Effectiveness and Efficiency of Persuasive Space Graphics (PSG) in Motivating UK Primary School Children’s Hand Hygiene

Good hand hygiene is necessary to control and prevent infections, but many children do not adequately wash their hands. While there are classroom communications targeted at children, the toilet space, the location of many hand hygiene activities, is neglected. This paper describes an initial evaluation of “123” persuasive space graphics (images and messages integrated within an architectural environment that encourage specific actions). The effectiveness (whether hand hygiene improves) and efficiency (the ease with which a setting can adopt and implement an intervention) is evaluated in three UK schools and one museum. Five evaluations (participant demographic, handwashing frequency, handwashing quality, design persuasiveness, stakeholder views) were conducted. In the school settings, persuasive space graphics increased the quality and frequency of handwashing. In the museum setting, frequency of handwashing slightly increased. In all settings children found the graphics persuasive, and stakeholders also believed them to be effective. Stakeholders considered persuasive space graphics a low-cost and time-efficient way to communicate. It can be concluded that persuasive space graphics are effective in increasing hand hygiene, particularly in school settings where children have a longer exposure to the graphics. Persuasive space graphics are also an efficient low-cost means of communicating hand hygiene

University of Southampton Insurance Law Research Group – Written evidence (AUV0031).

Submitted to House of Lords enquiry on autonomous vehicles

Childhood cancer incidence in South Africa, 1987 - 2007

Background. Childhood cancer is an emerging problem in Africa. Its extent is hazy because data are scarce, but it should be addressed. This is the first report from the South African Children’s Tumour Registry (SACTR), which covers the whole of South Africa (SA). It provides minimal estimates of cancer incidence and discusses the challenges of cancer surveillance and control in a child population in a middleincome country. Only about 2% of the African population is covered by cancer registries producing comparable incidence data.Objective. To present and interpret incidence patterns and trends of childhood cancer over a 21-year period. The results should raise awareness of the problem of childhood cancer in an African population and provide sensible data for taking this problem in hand.Methods. All eligible and validated cancer cases registered in the SACTR over the period 1987 - 2007 and classified according to the International Classification of Childhood Cancer were included. Population data were retrieved from official sources and estimated for the population subcategories. Incidence rates were standardised to the world standard and time trends were evaluated using joinpoint models, adjusting for sex and age.Results. Based on the 11 699 cases, the overall age-standardised average annual incidence rate was 45 per million. Threefold differences in the overall incidence rates were observed between the ethnic groups, ranging from 116 for whites to 37 for black Africans, and they differed by diagnostic group. Differences between the nine provinces of SA relate to the ethnic composition and prevailing socioeconomic status. The overall incidence rate declined by 1.2% per year for the whole country (p<0.01). However, the decline was mainly observed during the first few years of the study period, after which rates stabilised or increased.Conclusions. Diagnosis and notification of childhood cancer should improve. The differences in incidence between ethnic groups suggest the priorities for cancer control

Service Excellence Library Project: Improving student and researcher access to teaching and learning resources

This paper describes a project aimed at making library book management processes more efficient in terms of time and staff resources. The ultimate aim was to improve access to a university library’s teaching and learning resources for students and academics alike while maintaining the high levels of library service already established. The paper describes how the Lean Six Sigma approach to process improvement was applied at the main library of a major Australian research university, a large library of over two million items. Advocates of the Lean Six Sigma approach to process reengineering have wondered whether it is applicable to the complex educational sector or whether it would be feasible to implement the approach in the sector. The success of this first completed Lean Six Sigma project at a major Australian research university shows that Lean Six Sigma approaches to process improvement can work in a university setting, leading to lasting improvements in efficiency. This paper describes the research used to measure and analyse the pre-existing process used for library returns and demonstrates how a 52% reduction in the number of individual process steps involved was achieved. This means that library books and journals are now returned to shelves, on average, point eight (0.8) of a day earlier than they previously were. With a book cycle of about ten days, from initial lending to final return to shelves, this roughly equates to an eight percent improvement in the availability of these teaching and learning resources. It is interesting to speculate that to achieve the same eight percent increase in availability of resources through an acquisitions program would involve buying 160,000 extra copies of books and journal issues. At an average book cost of $30 each this would be a substantial total. A conclusion of this project is that applying a business oriented philosophy involving Lean Six Sigma techniques to a university is a viable and effective strategy to improve the pace and quality of efficiency improvements in such settings.Clive R. Boddy, Nicole Stones, Richard Clark, Simon Bodie, Mark Williams, John Williams & Susan Stuar

The contribution of qualitative research within the PRECISE study in sub-Saharan Africa.

The PRECISE Network is a cohort study established to investigate hypertension, fetal growth restriction and stillbirth (described as "placental disorders") in Kenya, Mozambique and The Gambia. Several pregnancy or birth cohorts have been set up in low- and middle-income countries, focussed on maternal and child health. Qualitative research methods are sometimes used alongside quantitative data collection from these cohorts. Researchers affiliated with PRECISE are also planning to use qualitative methods, from the perspective of multiple subject areas. This paper provides an overview of the different ways in which qualitative research methods can contribute to achieving PRECISE's objectives, and discusses the combination of qualitative methods with quantitative cohort studies more generally.We present planned qualitative work in six subject areas (health systems, health geography, mental health, community engagement, the implementation of the TraCer tool, and respectful maternity care). Based on these plans, with reference to other cohort studies on maternal and child health, and in the context of the methodological literature on mixed methods approaches, we find that qualitative work may have several different functions in relation to cohort studies, including informing the quantitative data collection or interpretation. Researchers may also conduct qualitative work in pursuit of a complementary research agenda. The degree to which integration between qualitative and quantitative methods will be sought and achieved within PRECISE remains to be seen. Overall, we conclude that the synergies resulting from the combination of cohort studies with qualitative research are an asset to the field of maternal and child health

The lived experience of discrimination by white women in committed interracial relationships with black men

Abstract: This study explores the experiences of discrimination by white women in committed interracial relationships with black men within the South African context from a descriptive phenomenological perspective. Three white females in committed interracial relationships with black males were recruited and interviewed. Open-ended interviews were conducted in order to elicit rich and in-depth first-person descriptions of the participants’ lived experiences of discrimination as a result of being in committed interracial relationships. The data analysis entailed a descriptive phenomenological content analysis and description. The results of this study suggest that white women in committed interracial relationships with black men experienced discrimination in various contexts where discrimination manifests as either a negative or a positive encounter; in addition, discrimination evokes various emotional responses and is coped with in either maladaptive or adaptive ways. Finally the experience of discrimination, although personal, necessarily impacts on the interracial relationship. Discrimination experienced by white women in committed interracial relationships with black men is thus multi-layered and both an intra-personal and inter-personal phenomenon