The impact of a randomised trial on TC environments

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mieke Autrique ◽  
Steve Pearce ◽  
Wouter Vanderplasschen
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Randomised Trial ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Therapeutic Environment ◽  
Personal Problem ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possible impact of a randomised controlled trial on the therapeutic environment of participating therapeutic communities (TCs). Design/methodology/approach – The authors compared the environment in four democratic day TCs involved in a randomised trial (experimental TCs) with a similar democratic day TC not involved in the trial (the control TC) by administering the Community Oriented Environment Scale (COPES) to 28 TC members. Findings – TC members’ views of the real psychosocial environment at the experimental TC and control TC showed similar high levels for spontaneity, autonomy and personal problem orientation and similar intermediate levels for practical orientation and staff control. The TC members at the experimental TC rated significantly higher levels for order and organisation and clarity, while members at the control TC rated a significantly higher level for involvement. Originality/value – The study provided no evidence of a significant adverse impact on the culture of democratic day TCs due to participation in a randomised trial. This finding answers one of the most common arguments in the debate on the ethics of RCTs in TCs.

Impact of AI regulation on intention to use robots

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-114
Author(s):  
Sheshadri Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Regulatory Control ◽  
Control Beliefs ◽  
Intention To Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors influencing the citizens to use robots that would improve the quality of life of the citizens. Design/methodology/approach With the help of different adoption theories and models and with the support of background studies, some hypotheses have been formulated and a conceptual model has been developed with the consideration of the impact of artificial intelligence regulation (IAR) that controls the use of robots as a moderator. The model has been validated and the hypotheses have been tested by statistical analysis with the help of survey works involving consideration of feedbacks from 503 usable respondents. Findings The study reveals that the use of robots by the citizens would appreciably increase if government imposes strict artificial intelligence (AI) regulatory control concerning the use of robots, and in that case, it appears that the use of robots would improve the quality of life of the citizens. Research limitations/implications The duly validated model would help the authority to appropriately nurse and nurture the factors such as ethical dilemma, perceived risks and control beliefs for enhancing the intention of the citizens to use robots for many purposes including domestic usage in the context of appropriate restrictions imposed through AI regulation. Such use of robots would eventually improve the quality of life. Originality/value There are a few studies covering analysis of IAR as a moderator on the linkages of the predictors with the intention of the citizens to use robots. In this context, this study is claimed to have offered a novel contribution.

Are narrative therapy groups effective for people with intellectual disabilities? A critical review of the literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 213-222
Author(s):  
Laura McKenzie-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Therapy ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Narrative Approaches ◽  
Research Paradigms ◽  
People With Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
Appraisal Tool

Purpose Narrative therapy has been suggested as particularly relevant to people with intellectual disability (ID), with group formats potentially offering additional benefits. This paper aims to critically review studies which evaluated narrative group interventions for people with ID. Design/methodology/approach The seven papers identified for review were critically appraised for their quality using a quality appraisal tool appropriate to their design, along with additional factors including adaptations made to improve accessibility. Findings The studies suggest that there may be some small benefits of narrative group therapy for those with ID. However, alongside issues limiting the studies’ evaluations, it is noted that the research paradigms used in the studies conflict with narrative approaches. Research limitations/implications The limited evidence base suggests the need for further research. The randomised controlled trial would ordinarily be seen as the gold standard for such research. However, narrative interventions may require a different approach to evaluation. Originality/value This is the first review of published literature on the evaluation of narrative therapy groups for people with ID.

Marketing culture to service climate: the influence of employee control and flexibility

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 498-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler R. Morgan ◽  
Adam Rapp ◽  
R. Glenn Richey, Jr. ◽  
Alexander E. Ellinger
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Hospitality Industry ◽  
Boundary Spanning ◽  
Service Climate ◽  
Empirical Testing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Control ◽  
Managerial Level ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to explore how firm market orientation, as a culture, affects the service climate that develops in the firm. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical testing is performed at the managerial level and boundary-spanning employee level as part of this multilevel study. The sample includes participants from a US-based firm operating in the hospitality industry. Findings – Results indicate that a market-oriented firm culture interacts with other elements such as boundary-spanning employee flexibility and control to positively impact the service climate that develops. Research limitations/implications – This research provides theoretical implications for the development of a service climate within a market-oriented firm culture and the influence of managers on boundary-spanning employees in the development of the climate. Practical implications – As managers attempt to develop a service climate through a market-oriented firm culture, they will find success by providing boundary-spanning employees with control and hiring employees that possess flexibility as a personality trait. Originality/value – The framework developed in this research provides insights regarding the multilevel nature of service climate development and the impact of a market-oriented culture.

