Enabling integrated knowledge acquisition and management in health care teams

Basing treatment, policy and planning decisions on the best available research knowledge remains a central principle in modern health care around the world, yet many health professionals find acquiring and managing published research knowledge challenging. In this paper, we report on a Soft Systems Methodology-based collaborative action research initiative with a specialist mental health service from the United Kingdom's National Health Service. Our objective was to design and implement improvements to their knowledge acquisition and management activities in order to facilitate sustained and effective evidence-based practices. We report on both the factors found to impede effective research knowledge acquisition and management and the development of more integrated knowledge management processes designed to improve the situation.     

The effect of use and access on citations

It has been shown (Lawrence, S. (2001). Online or invisible? Nature, 411, 521) that journal articles which have been posted without charge on the internet are more heavily cited than those which have not been. Using data from the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ads.harvard.edu) and from the ArXiv e-print archive at Cornell University (arXiv.org) we examine the causes of this effect.     

Implementation integrity in peer tutoring of mathematics

A two-year randomised controlled trial of peer tutoring in mathematics using the Duolog Math technique was operated in 80 schools. The aim was to achieve adequate implementation quality with modest pre-intervention training for teachers, who received brief didactic training and no process feedback (but they were to train pupils using modelling, practice and feedback). Implementation integrity was observed in Year 1 in 29 randomly selected schools; in Year 2 in 30 randomly selected schools. In both years some observed variables of class-wide context and individual technique were high; however, some were lower. There were deficits in: teachers introducing the problem, suggesting ways to concretise the problem and holding plenary sessions. Crucially, there was very little summarising or generalising. Thus, implementation was partial in both years, but better in Year 2. The implications for future intensity of training are explored.     

Leadership styles and decision-making styles in an Indonesian school context

School leadership has been well researched in developed countries. However, in Asia, particularly in Indonesia, school leadership has not been well explored. Using survey data from a sample of 475 teachers in six Lampung school districts, this paper examines the relationships between school principal leadership styles and school principal decision-making styles in an Indonesian school context. Findings are that most of the relationships between school principal leadership styles and school principal decision-making styles are significant. These findings suggest that teachers perceive that principals should exhibit much more transformational leadership style and rational decision-making style but avoid laissez-faire leadership style and avoidant decision-making style.     

The heart of ESD: personally engaging learners with sustainability

Education for sustainable development aims to help learners engage with the concept of sustainability. This paper considers whether specific values-centred sustainability training techniques can promote personal engagement with sustainability when undertaken by higher education students on an extra-curricular voluntary basis. Conducted over an eight-month period, the study evaluates the impact of the training on 67 second year undergraduate design and engineering students at Plymouth University using pre- and post-training values and worldview scales measured against a control group. Four months after the training, one-to-one interviews were conducted with a subset of the sample. A quantitative analysis of the values and worldview surveys indicates that a degree of values clarification and mind-set shift resulted from the training, with design students appearing more receptive than those studying engineering. This finding was reinforced in the interview data, which illustrates where and how learners engaged with the training and provides examples of learners deep thought, reflection and mind-set changes.     

The transfer of social exclusion and inclusion functions through derived stimulus relations

Previous studies have found that social exclusion can cause distress to those excluded. One method used to study social exclusion is through a virtual ball-toss game known as Cyberball. In this game, participants may be excluded from or included in the ball-toss game and typically report lower feelings of self-esteem, control, belonging, and meaningful existence following exclusion. Experiments 1 and 2 sought to explore the transfer of feelings of exclusion and inclusion through stimulus equivalence classes. In both experiments, participants were trained to form two three-member equivalence classes (e.g., A1–B1, B1–C1; A2–B2, B2–C2) and were tested with novel stimulus combinations (A1–C1, C1–A1, A2–C2, C2–A2). Thereafter, participants were exposed to the Cyberball exclusion and inclusion games. In these games, one stimulus (C1) from one equivalence class was assigned as the Cyberball inclusion game name, whereas one stimulus (C2) from the other equivalence class was assigned as the Cyberball exclusion game name. In Experiment 2, participants were only exposed to the Cyberball exclusion game. During a subsequent transfer test, participants were asked to rate how included in or excluded from they thought they would be in other online games, corresponding to members of both equivalence classes. Participant reported that they felt they would be excluded from online games if the games were members of the same equivalence class as C2. In contrast, participants reported that they felt they would be included in online games if the games were members of the same equivalence class as C1. Results indicated the transfer of feelings of inclusion (Experiment 1) and feelings of exclusion (Experiments 1 and 2) through equivalence classes.     

The role of "children's hearings" in child abuse and neglect

The juvenile justice system established in Scotland in 1971, in which lay volunteers play a central part, provides a framework for making decisions about children in need of care and protection as well as those who have committed delinquent acts. Although cases of child abuse and neglect have come increasingly to the attention of children's hearings in recent years, they nevertheless constitute a small fraction of a workload dominated by cases of delinquency and truancy. A recent Scotland-wide study of the hearings system therefore gave only limited attention to the processing of abuse and neglect referrals. As a step towards rectifying this imbalance, a separate enquiry was carried out in 1981, when 43 such hearings were systematically observed and the participating panel members interviewed. Examination of these results indicates a heavy dependence on social workers' recommendations, a reluctance to open up sensitive areas for discussion, even though these may be of central importance, and an apparent lack of curiosity about the arrangements made for children removed from their homes, and the implications of these. In general, it is concluded that the anxiety generated by child abuse and neglect has prevented panel members from recognizing the distinctive features of their role in the decision-making process and has led them to fall back on an inappropriate model of practice derived from delinquency hearings. An alternative model is outlined.     

Grand Innovation Prizes: A theoretical,normative, and empirical evaluation

This paper provides a systematic examination of the use of a Grand Innovation Prize (GIP) in action – the Progressive Automotive Insurance X PRIZE – a $10 million prize for a highly efficient vehicle. Following a mechanism design approach we define three key dimensions for GIP evaluation: objectives, design, and performance, where prize design includes ex ante specifications, ex ante incentives, qualification rules, and award governance. Within this framework we compare observations of GIPs from three domains – empirical reality, theory, and policy – to better understand their function as an incentive mechanism for encouraging new solutions to large-scale social challenges. Combining data from direct observation, personal interviews, and surveys, together with analysis of extant theory and policy documents on GIPs, our results highlight three points of divergence: first, over the complexity of defining prize specifications; secondly, over the nature and role of incentives, particularly patents; thirdly, the overlooked challenges associated with prize governance. Our approach identifies a clear roadmap for future theory and policy around GIPs.