The definition of ‘Assistive Technology’ (AT) includes both assistive products and the services or actions necessary for safe and effective provision of the assistive products to people who need them. International standards and product specifications exist for assistive products. Despite huge unmet need for effective AT provision, a variety of service delivery models across different countries, and a shortage of personnel trained in this field, nowidely useable and accepted AT service provision guidelines currently exist. Aligned with contemporary global initiatives to improve access to AT, a scoping review was commissioned to inform the development of globally useable provision guidance. The aim was to deliver a rapid scoping review of the literature regarding quality guidelines for AT service provision. Method: The rapid scoping review utilised a two-tiered approach to identifying relevant publications: 1) systematic search of academic databases; 2) consultation with assistive technology organisations. The review was conducted in March 2023 across four databases (Medline, CINAHL, SCOPUS and Google Scholar) with no date limitations. Systematic outreach to international and global AT networks was used to access expert informants. Non-English publications were included utilizing Google Translate and support from expert informants to verify content. Analysis was guided by the body of work on quality AT provision and service delivery processes in Europe, as well as the World Health Organization-GATE 5P framework for strengthening access to AT. Results: The search strategies yielded 41 publications from diverse countries, and directed at differing assistive products, personnel and provision contexts. Results are reported from the charted data through to the data extraction framework, including type of publication, study design, audience and reach. We report on the type of AT and the AT provision ecosystem elements discussed, and service delivery process or steps and quality criteria service delivery. Conclusion: This review did not find established guidelines or standards for service provision, but it did identify key service delivery steps which may form part of such guidelines, and many of the 3 publications included mentioned the need for practice guidelines. Despite different contexts such as type of assistive product, recipient of the guidance, language, location and authorship, core elements of AT provision including service delivery steps can be identified. Consideration regarding the nuances of vocabulary, of process, and of enabling flexible foci, is recommended in systematizing globally applicable guidance. This review offers a strong starting point for developing guidance for assistive technology provision to meet global need.
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Purpose: This is a position paper describing the elements of an international framework for assistive techhnology provision that could guide the development of policies, systems and service delivery procedures across the world. It describes general requirements, quality criteria and possible approaches that may help to enhance the accessibility of affordable and high quality assistive technology solutions. Materials and methods: The paper is based on the experience of the authors, an analysis of the existing literature and the inputs from many colleagues in the field of assistive technology provision. It includes the results of discussions of an earlier version of the paper during an international conference on the topic in August 2017. Results and conclusion: The paper ends with the recommendation to develop an international standard for assistive technology provision. Such a standard can have a major impact on the accessibility of AT for people with disabilities. The paper outlines some the key elements to be included in a standard.
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Purpose: Aftercare for curatively treated breast cancer patients includes support and information provision. As patients differ in their needs, personalization of aftercare is advocated, but clear guidelines on how to achieve personalization are currently missing. This study investigates patients’ preferences regarding assessment of care needs and information provision. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 breast cancer patients (15 female, 3 male) who received aftercare for at least three months in five Dutch hospitals. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Several patients perceived current aftercare as too intensive or too little, therefore they preferred to discuss their needs beforehand with their health care provider to align aftercare with their needs. Patients preferred more attention to needs on the domains of social and emotional wellbeing and return to work. Patients preferred a comprehensive resource of information on potential (late) effects of cancer and its treatment and of available support options, enabling them to self-manage the dosage and timing of desired information. Patients had positive expectations about an aftercare plan, as it would provide a better overview of their care needs, support options and agreements about the aftercare trajectory. Conclusions: To facilitate personalization in aftercare, information and care needs should be better addressed and summarized in an aftercare plan. Patients and healthcare practitioners should create the aftercare plan together in shared decision-making. A supporting tool is needed to improve assessment of care needs on multiple domains, to provide layered information and facilitate use of aftercare plans.
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Worldwide there is a lack of well-educated and experienced information security specialists. The first step to address this issue is arranging enough people with a well-known and acceptable basic level of information security competences. However, there might be a lot of information security education and training, but there is anything but a well-defined outflow level with a known and acceptable basic level of information security competences. There exists a chaotic situation in respect of the qualification of information security professionals, with the emergence of a large number of difficult to compare certificates and job titles. Apparently the information security field requires uniform qualifications that are internationally recognized. Such qualifications could be an excellent way of unambiguously clarifying the knowledge and skills of information security professionals. Furthermore it gives educational institutions a framework which facilitates the development of appropriate information security education and training.
