Safety Theme Research Articles

A Case Study on Hotels as Noncongregate Emergency Living Accommodations for Returning Citizens

Background:The Transitional Hotel Project (THP) is a noncongregate emergency hotel initiative with comprehensive wraparound services implemented at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was designed to address the emergency housing needs of adults transitioning from incarceration (returning citizens) to community reintegration.Objective:The study aims to explore the external and internal recovery needs of returning citizens participating in the THP, with a focus on their housing stability, mental and behavioral health, employment, and the development of prosocial relationships.Methods:This mixed-methods case study used de-identified case management data, focus groups, and interviews with 24 participants, including employees, key partners, and returning citizens. A thematic analysis was conducted to identify key themes related to the recovery process of returning citizens.Findings:A thematic analysis revealed three primary themes: (a) safety, including both physical and psychological aspects; (b) mutual empathy; and (c) person-centered decision-making. Two subthemes emerged under the safety theme: (a) physical safety and (b) psychological safety. Mutual empathy between participants and peer mentor staff played a critical role in fostering the recovery of returning citizens.Conclusions:The findings suggest that the physical and psychological safety provided within the hotel setting, along with the empathy and support from peer mentor staff, were significant factors contributing to positive changes in returning citizens. These elements of the THP appear to have facilitated improvements in both external recovery needs (e.g., housing stability and employment) and internal recovery processes (e.g., restructured self-identity, human agency, and perceptions of hope).

Patient and public co-creation of healthcare safety and healthcare system resilience: The case of COVID-19.

Healthcare system resilience is a conceptual approach that seeks to explore how health services adapt and respond to variability in demand and resources. As has been witnessed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare services have undergone many reconfigurations. One understudied aspect of how the 'system' is able to adapt and respond is the contribution of key stakeholders-patients and families, and in the context of the pandemic, the general public as a whole. This study aimed to understand what people were doing during the first wave of the pandemic to protect the safety of their health, and the health of others from COVID-19, and the resilience of the healthcare system. Social media (Twitter) was used as a method of recruitment due to its ability for social reach. Twenty-one participants took part in 57 semistructured interviews over three time points from June to September 2020. The included an initial interview and invitation to two follow-up interviews after 3 and 6 weeks. Interviews were conducted virtually using Zoom-an encrypted secure video conferencing software. A reflexive thematic analysis approach to analysis was used. Three themes, each with its own subthemes were identified in the analysis: (1) A 'new safety normal'; (2) Existing vulnerabilities and heightened safetyand (3) Are we all in this together? This study found that the public had a role in supporting the resilience of healthcare services and systems during the first wave of the pandemic by adapting their behaviour to protect themselves and others, and to avoid overwhelming the National Health Service. People who had existing vulnerabilities were more likely to experience safety gaps in their care, and be required to step in to support their safety, despite it being more difficult for them to do so. It may be that the most vulnerable were previously required to do this extra work to support the safety of their care and that the pandemic has just illuminated this issue. Future research should explore existing vulnerabilities and inequalities, and the heightened safety consequences created by the pandemic. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Translational Research Centre (NIHR Yorkshire and Humber PSTRC), Patient and Public Involvement and EngagementResearch Fellowand NIHR Yorkshire and Humber PSTRC Patient Involvement in Patient Safety theme lay leader are involved in the preparation of a lay version of the findings within this manuscript.

Perceptions of COVID-19 Vaccines: Protective Shields or Threatening Risks? A Descriptive Exploratory Study among the Italian Population.

Although several quantitative studies have explored vaccine hesitancy, qualitative research on the factors underlying attitudes toward vaccination is still lacking. To fill this gap, this study aimed to investigate the general perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines among the Italian population with a qualitative approach. The sample included 700 Italian participants who completed an online survey. Open questions underwent a descriptive analysis for unveiling meaning categories, while differences in the prevalence of categories were calculated using chi-square or Fisher's exact tests. Vaccination was associated with the following seven main themes: 'safety', 'healthcare', 'vaccine delivery', 'progress', 'ambivalence', 'mistrust', and 'ethics'. Vaccinated individuals more frequently reported words related to the safety theme (χ2 = 46.7, p < 0.001), while unvaccinated individuals more frequently reported words related to mistrust (χ2 = 123, p < 0.001) and ambivalence (χ2 = 48.3, p < 0.001) themes. Working in the healthcare sector and being younger than 40 years affected the general perceptions of vaccination in terms of pro-vaccine attitudes. Unvaccinated individuals were more affected by the negative experiences of their acquaintances and manifested more distrust of scientific researchers, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies than vaccinated individuals. These findings suggest promoting collaborative efforts of governments, health policymakers, and media sources, including social media companies, in order to deal with cognitions and emotions supporting vaccine hesitancy.

