Making the law accessible to non-lawyers: effects of different kinds of expertise on perceived usability of online legal information services

To help design an environment in which professionals without legal training can make effective use of public sector legal information on planning and the environment - for Add-Wijzer, a European e-government project - we evaluated their perceptions of usefulness and usability. In concurrent think-aloud usability tests, lawyers and non-lawyers carried out information retrieval tasks on a range of online legal databases. We found that non-lawyers reported twice as many difficulties as those with legal training (p = 0.001), that the number of difficulties and the choice of database affected successful completion, and that the non-lawyers had surprisingly few problems understanding legal terminology. Instead, they had more problems understanding the syntactical structure of legal documents and collections. The results support the constraint attunement hypothesis (CAH) of the effects of expertise on information retrieval, with implications for the design of systems to support the effective understanding and use of information.

Exploring and comparing the experience and coping behaviour of men and women with colorectal cancer after chemotherapy treatment:A qualitative longitudinal study

Objectives: Men have higher incidence and mortality rates for nearly all cancers. They are less likely than women to utilise cancer information services and other social support services. The aim of this study was to explore and compare the experience and coping behaviour of men and women after treatment for colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: A longitudinal qualitative study was conducted involving 38 individuals (24 men and 14 women) with CRC. Data were generated using semi-structured interviews at four time points over an 18-month period, post-diagnosis. Interviews focused on participant's experience of CRC and on how gender affected their coping. This paper reports the findings of interviews 3 and 4 which examined the participant's experience after chemotherapy. Results: Three themes emerged from the interviews ('new normal', living with uncertainty and support needs). Many men and women reacted similarly; however, there was some variation evident between and within sexes. The main difference was with regard to the long-term physical side effects of the illness. Many women admitted to still experiencing side effects, whereas many men indicated that they had no problems. These men engaged in practices that aligned with their gender identity and view of masculinity. It must be noted that some men and women were still experiencing an impact. Conclusions: Recovery from the physical and psychological effects of CRC does not occur simultaneously. Healthcare professionals should be aware that not all men (or women) conform to the social stereotypes of masculinity (or femininity). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Estimating the incidence, prevalence and true cost of asthma in the UK: Secondary analysis of national stand-alone and linked databases in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales-a study protocol

Introduction Asthma is now one of the most common long-term conditions in the UK. It is therefore important to develop a comprehensive appreciation of the healthcare and societal costs in order to inform decisions on care provision and planning. We plan to build on our earlier estimates of national prevalence and costs from asthma by filling the data gaps previously identified in relation to healthcare and broadening the field of enquiry to include societal costs. This work will provide the first UK-wide estimates of the costs of asthma. In the context of asthma for the UK and its member countries (ie, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales), we seek to: (1) produce a detailed overview of estimates of incidence, prevalence and healthcare utilisation; (2) estimate health and societal costs; (3) identify any remaining information gaps and explore the feasibility of filling these and (4) provide insights into future research that has the potential to inform changes in policy leading to the provision of more cost-effective care.

Methods and analysis Secondary analyses of data from national health surveys, primary care, prescribing, emergency care, hospital, mortality and administrative data sources will be undertaken to estimate prevalence, healthcare utilisation and outcomes from asthma. Data linkages and economic modelling will be undertaken in an attempt to populate data gaps and estimate costs. Separate prevalence and cost estimates will be calculated for each of the UK-member countries and these will then be aggregated to generate UK-wide estimates.

Ethics and dissemination Approvals have been obtained from the NHS Scotland Information Services Division's Privacy Advisory Committee, the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Collaboration Review System, the NHS South-East Scotland Research Ethics Service and The University of Edinburgh's Centre for Population Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee. We will produce a report for Asthma-UK, submit papers to peer-reviewed journals and construct an interactive map.