Yes / National Clinical Audits (NCAs) are a well-established quality improvement strategy used in healthcare settings. Significant resources, including clinicians’ time, are invested in participating in NCAs, yet there is variation in the extent to which the resulting feedback stimulates quality improvement. The aim of this study was to explore the reasons behind this variation. Methods We used realist evaluation to interrogate how context shapes the mechanisms through which NCAs work (or not) to stimulate quality improvement. Fifty-four interviews were conducted with doctors, nurses, audit clerks and other staff working with NCAs across five healthcare providers in England. In line with realist principles we scrutinised the data to identify how and why providers responded to NCA feedback (mechanisms), the circumstances that supported or constrained provider responses (context), and what happened as a result of the interactions between mechanisms and context (outcomes). We summarised our findings as Context+Mechanism=Outcome configurations. Results We identified five mechanisms that explained interactions between providers and NCA feedback: reputation, professionalism, competition, incentives, and professional development. Underpinned by the mechanisms professionalism and incentives, feedback was used most routinely within clinical services resourced to maintain local databases, where data were stored before upload to NCA suppliers. Local databases enabled staff to access data easily, customise reports and integrate them within governance processes. Use of feedback generated in this way was further supported where staff supporting audit participation were trusted to collect timely and accurate data. Feedback produced by NCA suppliers, which included national comparator data, was used in a more limited capacity. Challenges accessing data from NCA supplier databases, concerns about the quality of data across participating organisations and timeliness were reported to constrain the perceived usefulness of this type of feedback as a tool for stimulating quality improvement. Conclusion The findings suggest that there are a number of mechanisms through which healthcare providers, in particular staff within clinical services, engage with NCA feedback, but that there is variation in the mode, frequency and impact of these interactions. Feedback was used most routinely within clinical services resourced to maintain local databases, where data were considered timely, trusted as accurate and could be easily accessed to customise reports for the needs of the service.

Yes / In this article, we present an exemplar of the initial theory-building phase of theory-driven evaluation for the PARTNERS2 project, a collaborative care intervention for people with experience of psychosis in England. Initial theory-building involved analysis of the literature, interviews with key leaders and focus groups with service users. The initial programme theory was developed from these sources in an iterative process between researchers and stakeholders (service users, practitioners, commissioners) involving four activities: articulation of 442 explanatory statements systematically developed using realist methods; debate and consensus; communication; and interrogation. We refute two criticisms of theory-driven evaluation of complex interventions. We demonstrate how the process of initial theory-building made a meaningful contribution to our complex intervention in five ways. Although time-consuming, it allowed us to develop an internally coherent and well-documented intervention. This study and the lessons learnt provide a detailed resource for other researchers wishing to build theory for theory-driven evaluation. / This research was funded by a UK NIHR Programme Grant (RP-PG-0611- 20004) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula (NIHR CLAHRC South West Peninsula).

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The subject of this thesis is entrepreneurship policy and the focus is on public support programmes directed to early stages technology-based ventures. It advocates that a broad view should be taken with regard to the type of policies for entrepreneurship that aim at supporting the facilitation of the supported ventures’ ability to link to their surrounding innovation system, in which they can secure their access to crucial external resources. Taking the departure in the perspective that early stages technology-based ventures are vulnerable, this thesis shows that publicly financed entrepreneurship supporting programmes can be motivated because small and newly started ventures have got limited resources, and because the risks, with which they are associated, generally make them unattractive in the eyes of private actors. Among the practical implications of this thesis, the following findings are emphasised: Public support, directed to the very earliest stages of venture development benefits from broadness, for the latter stages, specialisation and a higher degree of selectiveness could be an advantage. Moreover, it is important that the support provided take into account