57 research outputs found
Scalable psychological interventions for Syrian refugees in Europe and the Middle East: STRENGTHS study protocol for a prospective individual participant data meta-analysis
Introduction: The World Health Organization's (WHO) scalable psychological interventions, such as Problem Management Plus (PM+) and Step-by-Step (SbS) are designed to be cost-effective non-specialist delivered interventions to reduce symptoms of common mental disorders, such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The STRENGTHS consortium aims to evaluate the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and implementation of the individual format of PM+ and its group version (gPM+), as well as of the digital SbS intervention among Syrian refugees in seven countries in Europe and the Middle East. This is a study protocol for a prospective individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis to evaluate (1) overall effectiveness and cost-effectiveness and (2) treatment moderators of PM+, gPM+ and SbS with Syrian refugees.
Methods and analysis: Five pilot randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and seven fully powered RCTs conducted within STRENGTHS will be combined into one IPD meta-analytic dataset. The RCTs include Syrian refugees of 18 years and above with elevated psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10>15)) and impaired daily functioning (WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0>16)). Participants are randomised into the intervention or care as usual control group, and complete follow-up assessments at 1-week, 3-month and 12-month follow-up. Primary outcomes are symptoms of depression and anxiety (25-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist). Secondary outcomes include daily functioning (WHODAS 2.0), PTSD symptoms (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5) and self-identified problems (PSYCHLOPS). We will conduct a one-stage IPD meta-analysis using linear mixed models. Quality of evidence will be assessed using the GRADE approach, and the economic evaluation approach will be assessed using the CHEC-list.
Ethics and dissemination: Local ethical approval has been obtained for each RCT. This IPD meta-analysis does not require ethical approval. The results of this study will be published in international peer-reviewed journals
Scalable psychological interventions for Syrian refugees in Europe and the Middle East: STRENGTHS study protocol for a prospective individual participant data meta-analysis
Introduction The World Health Organization’s (WHO) scalable psychological interventions, such as Problem Management Plus (PM+) and Step-by-Step (SbS) are designed to be cost-effective non-specialist delivered interventions to reduce symptoms of common mental disorders, such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The STRENGTHS consortium aims to evaluate the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and implementation of the individual format of PM+ and its group version (gPM+), as well as of the digital SbS intervention among Syrian refugees in seven countries in Europe and the Middle East. This is a study protocol for a prospective individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis to evaluate (1) overall effectiveness and cost-effectiveness and (2) treatment moderators of PM+, gPM+ and SbS with Syrian refugees. Methods and analysis Five pilot randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and seven fully powered RCTs conducted within STRENGTHS will be combined into one IPD meta-analytic dataset. The RCTs include Syrian refugees of 18 years and above with elevated psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10>15)) and impaired daily functioning (WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0>16)). Participants are randomised into the intervention or care as usual control group, and complete follow-up assessments at 1-week, 3-month and 12-month follow-up. Primary outcomes are symptoms of depression and anxiety (25-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist). Secondary outcomes include daily functioning (WHODAS 2.0), PTSD symptoms (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5) and self-identified problems (PSYCHLOPS). We will conduct a one-stage IPD meta-analysis using linear mixed models. Quality of evidence will be assessed using the GRADE approach, and the economic evaluation approach will be assessed using the CHEC-list. Ethics and dissemination Local ethical approval has been obtained for each RCT. This IPD meta-analysis does not require ethical approval. The results of this study will be published in international peer-reviewed journals
Conceptualizing and measuring distance in international business research:Recurring questions and best practice guidelines
Distance is a central concept in international business research, yet there is debate about the construct as well as its operationalization. In this editorial, we address three of the most important recurring questions posed by authors, editors, and reviewers by examining the theory, methods, and data of distance research. We discuss (1) how to theorize on distance, and (2) what method and (3) what data to use when constructing a distance index. We develop practical recommendations grounded in theory, illustrating and supporting them by calculating cross-country distance indices for all available country pairs and two of the most used distance indices: cultural and institutional. We show that, whereas a specific method to calculate distance may matter to some extent, the choice for a specific cultural or institutional framework to measure cultural or institutional distance has a major impact on country-pair distances. Overall, this editorial highlights the importance of matching data and method to the theoretical argument.</p
Reinventing foreign aid for inclusive and sustainable development: a survey
This survey essay reviews over 200 papers in arguing that in order to achieve sustainable and inclusive development, foreign aid should not orient developing countries towards industrialisation in the perspective of Kuznets but in the view of Piketty. Abandoning the former’s view that inequality will fall with progress in industrialisation and placing more emphasis on inequality in foreign aid policy will lead to more sustainable development outcomes. Inter alia: mitigate short-term poverty; address concerns of burgeoning population growth; train recipient governments on inclusive development; fight corruption and mismanagement and; avoid the shortfalls of celebrated Kuznets’ conjectures. We discuss how the essay addresses post-2015 development challenges and provide foreign aid policy instruments with which discussed objectives can be achieved. In summary, the essay provides useful policy measures to avoid past pitfalls. ‘Output may be growing, and yet the mass of the people may be becoming poorer’ (Lewis, 1955). ‘Lewis led all developing countries to water, proverbially speaking, some African countries have so far chosen not to drink’ (Amavilah, 2014). Piketty (2014) has led all developing countries to the stream again and a challenging policy syndrome of our time is how foreign aid can help them to drink
Comparative Analysis of American and Spanish Cruise Passenger's Behavioral Intentions
[EN] Earlier studies of cross-national differences in consumer behavior in different consumption sectors
have verified that cultural differences have a strong influence on consumers. Despite the importance of
cross-national analysis, no studies in the literature examine the moderating effects of nationality on the
construction of behavioral intentions and their antecedents among cruise line passengers. This study
investigates the moderating effects of nationality on the relationships between perceived value, satisfaction,
trust and behavioral intentions among Spanish and (U.S.) American passengers of cruise lines
that use Barcelona as home port and port-of-call. A theoretical model was tested with a total of 968 surveys.
