Equitable Development in Theory and Practice: Evolution, Definitions, Frameworks, and Tools

The term practice development has been associated with supporting modernization, and organizational, service and quality improvements but more importantly in promoting patient-centredness. Originating in the UK, it is increasingly being adopted in other countries. Its perceived value is in its facilitative approach to engaging, empowering, enlightening, evolving and evaluating patients, users and professionals within the processes of innovation and change through collaboration, team working and partnership building. Despite the plethora of literature outlining the relative merits and demerits of practice development to the healthcare professions and professionals and health and social care organizations there is limited evidence substantiating the existence of a knowledge base within the field of practice development. This paper aims to present the underpinning evidence confirming the existence of a knowledge base within the field of practice development. An in-depth critical review and synthesis of the literature on CINAHL, undertaken at the end of 2004 using the key words ‘practice development’ revealed 416 articles. This was limited to 130, which made direct reference to practice development in the title. From these articles, 23 were research focused and 107 associated with informing the practice development debate. The in-depth critical review and synthesis of the literature demonstrated that practice development can be defined and deciphered to show its impact in supporting innovation and change to individual, team and organizational practice. Practice development's primary principles are centred on promoting patient-centredness through the utilization of a facilitative approach to team working, collaboration, and partnership building and by networking. By nature of design and virtue practice development is not linear but a messy concept, yet among the mess of daily practice it does adopt a systematic and organized holistic approach to advancing and evaluating practice. The in-depth critical review and synthesis of the practice development literature reinforces the need to consolidate a position in order to move forward rather than back. This review confirms that practice development is an emerging discipline within health and social care demonstrating an acquired body of knowledge and an evidence base to substantiate its case. By plotting its history and reviewing the current evidence base, it would be fair to state that practice development is here to stay and due to grow within all professional groups. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Research indicates that multifaceted practice development (PD) interventions are more effective than single strategies. However, models of education in health care need to consider cost-effectiveness. This paper presents a research-based, PD theory called the Individual Practice Development Theory. It argues that programmes that use the Individual Practice Development Theory to tailor PD support to the learning needs of practitioners will result in more engagement in PD and will target PD resources efficiently. The in-depth qualitative, multi-method realistic evaluation was of a multifaceted, organization-wide PD programme in one National Health Service Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Trust. Semi-structured interviews, practice observation and documentation audit were used to gather data from occupational therapists. Results indicated that environmental contexts, particularly the support of the immediate team, and the participant's personal circumstances affected PD behaviour change. Six mechanisms acted as catalysts. These were: Building Confidence, Finding Flow, Accumulating Reward, Conferring with Others, Constructing Knowledge Know-how and Channelling Time. Four stages of PD characterized as: 'In the Hangar', 'On the Runway', 'Take-off' and 'In the Air' were identified. The research also illustrated the interconnectivity between outcome levels, contextual circumstances and activating mechanisms. The findings suggested that PD interventions need to be more individually tailored to achieve optimum learning outcomes. The identification of four discernable stages permits rapid understanding of PD support needs in order to focus PD support. With a systematic and individualized approach to PD in health care, more target PD supports can be put in place.

L'objectif des auteurs de cet article est double. Il s'agit d'une part de presenter une etude exploratoire sur les tendances actuelles temoignant de l'emergence d'un nouvel activisme non gouvernemental dans le champ de l'education et d'autre part de dresser un cadre analytique afin d'evaluer l'importance de cet activisme, en elaborant des concepts bases sur les recherches ayant porte sur les nouveaux mouvements sociaux et les debats theoriques actuels a propos de la societe civile mondiale.

Development of theory and practice in geotechnical engineering : Sambhandharaksa, S; Taesiri, Y Proc EighthAsian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Kyoto, 20–24 July 1987V2, P121–146. Publ Japan: Japanese Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 1988

Introduction. Development Theory in the Postwar Period. State-Led Development in Practice. The Neoclassical Answer to Failure. Neoclassical Reform in Practice. Development Theory in the Wake of Structural Adjustment. The Political Economy of Development. Conclusion.

Little is known regarding the specific treatment needs of those female juvenile offenders with a history of substance abuse. While social scientists have advanced distinct theories regarding adolescent substance use and juvenile delinquency, minimal work has been conducted to integrate or link these two. In attempting to further explore their interrelationships, this article will review and incorporate the relevant theoretical and practice milestones in three areas: (1) substance abuse and women, (2) substance abuse and adolescents, and (3) substance abuse and juvenile delinquency, leading to the development of new theory and practice relevant to the female substance abusing juvenile offender population. The authors propose some practice considerations for current interventions with this population and discuss implications for future research and exploration.