the whole process of business development, i.e. both the issues concerned with product/service and the issues connected to the market. A long-term commitment, cooperation between different actors and information about what support is available, are other aspects that are important for policymakers to consider in their design of public policies to support entrepreneurship. Finally, the importance of evaluative awareness must be emphasised from the very start. / Den här avhandlingen är en sammanläggning av 7 studier kring vilka en kappa med titeln ”Entreprenörskapspolicy: offentligt stöd för teknikbaserade företag” har skrivits. De inkluderade studierna beskrivs kortfattat i slutet av den här sammanfattningen. Syftet med avhandlingen är att analysera skälen till varför statliga interventioner kan vara berättigade, vidare att analysera målsättningar, design och resultat av offentliga program för stöd av nya teknikbaserade företag/projekt och slutligen att identifiera såväl praktiska som forskningsintressanta implikationer för utformningen av framtida stödaktiviteter. Avhandlingen baseras till största delen på olika typer av kvantitativa analyser av Stiftelsen Innovationscentrum (SIC) (studie 2-6). Förutom detta ingår en konceptuell studie där ett ramverk för att utvärdera inkubatorer, främst ur ett ”best practice” perspektiv, har tagits fram (studie 1). Slutligen har jag inkluderat en pågående uppföljningsstudie av Vinnovas program Vinn Nu (studie 7). Avhandlingen förespråkar en bred syn på begreppet entreprenörskapspolicy, där syftet med stödet är att underlätta för företag/projekt att koppla upp sig mot relevanta innovationssystem där de kan säkra sin tillgång på externa resurser. Med utgångspunkt i ett sårbarhetsperspektiv visar avhandlingen att offentligt finansierade program som stödjer entreprenörskap kan motiveras genom att de små och nystartade företagens resurser är begränsade och eftersom riskerna ofta gör att intresset från privata aktörer att gå in i dessa företag är lågt. Avhandlingens praktiska implikationer är bland annat att det stöd som riktas till de allra tidigaste utvecklingsfaserna i syfte att kvalificera idéer bör vara brett. Däremot kan ett mer selektivt urval vara fördelaktigt i något senare utvecklingsskeden och för mer specialiserade stöd. Vidare visar de inkluderade studierna på behovet av att se till hela företagets utvecklingsprocess. Det innebär bland annat att det är nödvändigt att kombinera hårt och mjukt stöd och att lika vikt läggs vid produkt- och marknadsutveckling. Offentligt stöd bör också vara långsiktigt, och samarbete mellan olika stödprogram är viktigt, inte minst med avseende på information om vilka stöd som finns och hur, var, när och av vem dessa kan sökas. Slutligen understryks vikten av att stödprogram redan från början bör ta hänsyn till utvärderingsaspekter.

The overarching aim of this thesis is to critically evaluate the implementation of Lean in NHS Lothian, a National Health Service (NHS) Health Board in Scotland. Against challenging financial times, Lean has been endorsed for adoption in the provision of healthcare by The Scottish Government and NHS Scotland and so the objectives are to understand how Lean is implemented in healthcare, the impact on the organisation and what role(s) are held by front-line staff including medical staff, in this implementation. This is an exploratory and descriptive interpretivist case study incorporating content analysis, observational and interview data which is based on a qualitative and inductive approach. The interpretative and inductive nature of the research is used to identify emergent themes and to afford greater insight into the implementation process, outcomes and the role of healthcare staff. The sociology of professions is used to evaluate the role of the medical professional within Lean from the emergent data, with the focus being on behaviours expected and demonstrated in Lean implementations. The findings provide a mapping of the process for implementing Lean. It is also demonstrated that although medical professionals are expected to hold a crucial role in Lean implementations, their identity as a professional with corresponding power and autonomy provides challenges for implementing Lean in hierarchical areas such as healthcare. This professional identity also impacts on project initiation and sustainability as other stakeholders recognise hierarchical constraints. However, evidence grounded in the data illustrates that Lean breaks down hierarchies and has resulted in improved working in services. The implementation of Lean has been programmatic in line with best-practice case examples and has been driven by strategy and target pressures faced by services. This research provides a contribution to knowledge in three key areas: firstly through mapping the approach to Lean implementation which is a contribution to Programme Theory. Secondly medical professionals are explored through the lens of professionalism which has received limited attention to date within Lean; and finally a set of propositions are generated as a framework for Lean implementation in healthcare.

