Impact of Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Organisations Working with Underserved Communities with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in England.

The Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector offers services and leadership within the health and care system in England and has a specialist role in working with underserved, deprived communities. This evaluation aims to identify best practices in self-management support for those living with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and to develop a theory of change (TofC) through understanding the impact of VCSE organisations on diabetes management. An appreciative inquiry (AI) was carried out and co-delivered using qualitative interviews and an embedded analysis with VCSE partners. A voluntary service coordinated seven VCSE organisations who assisted with recruiting their service users and undertook interviews to identify the impact of existing activities and programmes. People living with T2DM were interviewed about services. Themes were as follows: (a) individual and group activities; (b) trusted services and relationships across the community; (c) long-term engagement; (d) sociocultural context of diet and nutritional choices; (e) experience of adaptation; and (f) culturally appropriate advice and independent VCSE organisations. The structured educational approach (DESMOND) for T2DM was accessed variably, despite these services being recommended by NICE guidelines as a standard intervention. The VCSE offered continuity and culturally appropriate services to more marginalised groups. This evaluation highlights the importance of targeted engagement with underserved communities, particularly where primary care services are more limited. The TofC is a unique insight into the impact of VCSE services, offering bespoke support to manage T2DM, suggesting areas for improvements in capacity and offering the capability to sustain the VCSE sector as an essential element of the T2DM care pathway in England.

Racialised experiences of Black and Brown nurses and midwives in UK health education: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Institutional racism within the United Kingdom's (UK) Higher Education (HE) sector, particularly nurse and midwifery education, has lacked empirical research, critical scrutiny, and serious discussion. This paper focuses on the racialised experiences of nurses and midwives during their education in UK universities, including their practice placements. It explores the emotional, physical, and psychological impacts of these experiences. METHODS: This paper draws on qualitative in-depth interviews with participants from the Nursing Narratives: Racism and the Pandemic project. Of the 45 healthcare workers who participated in the project, 28 participants obtained their primary nursing and midwifery education in UK universities. Interviews with these 28 participants were selected for the analysis reported in this paper. We aimed to employ concepts from Critical Race Theory (CRT) to analyse the interview data in order to deepen our understanding of the racialised experiences of Black and Brown nurses and midwives during their education. FINDINGS: The interviews revealed that the healthcare workers' experiences coalesced around three themes: 1) Racism is an ordinary, everyday experience; 2) Racism is operationalised through power structures; and 3) Racism is maintained through denial and silencing. Experiences often touch on a series of issues, but we have highlighted stories within specific themes to elucidate each theme effectively. The findings underscore the importance of understanding racism as a pandemic that we must challenge in response to a post-pandemic society. CONCLUSION: The study concludes that the endemic culture of racism in nurse and midwifery education is a fundamental factor that must be recognised and called out. The study argues that universities and health care trusts need to be accountable for preparing all students to challenge racism and provide equitable learning opportunities that cover the objectives to meet the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) requirements to avoid significant experiences of exclusion and intimidation.

Factors affecting maternal nutrition and health: A qualitative study in a matrilineal community in Indonesia.

The Minangkabau people of West Sumatra in Indonesia are renowned for their matrilineal culture with property and land passing down from mother to daughter. Despite there being a fairly balanced social status for women in the community, the impact of health inequalities is uneven. This study was therefore carried out to explore the relationship between the social, cultural and economic contexts in such a distinctive community with maternal nutrition and pregnancy-related health outcomes, from the perspectives of the mothers, fathers and care providers. Qualitative methods were used to undertake this study in collaboration with partners from the University of Andalas in a suburban area of Padang district. The data collection method was qualitative, semi-structured interviews (n = 19) with women, men, midwives and community health workers. The data were recorded with informed consent, transcribed in the local language and then translated into English prior to being thematically analysed. The major themes which emerged from the data included 'Minangkabau matrilineality and role of women'; 'culture and supportive attitude towards pregnant women'; 'dietary patterns, attitude and access to food'; and 'limited access to information about food and nutrition'. The findings showed healthy dietary patterns such as regular consumption of vegetables and fruit among the participants. However, the issues of poverty, access to food, dietary taboos and inadequate nutritional information remained major challenges for the mothers and the families who participated in the study. The evidence from this study suggests that the matrilineal culture of the Minangkabau promotes the empowerment of women and offers an encouraging environment for enhancing reproductive health. This lends itself to co-developing locally sensitive and sustainable complex interventions incorporating professional support and building on family and community back-up, enhancing knowledge and demystifying dietary misinformation to improve maternal health and nutrition.

