Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
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An increasing number of UK residents are travelling overseas to access medical treatments, the negative health consequences of which are largely managed by NHS doctors. ⋯ Amongst other requirements, this paper finds that NHS doctors must counsel those considering medical tourism overseas on the risks of doing so, and existing efforts to do so should be increased to reflect the increasing prevalence of medical tourism overseas by UK residents and the associated negative health consequences.
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In the context of adjusting to life with a permanent colostomy, this study explored how perceived social support from family, friends and others influences patients' self-efficacy in managing their stoma and engaging with their social lives. ⋯ Stronger perceived social support was linked to higher stoma self-efficacy in permanent colostomy patients.
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This commentary on Sturmberg and Mercuri's paper 'Every Problem is Embedded in a Greater Whole' [1] argues that those authors have approached complexity from a largely mathematical perspective, drawing on the work of Sumpter. Whilst such an approach allows us to challenge the simple linear causality assumed in randomised controlled trials, it is itself limited. ⋯ It overlooks, for example, how science itself is historically and culturally shaped and how values-driven misunderstandings and conflicts are inevitable when people with different world views come together to try to solve a problem. This paper argues that the mathematical version of complexity thinking is necessary but not sufficient in medical research, and that we need to enhance such thinking further with attention to human values.
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What is known about how the level of social support, which is among the factors affecting medication adherence, affects medication adherence is limited. ⋯ Understanding the effect of perceived social support on immunosuppressive medication adherence is important for designing future interventions to increase immunosuppressive medication adherence.
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To meet concerns about ethical and unethical behavior in their work environments and workplaces, organizations began establishing ethics programs that contain ethics committees (ECs). There is now a tradition and diverse use of ECs for ethical decision-making in many different organizational settings. In addition, ECs have been subject to many publications in books and articles in the scientific literature. Yet, until now no comparative analysis has been published that brings together ECs' practices in different sectors. ⋯ Based on the exploratory analysis in this study, we conclude that there are the following three distinct main requirements for the functionality of ECs: (1) a dialog between EC members and other stakeholders, (2) an approach that considers various possible modes (reactive, screening, moderating, and preventive) to enhance the quality of ECs' decision-making processes and (3) an outreach to all relevant EC stakeholders for the further validation of the main requirements found for ECs functionality.