Psychological and educational interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows:To assess the effects (benefits and harms) of psychological interventions (such as cognitive behavioural therapy) (with or without an education component) for preventing falls in older people living in the community.To assess the effects (benefits and harms) of educational interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community

Economies for healthier lives: link up Leigh Park setting the scene report

This report has been written to provide a background for the programme, as well as a current overview of Leigh Park and how the area compares to the whole of the borough, the county and the nation. It will focus on four leading factors impacting the health and economic inequalities in the area. The specific details of these factors will be used to monitor and evaluate the progress and outcomes of the programme until its end date of September 2024. The four factors that will be elaborated on are: economic, social, environmental and health. As the programme partners explore and identify the opportunities and challenges that young people in Leigh Park experience, it is an aim that a suite of interventions will be developed alongside a series of metrics to measure programme outcomes

Evaluation of the ACE employment programme: helping employers to make tailored adjustments for their autistic employees

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the views of autistic people, carers and practitioners regarding the barriers autistic employees face at work (Study 1) and to use these views to inform the design of an employment programme for autistic employees without learning disabilities (Study 2). Design/methodology/approach In Study 1, 16 (20%) carers, 17 (21%) practitioners and 47 (59%) autistic adults who had been or were currently employed, answered a survey regarding barriers at work. Study 2 evaluates the efficacy of a set of profiling assessment tools (PA) developed to help employers make individually-tailored adjustments for their autistic employees by delivering an employment programme consisting of 15, 8-week work placements. Findings In Study 1, only 25% of autistic adults reported having had adjustments in the workplace and all groups reported this as the main barrier – alongside employers’ lack of understanding. Two sets of results demonstrate the efficacy of the PA tools in addressing this barrier. First, a comparative cost simulation revealed a cost-saving in terms of on-job support of £6.67 per participant per hour worked relative to published data from another programme. Second, 83% of autistic employees reported having had the right adjustments at work. Research limitations/implications This is an exploratory study that did not include a comparison group. Hence, it was not possible to evaluate the efficacy of the PA tools relative to a standard employment programme intervention, nor to assess cost reduction, which currently is only estimated from already available published data. Practical implications Overall the findings from these studies demonstrate that the time invested in the high-quality assessment of the profile of autistic employees results in saving costs over time and better outcomes. Originality/value The originality of the Autism Centre for Employment programme resides in that, unlike other programmes, it shifts the focus from helping autistic employees to helping their employers

Handler beliefs affect scent detection dog outcomes

Our aim was to evaluate how human beliefs affect working dog outcomes in an applied environment. We asked whether beliefs of scent detection dog handlers affect team performance and evaluated relative importance of human versus dog influences on handlers’ beliefs. Eighteen drug and/or explosive detection dog/handler teams each completed two sets of four brief search scenarios (conditions). Handlers were falsely told that two conditions contained a paper marking scent location (human influence). Two conditions contained decoy scents (food/toy) to encourage dog interest in a false location (dog influence). Conditions were (1) control; (2) paper marker; (3) decoy scent; and (4) paper marker at decoy scent. No conditions contained drug or explosive scent; any alerting response was incorrect. A repeated measures analysis of variance was used with search condition as the independent variable and number of alerts as the dependent variable. Additional nonparametric tests compared human and dog influence. There were 225 incorrect responses, with no differences in mean responses across conditions. Response patterns differed by condition. There were more correct (no alert responses) searches in conditions without markers. Within marked conditions, handlers reported that dogs alerted more at marked locations than other locations. Handlers’ beliefs that scent was present potentiated handler identification of detection dog alerts. Human more than dog influences affected alert locations. This confirms that handler beliefs affect outcomes of scent detection dog deployments