There are continuing concerns regarding literacy standards within education with these concerns having resulted in many literacy initiatives being introduced over the past 5 years. Much research has focussed on improving our understanding of literacy, our ability to identify literacy needs and our ability to subsequently address these needs. As a result of an independent review into the early teaching of reading the Government have promoted the use of the ‘Simple View of Reading’ (SVOR) in the Primary Framework for Literacy (DCSF, 2007c). The study reported in this thesis considers whether the Simple View of Reading is perceived by teachers as providing a useful framework for the identification of literacy learning needs. In addition, it also aims to contribute to our understanding of teacher development, identifying for whom, and in what circumstances, the introduction of the SVOR results in a change in practice. Teachers working within five primary schools participated in this study. Data was collected through questionnaires and a small number of follow up interviews. It is important to note that these findings are likely to have been influenced by certain changes in context during the study, for example the delegation of funding to schools, a reduction in central support services and the introduction of the Primary Framework for Literacy. Questionnaire data indicates that, on the whole, teachers perceived the SVOR as easy to use, as providing useful information and as providing an easy visual reference. Results also indicate reported increases in teacher understanding of, and use of, the SVOR, coupled with increased confidence relating to the identification of literacy learning needs. These differences were all statistically significant. Key findings from the interviews suggest that teachers who perceived the SVOR to be useful and helpful to them on a personal level, made links between the SVOR and their existing practice and were more concerned with improving outcomes for children rather than meeting their own personal needs were more likely to incorporate the SVOR into their practice. This study has implications for promoting the SVOR as a framework for identifying literacy needs, future teacher development and the use of realist research approaches within Educational Psychology.

This thesis examines the impacts and legacy of the Champion Coaching Scheme of the National Coaching Foundation, focusing on three case studies of implementation from 1996-1999, on Merseyside and North Wales. As one of the most significant and longrunning programmes of the 1990s, Champion Coaching represented a national blueprint for the development of youth sport and coaching. The evaluation uses a 'realist' approach, drawing upon the scientific realism of Pawson and Tilley (1997). Outcomes are derived from the programme theory developed for Champion Coaching in a multi-method approach. Central to this analysis is the need to examine the context, mechanisms and outcomes from programmes. It draws together evidence from a range of primary and secondary sources; participants, parents, coaches, sport Development practioners, teachers; young people; Census and deprivation statistics. Using a range of techniques, including face to face and telephone interviews, survey and geographical analysis, context- mechanism-outcome configurations of each case study were produced, in order to draw out how the programme 'worked', and contribute to building the evidence base for sport development interventions. The results demonstrate that the blueprint was flexibly interpreted and delivered resulting in particular patterns of outcomes in the different cases. Champion Coaching represented a successful approach to the development of 'perfon-nance pathways', as the level of club membership in participants was higher than suggested by national surveys. In contributing to coaching development, the Scheme had some clear impacts on the human capital involved in sport. However, results were not uniform and show how the sporting infrastructure and attitudes of schools or Governing Bodies to such programmes, can influence whether gains in such capital can be sustained. At the meso-level of analysis of policy for youth sport and coaching, the research shows how Champion Coaching contributed to the policy development in this increasingly salient policy area and points to its legacy in school-aged sport. The conclusions point to some of the lessons learned for future policies and the implications for outcome-oriented evaluations, including the need to plan such evaluation at the stage of programme design.

The following research project is split into two phases and concludes with a synthesis of both phases. The overarching aim of the research project is to explore how mainstream schools can best work with alternative providers to make collective provision for those identified as having Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties. In the first phase, a realistic evaluation methodology (Pawson & Tilley, 1997) is adopted and semi structured interviews are used to explore the experiences of staff in relation to pupils on a shared placement. A provisional theory is then developed to explain the outcomes of the shared placement arrangement. The second phase of the research involves gathering the views and perceptions of the pupils and also utilises the realistic evaluation approach. The aim of this phase is to refine and update the provisional theory developed in Phase 1. This study adopts a mixed methods approach, utilising semi-structured interviews with the pupils. A quantitative element is introduced through a closer examination of the relationship between pupils’ sense of school belonging and the success, or otherwise of the shared placement. Throughout both phases of the research, there is a focus on discovering how a shared placement affects the pupil and what the outcomes of this arrangement are. The project is also heavily focused on identifying the contextual conditions that either facilitate or inhibit positive outcomes occurring. The findings of the research indicate that shared placements can lead to a variety of outcomes for pupils. When it works well, pupils become more engaged with their education and this has a positive impact on their behaviour and emotional development. However, it is also clear that shared placements can result in undesirable outcomes including further disengagement from the mainstream school. When outcomes were positive, the shared placement increased pupils’ self-efficacy, aspirations and facilitated achievement. These factors were supported by valuing pupil voice, excellent partnership working between settings and the schools willingness to include children with complex needs. This research also highlights that a greater sense of belonging to the mainstream school is associated with an increased likelihood of positive outcomes occurring. This project has explored an area which has been largely neglected in previous research. The theories developed have a variety of implications for Educational Psychologists as well as wider implications, and these are discussed in the final section. Figure 1 presents a visual overview of the research project.

