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Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have been offered a privileged position in terms of the evidence base for preventive interventions for children, but practical and theoretical issues challenge this research methodology. This paper aims to address this issue.

This paper analyses practical and methodological issues of using RCTs within children's preventive services and presents the results of a qualitative study using data collected from parents who were asked to take part in an RCT of a preventive intervention.

Well recognised issues include the impossibility of blinding participants, the problem of identifying a pre‐eminent outcome measure for complex interventions, and problems with limiting access to equivalent interventions in real world settings. A further theoretical problem is the exclusion from RCTs of families who are most ready to change, resulting in a reduced level of intervention effectiveness. Qualitative evidence from one recent RCT suggests that this problem could be operating in some prevention trials. Increasing sample sizes can overcome some of these problems, but the cost of the necessarily huge trials becomes disproportionate to the intervention?

Given the limitations on RCTs in preventive settings, the paper argues their privileged position in terms of research evidence maybe undeserved.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention program for dengue fever prevention among people in rural communities.

A quasi-experimental study was designed for two groups. The intervention group received five weeks of dengue hemorrhagic prevention program consisted of knowledge broadcast, campaign, model house contest and group education. The control group received only the usual care of health promoting hospitals. The primary expected outcomes were changes in knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefit, perceived barriers and preventive action from baseline data, post-intervention and three-month follow-up, along with a comparison between the two groups. The secondary expected outcomes were changes in house index (HI) from baseline to post-intervention and three-month follow-up, along with a comparison between the two groups.

From the total of 64 participants, 32 were randomly assigned to the control group and 32 were randomly assigned to the intervention group. There were significant differences in knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefit, perceived barriers, preventive action and HI in the intervention group after received the five-week intervention program and at three-month follow-up (p<0.05).

Dengue hemorrhagic prevention program based on the Health Belief Model was effective in lowering HI and improving knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefit, perceived barriers and preventive action among people in rural communities. The intervention program may be beneficial in primary care in such a rural community.

The purpose of this paper is to presents a conceptual framework for a value-based monitoring system that serves as the core element for heritage conservation planning of World Heritage Sites. It reports on the early stage of heritage management research within the PRECOM3OS framework, in collaboration with the University of Leuven in Belgium and the Universidad de Cuenca in Ecuador. A new management concept was developed throughout a five-year interdisciplinary and multi-actor growth process within an international setting.

The application of the preventive conservation approach to world heritage management places the concepts of authenticity and integrity at the core of the heritage monitoring system. Moreover, the monitoring system is converted into a decision support tool for intervention and maintenance planning, beyond the mere purpose of inventorying or generating alerts.

The regular update of information for condition, risks and value assessment strengths and support strategic heritage planning. The conceptual information system developed is based on an inventory system and updated through monitoring. Therefore, planners are supplied with a tool for alternative scenarios, potential prioritization of intervention, options for preventive conservation and multi-criteria support for strategic planning over time.

The monitoring system is not fully implemented in the World Heritage Site of Cuenca; however, a generic model is put forward, developed to generate a planning tool that can be applied for different heritage sites.

More specific, the integration of two concepts: the value assessment and monitoring from a preventive conservation perspective is considered an innovative contribution to the development of decision-making systems in the broader urban planning context of historic cities.

One of the main problems, when choosing between preventive or corrective maintenance for the production and maintenance departments in the eight firms studied, is to attempt to establish the state of a particular production system or individual production line. In order to carry out a cost analysis it is imperative to be able to measure how preventive maintenance will both reduce the deterioration of the state of the object and improve the state of the object at the point in time that the maintenance is carried out. This can be explained by the fact that the departments lack methods for measuring and estimating the effects. The model presented in this paper determines whether to schedule preventive maintenance and the model trades off the capital costs of preventive maintenance and the sum of corrective maintenance and down‐time costs based on the production line’s state.

The article's purpose is to critique a paper (Stewart‐Brown et al., 2011) in a previous issue of the Journal of Children's Services, which challenges the utility of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the effectiveness of preventive interventions for children.

The article is a critical reflection on the primary issue discussed by Stewart‐Brown et al. namely that RCTs do not work well in the evaluation of complex social interventions.

The author finds fault with several of the claims made in the earlier essay and concludes that RCTs remain the most credible research methodology for estimating programme impacts. It is certainly true that RCTs do not tell us everything about programmes and implementation. However, if researchers are attempting to assess whether social interventions have the intended measured impact on their participants, then RCTs do indeed represent the “gold standard” research design.