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In this study, we examined how the provision of contextual informa- tion and the ability to ask questions and obtain feedback affected mock investigators' interpretation of a crime scene. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions in a 2 × 2 design and assessed two photographs of the same crime scene. Participants were instructed to write a narrative about what they thought had happened at the scene. Results showed that the provision of con- textual information and the ability to ask questions had no effect on the lengths of the narratives participants produced. However, participants who received contextual information wrote a more fac- tual narrative containing more descriptions of actions before, during, and after the crime. Across all conditions, most of the questions were asked about persons who could in some way be involved in the crime. Results of this study indicate that the provision of con- textual information helped participants to focus on the more factual, rather than speculative elements, of the crime.
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Purpose – Information verification is an important factor in commercial valuation practice.Valuers use their professional autonomy to decide on the level of verification required, thereby creating an opportunity for client-related judgement bias in valuation. The purpose of this paper is to assess the manifestation of client attachment risks in information verification. Design/methodology/approach – A case-based questionnaire was used to retrieve data from 290 commercial valuation professionals in the Netherlands, providing a 15 per cent response rate of the Dutch commercial valuation population. Descriptive and inferential statistics have been used to test research hypotheses involving relations between information verification and professional features that may indicate client attachment such as an executive job level and brokerage experience. Findings – The results reveal that valuers acting at partner level within their organisation obtain lower scores on information verification compared to lower-ranked valuers. Also, brokerage experience correlates negatively to information verification of valuation professionals. Both findings have statistical significance. Research limitations/implications – The results reflect valuers’ reasoning behaviour rather than actual behaviour. Replication of findings through experimental design will contribute to research validity. Practical implications – Maintaining close client contact in a competitive environment is important for business continuity yet may foster client attachment.The associated downside risks in valuation practice call for higher awareness of (subconscious) client influence and the development of attitudinal scepticism in valuer training programmes. Originality/value – This paper is one of the few that explore possible sources of valuer judgement bias by relating client-friendly valuer features to a key area of valuation i.e. information verification.
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The Technical Manual for the digital evaluation tool QualiTePE supports users of the QualiTePE tool in creating, conducting and analysing evaluations to record the quality of teaching in physical education. The information on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) instructs users on how to anonymise the data collection of evaluations and which legal bases apply with regard to the collection of personal data. The technical manual for the digital evaluation tool QualiTePE and the information on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are available in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Slovenian, Czech and Greek.
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Project objectives Radicalisation research leads to ethical and legal questions and issues. These issues need to be addressed in way that helps the project progress in ethically and legally acceptable manner. Description of Work The legal analysis in SAFIRE addressed questions such as which behavior associated with radicalisation is criminal behaviour. The ethical issues were addressed throughout the project in close cooperation between the ethicists and the researchers using a method called ethical parallel research. Results A legal analysis was made about criminal law and radicalisation. During the project lively discussions were held in the research team about ethical issues. An ethical justification for interventions in radicalisation processes has been written. With regard to research ethics: An indirect informed consent procedure for interviews with (former) radicals has been designed. Practical guidelines to prevent obtaining information that could lead to indirect identification of respondents were developed.
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Research has shown that some 30% of total care needs in people with late-life depression (LLD) are unmet. It is not known to what extent patients actually don’t receive any care for these needs or consider the care to be insufficient and their satisfaction with the provided care. Results: In 67% of patients, at least one unmet need was ascertained. In most cases (80%) care was actually provided for those needs by professionals and/or informal caregivers. Patients were satisfied with the care delivered for 81% of the reported care needs. Satisfaction was lowest for social care needs (67%). For six specific care needs it was demonstrated that dissatisfied patients were significantly more depressed than satisfied patients. Conclusion: Even though patients might receive care for certain needs, this does not mean that their needs are met. A substantial proportion of patients with LDD feel that they need additional help for unmet needs.
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