Theorising lifestyle drift in health promotion: explaining community and voluntary sector engagement practices in disadvantaged areas

The past two decades have seen an increasing role for the UK community and voluntary sector (CVS) in health promotion in disadvantaged areas, largely based on assumptions on the part of funders that CVS providers are better able to engage ‘hard-to-reach’ population groups in services than statutory providers. However, there is limited empirical research exploring CVS provider practices in this field. Using ethnographic data, this paper examines the experiences of a network of CVS providers seeking to engage residents in health-promoting community services in a disadvantaged region in the North of England. The paper shows how CVS providers engaged in apparently contradictory practices, fluctuating between an empathically informed response to complex resident circumstances and (in the context of meeting externally set targets) behavioural lifestyle approaches to health promotion. Drawing on concepts from figurational sociology, the paper explains how lifestyle drift occurs in health promotion as a result of the complex web of relations (with funders, commissioners and residents) in which CVS providers are embedded. Despite the fact that research has revealed the impact of targets on the work of the CVS before, this paper demonstrates more specifically the way in which monitoring processes within CVS contracts can draw providers into the neoliberal lifestyle discourse so prevalent in health promotion

How should we assess knowledge translation in research organizations; designing a knowledge translation self-assessment tool for research institutes (SATORI)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The knowledge translation self-assessment tool for research institutes (SATORI) was designed to assess the status of knowledge translation in research institutes. The objective was, to identify the weaknesses and strengths of knowledge translation in research centres and faculties associated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The tool, consisting of 50 statements in four main domains, was used in 20 TUMS-affiliated research centres and departments after its reliability was established. It was completed in a group discussion by the members of the research council, researchers and research users' representatives from each centre and/or department.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean score obtained in the four domains of 'The question of research', 'Knowledge production', 'Knowledge transfer' and 'Promoting the use of evidence' were 2.26, 2.92, 2 and 1.89 (out of 5) respectively.</p> <p>Nine out of 12 interventional priorities with the lowest quartile score were related to knowledge transfer resources and strategies, whereas eight of them were in the highest quartile and related to 'The question of research' and 'Knowledge production'.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The self-assessment tool identifies the gaps in capacity and infrastructure of knowledge translation support within research organizations. Assessment of research institutes using SATORI pointed out that strengthening knowledge translation through provision of financial support for knowledge translation activities, creating supportive and facilitating infrastructures, and facilitating interactions between researchers and target audiences to exchange questions and research findings are among the priorities of research centres and/or departments.</p

A crisis for the future of forensic science: Lessons from the UK of the importance of epistemology for funding research and development

This study presents analysis of forensic science research funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) research councils (2009–2018), representing 150 projects with a cumulative value of £56.1 m (0.01% of the total UKRI budget over this time period). The findings indicate that dedicated forensic science funding represents only 46.0% of the projects included in the dataset. Research focussed on developing technological outputs represented 69.5% of the total funding (£37.2 m) in comparison to foundational research which represented 19.2% (£10.7 m). Traditional forensic science evidence types such as fingerprints and DNA received 1.3% and 5.1% of the total funding respectively, in comparison to digital and cyber projects which received 25.7%. These data offer insight into the scale of the funding crisis in forensic science in the UK, and the need to increase the resources available, to develop ways of articulating value and to ensure that both technological and foundational research are enabled