Home Team Research Articles

Care home uniforms: exploring stakeholders' views on clothing options for staff.

Views in the care home community are divided regarding whether or not staff should wear a uniform. There is little research on the topic and the views of care home residents and their relatives are rarely sought. To capture the views of staff, residents, relatives and visiting professionals in two care homes on the use of uniforms. This small-scale exploratory study used photographs showing three clothing options: a formal option, a polo shirt option and an 'own clothes' option. Each option was modelled in two different poses, one 'approachable' and the other 'unapproachable'. Staff, relatives, the wider care home team and visiting professionals expressed their preferences by replying to a short survey. Residents, all of whom had dementia, expressed their preferences through a table-top activity. Overall, the formal clothing option was preferred for formal care activities and the 'own clothes' option was preferred for social activities. The polo shirt option often obtained the second-highest number of preferences. The photographs featuring the 'unapproachable' pose were rarely selected. The approachability of staff is just as important as the clothes they wear. An alternative to formal uniforms could be for staff to wear polo shirts, possibly as an interim measure to explore the effects of changing the care home's staff uniform policy.

Let’s get to learn the particulate structure of matter with augmented reality!: a jigsaw IV technique lesson plan

The present study aimed to develop, introduce, and conduct an activity for the integration of augmented reality to the jigsaw IV technique in a planned and systematic manner. The activity developed for secondary school students is related to the “Pure Substances” subject which it is included in the “Particulate structure of matter” topic. The activity was arranged as; an attractive introduction, expert group studies, home team studies and assessment stages. Whereas augmented reality was used during the “home team study” stage for the jigsaw IV technique. Students are given the opportunity to examine a lot of resources during the “expert group study” and “home team study” stages to encourage them to be educated as science literate individuals. Whereas the students are subject to individual examinations during the assessment stage. This activity is an example for increasing the usage area of augmented reality in the education environment. Moreover, it is also considered that the activity will provide benefits in ensuring meaningful learning by embodying abstract concepts and helping students in improving 21st-century skills (e.g., cooperative study skills, learning to learn, communication, entrepreneurship, adaptation, leadership, social skills, and responsibility, etc.).

COACH: Caring for Older Adults and Caregivers at Home

Dementia is a major cause of disability and dependency in older adults and it has a physical, psychological, social, and economic impact on the affected individual as well as their caregivers. Most Americans with dementia receive care from their family members, and friends2. Care giving is associated with an increased level of psychological distress and lower subjective well-being and physical health2; caregiver support groups have been found to reduce angry and depressive feelings, improve caregiver's skills, maintain favorable health behaviors and quality of life, and increase social support and satisfaction for caregivers3. There is often a strong preference to keep the affected individual at home for as long as possible; however, significant behavioral challenges and caregiver strain lead to placement in a long-term care facility4. COACH is an innovative, longitudinal, home-based dementia care program serving veterans with dementia and their caregivers. The program originated as a clinical demonstration project by the Geriatric, Research, Education and Clinical Center at the Durham VA Health Care System (DVAHCS) in 2010. It became a fully established, permanent program in 2012 and expanded to rural Eastern North Carolina in 2014. COACH is designed to improve quality of life for veterans with dementia and their caregivers, with the goal of helping veterans remain at home for as long as possible. The criteria for COACH include veterans enrolled in VAHCS who are 65 or more years of age with moderate to severe cognitive impairment and who have a live-in caregiver. Enrolled veterans cannot be in another home-based program and must live within 50 miles from the COACH team's home clinic. The process begins with a consult to the COACH program from any health care provider. Once the veteran and their care giver are screened and found eligible, a LCSW and a RN conduct a comprehensive assessment. This includes psychosocial assessment; home safety assessment; evaluation of patient's cognitive and functional abilities; evaluation of patient's behaviors; medication review; and evaluation of care giver stress, knowledge of dementia, coping abilities, screening for depression and family resources. RN and LCSW consult with an interdisciplinary team of a geriatrician, a geriatric psychiatrist, and a geriatric pharmacist weekly to develop a comprehensive treatment plan integrating best evidence-based practices. After the initial assessment, LCSW and RN conduct follow ups via home visits or video and telephone contact at one, three, and six months. Home visits continue every six months with quarterly follow-ups via video or telephone, and additional ad-hoc home visits as recommended by the interdisciplinary team or needed by the caregiver. The team provides ongoing support and education to caregivers in five major areas of care. 1. Behavioral symptoms management: focuses on non-pharmacological approaches like communication skills, reminiscence and validation techniques, behavioral activation 2. Safety: addresses any safety hazards that may affect the veteran like driving or falls. 3. Advance care planning: offers anticipatory guidance and education on advance directives and end of life care preferences. 4. Caregiver burden: offers ongoing support to caregivers, emphasizes self-care. 5. Dementia related medical concerns: Offers pharmacological recommendations for safety, appropriateness, and compliance; guidance on strategies to maintain functioning, assistance with activities of daily living, and cover needs for durable medical equipment in the home. To augment the educational interventions, the program offers weekly caregiver support groups and monthly educational series talks on dementia. In the last in the last ten years, the program has served nearly 1,200 veterans, with about 100 new veterans enrolled each year. It has demonstrated ability to improve dementia care at home, delay long-term care facility placement6, reduce caregiver burden, and improve safety at home5. COACH exceeds all national dementia performance measures5.