BackgroundIndividuals from low socio-economic backgrounds have higher rates of morbidity and premature mortality from cardiovascular risk factors compared to those from more affluent backgrounds.Hearty Lives Dundee is a complex intervention which aims to address this health inequality. The intervention targets cardiovascular health checks at population groups who are likely to be at high risk, but tend not to engage with traditional services. Practitioners have tried to increase engagement with the target groups through a number of strategies. These included community and workplace-based assessments, and General Practice-run health checks supported by an outreach facility. The aim of this thesis was to explore what works at increasing patient uptake of cardiovascular health checks, for what groups, in what circumstances, and why?MethodsA Realistic Evaluation was undertaken using a mixed methods approach. Routine data was extracted from the Hearty Lives database and descriptive statistics reported on patients attending the community-based opportunistic service and the GP-based service. A total of thirty semi-structured interviews and one focus group (n=5) were conducted with patient attenders and non-attenders of community and General Practice-based health checks. Seven staff from the Hearty Lives programme were also interviewed. Thematic analysis was undertaken using Ritchie and Spencer’s Framework approach.ResultsAttenders at health checks were more likely to be female and older, regardless of the setting. Uptake varied by the number and type of invitation method. Cardiovascular risk was greater in the target population presenting opportunistically but was confounded by the older age of this group.Patient engagement relied on the interaction of a number of factors which varied according to setting; accessibility, invitation method, personal circumstances, cues to action and barriers. A continuum existed from barriers to motivators to attendance depending on the presence or absence of a cue to action, e.g. family history or symptoms. The concept of preventive health checks for cardiovascular disease was not well understood as some patients did not perceive a need to attend without symptoms. Additionally, the health check was viewed as optional by many and not treated with the same seriousness as perceived ‘compulsory’ cancer screenings.DiscussionThe complex lives of the intended target population merit a range of accessible services to reduce barriers to preventive health care. The Realistic Evaluation approach provided transferable knowledge of how to effectively engage with people from different backgrounds and care utilisation preferences, which could easily inform similar NHS services.

Prevention of in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) is critical to reducing morbidity and mortality as both the rates of return to pre-hospital functional status and overall survival after IHCAs are low. Early identification of patients at risk and prompt clinical intervention are vital patient safety strategies to reduce IHCA. One widespread strategy is the Rapid Response System (RRS), which incorporates early risk identification, expert consultation, and key clinical interventions to bedside nurses caring for patients in clinical deterioration. However, evidence of RRS effectiveness has been equivocal in the patient safety literature. This study utilized a holistic Realistic Evaluation (RE) framework to identify important clinical environment (context) and system triggers (mechanisms) to refine our understanding of an RRS to improve local patient emoutcomesem and develop a foundation for building the next level of evidence within RE research. The specific aims of the study are to describe a RRS through context, mechanism, and outcome variables; explore differences in RRS outcomes between medical and surgical settings, and identify relationships between RRS context and mechanism variables for patient outcomes. Study RRS data was collected retrospectively from a 397-bed community hospital in the Midwest; including all adult inpatient RRS events from May 2006 (2 weeks post-RRS implementation) through November 2013. RRS events were analyzed through descriptive, comparative, and proportional odds (ordinal) logistic regression analyses. The study found the majority of adult inpatient RRS events occurred in medical settings and most were activated by staff nurses. Significant differences were noted between RRS events in medical and surgical settings; including patient status changes in the preceding 12 hours, event trigger patterns, and immediate clinical outcomes. Finally, proportional odds logistic regression revealed significant relationships between context and mechanism factors with changes in the risk of increased clinical severity immediately following at RRS event. RE was utilized to structure a preliminary study to explore the complex variables and relationships surrounding RRSs and patient outcomes. Further exploration of settings, changes in clinical status, staffing and resource access, and the ways nurses use RRSs is necessary to promote the early identification of vulnerable patients and strengthen hospital patient safety strategies.