scholarly journals Pain Squad+ smartphone app to support real-time pain treatment for adolescents with cancer: protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. e037251
Author(s):  
Lindsay Jibb ◽  
Paul C Nathan ◽  
Vicky Breakey ◽  
Conrad Fernandez ◽  
Donna Johnston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Pain Treatment ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Randomised Trial ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Management Support ◽  
Scientific Meetings ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
The Impact

IntroductionPain negatively affects the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of adolescents with cancer. The Pain Squad+ smartphone-based application (app), has been developed to provide adolescents with real-time pain self-management support. The app uses a validated pain assessment and personalised pain treatment advice with centralised decision support via a registered nurse to enable real-time pain treatment in all settings. The algorithm informing pain treatment advice is evidence-based and expert-vetted. This trial will longitudinally evaluate the impact of Pain Squad+, with or without the addition of nurse support, on adolescent health and cost outcomes.Methods and analysisThis will be a pragmatic, multicentre, waitlist controlled, 3-arm parallel-group superiority randomised trial with 1:1:1 allocation enrolling 74 adolescents with cancer per arm from nine cancer centres. Participants will be 12 to 18 years, English-speaking and with ≥3/10 pain. Exclusion criteria are significant comorbidities, end-of-life status or enrolment in a concurrent pain study. The primary aim is to determine the effect of Pain Squad+, with and without nurse support, on pain intensity in adolescents with cancer, when compared with a waitlist control group. The secondary aims are to determine the immediate and sustained effect over time of using Pain Squad+, with and without nurse support, as per prospective outcome measurements of pain interference, HRQL, pain self-efficacy and cost. Linear mixed models with baseline scores as a covariate will be used. Qualitative interviews with adolescents from all trial arms will be conducted and analysed.Ethics and disseminationThis trial is approved by the Hospital for Sick Children Research Ethics Board. Results will provide data to guide adolescents with cancer and healthcare teams in treating pain. Dissemination will occur through partnerships with stakeholder groups, scientific meetings, publications, mass media releases and consumer detailing.Trial registration numberNCT03632343(ClinicalTrials.gov).

The Daytop crisis and its impact on the global Therapeutic Community movement

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-35
Author(s):  
Phoebus Zafiridis
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Professional Career ◽  
Constructive Dialogue ◽  
Scientific Status ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The Therapeutic Communities (TCs) movement tends to become from a revolutionary answer to the problem of addiction to another mainstream therapeutic proposal. The author considers that the crisis in 1968 in the seminal TC of Daytop was a pivotal event of this transition. This study aims to evaluate the impact of this historical crisis on the course of the TCs movement, assuming that, to enter into a constructive dialogue that can lead to the overcoming of today’s deadlocks of the movement, an awareness of the history is needed. Design/methodology/approach The present paper is a perspective/opinion paper and starts with a brief review of the origins of the first TCs for addicts. Emphasis is placed on their inevitable, according to the author, confrontation with the political and scientific status quo of that time. Then, it focuses on the period of the crisis in Daytop TC. The author interprets the events under a whole new scope, based on conversations he personally had with pioneers of that time, on his longstanding experience on the field, and the available literature. Findings The author attempts a historical and sociological analysis of the course of TCs and the Daytop TC. He concludes with a dispute of the prevailing idea that the Daytop crisis was a product of the confrontation between personal ambitions. He maintains that the collision that took place in Daytop TC was a confrontation between two antipodal perspectives over the notion of therapy. In any case, the subsequent estrangement of the movement from the groundbreaking attributes of the first TCs did not prove to be in the best interests of addicts; it was rather dictated by the need of the leaders of TCs to rescue their professional career. Originality/value The present paper attempts to offer a different view from the conventional reading of TCs’ history and their present situation for today’s predicaments of this proposal to be understood and possibly overcome.

The quintessence of a therapeutic environment: the foundations for the Windsor conference 2014

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rex Haigh
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Therapeutic Environment ◽  
The Future ◽  
Developmental Experience ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Philosophical Underpinning

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the “Quintessence” framework and its roots in TC phenomenology; to explain how each of the contributors to the conference is related to it; to pose questions about how the “TC movement” may use the underlying ideas in the future. Design/methodology/approach – Adaptation of theoretical ideas to a conference structure. Findings – As the necessary developmental experience for everybody, the quintessence principles are recreated in well-functioning therapeutic communities, and in the 2014 Windsor Conference. Research limitations/implications – As a theory that is becoming well used in the TC field, it needs more qualitative, quantitative, critical or philosophical underpinning. Practical implications – Widely accepted as useful in TCs. Social implications – Has wider applicability. Originality/value – Derived from condensation of numerous relevant psychological, sociological and systemic theories.

scholarly journals Improving patient experiences of mental health inpatient care: a randomised controlled trial

