Knowledge and attitudes of Implementation Support Practitioners-Findings from a systematic integrative review

BACKGROUND: It requires thoughtful planning and work to successfully apply and sustain research-supported interventions like healthcare treatments, social support, or preventive programs in practice. Implementation support practitioners (ISPs) such as facilitators, technical assistance providers, knowledge brokers, coaches or consultants may be involved to actively support the implementation process. This article presents knowledge and attitudes ISPs bring to their work. METHODS: Building on a previously developed program logic, a systematic integrative review was conducted. Literature was sourced by searching nine electronic data bases, organizational websites, and by launching a call for publications among selected experts and social media. Article screening was performed independently by two researchers, and data from included studies were extracted by members of the research team and quality-assured by the lead researcher. The quality of included RCTs was assessed based on a framework by Hodder and colleagues. Thematic Analysis was used to capture information on knowledge and attitudes of ISPs across the included studies. Euler diagrams and heatmaps were used to present the results. RESULTS: Results are based on 79 included studies. ISPs reportedly displayed knowledge about the clinical practice they work with, implementation / improvement practice, the local context, supporting change processes, and facilitating evidence-based practice in general. In particular, knowledge about the intervention to be implemented and its target population, specific improvement / implementation methods and approaches, organizational structures and sensitivities, training, and characteristics of (good) research was described in the literature. Seven themes describing ISPs' attitudes were identified: 1) professional, 2) motivated / motivating / encouraging / empowering, 3) empathetic / respectful / sensitive, 4) collaborative / inclusive, 5) authentic, 6) creative / flexible / innovative / adaptive, and 7) frank / direct / honest. Pertaining to a professional attitude, being responsive and focused were the most prevalent indicators across included publications. CONCLUSION: The wide range and complexity of knowledge and attitudes found in the literature calls for a comprehensive and systematic approach to collaboratively develop a professional role for ISPs across disciplines. Embedding the ISP role in different health and social welfare settings will enhance implementation capacities considerably

The feasibility of using Apple's ResearchKit for recruitment and data collection: Considerations for mental health research

In 2015, Apple launched an open-source software framework called ResearchKit. ResearchKit provides an infrastructure for conducting remote, smartphone-based research trials through the means of Apple's App Store. Such trials may have several advantages over conventional trial methods including the removal of geographic barriers, frequent assessments of participants in real-life settings, and increased inclusion of seldom-heard communities. The aim of the current study was to explore the feasibility of participant recruitment and the potential for data collection in the non-clinical population in a smartphone-based trial using ResearchKit. As a case example, an app called eMovit, a behavioural activation (BA) app with the aim of helping users to build healthy habits was used. The study was conducted over a 9-month period. Any iPhone user with access to the App Stores of The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany could download the app and participate in the study. During the study period, the eMovit app was disseminated amongst potential users via social media posts (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn), paid social media advertisements (Facebook), digital newsletters and newspaper articles, blogposts and other websites. In total, 1,788 individuals visited the eMovit landing page. A total of 144 visitors subsequently entered Apple's App Store through that landing page. The eMovit product page was viewed 10,327 times on the App Store. With 79 installs, eMovit showed a conversion rate of 0.76% from product view to install of the app. Of those 79 installs, 53 users indicated that they were interested to participate in the research study and 36 subsequently consented and completed the demographics and the participants quiz. Fifteen participants completed the first PHQ-8 assessment and one participant completed the second PHQ-8 assessment. We conclude that from a technological point of view, the means provided by ResearchKit are well suited to be integrated into the app process and thus facilitate conducting smartphone-based studies. However, this study shows that although participant recruitment is technically straightforward, only low recruitment rates were achieved with the dissemination strategies applied. We argue that smartphone-based trials (using ResearchKit) require a well-designed app dissemination process to attain a sufficient sample size. Guidelines for smartphone-based trial designs and recommendations on how to work with challenges of mHealth research will ensure the quality of these trials, facilitate researchers to do more testing of mental health apps and with that enlarge the evidence-base for mHealth

Mechanistic insight into RET kinase inhibitors targeting the DFG-out conformation in RET-rearranged cancer

