Geoff McCombe, Anne Marie Henihan, Jan Klimas, Davina Swan, Dorothy Leahy, Rolande Anderson, Gerard Bury, Colum Dunne, Eamon Keenan, David Meagher, Clodagh O’Gorman, Tom O’Toole, Jean Saunders, Bobby P. Smyth, John S. Lambert, Eileen Kaner and Walter Cullen
Problem alcohol use (PAU) is common and associated with considerable adverse outcomes among patients receiving opioid agonist treatment (OAT). The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Problem alcohol use (PAU) is common and associated with considerable adverse outcomes among patients receiving opioid agonist treatment (OAT). The purpose of this paper is to describe a qualitative feasibility assessment of a primary care-based complex intervention to promote screening and brief intervention for PAU, which also aims to examine acceptability and potential effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 patients and eight general practitioners (GPs) who had been purposively sampled from practices that had participated in the feasibility study. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically.
Findings
Six key themes were identified. While all GPs found the intervention informative and feasible, most considered it challenging to incorporate into practice. Barriers included time constraints, and overlooking and underestimating PAU among this cohort of patients. However, the intervention was considered potentially deliverable and acceptable in practice. Patients reported that (in the absence of the intervention) their use of alcohol was rarely discussed with their GP, and were reticent to initiate conversations on their alcohol use for fear of having their methadone dose reduced.
Research limitations/impelications
Although a complex intervention to enhance alcohol screening and brief intervention among primary care patients attending for OAT is likely to be feasible and acceptable, time constraints and patients’ reticence to discuss alcohol as well as GPs underestimating patients’ alcohol problems is a barrier to consistent, regular and accurate screening by GPs. Future research by way of a definitive efficacy trial informed by the findings of this study and the Psychosocial INTerventions for Alcohol quantitative data is a priority.
Originality/value
To the best of the knowledge, this is the first qualitative study to examine the capability of primary care to address PAU among patients receiving OAT.
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Corey Burke, John Broughan, Geoff McCombe, Ronan Fawsitt, Áine Carroll and Walter Cullen
“Integrated care” (IC) is an approach to health and social care delivery that aims to prevent problems arising from fragmented care systems. The collective content of the IC…
Abstract
Purpose
“Integrated care” (IC) is an approach to health and social care delivery that aims to prevent problems arising from fragmented care systems. The collective content of the IC literature, whilst valuable, has become extensive and wide-ranging to such a degree that knowing what is most important in IC is a challenge. This study aims to address this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
A scoping review was conducted using Arksey and O'Malley's framework to determine IC priority areas.
Findings
Twenty-one papers relevant to the research question were identified. These included studies from many geographical regions, encompassing several study designs and a range of populations and sample sizes. The findings identified four priority areas that should be considered when designing and implementing IC models: (1) communication, (2) coordination, collaboration and cooperation (CCC), (3) responsibility and accountability and (4) a population approach. Multiple elements were identified within these priorities, all of which are important to ensuring successful and sustained integration of care. These included education, efficiency, patient centredness, safety, trust and time.
Originality/value
The study's findings bring clarity and definition to what has become an increasingly extensive and wide-ranging body of work on the topic of IC. Future research should evaluate the implementation of these priorities in care settings.
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Luke Sheeran-Purcell, Geoff McCombe, John Broughan, Emils Sietins, Ronan Fawsitt, Martina Queally, Timothy Lynch and Walter Cullen
Readmissions to the hospital are expensive and can have negative health consequences for patients. Older adults are at greater risk of readmission. Patient perspectives are…
Abstract
Purpose
Readmissions to the hospital are expensive and can have negative health consequences for patients. Older adults are at greater risk of readmission. Patient perspectives are valuable in identifying areas for improvement in the transition of care. The purpose of this qualitative study is to increase our understanding of patients’ perspectives on the transition of care from hospital to primary care.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a qualitative methodology to conduct semi-structured interviews with patients who have been discharged from hospitals in the Ireland East Hospital Group region. Remote interviews were conducted with 18 participants from eight general practices. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis as described by Braun and Clarke.
Findings
The three main themes identified were communication, outpatient supports and patient education. Gaps in communication do occur, but patients are often too external to comment. Patients benefit from a wide variety of outpatient supports including general practice, family, carers, allied health professionals and voluntary organisations. Access and cost are barriers to these supports. Participants were generally positive towards proposed primary care-based interventions such as follow-up appointments with general practitioners (GPs) and education sessions.
