Ethnic differences in risk factors for adverse birth outcomes between Pakistani, Bangladeshi and White British mothers

Aim: Reducing poor maternal and infant outcomes in pregnancy is the aim of maternity care. Adverse health behaviours lead to increased risk and can adversely mediate birth outcomes. This study examines whether risk factors are similar, different or clustered according to maternal ethnicity. Design: Retrospective analysis of routinely collected data (2008-2013) Methods: We analysed data routinely collected data from a local University Hospital Ciconia Maternity information System (CMiS), for White British, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women (N=15,211) using cross-tabulations, ANCOVA, adjusted standardised residuals (ASR) and Pearson Chi-square statistics. Results: The results demonstrate distinct clusters of risk factors between White British, Pakistani and Bangladeshi mothers’. Additionally, Pakistani mothers had the highest number of statistically significant risk factors, according to maternal ethnicity, including showing that 49% of women in this cohort that were diagnosed with diabetes were Pakistani, 21.5% of White British women smoked and results showed that Bangladeshi mothers delivered the lightest weight infants (adjusted mean: 3055.4g). Conclusions: This study found differences in the risk factors between White British, Pakistani and Bangladeshi mothers. The identified risk factors were clustered by maternal ethnicity. Impact: Identification of these risk factor clusters can help policy makers and clinicians direct resources and may help reduce ethnic variation found in these populations that might be attributed to adverse health behaviours and increased risk factors

Screening for breast cancer : medicalization, visualization and the embodied experience

Women’s perspectives on breast screening (mammography and breast awareness) were explored in interviews with midlife women sampled for diversity of background and health experience. Attending mammography screening was considered a social obligation despite women’s fears and experiences of discomfort. Women gave considerable legitimacy to mammography visualizations of the breast, and the expert interpretation of these. In comparison, women lacked confidence in breast awareness practices, directly comparing their sensory capabilities with those of the mammogram, although mammography screening did not substitute breast awareness in a straightforward way. The authors argue that reliance on visualizing technology may create a fragmented sense of the body, separating the at risk breast from embodied experience

Assessing the knowledge of the potential harm to others caused by second-hand smoke and its impact on protective behaviours at home

BACKGROUND: Smokers' knowledge of the risks of second-hand smoke (SHS) and the role this plays in implementing behaviours to reduce the SHS exposure of others have not been thoroughly explored. Mass media health promotion is used to promote behaviour change partly by providing information on the consequences of behaviour. In England, between 2003 and 2006, frequent mass media campaigns highlighted the toxicity of SHS. OBJECTIVES: To examine peoples' knowledge of SHS-related illnesses in England over time, identify the determinants of good knowledge and to assess its importance in predicting SHS-protective behaviours. METHODS: Statistical analysis of repeat cross-sectional data (1996–2008) from the Omnibus Survey to explore the trends and determinants of knowledge of SHS-related illnesses and the determinants of SHS-protective behaviours. RESULTS: Only 40% of smokers had ‘good’ knowledge of SHS-related illnesses compared with 65% of never smokers. Knowledge increased markedly when frequent SHS-related mass media campaigns (2003–06) ran, compared with earlier years (1996–2002). Smokers with better knowledge were more likely to have smoke-free homes [odds ratio (OR): 1.10, 1.04–1.16] and abstain from smoking in a room with children (OR: 1.11, 1.09–1.14). CONCLUSIONS: The low levels of knowledge of some SHS-related conditions, especially among smokers, and the relationship between knowledge and SHS-protective behaviours, suggest that greater efforts to educate smokers about the risks associated with SHS are worthwhile