Prioritizing Themes Using a Delphi Survey on Patient Safety Theme Reports

Purpose: The study aims to identify the theme list and priority criteria of patient safety theme reports in South Korea.Methods: The survey was conducted twice, and the importance of each criterion and theme was measured on a nine-point scale using the Delphi technique by a panel of 19 patient safety experts. The criteria included severity, universality, preventability, and organizational-social impact. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, median, and interval quartile range were used to analyze the data.Results: The parameters were assigned a weighted average of 35% for severity, 20% for universality, 30% for preventability, and 15% for organizational-social impact, respectively. The final top three rankings were surgery safety, blood transfusion safety, and medication safety. In addition to expert opinion, for the theme that is selected based on the priority ranking, one to five sub-topics can be derived from the theme based on the priority ranking, societal demands, or the yearly priority list of patient safety incidents.Conclusion: It is recommended that the official patient safety center distribute the report in the form of a summary that can be utilized nationwide at medical institutions, government institutions, and other places. Updates, as well as accumulated theme reports, will serve as the baseline data for the proposal of the system and for the policy designed to implement and improve institutions’ safety practices as a standard of domestic patient safety practice guidelines.

COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in English-language news media: retrospective cohort study

ObjectivesTo describe COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and track trends over time in traditional news media.DesignRetrospective cohort study of a large database of online articles, July 2020–June 2021.SettingEnglish-language articles from 100 news...

Knowledge of students from a health science university on human error and patient safety

Objective: This research aimed to identify the knowledge of students from a health science university on human error and patient safety.Methods: This is an observational, cross-sectional research with a quantitative approach. A total of 228 students of the following baccalaureate courses participated: Physical Education, Nursing, Medicine, Nutrition, and Psychology. The study was conducted in the second semester of 2019 through an online questionnaire with 27 closed and 4 open questions. Simple frequencies, central tendency measures, and correlation tests were used to analyze the data. The IRAMUTEQ software was used to analyze the answers to open questions.Results: The study demonstrated that the Nursing students had more contact with the patient safety theme and greater confidence to perform techniques during clinical practice. In general, students pointed out positive responses regarding knowledge about patient safety, such as: recognition of the possibility of errors, the importance of communication, and learning from mistakes.Conclusion: The results may contribute to strengthening teaching about patient safety in universities.

A mixed methods study of satisfaction with justice and desire for revenge in survivors of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York City's World Trade Center.

This study used mixed methods to investigate satisfaction with justice and desire for revenge in a sample of employees from New York City agencies affected by the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. A volunteer sample of 196 employees of eight affected agencies provided a short essay about what justice means to them in relation to the 9/11 attacks, followed by 20 quantitative questions covering personal experiences and perceptions of 9/11-related justice. Wilcoxon rank sum tests were performed for bivariate comparisons of quantitative items and qualitative thematic codes. Mixed methods analysis was used to inspect the associations of the content of all text coded for themes with quantitative categories within and across domains. Only the revenge domain showed a significant association between the quantitative category and the qualitative theme. The quantitative revenge category was positively associated with the qualitative justice through safety theme. Examination of qualitative content provided insights into the relationships with quantitative constructs. Qualitative and mixed methods research on justice and revenge in mass casualty settings add new findings to the existing literature and have the potential to contribute to the interpretation and potential expansion of topic areas assessed by quantitative scales.

Inherently safer mechanical material selection for process equipment

Abstract Hazards associated with chemical processes can lead to accidents, which can be managed through process safety strategies. Inherent safety is a proactive tactic, capable of both identifying and minimizing the hazard. Available inherent safety assessment (ISA) methods focus on route selection only. Individual process equipment characteristics, especially the mechanical aspects are not reported for ISA. Subsequently, this paper presents a new technique for suitable material selection of process equipment at initial design stages. In inherently safer mechanical material (ISMM), process characteristics are coupled with the mechanical attributes for mechanical material selection of process equipment. The relative ranking of process equipment is used to highlight the critical process equipment that is more prone to leak. This risky process unit is further studied to select the suitable mechanical material. Two-fold mechanical compatibility criteria are established, which needs to be satisfied for material selection. If the proposed material is found unsuitable, inherent safety theme is used to propose the suitable material. The ISMM technique is verified by a case study of MMA-TBA process plant Hysys simulation. The technique is simple and identifies the crucial equipment in early design stages, which can help the design engineers to implement inherent safety at the basic design stage.