Rapid realist review of the evidence: achieving lasting change when mental health rehabilitation staff undertake recovery-oriented training.

AIM: The aim of this study was to identify the factors contributing to lasting change in practice following a recovery-based training intervention for inpatient mental health rehabilitation staff. BACKGROUND: Staff training may help nurses and other staff groups in inpatient mental health rehabilitative settings to increase their recovery-oriented practice. There are no published reviews on the effectiveness of such training and few long-term evaluations. This review informed a realist evaluation of a specific intervention (GetREAL). DESIGN: Rapid realist review methodology was used to generate and prioritize programme theories. DATA SOURCES: ASSIA, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science and grey literature searches were performed in September 2014-March 2015 with no date restrictions. Stakeholders suggested further documents. GetREAL project documentation was consulted. REVIEW METHODS: Programme theory development took place iteratively with literature identification. Stakeholders validated and prioritized emerging programme theories and the prioritized theories were refined using literature case studies. RESULTS: Fifty-one relevant documents fed into 49 programme theories articulating seven mechanisms for lasting change. Prioritized mechanisms were: staff receptiveness to change; and staff feeling encouraged, motivated and supported by colleagues and management to change. Seven programme theories were prioritized and refined using data from four case studies. CONCLUSION: Lasting change can be facilitated by collaborative action planning, regular collaborative meetings, appointing a change agent, explicit management endorsement and prioritization and modifying organizational structures. Conversely, a challenging organizational climate, or a prevalence of 'change fatigue', may block change. Pre-intervention exploration may help identify any potential barriers to embedding recovery in the organizational culture.

Quality and acceptability of measures of exercise adherence in musculoskeletal settings: a systematic review.

Objective: To recommend robust and relevant measures of exercise adherence for application in the musculoskeletal field. Method: A systematic review of measures was conducted in two phases. Phase 1 sought to identify all reproducible measures used to assess exercise adherence in a musculoskeletal setting. Phase 2 identified published evidence of measurement and practical properties of identified measures. Eight databases were searched (from inception to February 2016). Study quality was assessed against the Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments guidelines. Measurement quality was assessed against accepted standards. Results: Phase 1: from 8511 records, 326 full-text articles were reviewed; 45 reproducible measures were identified. Phase 2: from 2977 records, 110 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility; 10 articles provided evidence of measurement/practical properties for just seven measures. Six were exercise adherence-specific measures; one was specific to physical activity but applied as a measure of exercise adherence. Evidence of essential measurement and practical properties was mostly limited or not available. Assessment of relevance and comprehensiveness was largely absent and there was no evidence of patient involvement during the development or evaluation of any measure. Conclusion: The significant methodological and quality issues encountered prevent the clear recommendation of any measure; future applications should be undertaken cautiously until greater clarity of the conceptual underpinning of each measure is provided and acceptable evidence of essential measurement properties is established. Future research should seek to engage collaboratively with relevant stakeholders to ensure that exercise adherence assessment is high quality, relevant and acceptable.

Recovery-based staff training intervention within mental health rehabilitation units: a two-stage analysis using realistic evaluation principles and framework approach.

