A new metric for quantifying the relative impact of risk factors on loss of working life illustrated in a population of working dogs
In a resource-limited world, organisations attempting to reduce the impact of health or behaviour issues need to choose carefully how to allocate resources for the highest overall impact. However, such choices may not always be obvious. Which has the biggest impact? A large change to a small number...
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| Format: | Article |
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Public Library of Science
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38913/ |
| _version_ | 1848795719231602688 |
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| author | Caron-Lormier, Geoffrey Harvey, Naomi D. England, Gary C.W. Asher, Lucy |
| author_facet | Caron-Lormier, Geoffrey Harvey, Naomi D. England, Gary C.W. Asher, Lucy |
| author_sort | Caron-Lormier, Geoffrey |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In a resource-limited world, organisations attempting to reduce the impact of health or behaviour issues need to choose carefully how to allocate resources for the highest overall impact. However, such choices may not always be obvious. Which has the biggest impact? A large change to a small number of individuals, or a small change to a large number of individuals? The challenge is identifying the issues that have the greatest impact on the population so potential interventions can be prioritised. We addressed this by developing a score to quantify the impact of health conditions and behaviour problems in a population of working guide dogs using data from Guide Dogs, UK. The cumulative incidence of different issues was combined with information about their impact, in terms of reduction in working life, to create a work score. The work score was created at population-level to illustrate issues with the greatest impact on the population and to understand contributions of breeds or crossbreeds to the workforce. An individual work deficit score was also created and means of this score used to illustrate the impact on working life within a subgroup of the population such as a breed, or crossbreed generation. The work deficit scores showed that those removed for behavioural issues had a greater impact on the overall workforce than those removed for health reasons. Additionally trends over time illustrated the positive influence of interventions Guide Dogs have made to improve their workforce. Information highlighted by these scores is pertinent to the effort of Guide Dogs to ensure partnerships are lasting. Recognising that the scores developed here could be transferable to a wide variety of contexts and species, most notably human work force decisions; we discuss possible uses and adaptations such as reduction in lifespan, quality of life and yield in production animals. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:36:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-38913 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:36:33Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-389132020-05-04T18:21:50Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38913/ A new metric for quantifying the relative impact of risk factors on loss of working life illustrated in a population of working dogs Caron-Lormier, Geoffrey Harvey, Naomi D. England, Gary C.W. Asher, Lucy In a resource-limited world, organisations attempting to reduce the impact of health or behaviour issues need to choose carefully how to allocate resources for the highest overall impact. However, such choices may not always be obvious. Which has the biggest impact? A large change to a small number of individuals, or a small change to a large number of individuals? The challenge is identifying the issues that have the greatest impact on the population so potential interventions can be prioritised. We addressed this by developing a score to quantify the impact of health conditions and behaviour problems in a population of working guide dogs using data from Guide Dogs, UK. The cumulative incidence of different issues was combined with information about their impact, in terms of reduction in working life, to create a work score. The work score was created at population-level to illustrate issues with the greatest impact on the population and to understand contributions of breeds or crossbreeds to the workforce. An individual work deficit score was also created and means of this score used to illustrate the impact on working life within a subgroup of the population such as a breed, or crossbreed generation. The work deficit scores showed that those removed for behavioural issues had a greater impact on the overall workforce than those removed for health reasons. Additionally trends over time illustrated the positive influence of interventions Guide Dogs have made to improve their workforce. Information highlighted by these scores is pertinent to the effort of Guide Dogs to ensure partnerships are lasting. Recognising that the scores developed here could be transferable to a wide variety of contexts and species, most notably human work force decisions; we discuss possible uses and adaptations such as reduction in lifespan, quality of life and yield in production animals. Public Library of Science 2016-11-09 Article PeerReviewed Caron-Lormier, Geoffrey, Harvey, Naomi D., England, Gary C.W. and Asher, Lucy (2016) A new metric for quantifying the relative impact of risk factors on loss of working life illustrated in a population of working dogs. PLoS ONE, 11 (11). e0165414/1-e0165414/17. ISSN 1932-6203 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0165414 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0165414 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0165414 |
| spellingShingle | Caron-Lormier, Geoffrey Harvey, Naomi D. England, Gary C.W. Asher, Lucy A new metric for quantifying the relative impact of risk factors on loss of working life illustrated in a population of working dogs |
| title | A new metric for quantifying the relative impact of risk factors on loss of working life illustrated in a population of working dogs |
| title_full | A new metric for quantifying the relative impact of risk factors on loss of working life illustrated in a population of working dogs |
| title_fullStr | A new metric for quantifying the relative impact of risk factors on loss of working life illustrated in a population of working dogs |
| title_full_unstemmed | A new metric for quantifying the relative impact of risk factors on loss of working life illustrated in a population of working dogs |
| title_short | A new metric for quantifying the relative impact of risk factors on loss of working life illustrated in a population of working dogs |
| title_sort | new metric for quantifying the relative impact of risk factors on loss of working life illustrated in a population of working dogs |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38913/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38913/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38913/ |