Attitudes of oncology healthcare practitioners towards smoking cessation: A systematic review of the facilitators, barriers and recommendations for delivery of advice and support to cancer patients

Objectives: A systematic review of the literature was conducted. The review was conducted using a search of the literature for all years up to October 2016. Statements that identified facilitators, barriers or recommendations surrounding smoking cessation delivery were extracted and analogous statements aggregated to enable thematic analysis. After searching multiple databases and the application of exclusion and inclusion criteria, a total of 19 acceptable studies were identified. Key findings: Delivery of cessation by oncology professionals was impacted by their own knowledge and views, their perception of the benefits to patient health and by the workplace procedures within their institution. Conclusion: Oncology practitioners worldwide face similar issues in delivering smoking cessation advice. By improving training programs that address the attitudes and beliefs which facilitate or block delivery of smoking cessation and by implementing systemic changes within cancer centres, delivery of smoking cessation should be enable

Evapotranspiration from Natural Vegetation in the Central Valley of California: Monthly Grass Reference-Based Vegetation Coefficients and the Dual Crop Coefficient Approach

Restoration activities in the Central Valley of California and elsewhere require accurate evapotranspiration information, which can then be used for a wide variety of surface and subsurface hydrologic evaluations. However, directly measuring evapotranspiration can be difficult or impossible depending on the evaluation’s time frame. Transferability of measured evapotranspiration in time and space is also necessary but typically requires a weather-based reference. For nonagricultural vegetation, there is at present time no standard reference, which makes the evaluation of a variety of vegetation types from different sources difficult and time-consuming. This paper examines several methods used to estimate evapotranspiration from native vegetation, including the use of vegetation coefficients (Kv). Vegetation coefficients are based on a standardized reference and are computed as the ratio of vegetation evapotranspiration (ETv) to the grass reference evapotranspiration (ETo). These monthly Kvvalues are used to compute the long-term (for this study, 1922–2009) average ETvfor vegetation types documented to exist in California’s Central Valley prior to the arrival of the first European settlers in the mid-18th century. For vegetation that relies on precipitation and soil moisture storage, a calibrated daily soil–water balance with a dual crop coefficient approach was used to compute evapotranspiration regionally over the time frame

Civic Virtue in the Deliberative System

The normative stability of a deliberative and democratic political order and the creativity and quality of the decisions its produces depend on citizens developing civic orientations and capacities through participation in deliberative events aiming at the cooperative solution of political problems. That, at least, is the claim made by critics of the systems approach to deliberative democracy, who argue that its proponents have lost sight of the educative function that respectful public reasoning plays for citizens. In this article I offer a response to this line of argument. There is no good philosophical reason to suppose that only unitary deliberation can perform an educative function for citizens. The kinds of informal and uncooperative public speech that occur in distributed deliberative processes can also develop participants’ civic capacities and civic virtue – and not merely through their systemic effects. This is an insight that should encourage us to rethink the design and facilitation of deliberative forums and pay more attention to citizens’ everyday deliberation

Management of COPD in the UK primary-care setting : an analysis of real-life prescribing patterns

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

No Ifs, No Butts: Compliance with Smoking Cessation in Secondary Care Guidance (NICE PH48) by Providers of Cancer Therapies (Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy) in the UK.

Background: Legislation preventing smoking in public places was introduced in England in July 2007. Since then, smoke-free policies have been extended to the majority of hospitals including those providing cancer therapies. Whilst studies have been conducted on the impact and effectiveness of hospital smoke-free policy in the UK and other countries, there have not been any studies with a focus on cancer care providers. Cancer patients are a priority group for smoking cessation and support and this study aimed to examine implementation of the National Institute Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance (PH48) in acute cancer care trusts in the UK. Methods: Participants were recruited from UK radiotherapy and chemotherapy departments (total 80 sites, 65 organisations) and asked to complete a 15 min online questionnaire exploring the implementation of NICE guidance at their hospital site. Results: Considerable variability in implementation of the NICE guidance was observed. A total of 79.1% trusts were smoke-free in theory; however, only 18.6% were described as smoke-free in practice. Areas of improvement were identified in information and support for patients and staff including in Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) provision, staff training and clarity on e-cigarette policies. Conclusions: While some trusts have effective smoke-free policies and provide valuable cessation support services for patients, improvements are required to ensure that all sites fully adopt the NICE guidance

Enhancing The Quality Of Health Information Online: Recommendations For Health Education Professionals

Health information is plentiful and easy to access online. However, the quality, accuracy, and safety of the information have rightly been called in to question. Never the less, the number of health consumers seeking health information online continues to grow. The web presents health education professionals with unique opportunities to enhance the quality of health information online and leverage new web-based media to expand health education outreach methods. Practical suggestions for health professionals to initiate greater web visibility with the goal of increasing the quality of health information online are offered

Conference: ESTRO 2023, Vienna. Oral Presentation: Design and evaluation of a virtual tour of a Radiotherapy department to improve patient experience

Oral presentation at ESTRO 2023, Vienna. Presented by Nicola Hutton. The abstract for this work was nominated for the "Elsevier Young Researcher Award"

CellLab-CTS 2015: continuous-time stochastic cellular automaton modeling using Landlab

CellLab-CTS 2015 is a Python-language software library for creating two-dimensional, continuous-time stochastic (CTS) cellular automaton models. The model domain consists of a set of grid nodes, with each node assigned an integer state code that represents its condition or composition. Adjacent pairs of nodes may undergo transitions to different states, according to a user-defined average transition rate. A model is created by writing a Python code that defines the possible states, the transitions, and the rates of those transitions. The code instantiates, initializes, and runs one of four object classes that represent different types of CTS models. CellLab-CTS provides the option of using either square or hexagonal grid cells. The software provides the ability to treat particular grid-node states as moving particles, and to track their position over time. Grid nodes may also be assigned user-defined properties, which the user can update after each transition through the use of a callback function. As a component of the Landlab modeling framework, CellLab-CTS models take advantage of a suite of Landlab's tools and capabilities, such as support for standardized input and output

Digital Support for Living with and Beyond Gynaecological Cancer

Introduction Gynae-Radiotherapy places exceptional psychosocial and physical burdens on patients. Technological developments and associated acute toxicity and survival outcomes have improved, however holistic support has not kept pace. Digital technologies have potential to enhance support and patient experience. The project aimed to co-create a prototype of a digital health intervention that could serve the needs of women living with and beyond treatment for gynaecological cancer. Methods A multi-disciplinary and co-creation approach was adopted. Four workshops were held, comprising of a number of activities to support participants’ expression of views and facilitate discussion. Methods included word cloud generation, prompt cards, empathy maps and persona creation, domain storylines and requirements identification. Results Support drops off dramatically once treatment is completed. Patients struggled to adjust to their ‘new normal’ and felt unprepared for changes post-treatment. Patients felt overwhelmed with leaflets yet wanted instant access to reliable and relevant information in one place, better information on late side effects and improved communication about sexual health and sexuality. Reassurance through a digital intervention was viewed positively and specific ideas for achieving this were suggested through: Sharing experiences; targeted practical advice; peer support and advice/support for significant others. Conclusion The co-creation of a prototype generated further discussion and an interactive prototype was developed. Based on workshop findings it is believed that the intervention could provide life-long support for women living with and beyond cancer. Implications for practice Increased focus is needed on the late effects of radiotherapy, specifically in supporting psychosocial wellbeing. Co-creation is a rewarding and fulfilling activity that met numerous aims beyond those of the project. It is recommended that mixed staff-patient groups are developed and adopted in more informal ways for the improvement of services