A Bayesian Approach to Predict Football Matches with Changed Home Advantage in Spectator-Free Matches after the COVID-19 Break

Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, most professional sports events have been held without spectators. It is generally believed that home teams deprived of enthusiastic support from their home fans experience reduced benefits of playing on their home fields, thus becoming less likely to win. This study attempts to confirm if this belief is true in four major European football leagues through statistical analysis. This study proposes a Bayesian hierarchical Poisson model to estimate parameters reflecting the home advantage and the change in such advantage. These parameters are used to improve the performance of machine-learning-based prediction models for football matches played after the COVID-19 break. The study describes the statistical analysis on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on football match results in terms of the expected score and goal difference. It also shows that estimated parameters from the proposed model reflect the changed home advantage. Finally, the study verifies that these parameters, when included as additional features, enhance the performance of various football match prediction models. The home advantage in European football matches has changed because of the behind-closed-doors policy implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using parameters reflecting the pandemic’s impact, it is possible to predict more precise results of spectator-free matches after the COVID-19 break.

In-game win probabilities for the National Rugby League

This paper develops new methods for providing instantaneous in-game win probabilities for the National Rugby League. Besides the score differential, betting odds, and real-time features extracted from the match event data are also used as inputs to inform the in-game win probabilities. Rugby matches evolve continuously in time, and the circumstances change over the duration of the match. Therefore, the match data are considered as functional data, and the in-game win probability is a function of the time of the match. We express the in-game win probability using a conditional probability formulation, the components of which are evaluated from the perspective of functional data analysis. Specifically, we model the score differential process and functional feature extracted from the match event data as sums of mean functions and noises. The mean functions are approximated by B-spline basis expansions with functional parameters. Since each match is conditional on a unique kickoff win probability of the home team obtained from the betting odds (i.e., the functional data are not independent and identically distributed), we propose a weighted least squares method to estimate the functional parameters by borrowing the information from matches with similar kickoff win probabilities. The variance and covariance elements are obtained by the maximum likelihood estimation method. The proposed method is applicable to other sports when suitable match event data are available.

The Effects of Closed-door Baseball Games

With the ongoing trend of closed-door baseball games, we researched to discover the actual effect of the crowd during this isolated season. Taking advantage of the current data provided by three reliable sports-related websites, we obtained significant results comparing previous years’ home team winning percentage data to this year’s. Initially, we found that the overall home team winning percentage of 2020 (the crowd-less season) was lower than that of the previous year (with crowds). From this finding, additional analyses were conducted, each controlling for another different factor of home winning percentage. Analysis 1 found that holding for skill difference amongst teams, the matchup of teams with a similar skill level showed a positive effect of crowds, aiding the home team wins. Analysis 2 found that home-field advantage of home teams in 2020 had decreased compared to 2019, proving once again that crowd does have a positive effect on home winning percentage. Thus, it was ultimately determined through the multiple qualifications and subsequent tests that there was evidence of a positive correlation between crowds and increased home winning.