Sustainability indicators for municipalities of megacities: Integrating health, safety and environmental performance

The sustainability assessment of public sector organizations including municipalities, with a focus on the integration of health, safety, and environmental (HSE) issues in the context of sustainability performance indicators, has almost remained underexplored. Moreover, since a large number of the activities of megacities’ municipalities have directly to do with HSE issues, there seems to be a substantial gap in the study of megacities and corresponding local public administrations. The present study is aimed at developing a performance evaluation tool, supported by indicators, to monitor the HSE aspects of sustainable development in the municipalities of megacities. To put the proposed tool into practice, a set of performance evaluation indicators is proposed to be adopted in Iranian municipalities, integrated in the megacity of Tehran. The selection process was conducted by employing Delphi technique. In doing so, a 2-round questionnaire was responded by qualified experts to select the most robust indicators of HSE performance and evaluate the priority of each indicator. A total of 80 indicators were generated and grouped into 13 categories, 29 sub-categories, and 7 themes- (Health (H), Safety (S), Environment (E), Health-Safety (HS), Health-Environment (HE), Safety-Environment (SE), and Health, Safety and Environment (HSE)). Findings indicate that amongst the overall average score of the 13 categories, “Fire and emergency response” is the most important category, closely followed by “Waste”, “Transportation”, and “Natural systems” categories. Moreover, among the 7 proposed themes, the integrated “HSE theme”, nearly followed by “safety theme”, plays the most significant role in enhancing the HSE performance of sustainability in Tehran municipalities. It is concluded that in the HSE context of the megacities municipalities under scrutiny, social aspects of sustainability gain more attention in comparison with the environmental ones. Furthermore, in municipalities of megacities, the indicators related to health and safety could be considered as ‘key indicators’ and should be thus classified into independent categories so that their roles can be highlighted in the management and assessment of municipal sustainable development.

Formative Testing of New SNAP-Ed Social Marketing Campaign Messages Designed for Low-Income Louisiana Residents

To develop and focus group test new social marketing messages designed for low-income Louisiana residents. USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) recommends using comprehensive social marketing campaigns to expand reach of SNAP-Ed messages. In 2014, LSU AgCenter designed a SNAP-Ed social marketing campaign based on FNS’ core nutrition messages reaching 32 parishes through billboards and print materials. In 2015, Altarum Institute conducted process and outcome evaluations of the campaign and findings were used to inform the 2016 campaign. Target Audience was SNAP-eligible Louisianans. After reviewing evaluation results, considering the needs of Louisiana's SNAP-eligible population, and reassessing the goals of Louisiana SNAP-Ed, LSU AgCenter developed new messages for their FFY 2017 campaign. Altarum Institute was contracted to assist with the development and testing of these new messages. Eight focus groups were conducted statewide to test new messages within the themes of family mealtime, breakfast, physical activity and food safety. The family mealtime theme tested favorably among focus group participants while the breakfast theme was not as well received. Participants responded well to the physical activity theme and recognized its importance for maintaining health. Future use of the food safety theme may require supplemental information at the local level to better educate the target audience. Participants would like to see visual images incorporated into campaign materials that represent the diversity of their communities and for message dissemination to include social media and community outreach channels. Formative testing of new social marketing messages was effective and provided useful feedback for informing future iterations of the campaign.

Evaluation of a participative education process for increasing tween restraint use in Virginia: The Make it Click initiative

IntroductionNearly half of 8–12year-old tweens killed in car crashes every year in the US are completely unrestrained, and the majority sit in the front seat. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a school-based program targeting increased safety restraint and back-seat use among tweens. Design and settingThe multi-component school-wide program was evaluated via a pre-post control-group design in four public elementary schools in an economically disadvantaged, multi-ethnic urban community in southeastern Virginia. Study schools had 1184 students enrolled in third through sixth grades. InterventionThe Make it Click Initiative was developed with input from student focus groups, surveys, and school personnel. Grounded in social cognitive theory and principles of behavioral psychology, the participative education program included: (a) competition to achieve a high rate of students buckled in the back; (b) a creativity contest with entries illustrating a car safety theme; (c) a series of parent education flyers; (d) car safety assignments that support state learning objectives; (e) a safety-themed play; (f) teacher newsletters; and (g) educational presentations. Main outcome measuresBehavioral observations (N=762) of children’s restraint and back seat use. ResultsMake it Click intervention schools’ observed safety belt use increased from 31.9% to 67.9%, and students in intervention schools were 3.3 times more likely to wear their belts at follow-up than students in control schools, X2(1)=19.72, p<0.001. Further, increases in belt use were maintained in study observations longer than those resulting from the highly publicized national Click it or Ticket enforcement program. Significant differences were not observed in back seat use. ConclusionsThe program resulted in significant improvements in observed safety belt use that outlasted results observed locally from the national high visibility enforcement program alone. Theory-driven participative education programs can improve the safety practices of school-age children.