Contexte Les programmes de promotion de la santé dans le milieu du travail sont des interventions complexes qui requièrent une compréhension des facteurs de risque pour l’identification des populations à cibler. Leur développement s’appuie souvent sur des méthodes de montage de projet qui ne tiennent pas compte de principes de promotion de la santé de la Charte d’Ottawa. Des approches méthodologiques adaptées sont nécessaires pour comprendre le fonctionnement de ces programmes. Objectifs Mener une réflexion autour de la promotion de la santé dans le milieu du travail à travers : (i) le développement de la « théorie de programme » d’une intervention de promotion de la santé intitulée « Plus Saine la Vie » réalisée à la Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF) et (ii) l’identification des déterminants du diabète de type 2 et de l’hypertension artérielle que l’on peut mesurer en routine auprès d’une population de salariés en surpoids en milieu du travail. Méthodes L’outil de catégorisation des résultats de Promotion Santé Suisse a été utilisé pour développer la « théorie de programme » à l’aide d’une approche inductive fondée sur la documentation disponible sur l’intervention et l’observation de celle-ci sur le terrain. Vingt réunions itératives du comité de pilotage de l’intervention ont assuré la validation du processus qui a abouti au modèle final. Ensuite, nous avons utilisé la méthode de conception de programme proposée par Fry et Zask (2016) pour comprendre quels leviers d’action de la Charte d’Ottawa ont été mobilisés par l’intervention. L’identification des déterminants du diabète de type 2 et de l’hypertension artérielle a été réalisée par deux études transversales auprès des salariés en surpoids de la SNCF volontaires pour participer à un dépistage lors de la visite périodique de médecine du travail (janvier 2011- mars 2015). Résultats Une première « théorie de programme » a été développée avec des informations détaillées sur les activités, les résultats intermédiaires et les objectifs de l’intervention. Quatre axes stratégiques de la Charte d’Ottawa ont été mobilisés par l’intervention : création d’environnements favorables à la santé, renforcement de l’action communautaire, acquisition d’aptitudes individuelles et réorientation des services de santé. Dans la deuxième partie de notre travail, les quatre déterminants suivants ont été identifiés pour expliquer une hyperglycémie chez les salariés en surpoids : le sexe masculin, un âge ≥50 ans, une pression artérielle élevée (≥140/90 mm Hg), et une consommation quotidienne de produits sucrés. De plus, six déterminants ont été identifiés pour expliquer une pression artérielle élevée : le sexe masculin, un âge ≥40 ans, un indice de masse corporelle compris entre 27,5 et 29,9 kg/m², une hyperglycémie (mesurée par la glycémie capillaire ≥ 7 mmol/L), un risque élevé d'apnée du sommeil, et le travail de nuit. À l'inverse, être cadre au sein de la SNCF a été identifié comme un facteur protecteur de pression artérielle élevée. Discussion Notre travail propose un cadre conceptuel pour modéliser les programmes de promotion de la santé dans le milieu du travail et relève ainsi, par l’exemple concret de l’action « Plus Saine la Vie », comment certains des axes stratégiques de la Charte d’Ottawa ont pu être mobilisés dans le milieu du travail. Enfin, l’identification de déterminants du diabète de type 2 et de l’hypertension artérielle au cours d’une visite systématique de médecine du travail des salariés en surpoids montre la faisabilité d’interventions ciblées de promotion de la santé dans le milieu du travail. / Background Workplace health promotion programmes are complex interventions that need a wide understanding of risk factors to target high risk populations. The implementation of these programmes often requires the mobilization of classical methods of programme design and planning. However, these methods usually are not based on the Ottawa Charter five priority areas which provides a framework ensuring programme effectiveness. Understanding how a specific program is supposed to work is a crucial point in health promotion and could contribute to the appropriate programme planning and implementation. Thus, programme theory is a practical tool which captures the complexity of a programme by clarifying its objectives, activities and expected outcomes. Objective The aim of this work was to provide a deep insight about workplace health promotion by (i) developping the underlying programme theory of a health promotion programme entitled “Plus Saine la Vie” (“Healthier Life”) carried out in the French National Railways Company (SNCF) and (ii) identifying the factors that are associated with type 2 diabetes and hypertension and can be routinely measured in French overweight employees to develop targeted preventive strategies in the workplace. Methods The “Swiss Model for Outcome Classification in Health Promotion and Prevention” was used to develop the programme theory. Then, we used the design process proposed by Fry and Zask (2016) to understand which levers of action from the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion had been mobilised in the programme. Secondly, two cross-sectional studies were conducted to identify the determinants of type 2 diabetes and hypertension among SNCF overweight employees who participated in a health screening conducted during their regular occupational health check-up (January 2011-March 2015). Results Our work provides a programme theory with detailed information regarding how this health promotion programme was supposed to work and what it was expected to be implemented in the workplace setting. Moreover, the programme design analysis showed that the programme had mobilised the following Ottawa Charter’s action areas in the workplace setting: “creating supportive environments”, “strengthening community action”, “developing personal skills” and “reorienting health services”. Significant predictors of hyperglycaemia were male sex, age ≥50 years, high blood pressure, and daily intake of sugary food. In addition, male sex, older age (age ≥40), body mass index between 27.5 and 29.9 kg/m², hyperglycaemia, high risk of sleep apnoea, and night work schedule were significantly associated with high blood pressure. Conversely, high job position was identified as a protective factor for high blood pressure. Discussion Our work provides an example of a programme theory which can be used as a framework to develop health promotion programmes in the workplace setting. Moreover, our work presents an analysis of the programme concerning the mobilisation of the Ottawa Charter’s action areas for health promotion in the workplace. Our findings could be used by occupational health professionals to design specific health promotion interventions in the workplace setting to target individuals at high risk for developing hypertension and type 2 diabetes.