Protocol for a mixed methods study investigating the impact of investment in housing, regeneration and neighbourhood renewal on the health and wellbeing of residents: the GoWell programme

Background: There is little robust evidence to test the policy assumption that housing-led area regeneration strategies will contribute to health improvement and reduce social inequalities in health. The GoWell Programme has been designed to measure effects on health and wellbeing of multi-faceted regeneration interventions on residents of disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Methods/Design: This mixed methods study focused (initially) on 14 disadvantaged neighbourhoods experiencing regeneration. These were grouped by intervention into 5 categories for comparison. GoWell includes a pre-intervention householder survey (n = 6008) and three follow-up repeat-cross sectional surveys held at two or three year intervals (the main focus of this protocol) conducted alongside a nested longitudinal study of residents from 6 of those areas. Self-reported responses from face-to-face questionnaires are analysed along with various routinely produced ecological data and documentary sources to build a picture of the changes taking place, their cost and impacts on residents and communities. Qualitative methods include interviews and focus groups of residents, housing managers and other stakeholders exploring issues such as the neighbourhood context, potential pathways from regeneration to health, community engagement and empowerment. Discussion: Urban regeneration programmes are 'natural experiments.' They are complex interventions that may impact upon social determinants of population health and wellbeing. Measuring the effects of such interventions is notoriously challenging. GoWell compares the health and wellbeing effects of different approaches to regeneration, generates theory on pathways from regeneration to health and explores the attitudes and responses of residents and other stakeholders to neighbourhood change

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Vers la compréhension de la décision éthique : une mesure redéfinie de l'intention d'agir de façon éthique

Johnson, J. and T. Coyle (2010). Toward understanding ethical decision Making : A Redefined Measure of Intent to Act ethically. International Journal of Strategic Decision Sciences (IJSDS), 1(4), 25-43.This paper proposes a step-wise methodology for the development of a scale measuring intent-to-act ethically. To test the robustness of the methodology, data from two different populations gathered from 75 students and 181 professionals were examined to ensure reliability in ethical workplace scenarios. In developing a construct measuring ethical intent, this paper fills a research gap in business ethics. The construction of scale-measuring items was based on a theory of intent, and issues identified from the human resource management literature related to reasons employees do not report perceived unethical behavior in the workplace. Tested for social desirability bias, the results show that the proposed scale offers an improved reliability for assessing behavioral intent related to ethical decision-making. With these findings, the paper provides a potential new tool for research that relies on a measure of ethical intent as a proxy for ethical behavior.Cet article propose une méthodologie par étape afin de développer une échelle de mesure de l’intention d’agir de façon éthique. Afin de tester la robustesse de la méthodologie, des données issues de deux populations différentes, recueillies auprès de 75 étudiants et 181 professionnels, ont été étudiées pour nous assurer de la fiabilité de scénarios éthiques en contexte professionnel. En développant un construit mesurant l’intention éthique, cet article comble un vide de la recherche en éthique des affaires. La construction des items de l’échelle de mesure est fondée sur une théorie de l’intention et sur des questions identifiées à partir de la littérature en gestion des ressources humaines relatives aux raisons pour lesquelles des employés ne dénoncent pas les comportements jugés contraires à l’éthique sur leur lieu de travail. Soumis à un test du biais de désirabilité sociale, les résultats montrent que l’échelle proposée offre une plus grande fiabilité pour évaluer l’intention comportementale relative à la décision éthique. Outre ces résultats, l’article fournit un nouvel outil potentiel pour les recherches reposant sur une mesure de l’intention éthique comme proxy du comportement éthique

Living with falls:house-bound older people's experiences of health and community care

Despite world-wide emphasis on falls prevention, falls and their consequences remain a major health issue for older people, and their health care providers. Many systematic reviews have been undertaken to evaluate the impact of intervention programmes on falls reduction, however relatively little research provides a voice for older people’s own perceptions of such programmes. To readdress this imbalance the current research aimed to investigate the experiences of a hard to reach group of older people who had received a post-fall health and social care programme. Semi-structured interviews with eight house-bound people aged over 65 were undertaken, and data analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Four themes were identified: Losing independence; losing confidence; losing social identity; managing a changed self. Despite a tailored intervention programme minimal improvement in participants’ psychological adjustment to falls was noted. Outcomes from this study are of interest to health and social care staff who deliver falls prevention programmes. Staff need to enhance constructive adjustment to the older person’s altered circumstances and ensure their behaviours do not exacerbate their clients’ loss of independence. This should assist older people’s ability to positively manage their sense of self, allowing them to find continuing meaning in their daily lives