Introduction This thesis describes a research study designed to examine the consequences of disability arising out of spinal cord compression secondary to cancer, and to examine the rehabilitation services available to patients. Research aims and questions The study was intended to achieve the following: 1. To ascertain what might constitute effective rehabilitation interventions for patients with metastatic spinal cord compression. 2. To identify the conditions in which these intervention might be delivered. 3. To ground proposals in spinal cord compression patients’ experience of disability. The following research questions were posed: 1. What are the consequences of disability for patients with metastatic spinal cord compression? 2. What strategies do patients themselves use to manage disability? 3. What do health care staff, particularly rehabilitation professionals, understand to be the consequences of disability for this patient group, and correspondingly, what are their views on the significance and provision of rehabilitation? 4. To what extent is rehabilitation being provided to these patients, and with what effect? 5. Where rehabilitation is not being provided, why is this the case? Study design The study had two components: • A series of nine in-depth interview-based case studies, which involved talking to patients about their experiences of living with spinal cord compression, as well as gaining the perspectives of family members and the health professionals who provided care and services. • A retrospective audit of the medical records of 73 spinal cord compression patients admitted to a radiotherapy in-patient unit (the Frank Ellis Unit at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford) over a two year period (July 2003 – June 2005), identifying disability-related problems and the measures taken to address them. This was a Phase I modelling study in terms of the Medical Research Council’s framework for evaluating complex interventions, with Pawson and Tilley’s (1997) Context-Mechanism-Outcome configuration adopted as a conceptual basis for data collection. Within-case analysis was informed by George and Bennett’s (2004) account of process tracing, and between-case analysis was modelled on the constant comparative method of Glaser and Strauss (1967) with an analysis of narrative as a variation on that theme. Results Disability is a serious problem for patients with spinal cord compression, but it is one problem among many others, not the least of which are the physical and emotional consequences of life-threatening illness. In response to disability, patients ‘twin-track’ their attitudes to it, acknowledging but also resisting the idea of themselves as disabled, and adopting a series of psychological devices to manage the tension. In effect, patients recognise that something significant has changed and that, as a consequence, new self-management skills must be learned, functional boundaries must be explored, useful information must be sought. At the same time, they display a determination to hold on to an established identity, associated with a sense of normality. This identity embraces the idea of competence and resourcefulness, the events, activities and pleasures that one looks forward to, and the wish to avoid burdening others. It is not a ‘disabled’ identity. To some extent, these two attitudes are in tension, as one acknowledges disability while the other, implicitly or explicitly, resists it. Consequently, patients try to find ways of resolving this tension, by ‘revising downwards’ their expectations, by constantly deferring the anticipated pleasures, and by avoiding situations in which their abilities might be put to the test, or the sense of normality be disconfirmed. Health care professionals are likely to construe the patient’s response as indicative of a certain type of character – ‘realistic’ on one hand, and ‘unrealistic’ on the other. They do not see ‘acknowledging / not acknowledging’ as twin facets of a complex response to circumstances, or as something which every patient engages in to one degree or another. Patients are motivated not to recognise rehabilitation as something they need, a view which is confirmed by the cursory form of rehabilitation experienced in hospital, and by the marginal significance attributed to it by nursing and medical staff. On discharge, hospital staff assume that rehabilitation needs will be identified in the community, although the way in which community rehabilitation services are organised virtually guarantees that this will not happen, unless a specific referral is made (as it is in only 5% of cases). The patient, meanwhile, remains unaware of the potential value of rehabilitation, and has no incentive to request rehabilitation if no-one offers it. They are consequently unprepared for life post-discharge, and assume that they (and their families) must manage on their own. Conclusions Like the patients, health care professionals may have to ‘twin-track’ if they are to provide rehabilitation in a way that is acceptable to patients with metastatic spinal cord compression. Instead of categorising patients as ‘realistic’ or ‘unrealistic’, they should work towards sustaining patients’ ‘positive illusions’, while at the same time taking whatever opportunities arise to enhance the patient’s day-to-day ability to function in a ‘safe’ space. This entails revising some deeply entrenched ideas about working with patients who have a disability: patient-centredness, the importance of goal setting, and the need for adjustment.

