Citizen science impact pathways for a positive contribution to public participation in science

Positioning citizen science within the broader historical public engagement framework demonstrates how it has the potential to effectively tackle research and innovation issues. Citizen science approaches have their own challenges, which need to be considered in order to achieve this aim and contribute to wider and deeper public engagement. However, programme evaluations, which discuss lessons learned in engaging the public and other stakeholders with science are rare. To address this gap, we present the H2020-funded DITOs project and discuss the use of logic models in citizen science. We share the project’s assumptions, design considerations for deeper engagement and its impact pathways demonstrating how logic models can be utilised in citizen science to monitor programme effectiveness and for their successful implementation. We hope that this work will inspire citizen science practitioners to use similar tools and by doing so, share their experiences and potential barriers. This knowledge is essential for improving the way citizen science is currently practiced and its impacts to both science and society.

Implementing Structured Follow-Up of Neonatal and Paediatric Patients: An Evaluation of Three University Hospital Case Studies Using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method

Background: In complex neonatal and paediatric clinical practice, little is known about long-term patient outcomes and what follow-up care is most valuable for patients. Emma Children’s Hospital, Amsterdam UMC (Netherlands), implemented a follow-up programme called Follow Me for neonatal and paediatric patient groups, to gain more insight into long-term outcomes and to use such outcomes to implement a learning cycle for clinical practice, improve follow-up care and facilitate research. Three departments initiated re-engineering and change processes. Each introduced multidisciplinary approaches to long-term follow-up, including regular standardised check-ups for defined age groups, based on medical indicators, developmental progress, and psychosocial outcomes in patients and their families. This research evaluates the implementation of the three follow-up programmes, comparing predefined procedures (work-as-imagined) with how the programmes were implemented in practice (work-as-done). Methods: This study was conducted in 2019–2020 in the outpatient settings of the neonatal intensive care, paediatric intensive care and paediatric surgery departments of Emma Children’s Hospital. It focused on the organisational structure of the follow-up care. The functional resonance analysis method (FRAM) was applied, using documentary analysis, semi-structured interviews, observations and feedback sessions.Results: One work-as-imagined model and four work-as-done models were described. The results showed vast data collection on medical, developmental and psychosocial indicators in all work-as-done models; however, process indicators for programme effectiveness and performance were missing. In practice there was a diverse allocation of roles and responsibilities and their interrelations to create a multidisciplinary team; there was no one-size-fits-all. Although control and feedback loops for long-term outcomes were specified with respect to the follow-up groups within the programmes, they were found to overlap and misalign with other internal and external long-term outcome monitoring practices. Conclusion: Implementing structured long-term follow-up may provide insights for improving daily practice and follow-up care, with the precondition of standardised measurements. Lessons learned from practice are (1) to address fragmentation in data collection and storage, (2) to incorporate the diverse ways to create a multidisciplinary team in practice, and (3) to include timely actionable indicators on programme effectiveness and performance, alongside medical, developmental and psychosocial indicators.

Assessing Responsible Care implementation for sustainability in Malaysian chemical industries

PurposeThe Responsible Care programme was first introduced in Canada in 1985 and now is implemented worldwide as one of the chemical industries' commitments to improve the industries' public image as well as their performance in health, safety and environmental aspects. In Malaysia, the Responsible Care programme has been implemented since 1994 with a current total of 148 companies pledged to implement it in their company; however, the effectiveness of the programme remains unknown. Hence, this paper aims to assess the effectiveness of the Responsible Care programme in improving performance in the environment, health and safety in terms of documentation, training, selection processes and stakeholders' engagement for the sustainability of chemical industries.Design/methodology/approachA survey was administered to the Responsible Care signatory companies in Malaysia. Of these, a total of 132 member companies either produced or provided services related to chemical products.FindingsThe majority of signatory companies agreed that the Responsible Care programme did improve their performance in the environment, health and safety. Besides that, the signatory companies were also keeping up their commitment to ensuring documentation, training, selection process and stakeholders' engagement run smoothly in line with Responsible Care's mission.Originality/valueAfter more than two decades of implementation in Malaysia, it is important to assess the Responsible Care programme's effectiveness. As an increasing number of chemical firms, without good management, it will possibly pose a danger to the environment and human health and safety. Through assessment, advances in Responsible Care management practices will considerably increase programme effectiveness in terms of environmental health and safety.

One Planet Living and the legitimacy of sustainability governance: From standardised information to regenerative systems

The last two decades have seen the increased use and evolving forms of governance instruments seeking to promote sustainability across increasingly complex and varied contexts. These primarily voluntary instruments combine guidance on sustainability strategy and/or monitoring with marketable public information, such as certifications, ratings and reports, to incentivise take-up. Whilst they are typically based on standardised assessment criteria, recent academic literature emphasises more context-sensitive and systems-based, or ‘regenerative,’ approaches. We evaluate these differing approaches by adapting the concept of ‘legitimacy’, often applied to product certification, for this broader family of governance instruments. Prior research finds that standardised approaches have achieved success in take-up at the expense of other aspects of legitimacy, such as programme effectiveness and informational quality. Yet there remains a need for evaluation of established instruments based on a regenerative approach. We address this need through a focus on the One Planet Living framework established by Bioregional in the UK. Using practice-embedded, mixed-methods research, we identify achievements of the framework in terms of promoting effective, participatory and generally transparent programmes. Key limitations of the more bespoke approach concern take-up, resource requirements and the integration of measurement. Governance instruments for complex strategy and monitoring have, to date, struggled to combine programme effectiveness with scalability, suggesting there remains a need to develop more scalable regenerative approaches.