Originality/value
This study highlights a number of areas for improvement in the transition of care in current practice including communication between services and access to outpatient care. It also suggests directions for further research, such as explorations of healthcare provider perspectives and pilot studies of readmission reduction interventions.
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Shane Dunlea, Geoff McCombe, John Broughan, Áine Carroll, Ronan Fawsitt, Joe Gallagher, Kyle Melin and Walter Cullen
Throughout the world, healthcare policy has committed to delivering integrated models of care. The interface between primary–secondary care has been identified as a particularly…
Abstract
Purpose
Throughout the world, healthcare policy has committed to delivering integrated models of care. The interface between primary–secondary care has been identified as a particularly challenging area in this regard. To that end, this study aimed to examine the issue of integrated care from general practitioners’ (GPs) perspectives in Ireland.
Design/methodology/approach
This multimethod study involved a cross-sectional survey and semi-structured interviews with GPs in the Ireland East region. A total of 1,274 GPs were identified from publicly available data as practising in the region, of whom the study team were able to identify 430 GPs with email addresses. An email invite was sent to 430 potential participants asking them to complete a 34-item online questionnaire and, for those who were willing, an in-depth interview was conducted with a member of the study team.
Findings
In total, 116 GPs completed the survey. Most GPs felt that enhancing integration between primary and secondary care in Ireland was a priority (n = 109, 93.9%). Five themes concerning the state of integrated care and initiatives to improve matters were identified from semi-structured interviews with 12 GPs.
Originality/value
The uniqueness of this study is that it uses a multimethod approach to provide insight into current GP views on the state of integrated care in Ireland, as well as their perspectives on how to improve integration within the Irish healthcare system.
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Aimee O'Farrell, Geoff McCombe, John Broughan, Áine Carroll, Mary Casey, Ronan Fawsitt and Walter Cullen
In many healthcare systems, health policy has committed to delivering an integrated model of care to address the increasing burden of disease. The interface between primary and…
Abstract
Purpose
In many healthcare systems, health policy has committed to delivering an integrated model of care to address the increasing burden of disease. The interface between primary and secondary care has been identified as a problem area. This paper aims to undertake a scoping review to gain a deeper understanding of the markers of integration across the primary–secondary interface.
Design/methodology/approach
A search was conducted of PubMed, SCOPUS, Cochrane Library and the grey literature for papers published in English using the framework described by Arksey and O'Malley. The search process was guided by the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses” (PRISMA).
Findings
The initial database search identified 112 articles, which were screened by title and abstract. A total of 26 articles were selected for full-text review, after which nine articles were excluded as they were not relevant to the research question or the full text was not available. In total, 17 studies were included in the review. A range of study designs were identified including a systematic review (n = 3), mixed methods study (n = 5), qualitative (n = 6) and quantitative (n = 3). The included studies documented integration across the primary–secondary interface; integration measurement and factors affecting care coordination.
Originality/value
Many studies examine individual aspects of integration. However, this study is unique as it provides a comprehensive overview of the many perspectives and methodological approaches involved with evaluating integration within the primary–secondary care interface and primary care itself. Further research is required to establish valid reliable tools for measurement and implementation.
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Jan Klimas, Kevin Lally, Lisa Murphy, Louise Crowley, Rolande Anderson, David Meagher, Geoff McCombe, Bobby P. Smyth, Gerard Bury and Walter Cullen
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and process evaluation of an educational intervention, designed to help general practitioners (GPs) identify and manage…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and process evaluation of an educational intervention, designed to help general practitioners (GPs) identify and manage problem alcohol use among problem drug users.
Design/methodology/approach
The educational session was developed as part of a complex intervention which was informed by the Medical Research Council framework for complex interventions. A Cochrane review and a modified Delphi-facilitated consensus process formed the theoretical phase of the development. The modelling phase involved qualitative interviews with professionals and patients. The training's learning outcomes included alcohol screening and delivery of brief psychosocial interventions and this was facilitated by demonstration of clinical guidelines, presentation, video, group discussion and/or role play.
Findings
Participants (n=17) from three general practices and local medical school participated in four workshops. They perceived the training as most helpful in improving their ability to perform alcohol screening. Most useful components of the session were the presentation, handout and group discussion with participants appreciating the opportunity to share their ideas with peers.
Originality/value
Training primary healthcare professionals in alcohol screening and brief psychosocial interventions among problem drug users appears feasible. Along with the educational workshops, the implementation strategies should utilise multi-level interventions to support these activities among GPs.
