Beliefs About Gambling Problems and Recovery: Results from a General Population Telephone Survey

Respondents were asked their beliefs about gambling abuse as part of a general population telephone survey. The random digit dialing survey consisted of 8,467 interviews of adults, 18 years and older, from Ontario, Canada (45% male; mean age = 46.2). The predominant conception of gambling abuse was that of an addiction, similar to drug addiction. More than half of respondents reported that treatment was necessary and almost three-quarters of respondents felt that problem gamblers would have to give up gambling completely in order to overcome their gambling problem. Problem gamblers (past or current) were less likely than non- or social gamblers to believe that treatment was needed, and current problem gamblers were least likely to believe that abstinence was required, as compared to all other respondents. Strong agreement with conceptions of gambling abuse as disease or addiction were positively associated with belief that treatment is needed, while strong agreement with conceptions of disease or wrongdoing were positively associated with belief that abstinence is required.     

Effective inter-agency collaboration to safeguard children: Rising to the challenge through collective development

Multidisciplinary strategic collaborations are becoming increasingly commonplace. This is particularly evident in relation to safeguarding children. However, whilst there is a growing body of literature on both the effective leadership of collaborations and child protection there is little that combines the two. This means that senior managers, who are members of safeguarding partnerships, have a limited evidence-base to inform their collective learning and development. This paper seeks to add to the body of knowledge by first exploring both the literature on strategic collaboration and considering the implications for safeguarding partnerships. Second, by making an argument, that in order for members to engage in the effective joint leadership of collaborations they require opportunities for reflection and ongoing collective development. Third, providing an example of a way in which this can be achieved through the use of a self-assessment and improvement tool. Finally, considering the lessons learnt from the development of such a tool, focusing specifically on the implications for members of partnerships addressing complex problems such as the multifaceted issues associated with child maltreatment.     

Does poor weight gain identify children in need?

To determine the socioeconomic variables in children with slow growth (failure to thrive), a case–control study was carried out in two economically deprived areas of Newcastle upon Tyne. Three hundred and six children, aged 12–24 months, registered at two health authority clinics, were studied by reviewing their growth charts. Sixty-three had poor growth (weight deviating downwards across two major centiles from the maximum centile attained at 4–8 weeks of age). Five children were excluded because of known organic disease. A matched control group of normally growing children was selected from the same clinics. Study children and controls were examined and their parents interviewed on a range of socioeconomic, health and interactional factors. A health visitor assessment and a record of social work contact was obtained. The slowly growing children differed significantly from controls in being lighter and shorter, while their mothers spent less on food, needed more help with the child, had a poorer home environment and expressed greater concern over their child's health. Four different patterns of poor growth were identified by inspection of the charts: early onset (before 6 months but sustained), late onset (after 6 months), temporary and recurrent. The ‘recurrent’ group was associated with parenting difficulties and the ‘late onset’ group with adverse socioeconomic factors. Slow growth patterns in children under 2 years may be used as a screening tool to identify ‘children in need’ and should be sought on a population basis. Those identified can then be assessed further to ascertain the area where underlying difficulties lie, for intervention to follow as appropriate.     

15 minutes of statistical fame

Tony Lawrance surveyed his email one morning to find an urgent request from the West Mercia Police Authority to give a statistical opinion on a government report recommending the merger of the current 43 police forces into as few as 12. The Authority asked for an independent objective assessment, "even if we don't like the answer." Persuaded by this freedom, he submitted his report within the 2-day deadline and returned, as he thought, to the day job. Well, not quite—a media storm followed.     

Validation of a longitudinally measured surrogate marker for a time-to-event endpoint

The objective of this paper is to extend the surrogate endpoint validation methodology proposed by Buyse et al. (2000) to the case of a longitudinally measured surrogate marker when the endpoint of interest is time to some key clinical event. A joint model for longitudinal and event time data is required. To this end, the model formulation of Henderson et al. (2000) is adopted. The methodology is applied to a set of two randomized clinical trials in advanced prostate cancer to evaluate the usefulness of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level as a surrogate for survival.