Poetry Beyond Text: Vision, Text and Cognition

Poetry Beyond Text: Vision, Text and Cognition is a multi-disciplinary research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and based at the Universities of Dundee and Kent. The project uses methods from literary criticism, aesthetics, experimental psychology, fine art and creative practice to study how readers respond to hybrid works which combine the textual with the visual, including digital poetry, concrete and visual poetry, artists' books, text film and poetry combined with photography. In a culture marked by rapidly diversifying forms of visual and textual presentation, the interaction of textual and graphic forms is crucial to the development of critical, creative and scientific thought. There is much relevant research taking place within humanities, art practice and psychology, but only a small body of work links all these disciplines

Doing ESRC Data Better: Appendices

Appendix 1 Survey responses: tables showing frequency of responses to each of the statements Appendix 2 Survey respondent characteristics Appendix 3 Survey questions Appendix 4 Focus group guiding questions and topic guide

Doing ESRC Data Better: Appendices

Appendix 1 Survey responses: tables showing frequency of responses to each of the statements Appendix 2 Survey respondent characteristics Appendix 3 Survey questions Appendix 4 Focus group guiding questions and topic guide

Systematic Techniques to Enhance rEtention in Randomised controlled trials: the STEER study protocol

Background Non-retention of participants seriously affects the credibility of clinical trial results and significantly reduces the potential of a trial to influence clinical practice. Non-retention can be defined as instances where participants leave the study prematurely. Examples include withdrawal of consent and loss to follow-up and thus outcome data cannot be obtained. The majority of existing interventions targeting retention fail to describe any theoretical basis for the observed improvement, or lack of improvement. Moreover, most of these interventions lack involvement of participants in their conception and/or design, raising questions about their relevance and acceptability. Many of the causes of non-retention involve people performing a behaviour (e.g. not returning a questionnaire). Behaviour change is difficult, and the importance of a strong theoretical basis for interventions that aim to change behaviour is increasingly recognised. This research aims to develop and pilot theoretically informed, participant-centred, evidence-based behaviour change interventions to improve retention in trials. Methods This research will generate data through semi-structured interviews on stakeholders’ perspectives of the reasons for trial non-retention. It will identify perceived barriers and enablers to trial retention using the Theoretical Domains Framework. The intervention development work will involve identification of behaviour change techniques, using recognised methodology, and co-production of retention interventions through discussion groups with end-users. An evaluation of intervention acceptability and feasibility will be conducted in focus groups. Finally, a ready-to-use evaluation framework to deploy in Studies Within A Trial as well as an explanatory retention framework will be developed for identifying and tackling modifiable issues to improve trial retention. Discussion We believe this to be one of the first studies to apply a theoretical lens to the development of interventions to improve trial retention that have been informed by, and are embedded within, participants’ experiential accounts. By developing and identifying priority interventions this study will support efforts to reduce research waste

Identifying care-home residents in routine healthcare datasets:a diagnostic test accuracy study of five methods

Background: there is no established method to identify care-home residents in routine healthcare datasets. Methods matching patient’s addresses to known care-home addresses have been proposed in the UK, but few have been formally evaluated. Study design: prospective diagnostic test accuracy study. Methods: four independent samples of 5,000 addresses from Community Health Index (CHI) population registers were sampled for two NHS Scotland Health Boards on 1 April 2017, with one sample of adults aged ≥65 years and one of all residents. To derive the reference standard, all 20,000 addresses were manually adjudicated as ‘care-home address’ or not. The performance of five methods (NHS Scotland assigned CHI Institution Flag, exact address matching, postcode matching, Phonics and Markov) was evaluated compared to the reference standard. Results: the CHI Institution Flag had a high PPV 97–99% in all four test sets, but poorer sensitivity 55–89%. Exact address matching failed in every case. Postcode matching had higher sensitivity than the CHI flag 78–90%, but worse PPV 77–85%. Area under the receiver operating curve values for Phonics and Markov scores were 0.86–0.95 and 0.93–0.98, respectively. Phonics score with cut-off ≥13 had PPV 92–97% with sensitivity 72–87%. Markov PPVs were 90–95% with sensitivity 69–90% with cut-off ≥29.6. Conclusions: more complex address matching methods greatly improve identification compared to the existing NHS Scotland flag or postcode matching, although no method achieved both sensitivity and positive predictive value > 95%. Choice of method and cut-offs will be determined by the specific needs of researchers and practitioners

Non-clinical community interventions: a systematised review of social prescribing schemes

