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PubMed2002

Improving communication between health professionals and women in maternity care: a structured review.

OBJECTIVE: To review trials of the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving communication between health professionals and women in maternity care. SEARCH STRATEGY: The electronic databases Medline, PsycLit, The Cochrane Library, BIDS Science and Social Science Indexes, Cinahl and Embase were searched. Final searches were carried out in April 2000. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Controlled trials of interventions explicitly aimed at improving communication between health professionals and women in maternity care were included. Other trials were included where two reviewers agreed that this was at least part of the aim. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: 95 potentially eligible papers were identified, read by one reviewer and checked against the inclusion criteria. The 11 included trials were read, assessed for quality and summarized in a structured tabular form. RESULTS: The included trials evaluated interventions to improve the presentation of information about antenatal testing, to promote informed choice in maternity care, woman-held maternity records and computer-based history taking. Four trials in which women were provided with extra information about antenatal testing in a variety of formats suggested that this was valued by women and may reduce anxiety. Communication skills training for midwives and doctors improved their information giving about antenatal tests. The three trials of woman-held maternity records suggested that these increase women's involvement in and control over their care. CONCLUSIONS: The trials identified by this review addressed limited aspects of communication and focused solely on antenatal care. Further research is required in several areas, including trials of communication skills training for health professionals in maternity care and other interventions to improve communication during labour and in the postnatal period.

Communication↗
PubMed2004

An agent-based approach for modeling molecular self-organization.

Agent-based modeling is a technique currently used to simulate complex systems in computer science and social science. Here, we propose its application to the problem of molecular self-assembly. A system is allowed to evolve from a separated to an aggregated state following a combination of stochastic, deterministic, and adaptive rules. We consider the problem of packing rigid shapes on a lattice to verify that this algorithm produces more nearly optimal aggregates with less computational effort than comparable Monte Carlo simulations.

Algorithms↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Bibliography on AIDS-related bereavement and grief.

This annotated bibliography on AIDS-related bereavement and grief was compiled to address a steadily increasing population: survivors of persons who have died of AIDS. Bibliographical entries were located by searching printed indexes, including Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Hospital Literature Index, Index Medicus, International Nursing Index, Psychological Abstracts, Social Science Index, Social Work Abstracts, and Sociological Abstracts. Databases searched included ERIC (Department of Education), Med-Line (National Library of Medicine), and Psych-Lit (American Psychological Association). References cited at the end of each work were also checked. This bibliography includes publications of studies using the survey method of social research and the case-study approach. It also includes experiences of professionals personally affected by the loss of someone to AIDS, and informational articles and chapters. To be included in this bibliography the work must have dealt exclusively or largely with the topic of AIDS-related bereavement and grief, or it must have addressed some aspect of it not previously covered anywhere in the literature. The topic of AIDS-related bereavement and grief refers to the loss of someone to (or with, as is the case with suicide) Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, and its psychological, emotional, physical, and social effects on the survivor(s). This bibliography does not include publications that deal with related topics such as thanatology, anticipatory grief and mourning, and mortality rates and trends. This work is meant to serve as a resource for professionals in a variety of fields (e.g., nursing, pastoral care, mental health, and social work) involved in social research, bereavement counseling, ministry, and group intervention. It can be useful as a literature search for students in a variety of disciplines and for the AIDS-bereaved themselves. The bibliography is accompanied by an overview of the current state of the literature and a summary of the areas still in need of research and publication.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed2001

Does poor communication contribute to stillbirths and infant deaths? A review.

BACKGROUND: Assessors from the Confidential Enquiry into Stillbirths and Deaths in Infancy (CESDI) have cited poor communication as a contributory factor in a proportion of such deaths. This review assesses what research evidence exists to support or explain this. METHODS: A structured review was carried out, including all studies of sub-optimal care in stillbirth or infant death and studies of litigation in perinatal care. The following databases were searched: MEDLINE, PsycLIT, The Cochrane Library, BIDS Science and Social Science Citation Indexes, Cinahl and Embase. For included studies, information was extracted on the type of study, the selection criteria and number of cases studied, other methods used and results relevant to the question. RESULTS: One hundred and four studies of potential relevance to the review were identified. Of these, 52 did not meet the inclusion criteria and were excluded. Of the remaining 52 studies, 11 considered communication failure explicitly as a factor in sub-optimal care leading to stillbirth or infant death. In three out of the four studies that presented their findings in terms of numbers of cases, communication failure was noted in between 24 and 29 per cent of cases. There was some consistency across different types of study in the types of communication problems noted. CONCLUSION: Poor communication may contribute to a proportion of stillbirths and infant deaths. However, given the small number of papers that looked explicitly at poor communication as a factor in sub-optimal care and the lack of comparative information on communication in cases that do not end in poor outcome, caution is needed in drawing conclusions based on the findings of these papers.