Cotutelle internationale avec le Laboratoire Éducations et Promotion de la Santé (Santé publique - UR 3412) de l'Université Sorbonne Paris Nord. / L'autosurveillance glycémique est essentielle pour les personnes vivant avec un diabète afin d'évaluer leur glycémie et adapter leurs traitements ou comportements. En France, depuis 2017, le glucomètre connecté à mesure flash FreeStyle Libre est proposé aux personnes vivant avec un diabète à la condition de suivre une éducation spécifique au sein de structures coutumières de l’éducation thérapeutique et du diabète. La littérature scientifique a montré l'efficacité de l'autosurveillance avec ce système, mais il existe peu d'études sur son appropriation et son impact. Cette recherche vise à décrire et comprendre le phénomène d’appropriation du FreeStyle Libre en identifiant comment elle s’est déroulée, comment elle s’opérationnalise, selon quelles interventions, chez qui cela fonctionne, dans quels contextes, et quels sont les mécanismes en jeu. Une évaluation réaliste a été menée en se basant sur une théorie de moyenne portée. Cette recherche a été réalisée au sein de quatre terrains en région parisienne auprès de 48 personnes vivant avec un diabète et professionnels de santé. Tout d’abord, les résultats montrent qu’au cours du temps, les programmes ont évolué dans leurs modalités et contenus, dans la façon dont ils s’organisaient, mais aussi que les interventions éducatives réellement mises en œuvre diffèrent au regard des interventions qui sont censées avoir cours. Ensuite, pour expliquer l’appropriation du FreeStyle Libre, 114 chaînes de contexte-mécanismes et effets ont été construites et éclairent sur l’acceptation du FreeStyle Libre, les conditions et modalités d’utilisation et sur les effets produits grâce à celle-ci. Les chaînes de contextes-mécanismes-effets mettent en évidence des contextes plus favorables à l’appropriation (littératie numérique élevée, empowerment préexistant, engagement dans la démarche d’autogestion…) et des contextes moins favorables (trait de personnalité compulsive, littératie générale ou numérique faible, absence d’éducation et d’accompagnement…). Les mécanismes qui sont générés font appel aux connaissances, à l’absence de crainte sur la confidentialité et l’immixtion dans la vie privée, à la motivation, et aux normes personnelles. L’acceptation du FSL est forte et fait intervenir la perception que la technologie peut contribuer à la performance de l’autosurveillance glycémique et qu’elle est facile à utiliser. Ensuite, l’analyse a permis de discriminer plusieurs modalités d’utilisation suivant des indicateurs quantitatifs et qualitatifs de l’usage. Des effets de l’appropriation sont identifiés dans l’amélioration de la qualité de vie dans le diabète, l’amélioration de la relation interpersonnelle entre soignants et personnes soignées, dans la diminution d’une anxiété liée au diabète, dans l’adaptation des traitements et des comportements et enfin dans la connaissance de la maladie et le raisonnement des personnes. La théorie de moyenne portée finale constituée sur la base de ces résultats adresse un modèle global de l’appropriation du FreeStyle Libre. Cette étude montre qu’il existe de nombreuses variations de l’appropriation. Elle situe que l’éducation à l’utilisation du FreeStyle Libre est nécessaire pour en tirer davantage parti et identifie un manque d’intégration de la technologie connectée dans les programmes d’éducation thérapeutique, ce qui constitue un enjeu particulier pour l’avenir. / Self-monitoring of blood glucose is essential for people living with diabetes to assess their blood glucose levels and adapt their treatment or behaviour. In France, since 2017, the FreeStyle Libre (FSL) flash glucose meter has been offered to people living with diabetes on the condition that they attend a specific education program within facilities accustomed to diabetes and therapeutic education. The scientific literature has shown the efficacy of self-monitoring with this system, but there are few studies on its appropriation and impact. This research aims to describe and understand the phenomenon of appropriation of FreeStyle Libre by identifying how it has been implemented, how it is operationalized, according to which interventions, in whom it works, in which contexts, and what mechanisms are at work. A realist evaluation was carried out based on a middle-range theory. This research was conducted in four settings in the Paris area involving 48 people living with diabetes and healthcare professionals. First of all, the results show that over time, the programmes have evolved in their modalities and contents, in the way they were organized, but also that the implemented educational interventions differed from those that were supposed to take place. Next, to explain the appropriation of FreeStyle Libre, 114 context-mechanism-effect chains were constructed that shed light on the acceptance of FreeStyle Libre, the conditions and modalities of its use, and the effects produced through it. The context-mechanism-effect chains highlight contexts that are more favourable to appropriation (high digital literacy, pre-existing empowerment, commitment to self-management, etc.) and less favourable contexts (compulsive personality trait, low general or digital literacy, lack of education and support, etc.). The mechanisms that are generated involve knowledge, lack of fear about confidentiality and privacy, motivation, and personal norms. Acceptance of the FSL is strong and involves the perception that the technology can contribute to the performance of self-monitoring of blood glucose and that it is easy to use. Then, the analysis allowed us to distinguish several modalities of use according to quantitative and qualitative indicators of use. The effects of appropriation are identified in the improvement of the quality of life in diabetes, the improvement of the interpersonal relationship between caregivers and cared-for persons, the reduction of anxiety related to diabetes, the adaptation of treatments and behaviours, and finally in the knowledge of the disease and the reasoning of the persons. The final middle-range theory built on these results addresses a global model of the appropriation of FreeStyle Libre. This study shows that there are many variations of appropriation. It identifies that education in the use of FreeStyle Libre is needed to get more out of it, and identifies a lack of integration of connected technology into health education programmes, which is a particular challenge for the future.