How much of what health and other professionals do is based soundly in science? Answers to the question, ‘Is our practice evidence based?’ depend on what we mean by practice and evidence.

The expansion of evidence-based medicne (EBM) has been a major influence on medical practice over the past 25 years. In this chapter, we examine the nature of what is nowadays more broadly referred to as evidence-based health-care (EBHC) and discuss its limitations. It is worth noting that in the UK this field continues to expand, particularly into the arena of social care, which often goes hand in hand with the provision of health-care. Increasingly, the term ‘evidence-based practice’ (EBP) is used as a catch-all. While this chapter focuses on health-care, the principles of EBP we describe apply equally to other disciplines, including public health and policy.

Written by a multidisciplinary team of experienced clinicians, this chapter provides the reader with an initial outline of some of the complex psychological mechanisms which underlie or can give rise to violence, such as trauma, problems with attachment and failure to develop a capacity to mentalise, as well as pointers for a wider review of the literature. This is followed by an overview of the range of current evidence-based psychological interventions and therapies available for the prevention and management of violence. Importantly, whilst their approach may differ, they all make use of the therapeutic relationship as an agent for change. The interventions include anger management, positive behavioural support, mentalisation-based techniques, application of a psychoanalytic perspective, family or systemic therapy, help with work experience, education and addressing substance misuse. This chapter will be of interest to professionals in a variety of settings who would like to find out more about how they can make sense of and try to prevent and reduce violence, as well as to patients, carers and the wider public.

This chapter describes some of the interventions that currently exist for children, young people and families, those which have been evaluated and the results for these evaluations have been reported. More rigorous methodologies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, to ensure that they, in effect, support children, young people and families. Comparison between interventions is difficult because they use different measures and compare different outcomes. The more effective interventions share core components but are also flexible to adapt to the specific needs of families. These core components include the provision of information, improve communication, emotional skills, increase social support and coping skills.

Due to the shift to the social model of health care, public health researchers and practitioners are increasingly interested in the insider perspectives and experiences of key players in health, including health consumers and healthcare providers (Olson, Young & Schultz, 2016). Thus, qualitative research has been adopted in public health in many ways and in numerous fields of health research. The main focus of this chapter is on qualitative research. You will learn about the nature of qualitative inquiry and the need for qualitative research in public health. You will also gain a basic understanding of some philosophical assumptions of qualitative research that lead to different understandings about public health in different groups of people. Attempts have been made in the past few decades to provide evidence-based public health care to individuals and communities. Thus, we have witnessed a large number of research projects carried out in the public health arena. Evidence-based practice in public health and the need for qualitative inquiry are also discussed in this chapter.

As healthcare professionals we strive to provide the best treatments for all our patients. We should have the confidence that after we have made an accurate diagnosis and assessment of clinical need, then the treatment which we recommend should be the best available for each patient. Evidence-based prescribing can be defined as using the best available information to recommend the most effective treatment for the person you are treating. At present we appear to be under siege from an assault of ‘fake news’ stories or ‘alternative facts’. As clinicians we have a duty to do the best for our patients on the most accurate information. In order to do this we require an armamentarium which includes the ability to sift fact from fiction. This chapter will provide a practical outline of how to sift the evidence and give you the confidence to prescribe using the best evidence base. It will also cover the issues of pharmacovigilance, adverse drug reactions and consider the future of evidence-based prescribing.

In this chapter, we broadly distinguish research as a process for deriving new knowledge, and evidence as the knowledge that is produced and used within a specific context. Evidence from other sources is also used to inform health and treatment decisions in paediatric settings.

We introduce audits and benchmarking as important tools for measuring healthcare quality and safety, and discuss their relevance to the generation of clinical research questions. Within the construct of research co-design and evidence-based decision-making, this chapter also discusses special considerations for conducting ethical research with children and young people. Acknowledging that there may be age or developmental challenges, we explore ways in which children and young people can be supported to become more involved in setting their own research priorities and designing and ‘doing’ research.

Cities are responsible for over 70% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy use. Building and upgrading city infrastructure in developing countries could release 226 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050, if these cities obtain levels of infrastructure in developed countries today. Urban GHG emissions vary across economies, geography, wealth and urban form. The largest direct and indirect GHG emission sources are buildings, industry and transport. Urban climate change impacts of heat, sea-level rise, extreme weather, and water scarcity will exacerbate extant stressors in developing countries. Mitigation and adaptation measures interact, sometimes with unintended consequences. Systems approaches, integrated planning and strategy that recognises synergies and conflicts, are crucial to optimal outcomes. The city scale is good for innovation, aligned with national governance, for effective climate action. Many cities are committed to 100% renewable energy and net zero emissions by 2030. Key enablers are: a shared city region vision; effective stakeholder engagement; relevant, credible, accessible knowledge for decision-making; and aligned institutional arrangements.

This chapter begins with a message about the importance of diagnoses before developing a marcoms campaign. We then use the idea of communication barriers to help explain why creating an effective marcoms campaign is so challenging, before providing a broad understanding of what integrated marketing communications (IMC) is and why it is used. The chapter discusses both the theory and practice of achieving integration and synergy, and how synergistic effects come about. The managerial application of integration is also discussed, and its complexity is brought to life with the award-winning case of 'Magnum Gold?!' This chapter also provides a nine-step IMC planning model, including the importance of understanding how consumers make decisions. The consumer decision journey is suggested as a useful model, illustrated with another award-winning case involving the Korean car maker, Hyundai, which broke into the consideration set of United States car buyers during the global financial crisis.