Mixed methods evaluation of the impact of the COVID-19 ICU remote-learning rehabilitation course for frontline health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK

Background Optimising outcomes for critically ill patients with COVID-19 patients requires early interdisciplinary rehabilitation. As admission numbers soared through the pandemic, the redeployed workforce needed rapid, effective training to deliver these rehabilitation interventions. Methods The COVID-19 ICU Remote-Learning Rehab Course (CIRLC-rehab) is a one-day interdisciplinary course developed after the success of CIRLC-acute. The aim of CIRLC-rehab was to rapidly train healthcare professionals to deliver physical, nutritional and psychological rehabilitation strategies in the ICU/acute setting. The course used blended learning with interactive tutorials delivered by shielding critical care professionals. CIRLC-rehab was evaluated through a mixed-methods approach, including questionnaires, and follow-up semi-structured interviews to evaluate perceived impact on clinical practice. Quantitative data are reported as n (%) and means (SD). Inductive descriptive thematic analysis with methodological triangulation was used to analyse the qualitative data from the questionnaires and interviews. Results 805 candidates completed CIRLC-rehab. 627 (78.8%) completed the post-course questionnaire. 95% ( n = 596) found CIRLC-rehab extremely or very useful and 96.0% ( n = 602) said they were very likely to recommend the course to colleagues. Overall confidence rose from 2.78/5 to 4.14/5. The course promoted holistic and humanised care, facilitated informal networks, promoted interdisciplinary working and equipped the candidates with practical rehabilitation strategies that they implemented into clinical practice. Conclusion This pragmatic solution to educating redeployed staff during a pandemic increased candidates’ confidence in the rehabilitation of critically ill patients. There was also evidence of modifications to clinical care utilising learning from the course that subjectively facilitated holistic and humanised rehabilitation, combined with the importance of recognising the humanity, of those working in ICU settings themselves. Whilst these data are self-reported, we believe that this work demonstrates the real-term benefits of remote, scalable and rapid educational delivery.

HOUSING PRICE CYCLES IN POLAND – THE CASE OF 18 PROVINCIAL CAPITAL CITIES IN 2000–2020

Using a unique dataset of 4,5 million offers, the housing cycles in 18 Polish provincial capitals were identified between 2000 and 2020 before and after the financial crisis. Differences in the course of the cycles depending on spatial diversity are presented, as well as differences in the strength of decreases and increases in individual phases. The examined housing markets in Poland have experienced significant variability in the extent of their cycles. One complete cycle was found in each of the analysed cities. Its average duration was approximately 12 years. In this cycle, residential prices (in real terms) increased by 88% on average, in the upward phase by 158%, while in the downward phase, they decreased by 27% in the cities under study. A correlation was found that implies that the higher the price rises in the upward period, the higher the price correction ensues in the cycle’s downward phase. Moreover, the similarity in fluctuations was present in the metropolitan markets in local housing markets, especially before the financial crisis. Apartment prices continued to grow by 2.9% on average in the real term during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Beauty Contests and the Term Structure

A novel decomposition highlights the scope for information to influence the term structure of interest rates. Based on the law of total covariance, we show that real term premia in macroeconomic models contain a component that depends on covariances of realised stochastic discount factors and a component that depends on covariances of expectations of those stochastic discount factors. The covariance of expectations is typically low in macro-finance models, which contributes to the real term premia implied by the models being at least an order of magnitude too small, a result that is unchanged even if we introduce aggregate demand externalities combined with shocks to higher-order beliefs. We argue that generating realistic term premia requires there to be strategic complementarities in the formation of expectations. A quantitative model, in which beliefs are formed in a beauty contest, can explain a significant proportion of observed term premia, when estimated using data on expectations of productivity growth from the Survey of Professional Forecasters.

Real and Nominal Equilibrium Yield Curves

This paper quantitatively explores the role of external habits, nominal rigidities, and monetary policy for real and nominal bond yields in an asset-pricing endogenous growth model. The calibration captures the reported average positive slopes of U.S. real and nominal yield curves with sizable positive real and nominal bond risk premia. Habits are critical to generate positive real premia by altering the comovement of real rates and productivity shocks. Nominal rigidities generate monetary policy effects on real bonds. Stronger policy rule inflation responses or weaker output responses increase real term premia and reduce inflation risk premia. Relative to standard models, the paper provides an alternative interpretation of real and nominal bond risks. This paper was accepted by Tomasz Piskorski, finance.

