Applying the Behaviour Change Wheel to UK Local Authority Policy Documents: A Content Analysis in the Context of Financial Behaviour.

Local authorities in the UK often try to improve their residents' financial well-being by promoting changes in behaviour. The extent to which these behaviour change activities are based on relevant theory or evidence is unknown. This research aims to retrospectively analyse the content of local authorities' policies to identify opportunities for improvement.

Improving the quality of written communication at patient discharge: triangulation of qualitative analyses and intervention co-design.

Background: Poor handovers between hospital and primary care threaten safe discharges, with elderly and frail patients most at risk of harm. Using Behavioural Science we explored influences and identified relevant behaviour change techniques (BCTs) to improve written handovers and safety during discharge.

Methods: We conducted two qualitative studies: (1) ethnographic observations (>80 h) collected by five researchers in five purposively sampled clinical areas of a London teaching hospital, investigating routine work and interactions of hospital staff involved in discharges; and (2) 12 semi-structured interviews with hospital staff involved in discharge exploring influences on preparations of written handovers.

Patients' Perspectives on Commencing Oral Anticoagulants in Atrial Fibrillation: An Exploratory Qualitative Descriptive Study.

Background: Oral anticoagulants (OACs) are prescribed to patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) in order to lower stroke risk. However, patient refusal to commence OACs hinders effective anticoagulation. This study aimed to explore barriers and facilitators to patient agreement to commence OACs from the perspectives of patients with AF attending Australian general practices.

Anticipated barriers and enablers to signing up for a weight management program after receiving an opportunistic referral from a general practitioner.

Introduction: General Practitioners (GP) are advised to opportunistically refer patients with overweight or obesity to a tier 2 weight management program, but few patients sign up after receiving the referral. Signing up to a weight management program is a behaviour, as such, behaviour change interventions are needed to increase sign ups. However, no research has explored the influences on signing up after an opportunistic referral specifically.

Use of a reference text by pharmacists, intern pharmacists and pharmacy students: a national cross-sectional survey.

Background: Reference texts assist pharmacists by addressing knowledge gaps and enabling evidence-based decisions when providing patient care. It is unknown whether reference text utilisation patterns differ between pharmacists, intern pharmacists and pharmacy students. To describe and compare the self-reported use and perceptions of a reference text, namely the national formulary, by pharmacists, intern pharmacists and pharmacy students.

Pharmacists' use of guidelines for the supply of non-prescription medicines: a cross-sectional survey.

Objectives: Guidelines support best practice for healthcare practice. In Australia, some non-prescription medicines are only accessible after consultation with a pharmacist and are known as Pharmacist Only medicines. Guidelines for providing some Pharmacist Only medicines are available, however, it is currently unknown if and how these guidelines are used in practice.

Behaviours that contribute to pharmacist professionalism: a scoping review.

Objectives: Clearly understanding and describing professional behaviours of pharmacists allows the profession, researchers and policy-makers to observe and monitor the professionalism of pharmacists, and design interventions to improve it where needed. The primary objective of this review was to identify which behaviours are discussed to contribute to professionalism in registered pharmacists in peer-reviewed literature. The secondary objective was to review the identified behaviours using a behavioural specification framework to understand how they are expressed.

Evaluating the Application of the RE-AIM Planning and Evaluation Framework: An Updated Systematic Review and Exploration of Pragmatic Application.

Background: RE-AIM is one of the most widely applied frameworks to plan and evaluate the implementation of public health and health behavior change interventions. The objective of this review is to provide an updated synthesis of use of the RE-AIM (Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation and Maintenance) planning and evaluation framework and explore pragmatic use (i.e.

Do pharmacy practice standards effectively describe behaviour? Reviewing practice standards using a behavioural specificity framework.

Background: Guidelines and practice standards exist to communicate the conduct and behaviour expected of health care professionals and ensure consistent quality practice. It is important that they describe behaviours explicitly so they can be interpreted, enacted and measured with ease. The AACTT framework specifies behaviour in terms of the: Action to be performed, Actor who performs the action, Context where the action occurs, Target who the action is performed with/for and Time when the action is performed (AACTT).

Use of professional practice guidance resources in pharmacy: a cross-sectional nationwide survey of pharmacists, intern pharmacists, and pharmacy students.

Background: Variations in practice are commonplace in healthcare where health professionals, such as pharmacists act as autonomous practitioners. This is evident in simulated patient studies, where pharmacists practice does not meet widely accepted standards for medicines supply or treatment of an ailment. To promote best pharmacy practice a myriad of guidance resources including practice guidelines, codes and standards are produced by professional organisations.

Perceived barriers and facilitators to attendance for cervical cancer screening in EU member states: a systematic review and synthesis using the Theoretical Domains Framework.

Aims: To identify and synthesise peer-reviewed, published literature reporting perceived barriers and facilitators associated with cervical cancer screening attendance in EU member states with organised population-based screening programmes.

