WISH (Well-being Intervention for Self-managing Health): A feasibility work-based self-management intervention for employees with long-term health conditions

Aim: The aim of this feasibility study is to design and evaluate the effectiveness of providing a self-management workplace intervention to employees with long-term health conditions, working in a Civil Service Department. Method: The WISH intervention (Well-being Intervention for Self-managing Health) was delivered in four-weekly sessions to two intervention groups, and compared to a waiting-list control group. 33 individuals took part in the study, with 21 participants (17 = female; 4 = male) taking part in the intervention, and 12 participants (11 = female; 1 = male) in the waiting-list control group. The Individual outcomes were competence, Self-efficacy, and well-being. The Organisational outcomes were: Absenteeism, Presenteeism, and Work-engagement. Measures included the Perceived Competency Scale (PCS); the Stanford Self-Efficacy for Managing Chronic Diseases (CDSE); the Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS-6); the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES); a modified version of the Gallup-Healthways Well-being Index; and a study-specific demographic questionnaire. Baseline data was taken at pre-intervention, followed by subsequent data being recorded at post-intervention, 3-months and 6-months. Results: The intervention demonstrated significant increase for Competence, Self-efficacy and Well-being over the 6-month period. A significant decrease in Absenteeism was also found over the 6-month period of the study. There were no differences found for primary health diagnosis, gender, or age. Conclusion: The feasibility study found the WISH workplace intervention, for employees with long-term health conditions, to be an effective programme for reducing organisational absenteeism in those with health concerns, but equally a beneficial and positive experience for the individual employees in empowering them to manage their health and well-being within the workplace setting

The Role of Health Shocks in Quitting Smoking

The European Union has stated interest in assessing the effectiveness and relevance of its messages about the adverse consequences of smoking in the context of its tobacco control policy. In the absence of disaggregated data on the direct relationship between health information and smoking decisions, we follow Clark et al. (2002) and investigate the impact of health shocks on the probability to quit daily smoking using eight waves of the European Union Community Household Panel (ECHP). Our intention is to assess whether individuals learn from changes in health i.e. successfully update new information about the consequences of tobacco consumption. As self assessed health is subjective and prone to reporting bias, we instrument self assessed health using “objective" health indicators and the socio-demographic variable age; the resulting variable is then used to model continuous and discrete changes in health, termed as health shocks. Estimating a discrete time hazard model with gamma distributed frailty, we find evidence that objective discrete health shocks increase the probability to quit daily smoking. Stratifying by gender reveals that in particular men above 55 quit following a negative health shock while the results for women are not statistically significant. Assuming that the increased hazard rate for men is associated with an increased perceived risk of coronary artery disease, we conclude that specific information about smoking related health shocks are the most effective health warnings. Online-Version published by Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin (www.univerlag.tu-berlin.de)

Raising the D-dimer threshold for ruling out pulmonary embolism: A single-site, observational study with a historical comparison

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the impact of introduction of a new pulmonary embolism (PE) diagnostic guideline with a raised D-dimer threshold. Methods: This is a single-site, observational, cohort study with a historical comparison. The new guideline raised the D-dimer threshold to 1000 ng/mL for most patients with a Wells' score of 4 or less. Patients investigated for PE with a D-dimer level and/or definitive imaging in 6-month periods before and after the introduction of the guideline were eligible. Patients with D-dimers of 500–1000 ng/mL were prospectively followed up at 3 months for missed PE. Results: During the pre-intervention period, 688 patients were investigated for PE, 366 (53.2%) received definitive imaging and 39 PE were diagnosed (5.7% overall, 10.7% of those imaged). For the 121 patients with D-dimers ≥500 and <1000 ng/mL, 87 (71.9%) were imaged with 7 (5.8%) having a PE diagnosed. Post intervention there were 930 patients, of which 426 (45.8%) received definitive chest imaging and there were 50 patients with PE diagnosed (5.4% overall, 11.7% of those imaged). For the 185 patients with D-dimers ≥500 and <1000 ng/mL, 60 (32.4%) were imaged with 5 (2.7%) having PE diagnosed. No cases of missed PE were identified at 3 months. Conclusion: The introduction of the new guideline was associated with a reduction in overall imaging rates without evidence of missed PE. Further evaluation in other settings is recommended

DSpace Under the Hood: How DSpace works

Whilst you don't need to be a mechanic to drive a car, it is helpful if you have a basic understanding of how a car works, what bits do different jobs, and how to top up your oil and pump up your tyres / tires. This presentation will give an overview of the DSpace architecture, and will give you enough knowledge to understand how DSpace works. By knowing this, you will also learn about ways DSpace could be used, and ways in which it can't be used

DSpace Under the Hood: How DSpace works

Whilst you don't need to be a mechanic to drive a car, it is helpful if you have a basic understanding of how a car works, what bits do different jobs, and how to top up your oil and pump up your tyres / tires. This presentation will give an overview of the DSpace architecture, and will give you enough knowledge to understand how DSpace works. By knowing this, you will also learn about ways DSpace could be used, and ways in which it can't be used

DSpace Under the Hood: The development process and YOUR role in it

DSpace development in undertaken by the DSpace community. No one, or no organisation is in charge, and without contributions from the DSpace community the platform would not continue to develop and evolve. Sometimes it can appear that there are people in charge, or that unless you are a technical developer then there is no way or need to contribute. This presentation will explain how DSpace development usually takes place, where and who has input at different stages, and will equip you to contribute further, or to help you contribute for the first time

DSpace Under the Hood: The development process and YOUR role in it

DSpace development in undertaken by the DSpace community. No one, or no organisation is in charge, and without contributions from the DSpace community the platform would not continue to develop and evolve. Sometimes it can appear that there are people in charge, or that unless you are a technical developer then there is no way or need to contribute. This presentation will explain how DSpace development usually takes place, where and who has input at different stages, and will equip you to contribute further, or to help you contribute for the first time

A systematic review of resilient performance in defence and security settings

A narrative systematic literature review was conducted to explore resilient performance in defence and security settings. A search strategy was employed across a total of five databases, searching published articles from 2001 onwards that assessed performance and optimal function in relation to resilience, in defence and security personnel. Following narrative synthesis, studies were assessed for quality. Thirty-two articles met inclusion criteria across a range of performance domains, including, but not limited to, course selection, marksmanship, land navigation, and simulated captivity. Some of the key findings included measures of mental toughness, confidence, and a stress-is-enhancing mindset being positively associated with performance outcomes. There was mixed evidence for the predictive value of biomarkers, although there was some support for cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) and neuropeptide-y (NPY), and vagal reactivity. Interventions to improve resilient performance were focused on mindfulness or general psychological skills, with effects generally clearer on cognitive tasks rather than direct performance outcomes in the field. In sum, no single measure, nor intervention was consistently associated with performance over a range of domains. To inform future work, findings from the present review have been used to develop a framework of resilient performance, with the aim to promote theoretically informed work