Development of ‘the safety’ theme-based integrated teaching·learning process plans for the middle school Home Economics Instruction

이 연구의 목적은 교육과정 분석과 학습자의 요구조사를 통하여 중학교 가정과 수업을 위한 ‘안전’ 주제 중심 통합 교수 &#65381; 학습 과정안을 체계적이고 타당하게 개발하여 가정과교사들이 교실현장에서 안전교육을 용이하게 실시할 수 있도록 안내하여 궁극적으로 청소년들이 안전한 생활을 실천하도록 기여하는데 있다. 이를 위해서 우선, 1차에서 2015 개정 가정과 교육과정의 안전교육 내용의 분석 및 부산지역 여자 중학교 512명을 대상으로 실시한 안전교육 요구도를 바탕으로 안전 내용 요소를 도출하였다. 그리고 주제선정기준에 의해 7가지 통합 주제를 선정하고 각 통합주제별로 주제망을 구성하여 가정과 ‘안전’ 주제중심 교육과정과 학습자료를 개발하였다. 연구 결과, 가정과는 1954년에 제정된 1차부터 2015 개정 교육과정 시안에 이르기까지 안전에 대한 내용을 지속적으로 표기하고 있었다. 학생들의 안전교육 요구가 가장 높게 나온 내용요소는 성폭력 및 성매매 예방과 대처방법이고 자살예방 및 대처방법, 집단따돌림 순으로 높게 나타났으며 가장 낮게 나온 항목이 정리정돈이고 42개 모든 항목에서 ‘필요하다’ 이상의 결과를 나타내었다. 이 연구에서 개발한 가정과 수업을 위한 ‘안전’ 주제 중심 통합 교육과정은 식생활안전, 청소년의 성과 안전, 청소년의 친구관계와 안전, 가족생활과 안전, 주생활과 안전, 청소년의 자아와 안전, 사회 환경과 안전의 7가지 통합주제를 선정하고, 각 통합주제에 따라서 3～6개씩 총 28개의 소주제(35차시 분)가 구성되었으며 이를 교실현장에서 손쉽게 실행할 수 있도록 구체적으로 안내하는 교수 &#65381; 학습과정안 총 28편(35차시분량),과 다양한 학습자료 (PPT 28개, 동영상자료 25편, 읽기자료 4편, 학습지 61개, 활동지 14개, 평가지 16개, 테스트지 3개, 참고자료 2개, 학습자료 모형 4개(냉장고 모형, 토론신호등, 식판모형과 음식스티커, 푸드마일리지 카드)로 총 157개를 개발하였다. 본 연구는 7개 통합 주제를 중심으로 교육과정 개발에 초점이 있기에 우선순위에서 제외된 의생활과 안전, 갈등과 안전, 직업생활과 안전, 소비생활과 안전 주제 중심 교육과정 개발과 함께 이를 현장에 적용하여 학생들의 안전의식과 행동 및 태도변화에 대한 후속연구가 필요하다.The purpose of this study was to develop the safety theme-based integrated teaching · learning process plans for the middle school Home Economics(HE) Instruction and ultimately to contribute for the middle school students to live their safe lives. To achieve the goals of this study, HE curriculum documents from the 1st to the 2015 revision were analyzed and a survey was conducted to identify the middle school students current status of safety accidents and needs on the HE safety education. The respondents of the survey were the 512 students of one OO Girls Middle School in Busan. And then, the seven integrated themes were selected, each seven integrated theme-networks were formed, and safety theme-based Home Economics curriculum and learning materials were developed. The results of this study were as the follows. The safety education content has continually been included from the first HE curriculum of 1954 to the 2015 revised HE curriculum. The middle school student respondents highly needed the content of the methods to deal with sexual violence and prostitution prevention , suicide prevention , and bullying net for the HE safety education. All the 42 items were needed for the HE safety education by the respondents. The safety theme-based HE teaching · learning process plans developed finally included the seven integrated themes, which were ① dietary life safety, ② adolescents sex and safety, ③ adolescents relationships with friends and safety, ④ family life and safety, ⑤ dwelling life and safety, ⑥ adolescents egos and safety, and ⑦ social environment and safety. Each integrated theme consisted of three to six small themes, which amounted to total 28(for 35 lessons). Each small theme was presented with learning objectives and particular goals. The total 157 learning materials including the Home Economics curriculum were developed, which offered learning objectives and content for each safety theme, total 28 teaching and learning plans(for 35 lessons) were developed, which offered specific instructions for the easy implementation of the curriculum in the classroom, 28 PPTs, 25 film materials, four reading materials, 61 workbooks, 14 activity sheets, 16 evaluation sheets, 3 test sheets, 2 reference materials, and 4 learning material models(the refrigerator model, traffic lights for discussions, food tray model and stickers, and food mileage card). In this study, the safety education themes of clothing life and safety , conflict and safety , professional life and safety , and consumer and safety were not addressed because these theme were not needed highly by the respondents. Therefore, for the further development of the teaching · learning process plans for the HE safety education, it is necessary to develop and evaluate the teaching · learning process plans to address the themes of clothing life and safety , conflict and safety , professional life and safety , and consumer and safety .

