Cancer and heart attack survivors’ expectations of employment status: results from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Background: Sociodemographic, health- and work-related factors have been found to influence return to work in cancer survivors. It is feasible though that behavioural factors, such as expectation of being at work, could also affect work-related outcomes. Therefore, the effect of earlier identified factors and expectation of being at work on future employment status in cancer survivors was explored. To assess the degree to which these factors specifically concern cancer survivors, a comparison with heart attack survivors was made. Methods: Data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing were used. Cancer and heart attack survivors of working age in the UK were included and followed up for 2 years. Baseline characteristics of both cancer and heart attack survivors were compared regarding employment status. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed in survivors at work, and the interaction between independent variables and diagnose group was assessed. Results: In cancer survivors at work (N = 159), alcohol consumption, participating in moderate or vigorous sport activities, general health and participation were univariate associated with employment status at two-year followup. Only fair general health (compared to very good general health) remained statistically significant in the multivariate model (OR 0.31; 95% CI 0.13–0.76; p = 0.010). In heart attack survivors at work (N = 78), gender, general health and expectation of being at work were univariate associated with employment status at follow-up. Female gender (OR 0.03; 95% CI 0.00–0.57; p = 0.018) and high expectation of being at work (OR 10.68; 95% CI 1.23–93.92; p = 0.033) remained significant in the multivariate model. The influence of gender (p = 0.066) and general health (p = 0.020) regarding employment status was found to differ significantly between cancer and heart attack survivors. Conclusions: When predicting future employment status in cancer survivors in the UK, general health is the most relevant factor to consider. While expectation of being at work did not show any significant influence in cancer survivors, in heart attack survivors, it should not be disregarded though, when developing interventions to affect their employment status. Future research should focus on more specific measures for expectation, and additional behavioural factors, such as self-efficacy, and their effect on employment status

Process factors explaining the ineffectiveness of a multidisciplinary fall prevention programme: A process evaluation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Falls are a major health threat to older community-living people, and initiatives to prevent falls should be a public health priority. We evaluated a Dutch version of a successful British fall prevention programme. Results of this Dutch study showed no effects on falls or daily functioning. In parallel to the effect evaluation, we carried out a detailed process evaluation to assess the feasibility of our multidisciplinary fall prevention programme. The present study reports on the results of this process evaluation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Our fall prevention programme comprised a medical and occupational-therapy assessment, resulting in recommendations and/or referrals to other services if indicated. We used self-administered questionnaires, structured telephone interviews, structured recording forms, structured face-to-face interviews and a plenary group discussion to collect data from participants allocated to the intervention group (n = 166) and from all practitioners who performed the assessments (n = 8). The following outcomes were assessed: the extent to which the multidisciplinary fall prevention programme was performed according to protocol, the nature of the recommendations and referrals provided to the participants, participants' self-reported compliance and participants' and practitioners' opinions about the programme.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both participants and practitioners judged the programme to be feasible. The programme was largely performed according to protocol. The number of referrals and recommendations ensuing from the medical assessment was relatively small. Participants' self-reported compliance as regards contacting their GP to be informed of the recommendations and/or referrals was low to moderate. However, self-reported compliance with such referrals and recommendations was reasonable to good. A large majority of participants reported they had benefited from the programme.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of the present study show that the programme was feasible for both practitioners and participants. Main factors that seem to be responsible for the lack of effectiveness are the relatively low number of referrals and recommendations ensuing from the medical assessments and participants' low compliance as regards contacting their GP about the results of the medical assessment. We do not recommend implementing the programme in its present form in regular care.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ISRCTN64716113</p

Habitation of houses in Leiden, 19th and 20th centuries

This dataset concerns habitation of houses in the inner city of Leiden in the period 1890-1899 and 1930-1940. Focal point of the research was the relation between macro-economic developments in the Netherlands and demographic behaviour in Leiden. The data was collected during a seminar on Social History in 1976 and 1977, Leiden University

Gegevensbeheer ter ondersteuning van geintegreerd milieuonderzoek en modellering bij RIVM. Inclusief de 1995 Catalogus van Internationale Datasets

