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Personalisation has now become centre-stage in adult social care and continues to have an enduring level of political commitment and on-going appeal for many disabled people. And yet its roll-out has taken place during a time of austerity where central governments in many neo-liberal countries are re-imagining (read: shrinking) their role in social care provision. This paper reports on findings from an empirical study of relevant government officials from different countries which have advanced personalisation: Canada, England and the US. It reports on their views on personalisation and the remaking of adult social care, and managing expectations for change. Despite the relative success of personalisation, the findings reveal a tempered, cautious account, with respondents aware of the pitfalls and risks inherent in self-led support, government limitations in changing systems and an end to the primary involvement by the state in the creation of a social care market. With this in mind, the study's findings make a strong case for forms of ‘progressive localism’, as imagined by Featherstone et al. (2012), in galvanising local community resources alongside more radical politics in order to make self-led support achieve its desired outcomes on the ground. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the prevalence of incapacity in performing daily activities and the associations between household composition and availability of family members and receipt of care among older adults with functioning problems in Spain, England and the United States of America (USA). We examine how living arrangements, marital status, child availability, limitations in functioning ability, age and gender affect the probability of receiving formal care and informal care from household members and from others in three countries with different family structures, living arrangements and policies supporting care of the incapacitated. Data sources include the 2006 Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe for Spain, the third wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2006), and the eighth wave of the USA Health and Retirement Study (2006). Logistic and multinomial logistic regressions are used to estimate the probability of receiving care and the sources of care among persons age 50 and older. The percentage of people with functional limitations receiving care is higher in Spain. More care comes from outside the household in the USA and England than in Spain. The use of formal care among the incapacitated is lowest in the USA and highest in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Healthy ageing has become a popular topic worldwide. So far, a consensus measure of healthy ageing has not been reached; and no studies have compared the magnitude of socio-economic inequality in healthy ageing outside Europe. This study aims to create a universal measure of healthy ageing and compare socio-economic inequalities in healthy ageing in the United States of America (USA), England, China and Japan. We included 10,305 American, 6,590 English, 5,930 Chinese and 1,935 Japanese participants for longitudinal analysis. A harmonised healthy ageing index (HAI) was developed to measure healthy ageing multi-dimensionally. Educational, income and wealth rank scores were derived accounting for the entire socio-economic distribution and the sample size of each category of socio-economic indicator. Associations between socio-economic rank scores and HAIs were assessed using multi-level modelling to calculate the Slope Indices of Inequality. Healthy ageing trajectories were predicted based on the full-adjusted age-cohort models. We found that education was a universally influential socio-economic predictor of healthy ageing. Moving from the highest to the lowest educational groups was associated with a 6.7 (5.2–8.2), 8.2 (6.0–10.4), 13.9 (11.4–16.3) and 6.1 per cent (3.9–8.2%) decrease in average HAI at 60 years in the USA, England, China and Japan, respectively. After 60 years, the educational inequality in healthy ageing kept increasing in the USA and China. The educational inequality in healthy ageing in China was also greater than any other socio-economic inequality in the four countries. Wealth was more influential in predicting healthy ageing inequality among American, English and Japanese participants, while income was more influential among Chinese participants. The socio-economic inequality in healthy ageing in Japan was relatively small. Chinese and American participants had worse healthy ageing profiles than Japanese and English participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the determinants of wealth for seventeenth-century Englishmen living in England and the United States. Approach for describing wealth differences among the regions; Claim toward the role of region to wealth determinant; Factors that have influence on wealth.

Background: The number of clinical trials in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) has steadily increased in recent years. As the number of studies grows, it is important to define the most empirically useful definitions for response and remission in order to enhance field-wide consistency and comparisons of treatment outcomes across studies. In this study, we aim to operationally define treatment response and remission in BDD. Method: We pooled data from three randomized controlled trials of cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) for BDD (combined n = 153) conducted at four academic sites in Sweden, the USA, and England. Using signal detection methods, we examined the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale modified for BDD (BDD–YBOCS) score that most reliably identified patients who responded to CBT and those who achieved remission from BDD symptoms at the end of treatment. Results: A BDD–YBOCS reduction ⩾30% was most predictive of treatment response as defined by the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) – Improvement scale (sensitivity 0.89, specificity 0.91, 91% correctly classified). At post-treatment, a BDD–YBOCS score ⩽16 was the best predictor of full or partial symptom remission (sensitivity 0.85, specificity 0.99, 97% correctly classified), defined by the CGI – Severity scale. Conclusion: Based on these results, we propose conceptual and operational definitions of response and full or partial remission in BDD. A consensus regarding these constructs will improve the interpretation and comparison of future clinical trials, as well as improve communication among researchers, clinicians, and patients. Further research is needed, especially regarding definitions of full remission, recovery, and relapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores whether the plans of older workers on the cusp of retirement are in line with the active ageing agenda set by policy makers in Europe. The study was carried out in Italy, England, and the United States of America (USA). A total of 133 older workers who planned to retire within the next 10-12 months were interviewed (55 in England, 40 in Italy and 38 in the USA) between May 2014 and early 2015 using common semi-structured questions. Active Ageing Index dimensions were used to gauge the orientation of older people towards their retirement. The results of the study suggest that, with some differences, retirement plans of interviewees were substantially consistent with the active ageing perspective. However, some challenges were highlighted, including the need for governments to do more to promote genuine freedom of choice in relation to leaving the labour market, and to provide greater support for informal family carers. Findings also pointed to the need to measure active ageing in connection with individual wellbeing, e.g. by including indicators of leisure activities and by considering the re-weighting of employment and informal care dimensions. Companies could also provide more support during the retirement transition, with opportunities for maintained social connection with former colleagues, and help in making and fulfilling retirement plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we explore a pair of distinctive and associated Second World War monuments on Slapton Sands in the South Hams district of Devon, UK. The Slapton Sands Evacuation Memorial was erected in 1945 by the US armed forces to commemorate the sacrifice of local people who evacuated their homes ahead of battle training in preparation for D-Day. Meanwhile, the Torcross Tank Memorial was built in 1984 under the initiative of a local man to commemorate those US servicemen who lost their lives during the battle training in the Exercise Tiger tragedy. The historical context, form, materiality, biography and location of each monument are appraised and their relationship with each other is discussed. The article argues that from the 1940s to the present day, the monuments have evolved as sacrificial sites and serve to both commemorate the events they describe and define the identities of local people through their reuse of places and material culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a historical account of Thomas Morton, a lawyer in England known for being one of the earliest colonists of New England. Particular focus is given to his education and early life in England, his voyages to America, and his life as a colonist in New England which ended in exile after evoking the condemnation of the Puritans due to alleged liaison's with the natives. Various written historical accounts of Morton and early colonial life in America are referenced.