The measurement of quality in auditorium acoustics by subjective scaling methods—A review of developments in theory and practice

A gap between health services research and practice has been identified: research findings often do not find their way into practice. Our objective was to explore the potential of collaborative research to bridge this gap in one specific area, health promotion, and to determine factors that influence the development of theory-based practice and practice-based theory. This was investigated in an exploratory single-case study. First, we designed an analytical framework for collaborative research. Next, we used this framework to analyse developments in the Dutch Health Broker Partnership, which involved researchers, policymakers and practitioners. Data consisted of transcripts of the meetings of the Partnership over an 18-month period, as well as interviews with its 13 members. The development of theory-based practice and practice-based theory failed to progress beyond the initial stages, although practitioners' actions did become more comprehensive and researchers' thinking became more influenced by practical limitations and local contexts. The heterogeneity of the Partnership facilitated as well as impeded the progress of these developments. Although collaborative research may serve as a tool to narrow the gap between research and practice, discussing the collaborative process and partner heterogeneity among the partners at the outset may be a necessary prerequisite to achieving the full potential of any partnership, which is limited by the ambivalent influence of partner heterogeneity. Collaborative research may, therefore, additionally benefit from continuous cross-domain orchestration and boundary work.

R.A. Fisher has had more influence on the development of statistical theory and practice than any other twentieth-century statistician. His writings (both in paper and book form) have proved to be as relevant to present-day statisticians as they were when first published. This book brings together as a single volume three of Fisher's most influential textbooks: Statistical Methods for Research Workers, The Design of Experiments , and Statistical Methods and Scientific Inference . In this new edition Frank Yates has provided a foreword which sheds fresh light on Fisher's thinking and on the writing and reception of each of the books. He discusses some of the key issues tackled in the three books and reflects on how the ideas expressed have come to permeate modern statistical practice.R.A. Fisher has had more influence on the development of statistical theory and practice than any other twentieth-century statistician. His writings (both in paper and book form) have proved to be as relevant to present-day statisticians as they were when first published. This book brings together as a single volume three of Fisher's most influential textbooks: Statistical Methods for Research Workers, The Design of Experiments , and Statistical Methods and Scientific Inference . In this new edition Frank Yates has provided a foreword which sheds fresh light on Fisher's thinking and on the writing and reception of each of the books. He discusses some of the key issues tackled in the three books and reflects on how the ideas expressed have come to permeate modern statistical practice.

Despite their shared focus on influence of groups on individual, research bridging intragroup dynamics and intergroup relations as predictors of authentic and inauthentic (self-alienated) experience, behavior and interaction of individuals in organizational and social contexts is surprisingly rare. The goal of the present article is to highlight how understanding the reciprocal dynamic relationship between intragroup processes and intergroup relations offers valuable new insights into both topics and suggests new, productive avenues for psychological theory, research and practice development – particularly for understanding and improving the intragroup and intergroup relations in groups, organizations and society affecting authentic psychosocial functioning. The article discusses the complementary role of intergroup and intragroup dynamics, reviewing how intergroup relations can affect intragroup dynamics which, in turn, affects the authenticity of individual experiences, behaviors and relations with others. The paper considers the implications, theoretical and practical, of the proposed reciprocal relationships between intragroup and intergroup processes as factors influencing authentic psychosocial functioning of individuals in organizational and social settings.

Challenging Essentialist Anti-Oppressive Discourse: Uniting Against Racism and Sexism

The resurgence of cost and management accounting: a review of some recent developments in practice, theories and case research methods

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to contribute to the knowledge base on how performance measurement drives improvements in healthcare practice. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on a single in-depth case study. The critical incident technique (CIT) has been applied in order to identify significant occurrences of performance measurement in terms of events, incidents, processes, and issues identified by respondents from the case organization. These critical incidents have been analysed and interpreted using a theoretical framework suggesting that performance measurement may be applied for exploratory or regulatory purposes as well as ad hoc or continuously in healthcare practice. Findings – The study suggests that performance measurement may be a versatile method for driving improvement in healthcare organizations. Six types of activities directly or indirectly drive improvement in the clinical department: continuous follow-up in formal arenas and meetings; improvement work; professional efforts; goal deployment; reporting based on external demands; and creating awareness in everyday clinical work. Healthcare organizations that strive to practice performance measurement as a driver for improvement need to find infrastructures in which it is being integrated into the daily life of organizational healthcare practice. Originality/value – The study provides an original account of the prerequisites and actions for driving improvement through performance measurement in a healthcare setting. Since the operations management perspective in healthcare is significantly lacking, the study offers a unique perspective which may be the basis for both practice development and further scholarly inquiry and theory development.

There has been a commitment to critical reflection research, theory, education, and practice development in social work in the last 15 years, yet less is known about how we effectively teach and assess critical reflection with students in a neo-liberal context. Following the Joanna Briggs framework for scoping reviews, 50 social work education articles from the last 15 years were identified and thematically analyzed, to explore the current knowledge on teaching and assessing critical reflection. This scoping review was co-designed and undertaken by two social work academics and two social work students. Diverse teaching strategies employed within the classroom, field education, and on-line learning spaces and individual written pieces dominated assessment were identified. The voice of social work educators, however, were centered. The results raise questions about the impact of power not only within the educator-student relationship, but also who is conducting the research. The findings point to the importance of social work educators’ role modeling critical reflection, tailoring teaching strategies to respond to students’ learning preferences, and ethical considerations regarding assessment. We consider challenges resulting from neo-liberal pressures within universities and present reflective questions for educators to consider the needs of students and do justice to critical reflection education.

In remembrance of Imogene M. King, January 30, 1923 - December 24, 2007: Imogene, a pioneer and dear colleague