BACKGROUND: Long-term change in recovery-based practice in mental health rehabilitation is a research priority. METHODS: We used a qualitative case study analysis using a blend of traditional 'framework' analysis and 'realist' approaches to carry out an evaluation of a recovery-focused staff training intervention within three purposively selected mental health rehabilitation units. We maximised the validity of the data by triangulating multiple data sources. RESULTS: We found that organisational culture and embedding of a change management programme in routine practice were reported as key influences in sustaining change in practice. The qualitative study generated 10 recommendations on how to achieve long-term change in practice including addressing pre-existing organisational issues and synergising concurrent change programmes. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that a recovery-focused staff training intervention requires clear leadership and integration with any existing change management programmes to facilitate sustained improvements in routine practice.

Appointment reminder systems are effective but not optimal: results of a systematic review and evidence synthesis employing realist principles.

Missed appointments are an avoidable cost and resource inefficiency which impact upon the health of the patient and treatment outcomes. Health care services are increasingly utilizing reminder systems to manage these negative effects. This study explores the effectiveness of reminder systems for promoting attendance, cancellations, and rescheduling of appointments across all health care settings and for particular patient groups and the contextual factors which indicate that reminders are being employed sub-optimally. We used three inter-related reviews of quantitative and qualitative evidence. Firstly, using pre-existing models and theories, we developed a conceptual framework to inform our understanding of the contexts and mechanisms which influence reminder effectiveness. Secondly, we performed a review following Centre for Reviews and Dissemination guidelines to investigate the effectiveness of different methods of reminding patients to attend health service appointments. Finally, to supplement the effectiveness information, we completed a review informed by realist principles to identify factors likely to influence non-attendance behaviors and the effectiveness of reminders. We found consistent evidence that all types of reminder systems are effective at improving appointment attendance across a range of health care settings and patient populations. Reminder systems may also increase cancellation and rescheduling of unwanted appointments. "Reminder plus", which provides additional information beyond the reminder function may be more effective than simple reminders (ie, date, time, place) at reducing non-attendance at appointments in particular circumstances. We identified six areas of inefficiency which indicate that reminder systems are being used sub-optimally. Unless otherwise indicated, all patients should receive a reminder to facilitate attendance at their health care appointment. The choice of reminder system should be tailored to the individual service. To optimize appointment and reminder systems, health care services need supportive administrative processes to enhance attendance, cancellation, rescheduling, and re-allocation of appointments to other patients.

Developing a framework for estimating the potential impact of obesity interventions in a European city.

Obesity is a global challenge for healthy populations. It has given rise to a wide range of public health interventions, focusing on supportive environments and lifestyle change, including diet, physical activity and behavioural change initiatives. Impact is variable. However, more evidence is slowly becoming available and is being used to develop new interventions. In a period of austerity, momentum is building to review these initiatives and understand what they do, how they do it and how they fit together. Our project seeks to develop a relatively straight forward systematic framework using readily accessible data to map the complex web of initiatives at a policy, population, group and individual level aiming to promote healthy lifestyles, diet and physical activity levels or to reduce obesity through medical treatments in a city or municipality population. It produces a system for classifying different types of interventions into groupings which will enable commissioners to assess the scope and distribution of interventions and make a judgement about gaps in provision and the likely impact on mean body mass index (BMI) as a proxy measure for health. Estimated impact in each level or type of intervention is based upon a summary of the scientific evidence of clinical and/or cost effectiveness. Finally it seeks, where possible, to quantify the potential effects of different types of interventions on BMI and produce a cost per unit of BMI reduced. This approach is less sophisticated but identifies the areas where more sophisticated evaluation would add value.

An argument against the focus on community resilience in public health.