Classifcation of Persons Sentenced to Imprisonment in Spain

The paper is devoted to the legal regulation of the initial and subsequent assignment of the first, second, third or individual degrees to convicts held in Spanish prisons. The concept and tasks of the penitentiary classification are formulated, its procedure, criteria, and exceptions to the rules are revealed. The distribution of convicts by degree has a legal consequence. It consists in sending convicts to penitentiary institutions (departments) of a certain regime with appropriate conditions for serving their sentences. The subjects involved in the procedure for awarding a degree or revising a degree (progress or regression) are the penitentiary institutions and their governing bodies, and in relation to the qualification to the third (mildest) degree, the penitentiary supervision court. Attention is given to the most important principle of the Spanish penitentiary system — the scientific individualization of punishment. In its purest form, it means that the assignment of a degree to a convicted person is not tied to the real term of serving the sentence, the type of crime, or its nature, but is determined solely by personal data and an individual correction program. However, at present, the initial classification and revision of the degree depend not only on these factors, but also on the criminal law, criminological and penal data. A special feature is also the possibility of awarding an individual degree, which combines the characteristics of various degrees and is an example of flexibility in the process of achieving the main goal of penitentiary activities — re- education and social reintegration of prisoners sentenced to imprisonment. In Russian penal enforcement legislation, classification techniques are also used in the distribution of convicts, when the court appoints the type of correctional institution, and the administration of the institution changes the conditions of detention and makes a request to change the type of institution. In the latter two cases, it is quite possible to improve domestic legislation by establishing criteria and a classification system based on correction and treatment of the main means of correction.

Financial debt amongst older women in the United Kingdom – shame, abuse and resilience

Long-term poverty, precarious employment, low pay, the increased pension age and real-term reductions in welfare benefits, including bereavement allowances, have brought into focus the financial vulnerability of many older women aged 55 years and older in the United Kingdom. In this article, survey data were analysed alongside evidence from observations of debt support meetings and interviews with older women who were receiving debt advice from a support charity. The findings suggest that older women were more likely to have financial problems than older men, particularly those women who were living on low incomes and who were separated or divorced. Following the breakdown of a relationship, many older women were at increased risk of more debt and bankruptcy, particularly those aged between 55 and 64 years and those in routine and semi-routine occupations. Many women had kept their financial problems hidden due to fear and shame whilst bringing up their children and some had been subject to coercive control and economic abuse by their former husbands or partners. It is important that any pension reforms, changes to minimum wage rates, and new divorce and domestic abuse legislation and welfare policies take account of the circumstances of separated, divorced and widowed older women. More financial support and advice needs to be provided to older women facing financial difficulties.

Policy and laws on ethnic minorities for sustainable development in Vietnam

The formulation and implementation of policies and laws to serve the purpose of sustainable socio-economic development for ethnic minorities is a task and goal of not only the Party and the State but also the whole political system and people. In fact, to implement and concretize this point of view and objective, in the previous years, the Party and the State of Vietnam have always stayed focused on issuing policies and laws to solve ethnic issues in an effective manner, achieving praiseworthy results in all socio-economic, cultural, national defense and security aspects. However, in the real-term management and development of ethnic affairs in the new context, the resolution of ethnic issues in some places still expose certain shortcomings and downsides. As a result, continuously improving policies and laws on ethnic minorities to meet the demand for sustainable development in Vietnam at present is an important issue in the socio-economic development for ethnic minorities in Vietnam.

Legalisasi Aset Wakaf di Samarinda

Legalization of Waqf Assets in Samarinda is an attempt to find out the concept of safeguarding waqf property in national legal representation which is manifested in the reality of waqf property in Samarinda. This study uses qualitative approach. In the real term, the legalization effort is carried out by accurately documenting it, either in the form of a waqf pledge deed, replacement deed or in the form of a waqf land certificate. The efforts to realize the legal status of waqf assets are a form of realization of benefit. Actually, this becomes the task of managements gather with other relevant agencies, namely the Ministry of Religion, the Indonesian Waqf Board, and the National Land Agency. The strategy adopted is to register, administer, announce the existence of waqf property and monitor it. While the challenges faced when seeking the legality of waqf assets include a lack of awareness about the legal status of waqf in the community. Also the lack of human resources that needs to be improved in competence, as well as the number of managements that have not been registered at the Indonesian Waqf Board. Whereas the opportunity is the existence of established regulations related to waqf, starting from the registration of waqf assets, management, supervision and even productivity, namely Law Number 41 of 2004 concerning Waqf.

Relationship between empathy dimension and customer satisfaction in the insurance industry in Kenya

The Insurance industry is essential to the economic course of every nation attaining sustainable growth and prosperity. However, the industry continues to experience a marginal growth of 2.5% compared to the global real term growth of 4%. This study analyzed the relationship between employee empathy and customer satisfaction in the Kenyan insurance industry. The study was guided by the causal research design. The study applied the linear mixed-effect models of structural equation modeling (SEM) considering the multi-level structure of the data collected. The study concluded that a client who perceives empathy from his/ her insurer’s employees is bound to have higher satisfaction than a customer who does not perceive empathy from their insurer. Employee empathy however, does not significantly affect the variations of customer satisfaction between the insurance companies.