A systematic review of patient reported factors associated with uptake and completion of cardiovascular lifestyle behaviour change

Background: Healthy lifestyles are an important facet of cardiovascular risk management. Unfortunately many individuals fail to engage with lifestyle change programmes. There are many factors that patients report as influencing their decisions about initiating lifestyle change. This is challenging for health care professionals who may lack the skills and time to address a broad range of barriers to lifestyle behaviour. Guidance on which factors to focus on during lifestyle consultations may assist healthcare professionals to hone their skills and knowledge leading to more productive patient interactions with ultimately better uptake of lifestyle behaviour change support. The aim of our study was to clarify which influences reported by patients predict uptake and completion of formal lifestyle change programmes. Methods: A systematic narrative review of quantitative observational studies reporting factors (influences) associated with uptake and completion of lifestyle behaviour change programmes. Quantitative observational studies involving patients at high risk of cardiovascular events were identified through electronic searching and screened against pre-defined selection criteria. Factors were extracted and organised into an existing qualitative framework. Results: 374 factors were extracted from 32 studies. Factors most consistently associated with uptake of lifestyle change related to support from family and friends, transport and other costs, and beliefs about the causes of illness and lifestyle change. Depression and anxiety also appear to influence uptake as well as completion. Many factors show inconsistent patterns with respect to uptake and completion of lifestyle change programmes. Conclusion: There are a small number of factors that consistently appear to influence uptake and completion of cardiovascular lifestyle behaviour change. These factors could be considered during patient consultations to promote a tailored approach to decision making about the most suitable type and level lifestyle behaviour change support

Structurational explication of technology adoption In ICT4D: a throwback to Giddens

This chapter examines how Giddens’ social theory of structuration, which reconciles the classical dichotomy between structure and agency in sociology, can explicate success and failure of ICT for Development (ICT4D). Information Systems (IS) has keenly adopted structurational concepts from sociology to formulate a theoretical basis for understanding technology adoption and use in society. In its wake the original theory of structuration has been creatively re-interpreted. This chapter considers how technology adoption or rejection in developing societies can be explained through a faithful interpretation of the structuration theory, in terms of the characteristics of structure in Giddensian terms and agent–structure interaction. In a deliberate throwback to Giddens, specific IS questions oftechnology adoption are shown to be explained well by the original theory of structuration

Giddens’ structuration theory and its implications for management accounting research

Structuration theory, Agency, Duality of structure, Routine, Trust,

New Integrated Information Systems and Management Control Change in Small and Medium Enterprises

This research attempts to explore the process of change and to examine in more depth the nature of the changes in management control which accompany the adoption of the new information technologies within small and medium enterprises. In particular, recognizing that management control change is a continuous organizational process (rather than an outcome), the trajectory of which is shaped by an incessant inter-play of several influences, this research intends to explore the way in which the implementation of a new integrated information system contributes to this process. To address this issue, the current research combines theoretical and empirical insights. After having reviewed the literature on the main topics and produced a theoretical understanding to illuminate the nature of the aforementioned changes, the research relies upon an illustrative case study concerning a medium-size cooperative society based in Italy. Recognizing the complexity of organizational life, the field study does not aspire to isolate and define how and by how much ICT has been a driver of the management control change, but rather to explore the whole process of change in order to appreciate the diversity of interrelated influences which have shaped its trajectory and how these influences interacted with each-other. Among this inter-play of influences, the study aims then to investigate the particular role played by the two-way relationship between ICT and management control. The implementation of the new integrated information system has opened up several opportunities for the business management and in particular for the management control. However, so far, only part of these opportunities have been exploited. Furthermore, while it could be acknowledged that the new system facilitated the changes in management control both in its material and immaterial dimensions, it could not be concluded that they were the result of the implementation of the new system. Many other factors have interacted within the process of management control change. For example, of paramount importance has been the controller’s determination to enact the change. The case study analyzes these factors and the way in which they have jointly facilitated and/or hindered the management control change