estimates the frequency of oscillation in observations of the monthly deaths from bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma in the United Kingdom. These data are publicly available in the statistical program R, and functions in R for the method presented are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether people appreciate the importance of saving for the future, and whether they intend to do so, are not well understood. On the basis of a representative sample of UK residents, we show that the perceived importance of pension planning is positively correlated with respondents' risk tolerance, age, and income, and whether their spouses participate in employer-sponsored pension plans. Those less likely to believe planning for the future is important are younger, earn less, are women, and will rely upon others for their expected retirement welfare. It is also apparent that generic sources of information provided remotely or at the national scale for individual and household pension planning, preparedness, and knowledge of annuities do not stand comparison with the perceived value of intimate and specialist advisory relationships. The unit of retirement planning is typically the household; it rarely functions at the region and national scales. To understand these findings better we frame their interpretation with reference to recent behavioural research that emphasises people's limited cognitive and social resources and the use of heuristics such as salience in setting priorities. Our findings have important implications for the scope and significance of the relational turn in economic geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) represent a challenge for paediatricians and typically undergo extensive in-patient investigations for symptoms such as abdominal pain. This can delay access to psychological services. This study aims to develop and evaluate a scale to assess the attitudes of paediatric staff to caring for children with MUS and to explore factors influencing those attitudes. Method: In this cross-sectional survey, 118 health professionals at one UK hospital with experience of caring for children with MUS completed an attitude questionnaire developed for the study. Results: Factor analysis identified four factors that explained significant variance in staff perceptions of care: rewarding nature of care; demanding nature of care; parental influence; children’s need for skilled support. The combined subscales formed the MUS-Q. Conclusion: Paediatric staff found caring for children with MUS difficult and would welcome more support from CAMHS. The MUS-Q proved a reliable tool to evaluate staff attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large body of research has identified several predisposing characteristics associated with young parenthood, as well as a host of undesirable outcomes resulting from an early first birth. Using data from a large cohort of British births, we confirm that men and women who enter parenthood before 20 are more likely to come from disadvantaged backgrounds, have childhood behavioural problems, come from large families, and themselves been born to young mothers. We use the conventional method of examining the socio-economic outcomes associated with an early birth and find, like many others, that compared to individuals who delayed their first birth, individuals who entered parenthood before age 20 fared less well on several outcomes later in life. We then use an instrumental variable technique to account for selection into young parenthood and find that the characteristics that predict young parenthood already points such people towards poorer socio-economic outcomes in later life, such that the failure to delay a first birth can largely be regarded as inconsequential. We also note that after selection into young parenthood has been accounted for, no gender differences in socio-economic outcomes are observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

States that behavior patterns can be predicted from knowledge of people's attitudes. Information on discriminant analysis tests; Discussion on electoral studies in Great Britain; Examination of voting intentions among Britons; Background on patterns of strength of party identification.

The article explores the categorization of patients by medical care practitioners such as physicians and nurses through an analysis of surveyed doctors in Great Britain. Emphasis is given to topics such as managing and interacting with patients who cause trouble, the role of social class and groupings in doctor-patient relationships, and the assessment by physicians of the social aspects and behaviour of patients.

Few issues seem to have more long-term impact upon the relations between business and society than those of corporate attitudes toward greater public accountability, corporate behaviours in response to such attitudes, and societal reaction to those behaviours. Nevertheless, there has been relatively little rigorous behavioural research of managerial attitudes toward corporate social accountability. This empirical study researches the attitudes of management in Britain toward corporate social accountability. It assesses the corporate concern for social responsibility during the peak period of such concern by all interested parties (1974-1979). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the research that uses activity sampling procedures to study the accounts of executive behavior in Great Britain. The procedures used by researcher opposed the method of continuous observation, the author has noted. The author said that there are also some studies on managerial behavior using scientific techniques of recording. One work of a researcher is mentioned by the author that studied ten directors from various businesses. Meanwhile, a group of four departmental executives in an engineering firm was also studied in 1954 to support the claim of other researchers.

The article informs about the strengths-based toolkit, Beyond Referrals: Levers for Addressing Harmful Sexual Behavior in Schools, which includes five webinars, a harmful sexual behavior traffic-light tool and a scorecard. It mentions that the schools develop an action plan to achieve a contextual safeguarding approach to HSB. It also informs that the importance of a contextual safeguarding approach, which focuses not only on the individual exhibiting HSB and the victim.