The impact of differing audience sizes on referees and team performance from a North American perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic provides a natural experimental framework to comprehensively test the effect of crowds on both referees and players. We examine this from a North American perspective, using data from three major leagues: the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL) and National Hockey League (NHL). In all three leagues in the 2020–2021 season, matches were played either in empty stadiums or before diverse audience sizes. We find that the lockdown affects NBA and NFL results, by lowering the prospects of winning and the expected scoring points of the home team, when games are played without an audience. Conversely, the lockdown does not substantially influence the outcomes of NHL games. We also examine the effect of audience size on game outcomes using historical observations from the past decade, when no lockdown measures were in force. Interestingly, a larger audience size increases the chance of winning and the expected scoring points of the visiting team for NFL games. No significant effect of the audience size on match outcomes is observed for NBA or NHL games. Regarding referee decisions, spectators do not significantly influence referee calls of NHL matches. As for NBA and NFL, the lockdown significantly increases the total number of referee calls but does not prompt more biased decisions towards either of the teams. Finally, a larger audience leads to referee calls more favourable to the visiting team for NFL games. These results extend the literature regarding crowd pressure on the behaviour of players and officials, with an indication that the specific sports activity has a pivotal role in the response to a cheering audience.

Home advantage and LBW decisions: The contribution of umpiring to the home-ground (dis)advantage in cricket

ObjectivesThis study aimed to determine whether elite cricket umpires' decisions contribute to home advantage via leg-before-wicket decisions. DesignLeg-before-wicket decisions (n = 4971) from actual elite level cricket matches in Australia between 2009 and 2016 were analysed using a binomial logistic regression to predict the umpires' leg-before-wicket decisions. MethodsRegressions were performed to determine whether the batter's team (home or away) influenced the likelihood that the umpire would give them out leg-before-wicket. ResultsWe found no evidence of home advantage in umpires' leg-before-wicket decisions. In fact, we found evidence that umpires in some instances disadvantage the home team. ConclusionsWe suggest that the increased professionalism of sports officials, and the scrutiny they are placed under, may lead umpires to reduce or even overcompensate for any existing biases in their decision making.

The Home Advantage in the National Basketball Association Conference Finals and Finals Series From 1979 to 2019: A Mediation Analysis of Offensive and Defensive Skills.

This study examined the home advantage effect in decisive National Basketball Association Conference Finals and Finals series playoff games from 1979 to 2019 (the 3-point shot era). We also examined the potential contribution of various offensive- and defensive-based skills and whether these skills mediated the relationship between game status (decisive vs. nondecisive) and outcome (win vs. loss). Overall, we found evidence of a home court advantage with the home team winning 63% of the decisive playoff games and 66% of the nondecisive playoff games. After adjusting for multiple comparisons and regular season win percentage, the home team had significantly more defensive rebounds and steals in Game 5 when trailing 3-1 going into that game. Mediation analyses did not reveal any significant findings when examining the impact of decisive game status on performance through offensive and defensive skills, thus suggesting there are other explanations for the home advantage effect.

The Role of Crowd Support on Home Advantage during COVID-19 Restrictions on Italian Football Competitions. Comparison between 2018-19 and 2020-21 Seasons of the Italian Serie A and Serie B Championships.

The home advantage (HA) affects football competitions, especially due to the presence of crowd support. Even though several studies demonstrated that HA (which is influenced by the crowd) decreased in recent years, the empty stadia caused by COVID-19 restrictions offered unique situations to explore and quantify HA. For this reason, we aimed to assess HA in two seasons of the major Italian Championships. We conducted an observational study with the data from the last three seasons of the Italian football championship A–B series, analyzing a total of 2.964 individual game scores. To quantify the HA, the number of points won at home was calculated as a percentage of the total number of points won, home and away. In every season and for every team classification, HA was found (scored points > 50% in home matches). We reported a difference in HA median score for Serie B. Additionally, a difference was found in Serie A for middle-ranking HA median scores in the two seasons compared (p-value = 0.017), which was similarly found in Serie B (p-value = 0.009). The number of penalties was lower in the season with a crowd compared to one without a crowd (p = 0.001). The HA did not disappear in empty stadiums, so there must be other contributing factors. Additionally, we found that the referees were biased by the presence of the crowd in favor of the home teams, and this result could be considered by the football association during referees’ training and formation.

Improving PageRank using sports results modeling

How to rank participants of a sports tournament is of fundamental importance. While PageRank has been extensively used for this task, the algorithm’s superiority over simpler ranking methods has never been clearly demonstrated. We address this knowledge gap by comparing the performance of multiple ranking methods on synthetic datasets where the true ranking is known and the methods’ performance can be thus quantified by standard information filtering metrics. Using sports results from 18 major leagues, we calibrate a state-of-art model, a variation of the classical Bradley–Terry model, for synthetic sports results. We identify the relevant range of parameters under which the model reproduces statistical patterns found in the analyzed empirical datasets. Our evaluation of ranking methods on the synthetic datasets shows that PageRank outperforms the benchmark ranking by the number of wins only early in a tournament when a small fraction of all games have been played yet. Increased randomness in the data due to home team advantage, for example, further reduces the range of PageRank’s superiority. We propose a new PageRank variant that combines forward and backward propagation on the directed network representing the input sports results. The new method outperforms PageRank in all evaluated settings and, when the fraction of games played is sufficiently small and the sport is not too random, it outperforms also the ranking by the number of wins. Beyond the presented comparison of ranking methods, our work paves the way for designing optimal ranking algorithms for sports results data.

