The success of research in integrated environmental and natural resource management relies on the participation and involvement of different disciplines and stakeholders. This can be difficult to achieve in practice because many initiatives fail to address the underlying social processes required for successful engagement and social learning. We used an action research approach to support a res...

OBJECTIVE To explore whether initiatives to promote fruit and vegetables in primary schools are associated with changes in children's diet. DESIGN Cross-sectional dietary survey. Main outcome measures were intakes of fruit, vegetables and key nutrients; and a score for initiatives promoting fruit and vegetables in school. SETTING One hundred and twenty-nine English primary schools. SUBJEC...

The growing importance of software for products as well as processes has been recognised in several ABB companies. As a result they started initiatives to improve their software development. Unlike other improvement programmes in industry, ABB‘s software process improvement initiatives are not part of company-wide, globally controlled programme. They rather evolved locally in different ABB comp...

BACKGROUND From a management point of view, there are many different approaches from which to choose to engage staff members in initiatives to improve performance. OBJECTIVE The present study evaluated how two different types of improvement strategies facilitate and encourage involvement of different professional groups in health-care organizations. METHODS/DESIGN Empirical data of two diff...

Citizen participation and grassroots initiatives are increasingly important in today’s restructuring societies. Bottom-up proposals often offer various benefits, but resource shortages frequently hold up implementation. However, while there are institutionalized support programs to fight problems coming from the lack of money, information, or human resources, endeavors to mitigate problems ensu...

OBJECTIVES The Institute of Medicine has called for more coordinated cancer care models that correspond to initiatives led by cancer providers and professional organizations. These initiatives parallel those underway to integrate the management of patients with chronic conditions. METHODS We developed 5 breast cancer patient and practice management process measures based on the Chronic Care M...

BACKGROUND Pay for performance (P4P) initiatives are designed to foster and reward improvement in health care delivery. These programs promote "value-based health care" by rewarding quality care that is characterized by a reduced amount of disproportionate spending. OBJECTIVE To review the intent and design of P4P initiatives as well as the design and results of P4P programs in current practi...

Medical practices are facing increasing pressure to improve their patient experience survey scores. Forces contributing to this growing imperative include public reporting of CAHPS Clinician & Group (CG-CAHPS) survey scores through the Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) program sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, public and private purchaser initiatives to build measures of the pat...