Structural equation models (SEMs) were used, by means of a multigroup analysis. Results of this
study indicated that Spaniards showed stronger relationships between trust and behavioral intentions,
and between emotional value and satisfaction. Americans presented stronger relations.[PT] Estudos em distintos setores de consumo verificaram que as diferenças culturais têm uma forte
influência sobre os consumidores. Apesar da importância da análise transnacional, não há estudos
na literatura que examinem os efeitos da nacionalidade na construção das intenções de comportamento
e seus antecedentes entre os passageiros de cruzeiros. Esta pesquisa investiga os efeitos
moderadores da nacionalidade nas relações entre valor percebido, satisfação, confiança e intenções
de comportamento entre passageiros espanhóis e norte-americanos. Realizaram-se 968 enquetes
para provar o modelo teórico, que foi analisado com modelos de equações estruturais, mediante uma
análise multigrupo. Os resultados indicam que os espanhóis mostraram relações mais fortes entre
confiança e intenções de comportamento, e entre valor emocional e satisfação. Ao contrário dos norte-americanos,
que apresentaram relações mais fortes entre qualidade de serviço e satisfação, e entre
qualidade de serviço e intenções de comportamento.[ES] Algunos estudios anteriores de diferencias observadas entre países respecto de las conductas de los
consumidores de diferentes sectores de consumo verificaron que las diferencias culturales ejercen
una poderosa influencia sobre los consumidores. A pesar de la importancia de los análisis transnacionales,
no hay en la literatura estudios que analicen los efectos moderadores de la nacionalidad
sobre la construcción de intenciones de conducta y sus antecedentes entre pasajeros de cruceros.
Este estudio investiga los efectos moderadores de la nacionalidad sobre las relaciones entre el valor
percibido, la satisfacción, la confianza y las intenciones de conducta entre los pasajeros españoles y
norteamericanos (EE. UU.) de cruceros, que utilizan a Barcelona como puerto de origen y puerto de
escala. Se probó un modelo teórico con un total de 968 encuestas. Se emplearon modelos de ecuaciones
estructurales (SEM por su sigla en inglés), a través de un análisis multigrupo. Los resultados
de este estudio indicaron que los españoles mostraron relaciones más sólidas entre la confianza y las
intenciones de comportamiento y entre el valor emocional y la satisfacción. Los americanos evidenciaron
relaciones más sólidas entre la calidad del servicio y la satisfacción y entre la calidad del servicio
y las intenciones de conducta.Forgas-Coll, S.; Palau-Saumell, R.; Sanchez-Garcia, J.; Garrigós Simón, FJ. (2016). Comparative Analysis of American and Spanish Cruise Passenger's Behavioral Intentions. RAE-Revista de Administração de Empresas. 56(1):87-100. doi:10.1590/S0034-759020160108S8710056
Ex-post Performance Implications of Divergence of Managers’ Perceptions of ‘Distance’ From ‘Reality’ in International Business
Despite much research on “distance”, little attention has been paid to the effect of divergence of managers’ perceptions of distance from reality (i.e. distance divergence) and its implications for firm performance. This knowledge is highly important since managerial perceptions of the firm’s environment do not always coincide with the actual environmental characteristics. Consequently, strategies based on inaccurate data may result in erroneous forecasts, missed opportunities and business failure. Using survey data from senior managers of Swedish exporters and corresponding objective data, this study is a first attempt to explore the ex-post performance implications of “distance divergence” when expanding into foreign markets. Our results demonstrate that the larger the divergence between managers’ perceptions of cultural distance and corresponding “objective” distance, the lower the performance expressed in companies’ sales. However, over/underestimation of cultural distance does not have differential effects on firm performance.“Stiftelsen Olle Hakelius Stipendiefond”, Grant no: 1165001
A Development Consensus reconciling the Beijing Model and Washington Consensus: Views and Agenda
Reconciling the two dominant development models of the Washington Consensus (WC) and Beijing Model (BM) remains a critical challenge in the literature. The challenge is even more demanding when emerging development paradigms like the Liberal Institutional Pluralism (LIP) and New Structural Economics (NSE) schools have to be integrated. While the latter has recognized both State and market failures but failed to provide a unified theory, the former has left the challenging concern of how institutional diversity matter in the development process. We synthesize perspectives from over 150 recently published papers on development and Sino-African relations in order to present the relevance of both the WC and BM in the long-term and short-run respectively. While the paper provides a unified theory by reconciling the WC and the BM to complement the NSE, it at the same time presents a case for economic rights and political rights as short-run and long-run development priorities respectively. By reconciling the WC with the BM, the study contributes at the same to macroeconomic NSE literature of unifying a development theory and to the LIP literature on institutional preferences with stages of development. Hence, the proposed reconciliation takes into account the structural and institutional realities of nations at difference stages of the process of development
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