The Impact of Engagement Processes on the First Appointment Attendance Rate at a Regional Outpatient Psychological Trauma Service.

The effectiveness of simple measures to increase attendance at first appointments is briefly reviewed. The Family Trauma Centre’s remit and pre-study engagement process are described. The perceived idiosyncratic aspects of inviting people suffering from psychological trauma to attend a clinical service are noted as contributory factors in initially tolerating a high first appointment DNA rate. Three new initial engagement processes are then described and results of their application to 30 referrals in total are presented. The overwhelming finding is that paying close attention to any of the three initial engagement processes significantly increases first appointment attendance. Based on these findings the Centre developed a new initial engagement protocol.. The principle that services should pay more attention to their engagement processes than on the characteristics of their client groups when seeking to reduce first appointment DNA rates is supported.

Factor markets in England before the Black Death

Modern English factor markets originated during the two centuries of active commercialization that preceded the Black Death. An active labour market was established by the late twelfth century. Evolution of a land market followed the legal reforms of the 1170s and 1180s, which created legally secure and defensible property rights in land. These rights stimulated growth of a capital market, since land became a security against which credit could be obtained. Nevertheless, none of these nascent factor markets functioned unconstrained and each became embedded in legal, tenurial, and institutional complexities and rigidities which it took later generations centuries to reform.

Lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis and Lampetra planeri) ammocoete habitat associations at regional, catchment and microhabitat scales in Northern Ireland

Habitat characteristics associated with lamprey ammocoetes (Lampetra spp.) were investigated at three different spatial scales: regional (Northern Ireland), catchment (Ballinderry River) and microhabitat. At the regional scale, ammocoetes were more abundant in rivers with a pH >= 8.2, while within a catchment, abundance was negatively related to the number of potential lamprey barriers and distance upstream. At the microhabitat scale, at sites where ammocoetes were present, ammocoetes were more abundant where median phi >= 1.94 (very coarse sand), where sediment depth >= 11.5 cm, and where kurtosis was >1.71. This study provides information on habitat associations of lamprey in the UK which may be of use in their conservation, in particular it highlights the negative association of migration barriers with lamprey abundance.