Communication↗
PubMed2002

Embodied practice: claiming the body's experience, agency, and knowledge for social work.

Although social work practice typically is concerned with physical conditions and experiences such as poverty, addiction, and violence, relatively little attention has been given to the body in professional literature. Emphasizing both physical and sociocultural dimensions of the body, this article argues for an invigorated, more complex understanding of the body in social work theory, practice, and research. Drawing from scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and social work, a framework involving three dimensions of the body is proposed for integration with accepted ecological practice models. The nature and implications of three primary dimensions of the body for multiple domains of social work practice are explored, citing examples from narratives of mothers living with HIV disease: (1) the experiencing body, focused on the physicality of daily life; (2) the body of power, focused on the physicality of oppression and marginality, typically based on race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, physical appearance, and illness; and (3) the client body, reflecting the bodily experiences of those identified as clients who participate in relationships with social workers.

Humans↗
PubMed2003

Beyond individual rights and freedoms: metaethics in social work research.

Increasingly, social workers are called on to demonstrate the efficacy of their interventions and to contribute to knowledge building in the social sciences. Although social workers have a long tradition of practice ethics, less attention has been given to the unique dimensions of research ethics for social workers. A social work model of research ethics would consider how to balance highly valued ethical principles that are individually focused, such as self-determination and nonmalfeasance (the obligation to do no harm), with equally important values that have a collective focus, such as justice and beneficence (the obligation to bring about good). This article reviews current principles guiding research ethics, such as autonomy, beneficence, nonmalfeasance, and justice and provides an outline of the salient issues for social workers as they strive to address individual and collective interests in research endeavors, such as a greater emphasis on the social justice mission and the need to ensure that social justice objectives do not obscure individual rights and freedoms. The article concludes with preliminary recommendations for developing a social work perspective in research ethics.

Codes of Ethics↗
PubMed2004

Explanation of power law behavior of autoregressive conditional duration processes based on the random multiplicative process.

Autoregressive conditional duration (ACD) processes, which have the potential to be applied to power law distributions of complex systems found in natural science, life science, and social science, are analyzed both numerically and theoretically. An ACD(1) process exhibits the singular second order moment, which suggests that its probability density function (PDF) has a power law tail. It is verified that the PDF of the ACD(1) has a power law tail with an arbitrary exponent depending on a model parameter. On the basis of theory of the random multiplicative process a relation between the model parameter and the power law exponent is theoretically derived. It is confirmed that the relation is valid from numerical simulations. An application of the ACD(1) to intervals between two successive transactions in a foreign currency market is shown.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2007

Electronic searching to locate qualitative research: evaluation of three strategies.

AIM: This paper presents an evaluation of the effectiveness of three search strategies to identify research for a qualitative synthesis of patient experiences of living with a leg ulcer. BACKGROUND: Systematic reviews of research are increasingly the form of evidence used for evaluation of health care. There are well-established methods for conducting systematic reviews of effectiveness incorporating randomized controlled trials. Methods have been developed for the synthesis of qualitative research, but these are not widely used or evaluated. Searching for qualitative research is one of the least developed and tested areas in systematic reviewing of qualitative research. METHOD: The replication of three search strategies (free text, thesaurus and broad-based terms) developed for identification of qualitative research papers within electronic databases is described. Each strategy was run in seven electronic databases: MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, British Nursing Index, Social Science Citation Index, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, PsychInfo. The effectiveness of these strategies for identifying qualitative research for a synthesis of patients' experiences of living with a leg ulcer is discussed. FINDINGS: Each of the three search strategies produced similar numbers of potentially and actually relevant papers from each of the seven databases. These results were most striking for CINAHL, when all of the papers ultimately included in the review were identified by each search strategy. No other database identified all included papers. CONCLUSION: A simple search strategy using broad-based terms was as effective as a complex one (free text) in locating qualitative research examining patients' experiences of living with a leg ulcer. For a question with a clear nursing focus, it may be sufficient to search only CINAHL in order to locate qualitative research. This result needs replicating with other nursing topics.