The Predicted form of Clusters Using Inter-person Distance and Angle: Evidence from a Mock-up Set at the Daegu Subway Station

This study collected a human behavior data-set regarding passengers’ travel times and inter-personal distance between them on the corridor and stair. The experimental venue was a mock-up set of the Jungang-ro subway station, which is located at the Daegu Safety Theme Park. Two experiments, the first one without smoke generation, and the other not, were performed and repeated four times. We then conducted analysis based in walking speed, density, travel time and inter-personal distance and angle distribution. As a result, we predict the form of the cluster according to the inter-person distance and angle distribution

Why safety doesn’t save closure

Knowledge closure is, roughly, the following claim: For every agent S and propositions P and Q, if S knows P, knows that P implies Q, and believes Q because it is so implied, then S knows Q. Almost every epistemologist believes that closure is true. Indeed, they often believe that it so obviously true that any theory implying its denial is thereby refuted. Some prominent epistemologists have nevertheless denied it, most famously Fred Dretske and Robert Nozick. There are closure advocates who see other virtues in those accounts, however, and so who introduce revisions of one sort or another in order to preserve closure while maintaining their spirit. One popular approach is to replace the “sensitivity” constraint at the heart of both of those accounts with a “safety” constraint, as advocated by Timothy Williamson, Duncan Pritchard, Ernest Sosa, Stephen Luper, and others. The purpose of this essay is to show that this approach does not succeed: safety does not save closure. And neither does a popular variation on the safety theme, the safe-basis or safe-indicator account.

How low should you go? Neighbourhood level interventions in the crime and community safety theme of New Deal for Communities

Neighbourhoods are viewed by policy makers as key to the renewal of citizen engagement and improvements in the delivery of services. The national evaluation of the New Deal for Communities offers empirical evidence of the possibilities and limitations of neighbourhood level service delivery. A review of crime and community safety initiatives in six case study NDC Partnerships suggests that neighbourhoods have been appropriate spaces in which to address some key issues, in particular property related crime and anti-social behaviour. NDC Partnerships have brought together communities and agencies to focus on local needs. But there have also been tensions: NDC Partnerships have struggled to maintain community participation and some agencies do not engage at the neighbourhood level. There are issues which require interventions at different spatial scales and sometimes neighbourhood level priorities are out of step with other initiatives and strategies. There is a need for neighbourhoods to be integrated into wider governance arrangements.

The wreck of Amtrak's Sunset Limited: news coverage of a mass transport disaster.

Using the 1993 crash of Amtrak's Sunset Limited in Mobile, Alabama, this study examines the safety education provided by seven newspapers. A total of 117 news stories were analysed for five primary themes: overall story category, passenger safety theme, train personnel safety theme, train safety theme and rescue safety. Sixty-three per cent were found to contain at least one safety theme paragraph within the larger story. A total of 631 paragraphs were identified as safety theme paragraphs, 32 per cent of which were passenger safety themes, 8 per cent were train personnel safety, 31 per cent were train safety and 29 per cent were rescue safety themes. As in previous research, safety themes rarely appeared alone; more often than not, a story contained a mixture of all themes. Some safety themes appeared more frequently than others, but overall, the safety themes present a complete view of the safety issues surrounding the crash. Safety themes are embedded within a story framework which reflects the three stages of disaster news work. Images of normalcy tragically disrupted by the crash abound as do images of passengers escaping and aiding others. Disaster relief personnel and aviation officials are shown working to restore order and solve the mystery of the crash. Within this framework we can learn what to expect when a train crashes and what we might have to do in a similar situation.