Dit rapport beschrijft hoe mondiale en regionale gegevens beheerd worden binnen het RIVM, in relatie tot UNEP's Global Environmental Outlook en andere internationale milieurapportages en 'global change'-studies. Het merendeel van deze gegevens wordt gebruikt als basisbestanden voor onderzoek en modellering ten behoeve van milieuverkenningen, terwijl een beperkt deel bestaat uit resultaten van dergelijk onderzoek. De basisgegevens worden eveneens gebruikt om milieu-indicatoren voor integrale rapportages te ontwikkelen en te definieren. Het beheer van internationale gegevens maakt binnen het RIVM deel uit van de informatie-infrastructuur en de daarbinnen ontwikkelde gegevenslogistieke tools voor meta-gegevens, data kwaliteitscontrole en rapportpublicatie. In aanvulling op het beschrijven van een selectie van meta-gegevens van internationale bestanden als de 1995 data catalogus, is getracht de data-logistieke activiteiten te plaatsen in een bredere context van data management, door een verbinding te leggen met de behoeften aan data en de ontwikkeling van de informatie-infrastructuurThis report describes how global and regional data sets are managed within RIVM in relation to UNEP's Global Environmental Outlook and other environmental assessment and global change studies. The majority of these data sets serves as core input data for assessments and modelling activities, while a smaller number of data sets reflects the results of these activities. Moreover, such core data typically form the basis for defining and deriving environmental indicators for integrated environmental assessment. Logistically, these 'international' data sets are integrated into the overall information infrastructure currently under construction within RIVM, including systems for managing data sets, meta-data (information about the data), quality control and report presentation. In addition to providing such a selection of meta-data as the 1995 data catalogue, an attempt has been made to put the data logistical work on data into a wider context for environmental data management. This is done by describing both how data needs have been made explicit, and how the information infrastructure has been developed and applied to date.DGMIM

De 1996 RIVM catalogus van internationale datasets

De toenemende activiteiten van RIVM op het gebied van integrale milieu-rapportages en verkenningen heeft de ontwikkeling van een gedegen informatie-infrastructuur tot gevolg gehad. Dit heeft geresulteerd in een verzameling informatie-systemen ten behoeve van de verwerving, verwerking, distributie en presentatie van milieu-gegevens. Deze systemen opereren voornamelijk binnen RIVM, alhoewel de steeds verdergaande samenwerking met externe instituten in binnen- en buitenland een bezinning over het informatie-beleid rechtvaardigt. Ten einde meer bekendheid te geven aan een breed publiek over kenmerken van basisbestanden die nodig zijn voor internationale, integrale milieustudies en -rapportages, wordt jaarlijks een catalogus uitgegeven. Dit rapport vormt de 1996 catalogus van internationale data sets die beschikbaar zijn binnen RIVM.RIVM's involvement in integrated environmental assessment, reporting and forecasting has brought about the development of a comprehensive information infrastructure. Over the last few years, this has resulted in a collection of information systems for the acquisition, processing, distribution and presentation of environmental information. These systems operate mainly within RIVM, although the collaboration with external partners, which continues both nationally and internationally, justifies the need to review data and information policies. Data access and harmonisation are further promoted in print-outs of data sets on global and regional research activities, published yearly as RIVM's Catalogue of International Data Sets. These will be discussed in the 1996 catalogue.RIVM UNE

Industry, pollution and environmental policy in Leiden during the 19th and 20th centuries

This dataset contains data on the type of industry in Leiden from 1850 until 1880. The data provide an insight into the problem(s) of pollution in that period. This dataset is the result of a project between the Environmental Department of Leiden and the History Department at Leiden University. The original goal was to construct a database on polluted industrial sites, by investigating historical sources

Does 'grey' urban living lead to more 'green' holiday nights? A Netherlands Case Study

Urbanisation is seen as essential to wealth creation and increased productivity, but the process has costs as well as benefits. In the present paper we conduct an empirical analysis for the highly urbanised Netherlands on the relation between the greyness of the living environment and the compensating behaviour of more holiday nights spent away from home. We perform a secondary analysis of a survey on holiday behaviour enriched with the outcomes of a GIS model on recreational shortages. We find that the higher the greyness of the living environment – i.e. the higher the shortage of locally available green space for recreational walking – the more people spend nights away from home. Approximately 6% of all Dutch holiday nights may be related to a shortage of green space for recreational walking in the urban living environment. For people living in the most grey urban areas, 20% of their holiday nights appear to be related to a shortage of green space; for people in the least grey areas 10% relates to a shortage of green space. We think that this empirical relation is an important contribution to an assessment of the consequences of agglomeration that goes beyond labour productivity and moves towards well-bein