Databases, Bibliographic↗
PubMed2003

Patients' perspectives on electroconvulsive therapy: systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain patients' views on the benefits of and possible memory loss from electroconvulsive therapy. DESIGN: Descriptive systematic review. DATA SOURCES: Psychinfo, Medline, Web of Science, and Social Science Citation Index databases, and bibliographies. STUDY SELECTION: Articles with patients' views after treatment with electroconvulsive therapy. DATA EXTRACTION: 26 studies carried out by clinicians and nine reports of work undertaken by patients or with the collaboration of patients were identified; 16 studies investigated the perceived benefit of electroconvulsive therapy and seven met criteria for investigating memory loss. DATA SYNTHESIS: The studies showed heterogeneity. The methods used were associated with levels of perceived benefit. At least one third of patients reported persistent memory loss. CONCLUSIONS: The current statement for patients from the Royal College of Psychiatrists that over 80% of patients are satisfied with electroconvulsive therapy and that memory loss is not clinically important is unfounded.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2003

Traffic calming for the prevention of road traffic injuries: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether area-wide traffic calming schemes can reduce road crash related deaths and injuries. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: Cochrane Injuries Group Specialised Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline, EMBASE, Sociological Abstracts Science (and social science) citation index, National Technical Information service, Psychlit, Transport Research Information Service, International Road Research Documentation, and Transdoc, and web sites of road safety organisation were searched; experts were contacted, conference proceedings were handsearched, and relevant reference lists were checked. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials, and controlled before/after studies of area-wide traffic calming schemes designed to discourage and slow down through traffic on residential roads. METHODS: Data were collected on road user deaths, injuries, and traffic crashes. For each study rate ratios were calculated, the ratio of event rates before and after intervention in the traffic calmed area divided by the corresponding ratio of event rates in the control area, which were pooled to give an overall estimate using a random effects model. FINDINGS: Sixteen controlled before/after studies met our inclusion criteria. Eight studies reported the number of road user deaths: pooled rate ratio 0.63 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.14 to 2.59). Sixteen studies reported the number of injuries (fatal and non-fatal): pooled rate ratio 0.89 (95% CI 0.80 to 1.00). All studies were in high income countries. CONCLUSION: Area-wide traffic calming in towns and cities has the potential to reduce road traffic injuries. However, further rigorous evaluations of this intervention are needed, especially in low and middle income countries.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1990

Field dependence/independence and performance in school: an argument against neutrality of cognitive style.

To ascertain whether there is any relationship between field dependence/independence and performance in school, the Children's Embedded Figures Test and Embedded Figures Test were applied to 103 10- to 14-yr.-olds (55 boys and 48 girls) in Grades 5 to 8 of primary education and Grade 1 of secondary education in Santiago de Compostela (Spain), and the scores were compared with their school marks in Mathematics, Spanish, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences, and with their over-all mark. Field-independent children performed better in all subjects, especially boys. This finding appears unsupportive of the supposed neutrality of field dependence/independence and suggests that this dimension of cognitive style should be taken into account in education.

Achievement↗
PubMed2002

Recovery from infectious mononucleosis: a case for more than symptomatic therapy? A systematic review.

