What counts as good evidence

Making better use of evidence is essential if public services are to deliver more for less. Central to this challenge is the need for a clearer understanding about standards of evidence that can be applied to the research informing social policy. This paper reviews the extent to which it is possible to reach a workable consensus on ways of identifying and labelling evidence. It does this by exploring the efforts made to date and the debates that have ensued. Throughout, the focus is on evidence that is underpinned by research, rather than other sources of evidence such as expert opinion or stakeholder views.Publisher PD

Missing in action? The role of the knowledge mobilisation literature in developing knowledge mobilisation practices

This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme (project number 11/2004/10).Despite a burgeoning literature and the development of new theories about knowledge mobilisation in the past 15 years, findings from this online survey in 2014 of over 100 research agencies (n=106; response rate 57%) show the challenges of making effective use of formal and informal learning. Many agencies rely on traditional knowledge ‘push’ activities; formal use of theoretical models and frameworks is patchy; and knowledge-sharing between agencies and the comprehensive evaluation of knowledge mobilisation programmes are limited. Closer links between research agencies, and between these and knowledge mobilisation researchers, could enhance future knowledge mobilisation practice and theory.PostprintPeer reviewe

“Así No Iré a la Cárcel”: Segundo Año del Programa Adaptado de PROMUNDO para Erradicar la Violencia Sexista

This paper presents evaluation results of a PROMUNDO-adapted program enacted to reduce gender-based violence among preadolescent boys.  Outcomes that are examined include promoting critical thinking regarding masculinity, aggression, and violence; fostering skills necessary for effective communication, prosocial emotional expression, and non-violent conflict resolution.  While quantitative findings in this small sample do not indicate statistically significant results, qualitative analyses indicate that participants were better equipped to express their emotions, particularly anger, and to resolve conflict in non-violent ways that may slow the school-to-prison pipeline.Este artículo presenta los resultados de evaluación de un programa adaptado de PROMUNDO, promovido para reducir la violencia sexista entre chicos preadolescentes. Es la continuación de un estudio piloto anterior del currículum del programa. Los resultados examinados incluyen fomentar el pensamiento crítico respecto a la masculinidad, la agresión y la violencia; fomentando las habilidades necesarias para la comunicación efectiva, la expresión de emociones prosocial y la resolución de conflictos de forma no violenta. Pese a que los resultados cuantitativos en esta muestra tan pequeña no indican resultados significativos estadísticamente, los análisis cualitativos indican que los participantes estaban mejor preparados para expresar sus emociones, especialmente la ira, y para resolver sus problemas de formas no violentas que podrían reducir el camino de la escuela a la cárcel — a la cual los chicos participantes estaban en riesgo de entrar

Revisiting the reduction of indoles by hydroboranes: A combined experimental and computational study

A combined experimental and density functional computational study was used to probe the mechanism for the reduction of indoles using simple borane BH3·DMS (DMS = dimethyl sulfide). Experimental and computational studies all steer to the formation of the reduced species 1-BH2-indolines as the resting state for this reaction, as opposed to the historically presumed formation of the unreduced 1-BH2-indoles, before the addition of a proton source to form the final product indolines. Furthermore, it was observed that molecular H2 was generated and consumed in the reaction. Computations put forward hydroboration followed by protodeborylation as the very reasonable mechanistic route for the formation of experimentally observed major intermediate 1-BH2 indolines. For the H2 consumption in the reaction, computations suggest the frustrated Lewis pair-type heterolytic splitting of H2 by a bis(3-indolinyl)borane intermediate

Integrated primary health care in Australia

Introduction: To fulfil its role of coordinating health care, primary health care needs to be well integrated, internally and with other health and related services. In Australia, primary health care services are divided between public and private sectors, are responsible to different levels of government and work under a variety of funding arrangements, with no overarching policy to provide a common frame of reference for their activities. <br><br> Description of policy: Over the past decade, coordination of service provision has been improved by changes to the funding of private medical and allied health services for chronic conditions, by the development in some states of voluntary networks of services and by local initiatives, although these have had little impact on coordination of planning. Integrated primary health care centres are being established nationally and in some states, but these are too recent for their impact to be assessed. Reforms being considered by the federal government include bringing primary health care under one level of government with a national primary health care policy, establishing regional organisations to coordinate health planning, trialling voluntary registration of patients with general practices and reforming funding systems. If adopted, these could greatly improve integration within primary health care. <br><br> Discussion: Careful change management and realistic expectations will be needed. Also other challenges remain, in particular the need for developing a more population and community oriented primary health care

