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Structured Way (structured + way)
Selected AbstractsCross-linguistic transfer of phonological skills: a Malaysian perspectiveDYSLEXIA, Issue 1 2002Caroline Gomez Abstract This study examined the phonological and reading performance in English of Malaysian children whose home language was Bahasa Malaysia (BM). A sample of 69 Malaysian Standard Two pupils (aged 7,8 years) was selected for the study. Since commencing school at the age of 6 years, the children had been learning to read in BM and had subsequently also been learning to read in English for some 12 months. The study was part of a larger scale research programme that fully recognized the limitations of tests that had not been developed and standardized in Malaysia. Nevertheless, as a first step to developing such tests, a comparison with existing norms for the Phonological Assessment Battery (PhAB) and the Wechsler Objective Reading Dimension (WORD) was undertaken in relation to information about the children's L1 and L2 language competencies. Results showed that the children's performance on PhAB was at least comparable to the UK norms while, not surprisingly, they fared less well on WORD. The results are discussed in terms of L1 and L2 transfer, whereby the transparency of written BM and the structured way in which reading is taught in BM facilitates performance on phonological tasks in English. This has implications for identifying children with phonologically based reading difficulties. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Quality assurance of specialised treatment of eating disorders using large-scale internet-based collection systems: Methods, results and lessons learned from designing the Stepwise databaseEUROPEAN EATING DISORDERS REVIEW, Issue 4 2010Andreas Birgegård Abstract Computer-based quality assurance of specialist eating disorder (ED) care is a possible way of meeting demands for evaluating the real-life effectiveness of treatment, in a large-scale, cost-effective and highly structured way. The Internet-based Stepwise system combines clinical utility for patients and practitioners, and provides research-quality naturalistic data. Stepwise was designed to capture relevant variables concerning EDs and general psychiatric status, and the database can be used for both clinical and research purposes. The system comprises semi-structured diagnostic interviews, clinical ratings and self-ratings, automated follow-up schedules, as well as administrative functions to facilitate registration compliance. As of June 2009, the system is in use at 20 treatment units and comprises 2776 patients. Diagnostic distribution (including subcategories of eating disorder not otherwise specified) and clinical characteristics are presented, as well as data on registration compliance. Obstacles and keys to successful implementation of the Stepwise system are discussed, including possible gains and on-going challenges inherent in large-scale, Internet-based quality assurance. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. [source] A collaborative approach to embedding graduate primary care mental health workers in the UK National Health ServiceHEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 5 2008Janine Fletcher MSc Abstract The UK National Health Service (NHS) workforce has recently seen the arrival of the Graduate Mental Health Worker (GMHW) in primary care. We established a Quality Improvement Collaborative to assist in embedding this new workforce in one Strategic Health Authority Area of England. The intervention utilised ,collaborative' technology which involves bringing together groups of practitioners from different organizations to work in a structured way to improve the quality of their service. The process was evaluated by an action research project in which all stakeholders participated. Data collection was primarily qualitative. During the project, there was an increase in throughput of new patients seen by the GMHWs and increased workforce satisfaction with a sense that the collaborative aided the change process within the organizations. Involvement of managers and commissioners from the Primary Care Trusts where the GMHWs were employed appeared to be important in achieving change. This was not, however, sufficient to combat significant attrition of the first cohort of workers. The project identified several barriers to the successful implementation of a new workforce for mental health problems in primary care, including widespread variation in the level and quality of supervision and in payment and terms of service of workers. A collaborative approach can be used to support the development of new roles in health care; however, full engagement from management is particularly necessary for success in implementation. The problems faced by GMHWs reflect those faced by other new workers in healthcare settings, yet in some ways are even more disturbing given the lack of governance arrangements put in place to oversee these developments and the apparent use of relatively unsupported and inexperienced novices as agents of change in the NHS. [source] Decision process support for participatory democracyJOURNAL OF MULTI CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS, Issue 1-2 2008Mats Danielson Abstract This paper presents a project and case study integrating decision methods into democratic processes. The case discussed is a set of three complicated decisions in a municipality in Sweden. The decisions had been postponed on several occasions prior to bringing in the method described in the paper. The method employed consists of two main parts. The interaction part contains the communication channels directed to the stakeholders. The decision-process part consists of a three-layered working process model. As a part of the method, the project was highly visible on the web. Citizens were encouraged to submit material to the project. All intermediate results of the process were continuously published, enhancing transparency. For each decision, the analysis consisted of comparing all alternatives, taking the respective criteria into account as weighted or ranked by the participants. A method for recording compromises analytically was also used. The purpose was not to replace the political process but to support it in a structured way. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] An algorithm to derive a numerical daily dose from unstructured text dosage instructions,PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 3 2006Anoop D. Shah BSc Abstract Purpose The General Practice Research Database (GPRD) is a database of longitudinal patient records from general practices in the United Kingdom. It is an important data source for pharmacoepidemiology studies, but until now it has been tedious to calculate the daily dose and duration of exposure to drugs prescribed. This is because general practitioners routinely record dosage instructions as free text rather than in a structured way. The objective was to develop and assess the validity of an automated algorithm to derive the daily dose from text dosage instructions. Methods A computer program was developed to derive numerical information from unstructured text dosage instructions. It was tested on dosage texts from a random sample of one million prescription entries. A random sample of 1000 of these converted texts were manually checked for their accuracy. Results Out of the sample of one million prescription entries, 74.5% had text containing the daily dose, 14.5% had text but did not include a quantitative daily dose statement and 11.0% had no text entered. Of the 1000 texts which were checked manually, 767 stated the daily dose. The program interpreted 758 (98.8%) of these correctly, produced errors in four cases and failed to extract the dose from five texts. Conclusions An automated algorithm has been developed which can accurately extract the daily dose from almost 99% of general practitioners' text dosage instructions. It increases the utility of GPRD and other prescription data sources by enabling researchers to estimate the duration of drug exposure more efficiently. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||