Methods: Quantitative and qualitative studies reporting perceived barriers/facilitators to attendance for cervical cancer screening were searched for in databases Embase, HMIC, Medline and PsycInfo. Data were extracted and deductively coded to the Theoretical Domains Framework domains and inductive thematic analysis within domains was employed to identify specific barriers or facilitators to attendance for cervical cancer screening.

Building capacity in dissemination and implementation science: a systematic review of the academic literature on teaching and training initiatives.

Background: The field of dissemination and implementation (D&I) science has grown significantly over recent years. Alongside this, an increased demand for training in D&I from researchers and implementers has been seen. Research describing and evaluating D&I training opportunities, referred to here as 'capacity building initiatives' (CBIs), can help provide an understanding of different methods of training as well as training successes and challenges.

Patient safety in inpatient mental health settings: a systematic review.

Objectives: Patients in inpatient mental health settings face similar risks (eg, medication errors) to those in other areas of healthcare. In addition, some unsafe behaviours associated with serious mental health problems (eg, self-harm), and the measures taken to address these (eg, restraint), may result in further risks to patient safety. The objective of this review is to identify and synthesise the literature on patient safety within inpatient mental health settings using robust systematic methodology.

Barriers and facilitators to incident reporting in mental healthcare settings: A qualitative study.

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: The barriers and facilitators to incident reporting are becoming well known in general healthcare settings due to a large body of research in this area. At present, it is unknown if these factors also affect incident reporting in mental healthcare settings as the same amount of research has not been conducted in these settings. WHAT THE PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE: Some of the barriers and facilitators to incident reporting in mental healthcare settings are the same as general healthcare settings (i.

Evidence use in decision-making on introducing innovations: a systematic scoping review with stakeholder feedback.

Background: A range of evidence informs decision-making on innovation in health care, including formal research findings, local data and professional opinion. However, cultural and organisational factors often prevent the translation of evidence for innovations into practice. In addition to the characteristics of evidence, it is known that processes at the individual level influence its impact on decision-making.

Perceptions of Risk and Safety in the ICU: A Qualitative Study of Cognitive Processes Relating to Staffing.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to 1) examine individual professionals' perceptions of staffing risks and safe staffing in intensive care and 2) identify and examine the cognitive processes that underlie these perceptions.

Design: Qualitative case study methodology with nurses, doctors, and physiotherapists.

Setting: Three mixed medical and surgical adult ICUs, each on a separate hospital site within a 1,200-bed academic, tertiary London hospital group.

Patient safety and quality of care in mental health: a world of its own?

Quality and safety in healthcare, as an academic discipline, has made significant progress over recent decades, and there is now an active and established community of researchers and practitioners. However, work has predominantly focused on physical health, despite broader controversy regarding the attention paid to, and significance attributed to, mental health. Work from both communities is required in order to ensure that quality and safety is actively embedded within mental health research and practice and that the academic discipline of quality and safety accurately represents the scientific knowledge that has been accumulated within the mental health community.

Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia sp. in aquatic mammals in northern and northeastern Brazil.

Cryptosporidium and Giardia are protozoans that can infect humans and wild and domestic animals. Due to the growing importance of diseases caused by protozoan parasites in aquatic species, we aimed to evaluate the frequency of infection by Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia sp.

A systematic review of patient safety in mental health: a protocol based on the inpatient setting.

Background: Despite the growing international interest in patient safety as a discipline, there has been a lack of exploration of its application to mental health. It cannot be assumed that findings based upon physical health in acute care hospitals can be applied to mental health patients, disorders and settings. To the authors' knowledge, there has only been one review of the literature that focuses on patient safety research in mental health settings, conducted in Canada in 2008.

Developing effective feedback on quality of anaesthetic care: what are its most valuable characteristics from a clinical perspective?

Objectives: Research suggests that better feedback from quality and safety indicators leads to enhanced capability of clinicians and departments to improve care and change behaviour. The aim of the current study was to investigate the characteristics of feedback perceived by clinicians to be of most value.

Methods: Data were collected using a survey designed as part of a wider evaluation of a data feedback initiative in anaesthesia.

Characterization of the Opp peptide transporter of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis and its role in virulence and pathogenicity.

Despite the economic importance of caseous lymphadenitis (CLA), a chronic disease caused by Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, few genes related to the virulence of its etiologic agent have been characterized. The oligopeptide permease (Opp) transporters are located in the plasma membrane and have functions generally related to the uptake of peptides from the extracellular environment. These peptide transporters, in addition to having an important role in cell nutrition, also participate in the regulation of various processes involving intercellular signaling, including the control of the expression of virulence genes in pathogenic bacteria.

Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis secreted antigen-induced specific gamma-interferon production by peripheral blood leukocytes: potential diagnostic marker for caseous lymphadenitis in sheep and goats.

In the current study, the applicability of the quantification of gamma interferon (IFN-γ) levels for the detection of animals infected with Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis and for determining caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) clinical status was evaluated. Peripheral blood leukocytes were collected from CLA nonendemic areas animals, from CLA seropositive animals without clinical signs of the disease, and from seropositive animals presenting CLA clinical signs. The leukocytes were stimulated with C.