Background: Covid-19 triggered the rapid roll-out of mass social distancing behavioural measures for infection control. Pregnant women were categorised as 'at risk' requiring extra vigilance with behavioural guidelines. Their understanding and ability to adhere to recommendations was unknown., Objectives: To complete a behavioural analysis of the determinants of recommended social distancing behaviour in pregnant women, according to the 'capability, opportunity, motivation and behaviour' ('COM-B') model to inform the development of recommendations/materials to support pregnant women in understanding and adhering to behavioural guidelines., Design: Qualitative interview study with pregnant women in the Bristol area (UK)., Methods: Semi-structured telephone/videoconference interviews were conducted following a topic guide informed by the COM-B model, transcribed verbatim and subjected to framework analysis. Infographic materials were iteratively produced with stakeholder consultation, to support pregnant women., Results: Thirty-one women participated (selected for demographic range). Women reported adhering to social distancing recommendations and intended to continue. COM-B analysis identified gaps in understanding around risk, vulnerability, and the extent of required social distancing, as well as facilitators of social distancing behaviour (e.g. social support, motivation to stay safe, home environment/resources). Additional themes around detrimental mental health effects and changes to maternity healthcare from the social distancing measures were identified. Infographic resources (plus midwife report) addressing women's key concerns were produced and disseminated., Conclusions: The COM-B model provided useful details of determinants of pregnant women's adherence to social distancing behaviours. The confusion of what being 'at risk' meant and varying interpretation of what was expected indicates a need for greater clarity around categories and guidance. The loss of maternity care and negative mental health effects of social distancing suggest a growing area of unmet health needs to be addressed in future.

The article presents a research that investigates the importance of behavioral intervention in policy development of regulators in Great Britain. Researchers discovered that behavioral intervention is an important factor used by regulators in formulating policies. Moreover, the concerns raised by critics on the said technique are also stated.

Background: Involving members of the public in setting priorities for health research in becoming increasingly common practice. One method used in public involvement exercises is the citizens' jury., Objective: This article examines some challenges and benefits of citizens' juries, including issues relating to process, public engagement and outcome., Design: In Bristol, UK, a citizens' jury was held with the aim of identifying local priorities for research into health and social care. This jury is used as an example through which key issues in public involvement and jury processes are explored., Setting and Participants: The Bristol Citizens' Jury comprised 20 members of the public ('jurors'), an oversight panel and a steering group. The jurors met at 11 consecutive sessions during 2006 over a period of 16 weeks, which culminated in a written report. All the sessions were audio-recorded, five sessions were observed and video-recorded, and 16 jurors completed written feedback forms at the end of the jury process., Findings and Conclusion: In this article we discuss degree and timing of public involvement in the process of health research; the role of context; representation of communities; processes of deliberation and knowledge production; and how constraints of time and cost may affect public involvement. It was clear that jurors who took part in the Bristol Citizens' Jury were engaged and committed. This engagement may be related to jurors' belief in their ability to shape future research alongside concern about the relevance of the issues under discussion. Opposing emotions of tension and harmony are a crucial part of the deliberation process.

This paper reports findings from a conversation analytic study of experimenter-participant interaction in parapsychology experiments. It shows how properties of communication through which the routine business of the experiment is conducted may have an impact on the research participant's subsequent performance. In this, the study explores social psychological features of the psychology laboratory. In particular, it examines aspects of Orne's (1962) account of what he called the demand characteristics of the psychological experiment. The data come from a corpus of audio recordings of experimenter-participant interaction during experiments on extra-sensory perception. These kinds of experiments, and the phenomena they purport to study, are undoubtedly controversial; however, the paper argues that there are grounds for social psychologists to consider parapsychology experiments as a class (albeit distinctive) of psychology experiments, and, therefore, as sites in which general social psychological and communicative phenomena can be studied. The empirical sections of the paper examine interaction during part of the experimental procedure when the experimenter verbally reviews a record of the participant's imagery reported during an earlier part of the experiment. The analysis shows that the way in which the experimenter acknowledges the research participants' utterances may be significant for the trajectory of the experiment and explores how the participants' subsequent performance in the experiment may be influenced by interactionally generated contingencies.