Abstract Background: This review focused on evaluation of United Kingdom social prescribing schemes published in peer-reviewed journals and reports. Schemes, including arts, books, education, and exercise ‘on prescription’ refer patients to community sources of non-clinical intervention. Method: A systematised review protocol appraised primary research material evaluating social prescribing schemes published 2000-15. Searches were performed in electronic databases using keywords, and articles were screened for evaluation of patient data, referral process, assessment method and outcomes; non-evaluated articles were excluded. Results: Of 86 schemes located including pilots, 40 evaluated primary research material: 17 used quantitative methods including six randomised controlled trials; 16 qualitative methods, and seven mixed methods; 9 exclusively involved arts on prescription. Conclusions: Outcomes included increase in self-esteem and confidence; improvement in mental wellbeing and positive mood; and reduction in anxiety, depression and negative mood. Despite positive findings, the review identifies a number of gaps in the evidence base and makes recommendations for future evaluation and implementation of referral pathways

Assessing the state of the art in community engagement for participatory decision-making in disaster risk-sensitive urban development

Vulnerable communities are often marginalized in the decision-making process in urban development due to barriers to community entry and challenges for community engagement. The state-of-the-art on these constraints' limits to a specific region, state, or a context; thus, the knowledge is scattered and not forming a global perspective on how and why communities' engagement in urban development has been hindered. Having a sound understanding of the existing barriers and challenges to community inclusive decision-making process is paramount for finding solutions for transforming current practices towards equitable urban development. Accordingly, this comprehensive, structured literature review aims to consolidate literature of the current challenges and barriers to community-driven decision-making in urban development and of the potential solutions to overcome them. A structured literature review covering indexed publications from 2010 to 2020 was carried out to identify and classify barriers/challenges and solutions that exist at present. Following a systematic filtering process, a total of 63 out of 1324 research contributions have been considered for an in-depth analysis. The study found 48 barriers and challenges regarding the current context, available infrastructure for community engagement, and current decision-making processes. Of all, the lack of communities' knowledge and awareness, absence of meaningful community engagement, and ill-defined aims and purpose of community engagement were identified as the topmost constraints. By synthesising the current research, the study found that these barriers can potentially be overcome through attitude transformation and capacity building of both community and professionals, investment in community engagement, and changes to present stakeholder engagement processes and policies

Uncovering the Environment: The Use of Public Access to Environmental Information, 2018-2019

This project examined whether the policy of providing access to environmental information has successfully engaged the public and achieved the intended environmental benefits. The data collection consists of data from interviews and surveys with members of the public and with public authorities about access to environmental information in Scotland.This project examines whether the policy of providing access to environmental information has successfully engaged the public and achieved the intended environmental benefits. Analysis of statistical data, questionnaires and interviews will show how the right to access this information is being used. The findings will be placed in their context to see whether access to information is making a difference to public participation and substantive outcomes in environmental regulation. The right to access information held by public authorities has been a major feature in changes to governance in recent decades. Parallel to this has been the establishment of a specific public right of access to environmental information. In addition to the reasons for wider freedom of information (seeking greater openness and transparency, increasing scrutiny and accountability, encouraging public trust and participation in governmental procedures) this has been driven by a desire to enhance environmental protection, "[r]ecognizing that, in the field of the environment, improved access to information and public participation in decision-making enhance the quality and the implementation of decisions, contribute to public awareness of environmental issues, give the public the opportunity to express its concerns and enable public authorities to take due account of such concerns" (Aarhus Convention). There are separate laws at international, EU and national levels ensuring the right of access to environmental information, distinct from wider freedom of information legislation. Moreover, for environmental information in the UK, emphasis was placed on making data available on publicly accessible registers rather than simply entitling members of the public to make specific requests for information held by public authorities. This project will evaluate the impact of access to environmental information by examining how the right of access is being used in practice and how far the objectives noted above are being satisfied. This will be achieved by examining the scale and nature of the use of the right, studying who is seeking information, what sort of information is being sought and what use is being made of it and gathering the experiences of those holding information, those using it and those affected by it. This will be achieved by gathering data on requests for information and on usage of the information which is proactively disseminated, through research with those holding and obtaining information, as well as with regulatory bodies affected by the deployment of the knowledge obtained. The project will focus on Scotland which provides a large, varied but manageable study area where the researchers have strong collaboration with the key public bodies and the expertise to put findings into the wider context of environmental debates, conflicts and policies. This research will benefit those concerned with environmental matters and freedom of information. Members of the public (including politicians, the media and NGOs) will gain a better understanding of the actual and potential use of information rights and see examples of their effective use to influence and scrutinise government, on policy, procedure and substantive decisions. Public authorities holding environmental information will gain an awareness of how the right of access is being used, informing their procedures for handling requests and their policies on what information should be published pro-actively. Insight can be gained into easing the burdens of fulfilling the legal requirements and how the governance processes can be made more efficient and effective. For the Scottish Information Commissioner and others charged with oversight of public access to information, the understanding of who is seeking what information and using it in what ways will enable them to tailor their advice and support, for members of the public and public authorities, in order to benefit all concerned.</p