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 488-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Wykes ◽  
E. Csipke ◽  
P. Williams ◽  
L. Koeser ◽  
S. Nash ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Staff Training ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Randomised Trial ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Cluster Randomised Trial ◽  
Therapeutic Environment ◽  
Training Costs ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
The Uk

BackgroundPoorer patient views of mental health inpatient treatment predict both further admissions and, for those admitted involuntarily, longer admissions. As advocated in the UK Francis report, we investigated the hypothesis that improving staff training improves patients’ views of ward care.MethodCluster randomised trial with stepped wedge design in 16 acute mental health wards randomised (using the ralloc procedure in Stata) by an independent statistician in three waves to staff training. A psychologist trained ward staff on evidence-based group interventions and then supported their introduction to each ward. The main outcome was blind self-report of perceptions of care (VOICE) before or up to 2 years after staff training between November 2008 and January 2013.ResultsIn total, 1108 inpatients took part (616 admitted involuntarily under the English Mental Health Act). On average 51.6 staff training sessions were provided per ward. Involuntary patient's perceptions of, and satisfaction with, mental health wards improved after staff training (N582, standardised effect −0·35, 95% CI −0·57 to −0·12, p = 0·002; interaction p value 0·006) but no benefit to those admitted voluntarily (N469, −0.01, 95% CI −0.23 to 0.22, p = 0.955) and no strong evidence of an overall effect (N1058, standardised effect −0.18 s.d., 95% CI −0.38 to 0.01, p = 0.062). The training costs around £10 per patient per week. Resource allocation changed towards patient perceived meaningful contacts by an average of £12 (95% CI −£76 to £98, p = 0.774).ConclusionStaff training improved the perceptions of the therapeutic environment in those least likely to want an inpatient admission, those formally detained. This change might enhance future engagement with all mental health services and prevent the more costly admissions.

scholarly journals Impact of the corona virus disease 2019 pandemic on physiotherapy services in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daha Garba Muhammad ◽  
Jamila Suleiman Musa
Keyword(s):  
Prevention And Control ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Respiratory Diseases ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
The Other ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corona Virus ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study aimed to explain the impact of the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on physiotherapy services in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachThis is a commentary piece.FindingsThe pandemic has potential of reducing efficacy of physiotherapy services. It also showed that the mental health of local physiotherapists was badly affected. On the other hand, the pandemic allowed physiotherapists to support infectious disease prevention and control and as well as providing awareness of the role of physiotherapy in the management of respiratory diseases.Originality/valueIt shows the effect of COVID-19 on physiotherapy care.

On fluctuating characteristics of global COVID-19 cases and identification of inflection points

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Feng ◽  
Hanshui Zhang ◽  
Yue Zhang ◽  
Liming Sun ◽  
Jiapei Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Daily Growth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Inflection Points ◽  
The World ◽  
Rate Of Decline ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Tremendous Impact

PurposeThe emergence of a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has had a tremendous impact on the world, and the characteristics of its evolution need to be better understood.Design/methodology/approachTo explore the changes of cases and control them effectively, this paper analyzes and models the fluctuation and dynamic characteristics of the daily growth rate based on the data of newly confirmed cases around the world. Based on the data, the authors identify the inflection points and analyze the causes of the new daily confirmed cases and deaths worldwide.FindingsThe study found that the growth sequence of the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases per day has a significant cluster of fluctuations. The impact of previous fluctuations in the future is gradually attenuated and shows a relatively gentle long-term downward trend. There are four inflection points in the global time series of new confirmed cases and the number of deaths per day. And these inflection points show the state of an accelerated rise, a slowdown in the rate of decline, a slowdown in the rate of growth and an accelerated decline in turn.Originality/valueThis paper has a certain guiding and innovative significance for the dynamic research of COVID-19 cases in the world.

A randomised controlled trial comparing the effects of directive and non-directive parenting programmes as a universal prevention programme

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley Chan ◽  
Cynthia Leung ◽  
Matthew Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Parental Stress ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Triple P ◽  
Universal Prevention ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
And Control

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of directive programmes led by professionals where parents were taught specific parenting knowledge and strategies (Triple P – Positive Parenting Program) and non-directive parenting programmes in the form of mutual-aid support group as a universal prevention programme. Design/methodology/approach – This study employed a randomised controlled trial design. Participants included 92 Hong Kong Chinese parents with preschool children recruited from eight kindergartens and a local church. They were randomised into Group Triple P, non-directive group and control group. They completed measures on their perception of child behaviour problems and their parental stress before and after intervention. Findings – At post-intervention, results indicated significantly greater decrease in child disruptive behaviours among participants in the Triple P group than those in the non-directive group and control group while no significant group difference was found between the latter two groups. No significant difference was found in post-intervention parental stress level among the three groups. Originality/value – This study provides empirical evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of a directive parenting programme vs a non-directive one.

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