The article is a re‐assertion of the value of RCTs in research on preventive interventions in children's services.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and propose how product-in-use data can be used in, and improve the performance of, the demand planning process for automotive aftermarket services.

A literature review and a single case study investigate the underlying reasons for the demand for spare parts by conducting in-depth interviews, observing actual demand-generating activities, and studying the demand planning process.

This study identifies the relevant product-in-use data and divides them into five main categories. The authors have analysed how product-in-use data are best utilised in planning spare parts with different attributes, e.g. different life cycle phases and demand frequencies. Furthermore, the authors identify eight potentially relevant areas of application of product-in-use data in the demand planning process, and elaborate on their performance effects.

This study details the understanding of what impact context has on the potential performance effects of using product-in-use data in aftermarket demand planning. Propositions generate several strands for future research.

This study shows the potential impact of using product-in-use data, using eight different types of interventions for spare parts, in the aftermarket demand planning.

The literature focusses on single applications of product-in-use data, but would benefit from considering the context of application. This study presents interventions and explores how these enable improved demand planning by analysing usage and effects.

This paper aims to examine the “engage” pilot project and related processes for identifying individuals vulnerable to becoming involved in serious and organised crime groups (OCGs).

In this, a six-stage process developed in the five pilot sites to guide interventions is described. The project identified 18 individuals who have confirmed low level involvement in OCGs based in 5 areas of Greater Manchester by combining risk factors and the connecting of records held by law enforcement agencies.

Key risk factors found to be associated with the 18 individuals identified are described in relation to literature and discussed in terms of future intervention possibilities. A brief description of the key findings of the evaluation of the pilot project is also included.

Together these findings are discussed to explore the challenges of preventative interventions tailored towards young people already involved in criminality and offers recommendations for future programmes in this field.

This study aims to propose a decision support system (DSS) for maintenance management of a service system, namely, a street cleaning service vehicle. Referring to the information flow management, the blockchain technology is integrated in the proposed DSS to assure data transparency and security.

The DSS is designed to efficiently handle the data acquired by the network of sensors installed on selected system components and to support the maintenance management. The DSS supports the decision makers to select a subset of indicators (KPIs) by means of the DEcision-MAaking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory method and to monitor the efficiency of performed preventive maintenance actions by using the mathematical model.

The proposed maintenance model allows real-time decisions on interventions on each component based on the number of alerts given by sensors and taking into account the annual cost budget constraint.

The present paper aims to highlight the implications of the blockchain technology in the maintenance field, in particular to manage maintenance actions’ data related to service systems.

The proposed approach represents a support in planning, executing and monitoring interventions by assuring the security of the managed data through a blockchain database. The implications regard the monitoring of the efficiency of preventive maintenance actions on the analysed components.

A combined approach based on a multi-criteria decision method and a novel mathematical programming model is herein proposed to provide a DSS supporting the management of predictive maintenance policy.

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders are at great risk for long-term negative outcomes. Researchers and practitioners alike acknowledge the need for evidence-based, preventive, and early intervention strategies. Accordingly, in this chapter an expanded view of prevention is presented as a series of data driven decisions to guide provision of supports that lessen the impact of emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD). Universal screening, use of a multitiered framework, delivery of increasingly intensive support prior to chronic and persistent patterns of behavior, and continuity of service across school, home, and community settings are discussed. Specific techniques for data decision-making, use of a school-based team approach, and recommendations for future research are also provided.

This article discusses the state of the art concerning the meaning and value of model programmes in mental health promotion and mental disorder prevention. Model programmes are considered an important instrument for improving the quality, social impact and cost‐effectiveness of promotion and prevention. However, there is a lack of conceptual clarity and insight in the processes and mechanisms for successful use of model programmes in this field. This article offers a further clarification of the concept of model programmes and discusses its pros and cons and current views on the process of programme development and programme use. The discussion will be based particularly on recent experiences with model programmes in Europe. Until recently, prevention research was directed mainly at the design and testing of new model programmes. However, successful use of the ‘model programme strategy’ requires more attention to the pre‐conditions for effective dissemination, adoption and implementation of model programmes. Only when this multi‐phased process is taken into account and the required pre‐conditions and quality criteria are specified can one expect that model programmes will be more effective at a community level. The consequences of this view for prevention science and prevention research policies are discussed. To implement such a multi‐phased process successfully, not only are conceptual clarity and a scientific underpinning crucial, but also collaborative organisational structures are needed at national and international level if the range of complementary tasks is to be executed effectively and efficiently.