No Home Bias in Ghost Games

Because of the COVID-19-pandemic the men’s first German football league (Bundesliga) had to take a break before it was permitted to finish the season 2019/20. However, only ghost games without spectators in the stadiums were allowed in this finishing phase. Comparing these 83 games without spectators with the corresponding 83 regular games between the same teams with spectators before, we find that the normal advantage for the home team disappears. There were 48.2% home wins with spectators and only 32.5% without. This decrease is statistically significant. There were 32.5% away wins before the break and 44.6% thereafter, while the draws increased from 19.3% to 22.9%. However, these increases are not statistically significant. One reason for the lost home advantage is the disappearance of a home bias by the referees, who gave significantly less extra time and also less yellow and red cards to the away team. Keywords: Bundesliga, COVID-19, football, ghost games, home bias

INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF THE FIRST GOAL SCORED BY THE HOME AND AWAY TEAMS ON WINNING THE COMPETITION IN FOOTBALL

Aim: In this study; This study was conducted to examine the effect of the first goal scored by the home and away teams in football on the outcome of the match. In the study, it was aimed to examine the goals in a total of 1951 matches, in which one or more goals were scored in the whole season, in the top football leagues in Turkey, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and England in the 2018-2019 season. Method: The data of the present study were obtained from the OPTA Sports Data Company website. The research data were analyzed by analyzing technical parameters such as the home team and away team winning the match and their percentages, and the winning percentages of the teams scoring the first goal. All obtained data were recorded and interpreted by calculating frequency and percentage values. Findings: According to the study data, it has been determined that the first goal scored in football has a great effect on winning the match. In addition, when the home and away team status of the teams is examined, it is seen that the home teams that score the first goal have a greater advantage than the away teams. Conclusion: It is thought that the first goals scored as a result of this study provide a greater advantage to the home teams and psychological training should be included in the planning as well as tactical and physical training in order to provide an advantage to the away teams.

The diagnostic challenges of neuroparasitological infections: The experience of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases (London) neuroparasitology multidisciplinary team between 2015–2020

In the UK, neuroparasitological infections are rare but important diagnoses. Diagnostic delay can result in significant morbidity. The Hospital for Tropical Diseases (HTD) runs a neuroparasitology multidisciplinary team meeting (MDT) consisting of two consultant parasitologists, neurologist and neuroradiologist, both with specialist interests in neuroinfection, and registrars, working closely with the reference parasitology service. Clinical history, imaging and laboratory results are reviewed to recommend a differential diagnosis and management plan. We reviewed MDT records between 1 st October 2015 and 31 st August 2020. We collected data on demographics, referring specialties, travel history and exposures, final diagnoses and MDT outcomes. Overall, 162 patients were discussed in 51 MDTs. Referrals were made by 54 different hospitals, 3 outside the UK. The median age was 40 (IQR 29,53) and 45% were female. Parasitic infections accounted for 43%, including neurocysticercosis (75%, 52/69), hydatid (9%, 6/69), neuroschistosomiasis (6%, 4/69) and non-HIV associated cerebral toxoplasmosis (3%, 2/69). Non-parasitological diagnoses included other infection (e.g. HSV, cryptococcus), ADEM and malignancy. The MDT recommended further investigation in 28% (45/162) including imaging, serological tests or brain biopsy. For 8% (13/162) treatment was recommended under the home team, 9% (15/162) were treated as an HTD outpatient, 4% (7/162) were admitted for anti-parasitic treatment at HTD. In 5 patients with neurocysticercosis, unnecessary brain biopsy was avoided. The HTD neuroparasitology MDT consults on complex neuroinfections from around the UK. Specialist review helps establish or exclude parasitological diagnoses, leading to appropriate parasitological treatment, saving patients from invasive procedures such as brain biopsy.

Home Advantage Revisited: Did COVID Level the Playing Fields?