Infectious mononucleosis is usually an acute, transiently incapacitating condition, but for some sufferers it precipitates chronic illness. It is unclear which patients are at risk of a prolonged state of illness following onset of infectious mononucleosis and if there are any useful preventive measures that would facilitate recovery. The aim of this study was to review all cohort studies and intervention trials that provide information on: (a) the longitudinal course of ill health subsequent to the onset of infectious mononucleosis; (b) the relationship between psychosocial and clinical factors and recovery rate; and (c) the effect of interventions on recovery. A systematic review was conducted, based on a search of the PSYCHINFO, MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINHAL databases up to October 2001, and ISI Science and Social Sciences Citation Indices up to 22 November 2001. Eight papers were identified that gave data on illness following onset of infectious mononucleosis. The best evidence concluded that there is a distinct fatigue syndrome after infectious mononucleosis. Eight papers explored risk factors for prolonged illness following acute infectious mononucleosis. Results varied on the association of acute illness characteristics and psychological features with prolonged ill health. Poor physical functioning, namely lengthy convalescence and being less fit or active, consistently predicted chronic ill health. Three trials reported on interventions that aimed to shorten the time taken to resolve symptoms after uncomplicated infectious mononucleosis. None of the drug trials found any evidence that drug therapy shortens recovery time. The trial that compared the effect of activity with imposed bed rest, found that those patients allowed out of bed as soon as they felt able reported a quicker recovery. More information is needed on the course of ill health subsequent to the onset of infectious mononucleosis. Certain risk factors associated with delay may be amenable to a simple intervention in primary care.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed2006

"Brimful of STARLITE": toward standards for reporting literature searches.

CONTEXT: Systematic reviews of qualitative research studies extend understanding of health care beyond effectiveness to acceptability and user views. OBJECTIVE: The paper surveys reports of qualitative systematic reviews and, by characterizing techniques used to identify articles for inclusion, proposes standards for reporting of literature searches. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SELECTION: A search of MEDLINE was performed for qualitative systematic reviews published from 1988 to December 2004, supported by searches of CINAHL, Web of Knowledge (including the Science and Social Sciences Citation Index), and the Cochrane Methodology Register, and Internet searches using the Copernic Agent Professional meta-search agent. Studies were included if they used techniques of qualitative synthesis in reviewing research studies in health care. Narrative reviews were excluded. DATA EXTRACTION: Authors, year of publication, sampling strategy, databases, keywords, and other approaches used were extracted. DATA SYNTHESIS: Sixty-four studies were identified, and forty-three met inclusion criteria for this review. A summary of searching methods was produced and used to construct the STARLITE mnemonic (sampling strategy, type of study, approaches, range of years, limits, inclusion and exclusions, terms used, electronic sources). CONCLUSIONS: Considerable variation exists in search methods for qualitative systematic reviews. While diversity in methods is appropriate during the development of review methodology, major concerns remain about the absence of an accepted standard and the consequent poor quality of reporting.

Abstracting and Indexing↗
PubMed2006

[The concept of professionalism in nursing: Between tradition and progress].

What does professionalism mean for nurses and where is the connection with the meaning of professionalism discussed in nursing science and social sciences? To answer these questions, a partly standardised questionnaire was given to 195 nurses in different health care settings. The questionnaire was specifically developed for this study and pre-tested. In total, 80 questionnaires were filled in and could considered for data analysis. More than half of the 80 participants assume that nursing is a profession with possibilities for the future, as well as it is on its way into autonomy. Additionally, nursing is characterised as a mixture between tradition and progress. Furthermore, they regard teamwork and multi disciplinary collaboration as essential tasks. About 90 percent are sure that they work on a professional level, depicted in their altruism and patience with their patients. 90 percent of the participants define quality assurance as a marker for professionalism. They regard documentation and standardisation of nursing and work processes as means which protect against liability claims. On the one hand, the concept of professionalism expressed by the nurses corresponds partially with definitions used in scientific debates on this topic. On the other hand, it shows some inconsistencies, not only in comparison with scientific perspectives, but also in itself. Based on these results following studies are necessary to develop strategies which support healthcare professionals in their practical assignments.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1987

[Science and the university. Both need more attention].

Scientific output in Chile was studied examining the publications indexed by the Institute for Scientific Information during 1985 and 1986. Meeting abstracts were not considered. The articles were classified in different areas and tabulated according to the institution from which they originated. As in previous years, more than 80% of the papers were published by universities. The most productive subjects in these institutions were biology (33.2%), medical sciences (23.4%), and chemistry (16.9%). Outside universities the following fields were the most productive: medical sciences, astronomy, social sciences, biology and physics. To compare the overall output of chilean universities, in addition to their scientific publications, the number of degrees granted at the undergraduate and graduate levels was also evaluated. The proportion of governmental funds that each university received was used to standardize the indicators. Significant differences were observed which revealed that the chilean higher educational system is very heterogeneous. The indicators presented herein objective the overall output of each of the 24 chilean institutions of higher education funded by the government and provide the necessary insight to compare their contribution, and to respond to their urgent needs.