Trading between healthy food, alcohol and physical activity behaviours

BACKGROUND: While recent lifestyle studies have explored the role that food, alcohol or physical activity have on health and wellbeing, few have explored the interplay between these behaviours and the impact this has on a healthy lifestyle. Given the long term health advantages associated with leading healthier lifestyles, this study seeks to: 1) explore the interplay between the food, alcohol and physical activity behaviours of young adults (aged 19–26 years) in the North East of England; 2) explore the trade-offs young adults make between their food, alcohol and physical activity behaviours; and 3) recognise the positive and negative associations between the three behaviours. METHODS: Qualitative self-reported lifestyle diaries and in-depth interviews were conducted with 50 young adults from the North East of England between February and June 2008. Qualitative thematic analysis was undertaken using Nvivo QSR software, and diary coding using Windiets software. RESULTS: Young adults who attempt to achieve a ‘healthy lifestyle’ make trade-offs between the food and alcohol they consume, and the amounts of physical activity they undertake. There are negative reasons and positive consequences associated with these trade-offs. Young adults recognise the consequences of their behaviours and as a result are prepared to undertake healthy behaviours to compensate for unhealthy behaviours. They prefer certain strategies to promote healthier behaviours over others, in particular those that relate to personalised advice and support, more affordable ways to be healthier and easily-accessed advice from a range of media sources. CONCLUSIONS: Young adults seek to compensate unhealthy behaviours (e.g. binge drinking) with healthy behaviours (e.g. physical activity). Creative solutions may be required to tackle these trade-offs and promote a balance across the food, alcohol and physical activity behaviours of this age group. Solutions that may be effective with this age group include environmental changes (e.g. green spaces and increasing the price of alcohol) designed to encourage and facilitate young people making healthier choices and improving their access to, and lowering the price of, healthy food products. Solutions must recognise these trade-offs and in particular, the strong reluctance of young adults to alter their higher-than-recommended levels of alcohol consumption

Specific antenatal interventions for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) pregnant women at high risk of poor birth outcomes in the United Kingdom: a scoping review

Background: Disparity exists in maternal and infant birth outcomes of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women giving birth in the United Kingdom (UK) compared to the majority. There is therefore a need to reconsider existing maternity service provision to ensure culturally competent services. The purpose of this scoping review was to ascertain what specific maternity interventions have been implemented in the UK for BAME women (2004–2014) so that increased awareness of the need and scope of specific maternity interventions for BAME women can be identified. Methods: A scoping review was conducted in order to determine the evidence base. It was determined that no prior systematic reviews had been conducted and it was apparent that literature in this field was sparse. Scoping review is an ideal method when literature is likely to be heterogeneous and the research field relatively unexplored. A keyword strategy was used implementing population (P), intervention (I), comparison (C) and outcomes (O). Results: An initial 2188 papers were identified. Following screening and review, only 5 heterogeneous papers remained suitable and were included. The included interventions employed sample sizes of N = 160-1441, examined a range of different outcome measures and were delivered across different parts of the UK with high numbers of BAME residents. Conclusions: There is a lack of rigorous research interventions and practice interventions which are currently documented, of specific maternity interventions which are aimed to address culturally competent maternity services and the sharing of best practice addressing the increased risks of BAME women delivering in the UK

Understanding Society, Wave 3, 2011-2012: Teaching Dataset

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Understanding Society, Wave 3, 2011-2012: Teaching Dataset is a cut-down version of the full Understanding Society Wave 3 data. Understanding Society, or the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS), began in 2009 and is a multi-topic household survey, the purpose of which is to understand social and economic change in Britain at the household and individual levels. This teaching dataset is designed to be used in teaching quantitative social sciences and for student reports. It consists of a selection of variables from the Wave 3 individual questionnaire, with added household-level variables and is designed for individual level analyses. Main Topics:Topics covered in the teaching dataset include family, occupation, neighbourhood, membership of organisations, health, social networks, personality, cognitive ability, and household information

Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), log files

Objective: The PIAAC 2012 study was the first fully computer-based large scale assessment in education. During the assessment, user interactions were logged automatically. This means that most of the users’ actions within the assessment tool were recorded and stored with time stamps in separate files called log files. The log files contain paradata for each participant in the domains literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments. The availability of these log files offers new opportunities to researchers, for instance to reproduce test-taking behavior of individuals and to better understand test-taking behavior. Method: PIAAC 2012 was conducted August 2011-November 2012 among a representative international sample of around 166000 adults within 24 different countries. The following dataset includes the log files from 17 countries. Each country was allowed to choose their own sampling technique as long as the technique applies full selection probability methods to select a representative sample from the PIAAC target population. The countries were able to oversample particular subgroups of the target population. Persons aged 55-65 and recent immigrants were oversampled in Denmark and persons aged 19-26 were oversampled in Poland. The administration of the background questionnaires was conducted face-to-face using computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). After the questionnaire, the respondent completed a computer-based or paper-based cognitive under the supervision of the interviewer in one or two of the following competence domains: literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments. Variables: With the help of the PIAAC LogDataAnalyzer you can generate a data set. The Log Data Extraction software is a self-contained system that manages activities like data extraction, data cleaning, and visualization of OECD-PIAAC 2012 assessment log data files. It serves as a basis for data related analysis tasks using the tool itself or by exporting the cleaned data to external tools like statistics packages. You can generate the following Variables: Number of Using Cancel Button, Number of Using Help Menu, Time on Task, Time Till the First Interaction, Final Response, Number of Switching Environment, Sequence of Switching Environment, Number of Highlight Events, Time Since Last Answer Interaction, Number of Created Emails, Sequence of Viewed Emails, Number of Different Email Views, Number of Revisited Emails, Number of Email Views, Sequence of Visited Webpages, Time-Sequence of Spent Time on Webpages, Number of Different Page Visits, Number of Page Visits, Number of Page Revisits.Forschungsfrage: Die PIAAC 2012 Studie war das erste vollständig computer-basierte groß angelegte Assessment für Bildung. Während des Assessments wurden die Benutzerinteraktionen automatisch protokolliert. Dies bedeutet, dass die meisten Aktionen des Benutzers innerhalb des Assessment Tools aufgezeichnet und mit Zeitstempeln in separaten Daten, genannt log files, gespeichert wurden. Die log file Daten enthalten Paradaten für jeden Teilnehmer in den Domänen Lesekompetenz, alltagsmathematische Kompetenz und technologiebasiertes Problemlösen. Die Verfügbarkeit dieser log files bietet den Forschern neue Möglichkeiten, zum Beispiel das Testverhalten von Personen zu reproduzieren und das Testverhalten besser zu verstehen. Methode: PIAAC 2012 wurde im August 2011-November 2012 mit einer repräsentativen internationalen Stichprobe von rund 166000 Erwachsenen in 24 verschiedenen Ländern durchgeführt. Der folgende Datensatz enthält die log file Dateien aus 17 Ländern. Jedem Land wurde erlaubt, sein eigenes Stichprobenverfahren zu wählen, solange die Technik eine Wahrscheinlichkeitsauswahl beinhaltet, die zu einer repräsentativen Stichprobe der PIAAC-Zielbevölkerung führt. Die Länder konnten zudem einzelne Subgruppen der Zielpopulation „oversamplen“. Dänemark beinhaltet ein Oversample für Personen im Alter von 55-65 Jahren und neue Immigranten und Polen für Personen im Alter von 19-26 Jahren. Der Hintergrundfragebogen wurde in einer computergestützten persönlichen Befragung (CAPI) durchgeführt. Nach dem Fragebogen absolvierten die Befragten unter Aufsicht der Interviewer eine computer- bzw. papierbasierte Messung in einem oder zwei der folgenden Kompetenzbereiche: Lesen, Alltagsmathematik und technologiebasiertes Problemlösen. Variablen: Mit der Hilfe des PIAAC Log Data Analyzer kann man einen Datensatz generieren. Die Log Data Extraction Software ist ein in sich geschlossenes System, das Aktivitäten wie Datenextraktion, Datenreinigung und Visualisierung von OECD-PIAAC 2012- log files verwaltet. Es dient als Grundlage für datenbezogenen Analyseaufgaben mit dem Tool selbst oder durch Export der gereinigten Daten an externe Tools, beispielsweise Statistikpakete. Man kann die folgenden Variablen erzeugen: General Variables: Number of Using Help Menu, Time Till the First Interaction, Time on Task. Specific Variables: Final Response, Number of Highlight Events, Number of Switching Environment, Number of Using Cancel Button, Sequence of Switching Environment, Time Since Last Answer Interaction. Navigation-specific Variables: Number of Different Page Visits, Number of Page Revisits, Number of Page Visits, Sequence of Visited Webpages, Time-Sequence of Spent Time on Webpages. Email-specific Variables: Number of Created Emails, Number of Different Email Views, Number of Email Views, Number of Revisited Emails, Sequence of Viewed Emails