Oncogenic fusion events have been identified in a broad range of tumors. Among them, RET rearrangements represent distinct and potentially druggable targets that are recurrently found in lung adenocarcinomas. Here, we provide further evidence that current anti-RET drugs may not be potent enough to induce durable responses in such tumors. We report that potent inhibitors such as AD80 or ponatinib that stably bind in the DFG-out conformation of RET may overcome these limitations and selectively kill RET-rearranged tumors. Using chemical genomics in conjunction with phosphoproteomic analyses in RET-rearranged cells we identify the CCDC6-RETI788N mutation and drug-induced MAPK pathway reactivation as possible mechanisms, by which tumors may escape the activity of RET inhibitors. Our data provide mechanistic insight into the druggability of RET kinase fusions that may be of help for the development of effective therapies targeting such tumors

an association between diversity and exoticism

Focusing on contemporary Iranian artists and intellectuals, I examine the creation of collective identifications from an internal perspective. Drawing on research on migrant associations and ethnic and racial boundaries in Germany, the ethnographic account alternates between internal relations, member's participation in the transnational field of Iranian artists, and representative activities in the German public sphere. It explains how the members' unequal resources and varying politics of value caused a shift in the association's system of value. From a critique of assimilationism and the promotion of the value of diversity, the group came to largely comply with the system of value prevailing in the German public sphere, sustained by its intersection with the one that shapes the transnational social field of Iranian artists

Das Soziale und die Differenz. Zur (De-)Thematisierung von Differenz in der Sozialpädagogik

Die Autorin geht der Frage der Thematisierung von Differenz in der Sozialpädagogik nach, wobei sie sich insbesondere auf die Momente konzentriert, „in denen Differenz (insbesondere deren Konfliktdimension) aus der gesellschaftlichen Wahrnehmung verschwindet bzw. zum Verschwinden gebracht wird – womöglich unter Zutun der Sozialpädagogik“. So zeigt sie zunächst an einer historischen Skizze (1. „Das Soziale und die Differenz“ in historischer und systematischer Betrachtung“), „wie die sich um 1900 herausbildende moderne Sozialarbeit bzw. Sozialpädagogik ihre Aufgabenstellungen an unterschiedlichen Dimensionen von „Differenzen“ entwickelte“. Dass eine „Ent-Stigmatisierung von Differenz durch Normalisierung (so in der Heimerziehung)“ aber auch „zur Verdeckung von Differenz und ihrer potentiellen Konfliktdimension führen“ kann, ist eine vor allem aus der geschlechterpolitischen Analyse gewonnene Beobachtung (3. „Politisierung der Differenz am Beispiel feministischer Sozialpädagogik“), die schließlich als „Ausgangspunkt für die Kennzeichnung der paradoxen Dynamik von Differenz als Spannungsfeld von Hierarchisierung, Skandalisierung, Normalisierung, Relativierung und De-Thematisierung“ (4. „Die Dynamik von Thematisierung und De-Thematisierung“) dient. „Der allgemeine Gedankengang“ bezieht sich dabei auf die „Machtanalytik Michel Foucaults“, dessen Denken „auch für eine geschlechtertheoretische Perspektive“ „produktiv zu nutzen“ ist. Im Ausblick (5.) fragt die Autorin schließlich „nach möglichem „Werkzeug zur Demontage“, zur Kritik und Reflexion von Machtverhältnissen, gerade im Feld – und im Medium - der Sozialpädagogik.“ (DIPF/ ssch

Virtual Odometry From Visual Flow

We investigate how visual motion registered during one’s own movement through a structured world can be used to gauge travel distance. Estimating absolute travel distance from the visual flow induced in the optic array of a moving observer is problematic because optic flow speeds co-vary with the dimensions of the environment and are thus subject to an environment specific scale factor. Discrimination of the distances of two simulated self-motions of different speed and duration is reliably possible from optic flow, however, if the visual environment is the same for both motions, because the scale factors cancel in this case. 1, 2 Here, we ask whether a distance estimate obtained from optic flow can be transformed into a spatial interval in the same visual environment. Subjects viewed a simulated self-motion sequence on a large (90 by 90 deg) projection screen or in a computer animated virtual environment (CAVE) with completely immersive, stereographic, head-yoked projection, that extended 180deg horizontally and included the floor space in front of the observer. The sequence depicted selfmotion over a ground plane covered with random dots. Simulated distances ranged from 1.5 to 13 meters with variable speed and duration of the movement. After the movement stopped, the screen depicted a stationary view of the scene and two horizontal lines appeared on the ground in front of the observer. The subject had to adjust one of these lines such that the spatial interval between the lines matched the distance traveled during th