A rapid review of integrated primary care centres and polyclinics

Integration within primary health care and with secondary care is a major policy concern in many countries, with integrated primary health care centres (IPHCs) often seen as a part of the solution. IPHCs in Australia include GP Super Clinics and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (national), HealthOne NSW (NSW) and GP Plus (SA) in Australia. Proposed national reforms recommend their broader establishment. This review examines what is known about the use and effectiveness of IPHCs in Australia and elsewhere and identifies what Australia can learn from this.The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy

Sago Versus Rice and the Reorganisation of Ritual Spacetime: Competing Modes of Dependency in an Age of Decentralisation in Asmat, Indonesian Papua

ABSTRACT: Asmat social worlds are permeated with multiple forms of dependency. In this paper, I ask how different modalities of dependency inter‐relate within the space and time of Asmat life, and how this is being reshaped by Asmat's increasing incorporation within broader structural orders during a period of national decentralisation. First, I describe how relations of dependency shape everyday life, through a discussion of the time and space of quotidian food distribution and concomitant claim‐making. Then, I outline how forms of inter‐clan interdependency innovate on the above pattern during ritual feasting, which generates remarkable social co‐presence through ritualised interdependent work. Finally, I explore how feasting interdependence, and its organisation in space and time, is being warped by ‘The Allocation of Village Funds’ (‘Alokasi Dana Desa’), a decentralised government grant. I do so via a case study of a ritual feast house construction project, in which Asmat villagers attempted to reckon with new forms of dependency typified, in indigenous discourse, by the distinction between ‘sago’ and ‘rice’ as local versus introduced staple foods associated with contrasting regimes of action. At stake here, in the collision between indigenous and newly emergent modes of dependency, is the viability of socially valuable modes of ritual life, which, in an age of decentralisation, are becoming shaped by and reliant on new types of forces outside of the community's own labour and control

Sensor optimization in smart insoles for post-stroke gait asymmetries using total variation and L1 distances

By deploying pressure sensors on insoles, the forces exerted by the different parts of the foot when performing tasks standing up can be captured. The number and location of sensors to use are important factors in order to enhance the accuracy of parameters used in assessment while minimizing the cost of the device by reducing the number of deployed sensors. Selecting the best locations and the required number of sensors depends on the application and the features that we want to assess. In this paper, we present a computational process to select the optimal set of sensors to characterize gait asymmetries and plantar pressure patterns for stroke survivors based upon the total variation and L1 distances. The proposed mechanism is ecologically validated in a real environment with 14 stroke survivors and 14 control users. The number of sensors is reduced to 4, minimizing the cost of the device both for commercial users and companies and enhancing the cost to benefit ratio for its uptake from a national healthcare system. The results show that the sensors that better represent the gait asymmetries for healthy controls are the sensors under the big toe and midfoot and the sensors in the forefoot and midfoot for stroke survivors. The results also show that all four regions of the foot (toes, forefoot, midfoot, and heel) play an important role for plantar pressure pattern reconstruction for stroke survivors, while the heel and forefoot region are more prominent for healthy controls

Mechanisms underpinning interventions to reduce sexual violence in armed conflict: A realist-informed systematic review

Sexual violence is recognised as a widespread consequence of armed conflict and other humanitarian crises. The limited evidence in literature on interventions in this field suggests a need for alternatives to traditional review methods, particularly given the challenges of undertaking research in conflict and crisis settings. This study employed a realist review of the literature on interventions with the aim of identifying the mechanisms at work across the range of types of intervention. The realist approach is an exploratory and theory-driven review method. It is well suited to complex interventions as it takes into account contextual factors to identify mechanisms that contribute to outcomes. The limited data available indicate that there are few deterrents to sexual violence in crises. Four main mechanisms appear to contribute to effective interventions: increasing the risk to offenders of being detected; building community engagement; ensuring community members are aware of available help for and responses to sexual violence; and safe and anonymous systems for reporting and seeking help. These mechanisms appeared to contribute to outcomes in multiple-component interventions, as well as those relating to gathering firewood, codes of conduct for personnel and legal interventions. Drawing on pre-existing capacity or culture in communities is an additional mechanism which should be explored. Though increasing the risk to offenders of being detected was assumed to be a central mechanism in deterring sexual violence, the evidence suggests that this mechanism operated only in interventions focused on gathering firewood and providing alternative fuels. The other three mechanisms appeared important to the likelihood of an intervention being successful, particularly when operating simultaneously. In a field where robust outcome research remains likely to be limited, realist methods provide opportunities to understand existing evidence. Our analysis identifies the important potential of building in mechanisms involving community engagement, awareness of responses and safe reporting provisions into the range of types of intervention for sexual violence in crises