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1 – 10 of over 21000The medicalization thesis derives from a classic theme in the field of medical sociology. It addresses the broader issue of the power of medicine – as a culture and as a…
Abstract
The medicalization thesis derives from a classic theme in the field of medical sociology. It addresses the broader issue of the power of medicine – as a culture and as a profession – to define and regulate social behavior. This issue was introduced into sociology 50 years ago by Talcott Parsons (1951) who suggested that medicine was a social institution that regulated the kind of deviance for which the individual was not held morally responsible and for which a medical diagnosis could be found. The agent of social control was the medical profession, an institutionalized structure in society that had been given the mandate to restore the health of the sick so that they could resume their expected role obligations. Inherent in this view of medicine was the functionalist perspective on the workings of society: the basic function of medicine was to maintain the established division of labor, a state that guaranteed the optimum working of society. For 20 years, the Parsonian interpretation of how medicine worked – including sick-role theory and the theory of the profession of medicine – dominated the bourgeoning field of medical sociology.
This chapter introduces readers to a complex adaptive systems approach for integrating research on genes, behavior, and social structures/institutions. Until recently, scientists…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter introduces readers to a complex adaptive systems approach for integrating research on genes, behavior, and social structures/institutions. Until recently, scientists have resorted to reductionism as a decoding and epistemological strategy for understanding human health. The complex bonds among health’s biological, behavioral, and social dimensions, however, cannot be fully grasped with reductionist schemas. Moreover, because reducing and simplifying can lead to incomplete understanding of phenomena, the resulting deficient knowledge has the potential to be harmful.
Methodology/approach
To achieve its purpose, this primer will: (1) introduce fundamental notions from complexity science, useful for inquiry and practice integrating research on genes, behavior, and social structures; (2) outline selected methodological strategies employed in studying complex adaptive/dynamic systems; (3) address the question, “Specifically, how can a dynamic systems approach be helpful for integrating research on genes, behavior, and social structures/institutions, to improve the public’s health?”; and (4) provide examples of studies currently deploying a complexity perspective.
Originality/value
The originality/value of this primer rests in its critique of the research status quo and the proposition of an alternative lens for integrating genomic, biomedical, and sociological research to improve the public’s health. The topic of complex adaptive/dynamic systems has begun to flourish within sociology, medicine, and public health, but many researchers lack exposure to the topic’s basic notions and applications.
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Inclusion and participation have become key values steering the policies of many governments. Hence, partnerships are now considered increasingly prominent vehicles for…
Abstract
Inclusion and participation have become key values steering the policies of many governments. Hence, partnerships are now considered increasingly prominent vehicles for stakeholder synergy, added value, collaborative advantage and building local capacities to address health and social concerns. However, generally leadership across organisational boundaries has received little attention, and particularly partnership leadership represents a central challenge in any collective undertaking.As an example, this paper starts by shedding light on the meaning of partnership. It then poses several questions in order to navigate the partnership‐leadership mantra. The paper examines the skills of leaders in five South African community partnerships as reported from the perspectives of each partnership and each participating stakeholder group. It describes the uniqueness of how each partnership views its leaders and the distinctiveness of how each stakeholder appraises its leadership. It highlights diffuse and shared leadership in collaborative settings, and it encourages the nurturing of emergent leaders. It concludes that one size of leadership does not fit all partnerships.
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Conference proceedings are difficult to acquire due to the lack of adequate bibliographic control. The procedures used by the Lending Division to overcome the problems are…
Abstract
Conference proceedings are difficult to acquire due to the lack of adequate bibliographic control. The procedures used by the Lending Division to overcome the problems are described and the major bibliographical tools are evaluated. The most useful are the ‘Directory of Published Proceedings’ and ‘World Meetings’ but these are far from comprehensive. Conference proceedings are expensive to acquire, but expenditure on them by the Lending Division is justified by the demand, 170,000 requests in 1978. A useful spin‐off from the Lending Division's collection is the ‘Index of Conference Proceedings’ which, although it does not give publication details, is the most comprehensive list of published proceedings available.
Effect size is an important determinant of statistical power. However, very few experimental studies in international marketing (IM) report effect sizes and no meta‐analysis work…
Abstract
Purpose
Effect size is an important determinant of statistical power. However, very few experimental studies in international marketing (IM) report effect sizes and no meta‐analysis work in this regard has been done. The main objective of this paper, therefore, is to quantitatively document effect sizes of experiments in IM and to provide directions for further methodological improvement.
Design/methodology/approach
All articles published in the top three marketing journals and the top six IM‐related journals during the period 1992‐2005 were screened; this yielded 35 experiment‐based papers within the domain of IM. For each study, ten methodological characteristics relevant to IM experimental designs were coded.