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that Public Health professionals focus on community resilience in tackling chronic problems, such as poverty and deprivation; is this approach useful? DISCUSSION: Resilience is always i) of something ii) to something iii) to an endpoint, as in i) a rubber ball, ii) to a blunt force, iii) to its original shape. "Community resilience" might be: of a neighbourhood, to a flu pandemic, with the endpoint, to return to normality. In these two examples, the endpoint is as-you-were. This is unsuitable for some examples of resilience. A child that is resilient to an abusive upbringing has an endpoint of living a happy life despite that upbringing: this is an as-you-should-be endpoint. Similarly, a chronically deprived community cannot have the endpoint of returning to chronic deprivation: so what is its endpoint? Roughly, it is an as-you-should-be endpoint: to provide an environment for inhabitants to live well. Thus resilient communities will be those that do this in the face of challenges. How can they be identified?One method uses statistical outliers, neighbourhoods that do better than would be expected on a range of outcomes given a range of stressors. This method tells us that a neighbourhood is resilient but not why it is. In response, a number of researchers have attributed characteristics to resilient communities; however, these generally fail to distinguish characteristics of a good community from those of a resilient one. Making this distinction is difficult and we have not seen it successfully done; more importantly, it is arguably unnecessary.There already exist approaches in Public Health to assessing and developing communities faced with chronic problems, typically tied to notions such as Social Capital. Community resilience to chronic problems, if it makes sense at all, is likely to be a property that emerges from the various assets in a community such as human capital, built capital and natural capital. SUMMARY: Public Health professionals working with deprived neighbourhoods would be better to focus on what neighbourhoods have or could develop as social capital for living well, rather than on the vague and tangential notion of community resilience.

The definition and deployment of differential core professional competencies and characteristics in multiprofessional health and social care teams.

There has been an increasing focus on delivering health and social care services through multiprofessional and inter-agency teams. This study, undertaken in 2011, explores how different professionals within multiprofessional teams define their own and other professions' core professional competencies, characteristics and contributions. It then compares these definitions with how different professionals deploy their time and what tasks they undertake. Sixty-four workers in four multiprofessional teams in England, within four different health and local authority areas, participated in the study. Using role repertory grids to generate constructs, which were then converted into Likert scales, and with diaries recording activities undertaken, the study compares the deployment of time and task with the views about the differential core competencies and characteristics of each profession. The study highlights important issues for consideration by multidisciplinary teams, the managers and commissioners of these teams, and by professional associations.

Assessing the contribution of prescribing in primary care by nurses and professionals allied to medicine: a systematic review of literature.

BACKGROUND: Safe and timely access to effective and appropriate medication through primary care settings is a major concern for all countries addressing both acute and chronic disease burdens. Legislation for nurses and other professionals allied to medicine to prescribe exists in a minority of countries, with more considering introducing legislation. Although there is variation in the range of medicines permitted to be prescribed, questions remain as to the contribution prescribing by nurses and professionals allied to medicine makes to the care of patients in primary care and what is the evidence on which clinicians, commissioners of services and policy makers can consider this innovation. METHODS: A integrative review of literature on non-medical prescribing in primary care was undertaken guided by dimensions of health care quality: effectiveness, acceptability, efficiency and access. RESULTS: 19 papers of 17 empirical studies were identified which provided evidence of patient outcome of non medical prescribing in primary care settings. The majority were undertaken in the UK with only one each from the USA, Canada, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Only two studies investigated clinical outcomes of non-medical prescribing. Seven papers reported on qualitative designs and four of these had fewer than ten participants. Most studies reported that non medical prescribing was widely accepted and viewed positively by patients and professionals. CONCLUSIONS: Primary health care is the setting where timely access to safe and appropriate medicines is most critical for the well-being of any population. The gradual growth over time of legislative authority and in the numbers of non-medical prescribers, particularly nurses, in some countries suggests that the acceptability of non-medical prescribing is based on the perceived value to the health care system as a whole. Our review suggests that there are substantial gaps in the knowledge base to help evidence based policy making in this arena. We suggest that future studies of non-medical prescribing in primary care focus on the broad range of patient and health service outcomes and include economic dimensions.