Predicting young driver behaviour from pre-driver attitudes, intentions and road behaviour

Drivers under 25 years are over-represented in global road accident statistics. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) has been used to identify individuals who are likely to engage in behaviours, such as speeding, which are associated with increased accident involvement. In an attempt to investigate adolescents‟ attitudes and behaviours from pre- to post-driver training, the studies presented incorporate past behaviour into the TPB. Three questionnaire-based studies were conducted in Scotland and New Zealand. The first study explored adolescent pre-drivers‟ road behaviour, driving attitudes and speeding intentions. Adolescents‟ with the greatest speeding intentions frequently engaged in high-risk road behaviour and had more accepting attitudes towards driving violations. The second study explored the development of attitudes and intentions from pre- to post-driver training. Drivers who frequently violated reported more accepting attitudes towards violations and engagement in frequent high-risk road behaviours as pre-drivers. The third study assessed the stability of pre-drivers‟ driving attitudes and speeding intentions. Adolescents‟ attitudes and intentions fluctuated significantly; however, males reported riskier driving attitudes and greater speeding intentions. This research suggests that the role of road safety education and pre-driver interventions on future driving behaviour has been under-estimated. Interventions that simultaneously reinforce safe road practices and motivate the reduction of dangerous practices will influence the future of adolescents as safe drivers

Low-noise quantum frequency conversion in a monolithic bulk ppKTP cavity

Interfacing the different building blocks of a future large scale quantum network will demand efficient and noiseless frequency conversion of quantum light. Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are a leading candidate to form the nodes of such a network. However, the performance of a suitable converter remains a bottleneck, with existing demonstrations severely limited by parasitic noise arising at the target telecom wavelength. Here, we demonstrate a new platform for efficient low-noise quantum frequency conversion based on a monolithic bulk ppKTP cavity and show its suitability for the conversion of 637 nm single photons from NV centers in diamond to telecommunication wavelengths. By resonantly enhancing the power of an off-the-shelf pump laser, we achieve an internal conversion efficiency of $(72.3\pm 0.4)\%$ while generating only (110\pm 4) \mbox{ kHz/nm} noise at the target wavelength without the need for any active stabilization. This constitutes a 5-fold improvement in noise over existing state-of-the-art single-step converters at this wavelengths. We verify the almost ideal preservation of non-classical correlations by converting photons from a spontaneous parametric down-conversion source and moreover show the preservation of time-energy entanglement via Franson interferometry.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, 2 table

Suicide prevention: update of the summary of evidence

This document has been produced by the Vulnerable Groups Team of the Public Health Wales NHS Trust in conjunction with the Support Unit for Research Evidence at Cardiff University. It updates the document originally published by the National Public Health Service for Wales in 2007. This document brings together evidence relevant to the prevention of suicide and self harm. It adopts a public health approach to prevention and the evidence is presented at four levels. The document is primarily to support the health boards in developing suicide prevention plans but will be of relevance to other agencies and individuals with an interest in suicide and self harm preventio

Effectiveness of a Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation Program Following Shoulder Injury

Background: Shoulder injuries in working age adults result in a major cost to the health care system. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a new multidisciplinary rehabilitation program and to explore factors that affected a successful return to work (RTW) in injured workers with shoulder problems who received this program. Methods: This was a prospective longitudinal study. The patient-oriented outcome measures were the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) and the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH). Range of motion (ROM) in flexion, abduction, and external rotation and strength in lifting and push/pull were documented. All outcomes were measured before and at the completion of the program. Results: Data of 68 patients were used for analysis. All outcomes showed a statistically significant improvement over time. Conclusions: Multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs help to improve pain, disability, ROM, strength, and facilitate RTW. Higher stress and a fast-paced work environment increased the risk of not progressing in work status

‘Coaching and Peer Assisted Learning’ (C‐PAL) ‐ the mental health nursing student experience: a qualitative evaluation

Introduction: This paper presents findings from a study that evaluated mental health nursing students’ experience of a team mentoring model called Coaching and Peer Assisted Learning (C-PAL). At present there are no published research studies into the effectiveness of team mentorship utilised by nursing students within inpatient mental health settings. Aim: The study utilised an interpretist methodology where the focus was on individuals in their social world. Method: Two focus groups were held with fifteen students who had experienced C-PAL in four in-patient wards. Findings: Students’ overall experience of piloting C-PAL was positive. Learning opportunities (Theme 3) appeared to be dependent on the quality of peer support (Theme 5) which in turn, enhanced the learner experience and increased the level of student confidence (Theme 6). Less positive experiences included inadequate preparation (Theme 1), poor understanding of the model and competition for learning experiences. Implications for practice: We tentatively suggest that team mentorship models such as C-PAL may be suitable for acute in-patient mental health settings. The success of C-PAL depends upon the preparation of nursing staff, mentors (Theme 4), coaches and students in relation to role expectations, shift rostering (Theme 2) and the implementation of ‘huddling’ to promote opportunistic learning

The perspectives of senior researchers in applied disciplines on the current state of developmental attachment research: an interview study

Based on interviews with leading researchers and researcher-clinicians in fields allied to attachment research, this paper describes participants’ perceptions of contemporary attachment research in the developmental tradition. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 13 research leaders in applied disciplines cognate to attachment research. Participants perceived attachment research as having played a foundational role for developmental science, including highlighting the importance of a developmental perspective and attention to early caregiving experiences. They also identified important contemporary strengths in developmental attachment research, including the observational acuity and insightfulness of its measures, its attention to dyadic processes in contrast to much of biomedicine, the development of a number of attachment-based interventions with well-articulated mechanisms of action, and the capacity of developmental attachment concepts to resonate with clinical and popular audiences. However, participants suggested that the developmental tradition is also perceived as having a comparatively high “cost of entry,” and consequently they warned that it has become somewhat separated from wider developmental science, with its growing prominence of biological research, scalability of methods, and less reliance on theory. Participants perceived both strengths and weaknesses to contemporary developmental attachment research. However they felt that the classic concerns of developmental attachment research were placing the field potentially at odds with current trends in developmental science