Bibliometrics↗
PubMed1997

Mapping the literature of speech-language pathology.

The purpose of this study, part of the Medical Library Association (MLA) Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section's project to map the allied health literature, is to identify the core journals in the field of speech-language pathology and to identify indexing and abstracting services that provide access to these journals. Four representative speech-language pathology journals were selected and subjected to citation analysis to determine which journals were cited and how many times each was cited. Bradford's Law of Scattering was applied to the resulting list of journals to identify the core journals of this discipline. Six indexing and abstracting services were selected and scanned to determine coverage for the speech-language pathology core journals. The core journals received broad coverage in the health sciences and social sciences indexing and abstracting databases surveyed, although there was no one database that provided complete coverage of all core journals. The full Current Contents database provides the most extensive coverage of core journals. For individuals without access to the complete Current Contents database, a combined search of both MEDLINE and PsycINFO provides very comprehensive coverage of core journals.

Abstracting and Indexing↗
PubMed2006

Patrons of the revolution. Ideals and institutions in postwar behavioral science.

This essay argues that shifts in patronage for the postwar behavioral and social sciences were linked intimately to both intellectual and institutional changes. This broad argument comprises two subarguments: first, that there were in fact two distinct, successive patronage systems for postwar social science--not one, as is commonly assumed; and, second, that the first postwar patronage system played a major role in enabling a series of behavioral revolutions and interdisciplinary syntheses across the social sciences, while the second postwar patronage system encouraged the development of specialized concepts, techniques, and technologies within the disciplines. The essay also suggests that the widespread concern among social scientists in the 1970s and 1980s that their fields were fragmenting was at least in part an unintended consequence of the rise of the second system.

Behavioral Sciences↗
PubMed2000

Parent-training programmes for improving maternal psychosocial health.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of mental health problems in women is 1:3 and such problems tend to be persistent. There is evidence from a range of studies to suggest that a number of factors relating to maternal psychosocial health can have a significant effect on the mother-infant relationship, and that this can have consequences for the psychological health of the child. It is now thought that parenting programmes may have an important role to play in the improvement of maternal psychosocial health. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this review is to address whether group-based parenting programmes are effective in improving maternal psychosocial health including anxiety, depression and self-esteem. SEARCH STRATEGY: A range of biomedical, social science, educational and general reference electronic databases were searched including MEDLINE, EMBASE CINAHL, PsychLIT, ERIC, ASSIA, Sociofile and the Social Science Citation Index. Other sources of information included the Cochrane Library (SPECTR, CENTRAL), and the National Research Register (NRR). SELECTION CRITERIA: Only randomised controlled trials were included in which participants had been randomly allocated to an experimental and a control group, the latter being either a waiting-list, no-treatment or a placebo control group. Studies had to include at least one group-based parenting programme, and one standardised instrument measuring maternal psychosocial health. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: A systematic critical appraisal of all included studies was undertaken using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published criteria. The data were summarised using effect sizes but were not combined in a meta-analysis due to the small number of studies within each group and the presence of significant heterogeneity. MAIN RESULTS: A total of 22 studies were included in the review but only 17 provided sufficient data to calculate effect sizes. These 17 studies reported on a total of 59 outcomes including depression, anxiety, stress, self-esteem, social competence, social support, guilt, mood, automatic thoughts, dyadic adjustment, psychiatric morbidity, irrationality, anger and aggression, mood, attitude, personality, and beliefs. Approximately 22% of the outcomes measured suggested significant differences favouring the intervention group. A further 40% showed differences favouring the intervention group but which failed to achieve conventional levels of statistical significance, in some cases due to the small numbers that were used. Approximately 38% of outcomes suggested no evidence of effectiveness. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: It is suggested that parenting programmes can make a significant contribution to the improvement of psychosocial health in mothers. While the critical appraisal suggests some variability in the quality of the included studies, it is concluded that there is sufficient evidence to support their use with diverse groups of parents. However, it is also suggested that some caution should be exercised before the results are generalised to parents irrespective of the level of pathology present, and that further research is still required.

Anxiety↗