Politicians are not expected to interfere with the judiciary. Parliament passes laws and the courts interpret and apply them. On the Continent, judicial freedom is restricted by codification, which was avoided in England where greater judicial flexibility survived. In the United States the Restatement of the Law was a move in the direction of codification. Also in that country, judicial review of the constitutionality of the laws gave the judges the power to declare statutes passed by the representatives of the people unconstitutional. No such power exists in England, but the courts have other means of reducing the impact of Acts of Parliament, such as the exclusionary rule and the convention that the lawgiver does not intend to change the common law, which is judge-made case law, governed by the doctrine of precedent. Those traditional elements of the English common law were recently eroded by modernizing trends: the rule of exclusion was given up in favour of the search for the intention of the lawgiver, and the force of stare decisis was reduced. The recent incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into British law has introduced a form of judicial review of the laws into the British system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compares the evolution of manufacturing and the development of cottage industries in the United States and England. Seasonality as an important variable; Indepth look at female involvement within the cottage industry; Inclusion of statistical information to support the industry's performance.

Presents a summary of a dissertation entitled `Enterprise and Culture: Jewish Immigrants in London and New York, 1880-1914,' by Andrew Godley. Analysis of the supply of entrepreneurship by Jewish immigrants in London and New York from 1880 to 1914.

Objective: The current systematic review aimed to identify and critically appraise research on food environments in sports settings, including research into the types of food and beverages available, the extent and impact of food and beverage sponsorship and marketing, and views about food environments among key stakeholders., Design: A systematic review. Fourteen English-language studies (two were papers describing different facets of the same study), published between 1985 and 2011, were identified from searches of electronic databases and bibliographies of primary studies., Setting: Most studies originated from Australia (n 10), with the remaining studies originating in the UK (n 1), New Zealand (n 1), the USA (n 1) and Canada (n 1). Data were collected from observations in stadia, websites and televised sports events, through in-depth interviews, focus groups and surveys with sports club members, parents and quick serve restaurant managers., Results: Literature exploring food environments in sports settings was limited and had some important methodological limitations. No studies comprehensively described foods available at clubs or stadia, and only one explored the association between food and beverage sponsorship and club incomes. Club policies focused on the impact of health promotion funding rather than the impact of sponsorship or food availability in sports settings., Conclusions: Further research, including comprehensive studies of the food environment in sports settings, is required to document the availability, sponsorship and marketing of food and beverages at national, regional and club levels and to estimate how sports settings may influence children's diets.

This paper describes a psychometric replication study of a British coping scale, the Mental Adjustment to Cancer scale, on 239 USA cancer patients. The internal consistency and construct validity were similar to the original validation study. However, the factor structure was different. Cultural differences between the British and USA patient populations are discussed.

This paper offers a theory to explain the diffusion of new medical technologies into local practice. Based on several hundred interviews with community hospital physicians, it anchors technology decisions in the norms and relationships of local practice. Physician descriptions of their use of different types of assessment information provide insight into the way in which local consenses on appropriate practice are formed, guide behavior, and change. To understand new technology adoption, it is necessary to (a) differentiate "formed" (complete) and "dynamic" (still developing) technologies, and (b) appreciate the extent to which medical practice is locally organized. Concepts from organizational literature, then, become useful in explaining the penetration of these medical communities and the circumstances under which a new modality takes hold in them. Within the framework presented, previously puzzling findings regarding variations in local practice and the poor relationship between practice behavior and the published literature become understandable.

This paper analyzes medical technology decision making in the United States and England in terms of the appropriateness of different decision-making models to the organization and delivery of medical care, and to the rationing of technology among and within hospitals. It examines the effect on the American hospital of prospective payment programs from the perspective of organizational structure and decision making. The strategies of central control and specification which characterize these programs are contrasted with decision-making procedures in the English National Health Service, which have emphasized decentralization, delegation, and consensus. The analysis suggests that decentralized models of decision making are more supportive of essential elements of medical care including doctor-patient trust and professional responsibility and are more able to achieve rationing decisions which are compatible with professional and consumer preferences.