Assessing effective interventions to improve trial retention : do they contain behaviour change techniques?

This research was supported by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Department. KG was supported by an MRC Methodology Research Fellowship (MR/L01193X/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Alcohol and nicotine use during pregnancy: its nature, occurrence and consequences.

This PhD project investigated the nature, occurrence , and consequences of alcohol and nicotine use during pregnancy. The main objective bieng to identify those at risk of continued alcohol and nicotine use, to determine the current practice of midwives in Grampian and to identify the consequences in terms of infants' and mothers' health. Study 1 aimed to provide an estimate of the prevalence of pregnant women drinking alcohol and smoking in Grampian, and to determine the best predictors of the behaviours. One hundred and thirty pregnant women took part in study 1. Thirty-five per cent of participants reported drinking during pregnancy. Parity, health locus of control and theory of planned behaviour variables distinguished between pregnant drinkers and abstainers. Seventy-four per cent of participants were non-smokers prior to becoming pregnant. Of the smokers, 47% continued to smoke during and 53% quit. Continued smokers differed from smokers who stopped for health locus of control and theory of planned behaviour constructs. Study 2 involved a questionnaire survey of midwives' knowledge, attitudes and practice regarding alcohol and nicotine use during pregnancy. Almost 30% of community midwives in this sample (n=17/52) reported not routinely asking their patients about their alcohol use and none reported using a screening questionnaire. Over 65% felt they still required training in supporting smoking cessationand over 86% still felt they required training in supporting pregnant patients to change drinking habits. The main barriers to providing advice were a lack of training and a lack of time. Midwives who drank more alcohol per week had more permissive attitudes towards alcohol use during pregnancy that were more permissive than the current government guidelines. Finally, study 3 aimed to take forward the results of study 1 and examine the potential consequences of alcohol use on newborn infants and new mothers. No significant differences were found for infants exposed to low-level alcohol use for a number of health outcomes. First-time mothers who drank during pregnancy reported spending a longer time in hospital after labour and, within all mothers who drank during pregnancy, lower attachment scores were reported at 3 months after birth, despite no significant differences in terms of health outcomes and mental well being. However, these findings are exploratory and factors other than drinking during pregnancy may be influential. The three studies together provide an insight into the incidence and determinants of alcohol and nicotine use during pregnancy and shed light on midwives' practice and barriers to providing advice to pregnant patients. The results yield strategies for intervention work and recommendations for practice and further research

Identification of outcomes reported for hospital antimicrobial stewardship interventions using a systematic review of reviews.

Funding: This work is a part of SY’s PhD, supported by the Elphinstone scholarship at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

An embedded mixed-methods study highlighted a lack of discussions on retention in clinical trial consultations

Acknowledgments The authors would like to acknowledge the trial participants, Surgeons and Research Nurses for agreeing to be audio-recorded as part of the main trial. Thanks also to Professor Craig Ramsay and Mr Irfan Ahmed the Chief Investigators of the trial. Thanks also to Karen Innes the Trial Manager and Becky Bruce the Data Coordinator for their support of the study. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study was approved through the parent trial from NHS North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee (16/NS/0053). Informed consent was obtained from all participants. Declarations of interest: None. Role of funding source: KG held a Medical Research Council UK Methodology Fellowship during the delivery of this project (MR/L01193X/1). The Health Services Research Unit, Institute of Applied Health Sciences (University of Aberdeen), is core-funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates. The funders had no involvement in study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, reporting or the decision to publish.Peer reviewedPostprin

Channelling the force of audit and feedback : averting the dark side

Funding EMD is funded through a personal fellowship from the Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute, supported by the Health Foundation’s grant to the University of Cambridge. JMG holds a Canada Research Chair in Health Knowledge Transfer and Uptake. NMI holds a Canada Research Chair in Implementation of Evidence-based PracticePeer reviewedPostprin

Specialist Clinicians' Management of Dependence on Non-Prescription Medicines and Barriers to Treatment Provision : An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study Using Behavioural Theory

This research was funded by THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF ADDICTION in the form a PhD studentship awarded to Niamh Fingleton. Supplementary Materials: The following are available online at http://www.mdpi.com/2226-4787/7/1/25/s1, Table S1: Summary of belief statements and illustrative quotes assigned to the theoretical domainsPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Using a behavioural approach to explore the factors that affect questionnaire return within a clinical trial : a qualitative study based on the Theoretical Domains Framework

Funding This research is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Department (HIPS/16/46). KG held a Medical Research Council UK Methodology Fellowship during the delivery of this project (MR/L01193X/1). The Health Services Research Unit, Institute of Applied Health Sciences (University of Aberdeen), is core-funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates. The funders had no involvement in study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, reporting or the decision to publish. in a recent paper. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the patients for volunteering their time to participate in this study and to Rebecca Bruce and Karen Innes for facilitating recruitment.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Theory-guided interviews identified behavioral barriers and enablers to healthcare professionals recruiting participants to maternity trials

Acknowledgments We would like to thank all the truly heroic maternity healthcare providers who gave up their time during the height of the pandemic to contribute to this study.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Alcohol use during pregnancy: an application of the theory of planned behavior.

The objective of this research was to apply the theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1988, 1991) to alcohol use during pregnancy. Of the pregnant women (N=130) who participated in the study, over one third reported consuming alcohol (34.8%), and the greatest proportion were drinking 2 to 4 times per month (16.4%). Binary logistic regression was conducted, and the full TPB model was able to distinguish between drinkers and abstainers, explaining 57.1% to 77.1% of the variance in drinking behavior. The TPB provides insight into reasons behind the behavior and can be usefully applied, both as a screening tool to identify pregnant women drinking during pregnancy and as an avenue for intervention work