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic swept fans out of the stadiums, but matches continued to be played in most major football leagues. We make use of this natural experiment to investigate if home field advantage disappears when the home team is not supported by the fans. Focusing on four top European football leagues, we find such an effect in the Bundesliga only. We propose that this singularity may be related to the special role that the fan associations play in German football.

The Behaviour of Home Advantage during the COVID-19 Pandemic in European Rink Hockey Leagues.

The primary purpose of the present study was to compare the home advantage (HA) and the home team performance in the most relevant European rink hockey leagues (Spanish, Portuguese and Italian), considering the presence or absence of spectators in the competition venues due to the effect of COVID-19 restrictions. The sample was composed of 1665 rink hockey matches (654 from the Spanish league, 497 from the Portuguese league, and 514 from the Italian league) played between the 2018–2019 and 2020–2021 seasons. The HA and match variables comparisons were established using several negative binomial regression models. Results showed that the effect of HA did not disappear despite playing without spectators but decreased from 63.99% to 57.41% (p = 0.002). Moreover, the comparison of the match variables showed that playing with spectators benefited local teams’ performance, especially in the Portuguese and Italian leagues. Playing with spectators favoured local team performance in rink hockey matches, which is more evident in some analysed leagues. However, as HA does not disappear entirely without spectators, it is necessary to study other relevant performance factors that are not directly or indirectly attributable to crowd behaviour in rink hockey performance analyses.

Integrating Principles of Safety Culture and Just Culture Into Nursing Homes: Lessons From the Pandemic.

Decades of concerns about the quality of care provided by nursing homes have led state and federal agencies to create layers of regulations and penalties. As such, regulatory efforts to improve nursing home care have largely focused on the identification of deficiencies and assignment of sanctions. The current regulatory strategy often places nursing home teams and government agencies at odds, hindering their ability to build a culture of safety in nursing homes that is foundational to health care quality. Imbuing safety culture into nursing homes will require nursing homes and regulatory agencies to acknowledge the high-risk nature of post-acute and long-term care settings, embrace just culture, and engage nursing home staff and stakeholders in actions that are supported by evidence-based best practices. The response to the COVID-19 pandemic prompted some of these actions, leading to changes in nursing survey and certification processes as well as deployment of strike teams to support nursing homes in crisis. These actions, coupled with investments in public health that include funds earmarked for nursing homes, could become the initial phases of an intentional renovation of the existing regulatory oversight from one that is largely punitive to one that is rooted in safety culture and proactively designed to achieve meaningful and sustained improvements in the quality of care and life for nursing home residents.

Eliminating supportive crowds reduces referee bias

AbstractWe use a series of historical natural experiments in association football to test whether social pressure from a home stadium crowd affected behavior and outcomes. The standout effect of an empty stadium was that referees cautioned visiting players less often, by over a third of a yellow card per match or once for every 22 fouls committed. Stadium crowds caused referees to favor the home team in their decision‐making. Empty stadiums appear to have reduced the overall home advantage in the final outcomes of football matches, but we cannot statistically reject no effect.

Full Time Result Prediction using Ensemble Techniques

Sports Analytics is a growing industry and one of the best real-word applications of Data Science. In this paper, the interest of author and machine learning capabilities were combined to develop a result predictor for football matches. The model proposed is capable of predicting result of any English Premier League Match at the half-time with 75% accuracy. The full-time result predictor is a system based on ensemble of powerful classification algorithms which can predict the odds of winning and draw of both home team and away team on the basis of goals scored at the half time and the current standings in the league. The model learns from the past records of the league and the results of different models are compared in the last section of the paper.

The Level Of Anxiety’s Referees Of Langsa (Football Association Of Indonesia) When Enforcing The Laws Of The Game During A Match

Football is a popular sport that is loved by all levels of society and throughout the world. A football match always engages a referee who enforces the game to oversee the course of the game consisting of the head referee and assistant referee. This article discusses the level of anxiety of the C-3 soccer referee at the PSSI Askot Langsa City, which amounted to 26 people. The research method used is descriptive quantitative with a survey approach. This study was to figure out information on the anxiety level of the C-3 referee while leading the match; the results showed 17 referees with a percentage of 65% in the high anxiety category and nine referees with a portion of 35% in the very high category. Factors that affect the referee's anxiety are the audience pressure factor. The high atmosphere of the match when the home team is competing and the human error factor from the referee itself is appeared because the referee hesitates in making decisions so that the same mistakes are repeated by head referee and assistant referee during a match underway.