iBusy: Research on children, families, and smartphones

Within the past 10 years, mobile devices have been widely adopted by adults and are now present in the lives of almost all U.S. children. While phones are common, our understanding of what effect this technology has upon children\u27s development is lagging. Bioecological theory and attachment theory suggest that this new technology may be disruptive, especially to the degree to which it interferes with the parent-child relationship. This article reflects a National Organization for Human Services conference presentation and shares preliminary results from semi-structured interviews conducted with 18 youth, ages 7 through 11. Only four of eighteen interviewees voiced any negative thoughts concerning their parents’ use of mobile devices. However, those who reported feeling ignored by their parents experienced the negative emotions deeply. Themes that emerged from analysis of transcripts included devices as tools and boundaries

Hybrid PLCs: Building Collaboration Among Teachers in Different Schools

How do highly motivated teachers from different schools collaborate? We formed a hybrid PLC that included face-to-face meetings and online interactions to improve student learning

Nitrogen cycling and management decision making in Central Queensland farming systems – N availability and recovery across the farming system – N impacts on productivity – implications for management in CQ

Take home messages The nitrogen (N) fertiliser demand for cereal cropping systems can increase due to two factors: 1. A reduction in the amount of soil organic N mineralised due to the continued decline of natural capital (soil organic carbon and total nitrogen) that occurs under cropping; and 2. An increased crop N demand due to higher yield potentials resulting from optimising other components of the cropping system. The amount of biological N fixation by pulse crops (chickpea/mungbean) is related to the crop yield and biomass and the availability of soil mineral N from mineralisation or carry-over of residual fertiliser. Where deep phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) application increases chickpea biomass (and grain yield), there is generally more N fixed. While some of this is re-exported in grain, the greater residue return means more N is carried forward to the next crop. Growers have a selection of fertiliser N management practices that have differing strengths and weaknesses – it is not a one-size-fits-all model for CQ (or northern region) farming systems. The 4R framework allows choice of rate, source, time and place for any nutrient applied to be implemented suiting each growers’ preferences, with on-going research addressing several themes in regional Qld

Health-care interventions to promote and assist tobacco cessation: a review of efficacy, effectiveness and affordability for use in national guideline development

Aims: This paper provides a concise review of the efficacy, effectiveness and affordability of health-care interventions to promote and assist tobacco cessation, in order to inform national guideline development and assist countries in planning their provision of tobacco cessation support. Methods: Cochrane reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of major health-care tobacco cessation interventions were used to derive efficacy estimates in terms of percentage-point increases relative to comparison conditions in 6–12-month continuous abstinence rates. This was combined with analysis and evidence from ‘real world’ studies to form a judgement on the probable effectiveness of each intervention in different settings. The affordability of each intervention was assessed for exemplar countries in each World Bank income category (low, lower middle, upper middle, high). Based on World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, an intervention was judged as affordable for a given income category if the estimated extra cost of saving a life-year was less than or equal to the per-capita gross domestic product for that category of country. Results: Brief advice from a health-care worker given opportunistically to smokers attending health-care services can promote smoking cessation, and is affordable for countries in all World Bank income categories (i.e. globally). Proactive telephone support, automated text messaging programmes and printed self-help materials can assist smokers wanting help with a quit attempt and are affordable globally. Multi-session, face-to-face behavioural support can increase quit success for cigarettes and smokeless tobacco and is affordable in middle- and high-income countries. Nicotine replacement therapy, bupropion, nortriptyline, varenicline and cytisine can all aid quitting smoking when given with at least some behavioural support; of these, cytisine and nortriptyline are affordable globally. Conclusions: Brief advice from a health-care worker, telephone helplines, automated text messaging, printed self-help materials, cytisine and nortriptyline are globally affordable health-care interventions to promote and assist smoking cessation. Evidence on smokeless tobacco cessation suggests that face-to-face behavioural support and varenicline can promote cessation

Content analysis of public opinion on sexual expression and dementia: Implications for nursing home policy development

Citation: Syme, M. L., Yelland, E., Cornelison, L., Poey, J. L., Krajicek, R., & Doll, G. (2016). Content analysis of public opinion on sexual expression and dementia: Implications for nursing home policy development. Health Expectations. doi:10.1111/hex.12509Purpose: We examined public opinion of sexual expression and dementia to inform nursing home policy and practice. Design and Methods: A content analysis was conducted on public comments (N=1194) posted in response to a New York Times article about a highly publicized legal case involving a husband engaging in sexual acts with his wife who had dementia, living in a nursing home. Researchers utilized constant comparative analysis to code the comments; reliability analysis showed moderately strong agreement at the subcategory level. Data were also coded to indicate whether the commenter thought the couple should or should not have been allowed to be sexual. Results: One primary theme was identified: conditions necessary for someone to be sexual. Six categories were identified within this theme, with the public commentary considering factors such as marital relationships, intimacy needs and several sexual consent-related issues as key conditions necessary to be sexual in a nursing home setting. Overall, the majority of commenters were in support of sexual expression for an individual with dementia in the described situation. Discussion: This study revealed sexual expression among individuals with dementia is a contentious issue with strong public opinions about how this should be managed in a nursing home setting. These opinions should be considered as policy related to sexual expression in nursing homes is developed. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

The role of the Quality and Outcomes Framework in the care of long-term conditions: a systematic review

Background: Improving care for people with long-term conditions is central to NHS policy. It has been suggested that the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), a pay-for-performance scheme in primary care that rewards practices for delivering effective interventions in the management of longterm conditions, does not encourage high quality care for this group of patients. Aim: To examine the evidence that the QOF has improved quality of care of patients with long-term conditions. Design Systematic review Method We used electronic databases to search for peer-reviewed empirical quantitative research on the QOF published since the scheme’s introduction in 2004. We searched for studies examining the effect of QOF on a broad range of processes and outcomes of care, including coordination and integration of care, holistic and personalised care, self-care, patient experience, physiological and biochemical outcomes, health service utilisation, and mortality. We carried out a narrative synthesis because the studies were heterogeneous. Results: The QOF was associated with a modest slowing of the increase in emergency admission rates, a modest slowing of the increase in consultation rates in severe mental illness, and modest improvements in certain aspects of the care of diabetes. The nature of the evidence means that we cannot be sure that any of these associations is causal. No clear effect on mortality has been demonstrated. We found no evidence to suggest that QOF influences, positively or negatively, integration or coordination of care, holistic or personalised care, self-care, or patients’ experience, quality of life or satisfaction. Conclusion: The NHS should consider more broadly what constitutes high quality primary care for people with long-term conditions, and consider other ways of motivating primary care to deliver it

Educational development between faculty and administration

This essay employs Identity Theory to explore the professional identities of educational developers, arguing that it is important to pay attention to the different saliences, or weights, that developers attach to the faculty and administrative sides of their identities

Risks and benefits of bisphosphonates

Bone is the most common site for metastasis in cancer and is of particular clinical importance in breast and prostate cancers due to the prevalence of these diseases. Bone metastases result in considerable morbidity and complex demands on health care resources, affecting quality of life and independence over years rather than months. The bisphosphonates have been shown to reduce skeletal morbidity in multiple myeloma as well as a wide range of solid tumours affecting bone by 30–50%. Quite appropriately, these agents are increasingly used alongside anticancer treatments to prevent skeletal complications and relieve bone pain