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Kristin L. Cullen-Lester, Caitlin M. Porter, Hayley M. Trainer, Pol Solanelles and Dorothy R. Carter
The field of Human Resource Management (HRM) has long recognized the importance of interpersonal influence for employee and organizational effectiveness. HRM research and practice…
Abstract
The field of Human Resource Management (HRM) has long recognized the importance of interpersonal influence for employee and organizational effectiveness. HRM research and practice have focused primarily on individuals’ characteristics and behaviors as a means to understand “who” is influential in organizations, with substantially less attention paid to social networks. To reinvigorate a focus on network structures to explain interpersonal influence, the authors present a comprehensive account of how network structures enable and constrain influence within organizations. The authors begin by describing how power and status, two key determinants of individual influence in organizations, operate through different mechanisms, and delineate a range of network positions that yield power, reflect status, and/or capture realized influence. Then, the authors extend initial structural views of influence beyond the positions of individuals to consider how network structures within and between groups – capturing group social capital and/or shared leadership – enable and constrain groups’ ability to influence group members, other groups, and the broader organizational system. The authors also discuss how HRM may leverage these insights to facilitate interpersonal influence in ways that support individual, group, and organizational effectiveness.
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S. Lorén Trull and Bruce A. Arrigo
This chapter examines the conundrum of juvenile immigration law and policy and argues that it is a present-day manifestation of “child-saving” in rhetoric, disposition, and human…
Abstract
This chapter examines the conundrum of juvenile immigration law and policy and argues that it is a present-day manifestation of “child-saving” in rhetoric, disposition, and human capital harm. In support of this thesis, the chapter reviews the pertinent human rights, law, and social science evidence, and it concludes that the maintenance of the nation’s existing immigration policy only makes sense within the context of the intentions of the 19th century child-saving movement. To substantiate this view, the political-economic drivers of contemporary US immigration policy (i.e., its child-saving dynamics) are explored. The chapter concludes by speculatively addressing the character (i.e., the form and quality) of modern-day juvenile immigration policy as child-saving informed by the philosophy and criticism of Psychological Jurisprudence (PJ).
The purpose of this study was to determine whether cognitive factors mediate the relationship between parental knowledge/support and delinquency escalation.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to determine whether cognitive factors mediate the relationship between parental knowledge/support and delinquency escalation.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from early adolescent youth enrolled in the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) study, two analyses were performed. The first analysis cross-lagged parental knowledge and cognitive impulsivity as predictors of delinquency escalation and the second analysis cross-lagged parental support and moral neutralization as predictors of delinquency escalation.
Findings
In both analyses, the indirect effect of a change in parenting on delinquency escalation via a change in cognition attained significance, whereas the indirect effect of a change in cognition on delinquency escalation via a change in parenting did not. In neither case did the direct effect of parenting on delinquency achieve significance.
Research limitations/implications
This study was limited, however, by exclusive reliance on self-report measures to assess all variables in this study and the use of explicit rather than implicit measures of cognitive impulsivity and moral neutralization.
Practical implications
The practical implications of these results are that they point to ways in which improved parenting can lead to crime deceleration; reduced cognitive impulsivity and moral neutralization can lead to crime deceleration.
Social implications
These results imply that social variables like parental knowledge and support stimulate a change in cognition as part of the process by which delinquency escalates during early adolescence.
Originality/value
The unique contribution this study makes to the field is that it highlights the role antisocial cognition plays in mediating between social factors and delinquency as part of the crime acceleration process that often occurs in early adolescence.
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Grief and its concomitant loneliness are common problems in the social process of ageing. Using case study accounts, this paper describes the perceptions of four elderly bereaved…
Abstract
Grief and its concomitant loneliness are common problems in the social process of ageing. Using case study accounts, this paper describes the perceptions of four elderly bereaved people and their experiences of loneliness following conjugal bereavement. Case study accounts provide an opportunity to explore, describe and interpret data that may not yield to a simple analysis. In this paper the accounts include a collection of information on the respondents' experience of loss in the form of ‘durable biographies’ (Walter, 1996) that were typical, revelatory and critical. The respondents took part in semi‐structured interviews about their experiences as part of a larger ethnographic study. This paper reflects on their comments and raises a number of interesting theoretical and practical issues to do with loneliness following conjugal bereavement. The paper points out that bereavement research is dominated by psycho‐analytical conceptualisations which place emphasis on the ‘grief work’ hypoThesis, with less attention paid to bereavement models that highlight the social impact of loss on older people.