A review of social marketing interventions in low- and middle-income countries (2010–2019)

Purpose This study aims to review social marketing interventions reported in peer-reviewed literature from 2010 to 2019 that were conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This paper seeks to further contribute to understanding on the health of the social marketing field, synthesising studies to examine the extent of use of social marketing’s core principles. Design/methodology/approach A total of 17 interventions, discussed in 31 papers, were identified in the review. Social marketing interventions were assessed against eight elements (social marketing benchmark criteria): behavioural objectives, customer orientation, theory, insight, exchange, competition, segmentation and methods mix. Findings Evidence in this review found that most interventions yielded positive outcomes. This supports social marketing’s efficacy in addressing the United Nations sustainable development goals within LMIC contexts. None of the social marketing interventions used all eight benchmark criteria. The study found that there was limited use of insight, competition and segmentation principles followed in social marketing interventions in LMICs. Finally, although present in a number of studies, theory and customer orientation were not applied to the full extent needed. Research limitations/implications Findings indicate the social marketing field will greatly benefit from capacity building and training. Too few interventions labelled as social marketing are able to clearly apply and report application of social marketing’s fundamental principles, which is limiting programme effectiveness. Originality/value To date evidence reviews draw on interventions applied in high-income countries demonstrating extent of application of fundamental social marketing principles positively linked to behaviour change. This study extends the assessment of social marketing principles, delivering assessment of eight benchmarks encompassing insight and theory in an LMIC setting, demonstrating gaps in application and clear examples of application across all benchmarks to deliver a guide that people new to the social marketing field can follow.

Implementing structured follow-up of neonatal and paediatric patients: an evaluation of three university hospital case studies using the functional resonance analysis method

Background In complex neonatal and paediatric clinical practice, little is known about long-term patient outcomes and what follow-up care is most valuable for patients. Emma Children’s Hospital, Amsterdam UMC (Netherlands), implemented a follow-up programme called Follow Me for neonatal and paediatric patient groups, to gain more insight into long-term outcomes and to use such outcomes to implement a learning cycle for clinical practice, improve follow-up care and facilitate research. Three departments initiated re-engineering and change processes. Each introduced multidisciplinary approaches to long-term follow-up, including regular standardised check-ups for defined age groups, based on medical indicators, developmental progress, and psychosocial outcomes in patients and their families. This research evaluates the implementation of the three follow-up programmes, comparing predefined procedures ( work-as-imagined ) with how the programmes were implemented in practice ( work-as-done ). Methods This study was conducted in 2019–2020 in the outpatient settings of the neonatal intensive care, paediatric intensive care and paediatric surgery departments of Emma Children’s Hospital. It focused on the organisational structure of the follow-up care. The functional resonance analysis method (FRAM) was applied, using documentary analysis, semi-structured interviews, observations and feedback sessions. Results One work-as-imagined model and four work-as-done models were described. The results showed vast data collection on medical, developmental and psychosocial indicators in all work-as-done models; however, process indicators for programme effectiveness and performance were missing. In practice there was a diverse allocation of roles and responsibilities and their interrelations to create a multidisciplinary team; there was no one-size-fits-all. Although control and feedback loops for long-term outcomes were specified with respect to the follow-up groups within the programmes, they were found to overlap and misalign with other internal and external long-term outcome monitoring practices. Conclusion Implementing structured long-term follow-up may provide insights for improving daily practice and follow-up care, with the precondition of standardised measurements. Lessons learned from practice are (1) to address fragmentation in data collection and storage, (2) to incorporate the diverse ways to create a multidisciplinary team in practice, and (3) to include timely actionable indicators on programme effectiveness and performance, alongside medical, developmental and psychosocial indicators.

Caregivers’ Role in the Effectiveness of Two Dutch School-Based Nutrition Education Programmes for Children Aged 7–12 Years Old

Childhood eating behaviours can track into adulthood. Therefore, programmes that support early healthy eating, including school-based nutrition education programmes, are important. Although school-based programmes may be beneficial in improving nutrition knowledge, impact on actual fruit and vegetable (FV) intake is generally limited as FV intake is also influenced by the home environment. The current study includes secondary analyses of data from an evaluation study on Dutch nutrition education and examined the role of caregivers’ health promotion behaviours (HPB) in influencing healthy eating behaviours in primary school children (n = 1460, aged 7–12 years) and whether caregivers’ HPB contribute to programme effectiveness. Children’s nutrition knowledge, FV intake and caregivers’ HPB (FV/sugar-sweetened beverages/sweets provision to take to school, cooking together and talking about healthy food at home) were measured by child-reported questionnaires at baseline, during, and 6 months post-programme. Results indicated that caregivers’ HPB was positively associated with children’s healthy eating behaviours and that programme effectiveness was highest in those in the lower HPB subcategory. In conclusion, children with less encouragement to eat healthily at home potentially benefit more from school-based nutrition education programmes than children receiving more encouragement. This highlights the important role of the home environment in supporting healthy eating behaviour in children.

Demonstrating the effectiveness of a residential education programme for disengaged young people: a preliminary report

This article reports on the early results of using behavioural and educational data to evaluate a residential education programme. The programme serves male and female students between 12 and 16 years of age who have been suspended or expelled from school due to behavioural issues or who refused to attend school. Using measures of behavioural and educational progress during care and reporting these changes over time provided empirical evidence that the programme was achieving its primary aims of ‘behaviour change and educational gains.’ Collecting and reporting this data has empowered the programme to increase programme effectiveness through both data-informed decision-making and ongoing programme evaluation.