Findings
The 35 studies reported 68 experiments, which produced a total of 1, 074 observations. Results reveal that, on average, for experiments in international business marketing, about 2.89 percent of the variance in a dependent variable (DV) is accounted for by experimental treatments, and a variance of 3.61 percent is shared by the independent and DV for experiments in international consumer marketing. Sampling method, type of subjects, type of design and number of countries are found to have significant influences on effect sizes.
Originality/value
This paper provides a quantitative, state‐of‐the‐art review of effect sizes in IM experiments, points out problems such as inappropriate reliance on an overall effect size index, and further offers useful suggestions on how to report and improve effect sizes.
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For the interested teacher, teacher educator and educational researcher seeking an entry point into how mindfulness relates to teachers’ work, the burgeoning and divergent appeals…
Abstract
Purpose
For the interested teacher, teacher educator and educational researcher seeking an entry point into how mindfulness relates to teachers’ work, the burgeoning and divergent appeals for the relevance of mindfulness to teachers can be bewildering. The purpose of this paper is to offer teachers, teacher educators and educational researchers a conceptual framework for understanding the different orientations and sources of mindfulness as it has been recommended to teachers.
Design/methodology/approach
Using Foucault’s (1972) concept of “discursive formations” as a heuristic device, this paper argues that mindfulness as pitched to teachers can be helpfully understood as arising from three distinct orientations.
Findings
Statements about mindfulness and its relevance to teachers emerge from three distinct discursive formations – traditional, psychological and engaged – that each constitute the “problem” faced by teachers respectively as suffering, stress or alienation. Specific conceptions of mindfulness are then advanced as a solution to these problems by certain authoritative subjects and institutions in ways that are taken as legitimate within each discursive formation.
Originality/value
Apart from offering a historical and discursive mapping of the different discursive formations from which mindfulness is pitched to teachers, this paper also highlights how each of these orientations impies a normative view of what a teacher should be. Suggestions for further historical research are also offered along the lines of genealogy, epistemology and ontology.
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Jeanette Kirk, Thomas Bandholm, Ove Andersen, Rasmus Skov Husted, Tine Tjørnhøj-Thomsen, Per Nilsen and Mette Merete Pedersen
The aim of this study is to explore and discuss key challenges associated with having stakeholders take part in co-designing a health care intervention to increase mobility in…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to explore and discuss key challenges associated with having stakeholders take part in co-designing a health care intervention to increase mobility in older medical patients admitted to two medical departments at two hospitals in Denmark.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a qualitative design to investigate the challenges of co-designing an intervention in five workshops involving health professionals, patients and relatives. “Challenges” are understood as “situations of being faced with something that needs great mental or physical effort in order to be done successfully and therefore tests a person's ability” (Cambridge Dictionary). Thematic content analysis was conducted with a background in the analytical question: “What key challenges arise in the material in relation to the co-design process?”.
Findings
Two key challenges were identified: engagement and facilitation. These consisted of five sub-themes: recruiting patients and relatives, involving physicians, adjusting to a new researcher role, utilizing contextual knowledge and handling ethical dilemmas.
Research limitations/implications
The population of patients and relatives participating in the workshops was small, which likely affected the co-design process.
Practical implications
Researchers who want to use co-design must be prepared for the extra time required and the need for skills concerning engagement, communication, facilitation, negotiation and resolution of conflict. Time is also required for ethical discussions and considerations concerning different types of knowledge creation.
Originality/value
Engaging stakeholders in co-design processes is increasingly encouraged. This study documents the key challenges in such processes and reports practical implications.
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Marcel Bastiaansen, Xander Dennis Lub, Ondrej Mitas, Timothy Hyungsoo Jung, Mário Passos Ascenção, Dai-In Han, Teemu Moilanen, Bert Smit and Wim Strijbosch
This paper aims to stimulate the discussion in the fields of hospitality, tourism and leisure on what exactly constitutes “an experience” and how to measure it; the authors unpack…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to stimulate the discussion in the fields of hospitality, tourism and leisure on what exactly constitutes “an experience” and how to measure it; the authors unpack the experience construct into its core constituent elements, namely, emotions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews insights from psychology and cognitive neuroscience that define experiences as a fine-grained temporal succession of emotions that occur during an experiential episode. Limitations of current methods for measuring experiences are discussed, after which biometric and neuroscientific methods are reviewed that are optimally geared toward measuring emotions, as they occur during an experience with fine temporal detail.
Findings
An overview is presented of the available studies within the fields of hospitality, tourism and leisure that use these methodologies. These studies show that using these methodologies provides a fruitful methodological approach to measuring experiences in real time.
Practical implications
Companies are constantly seeking to create memorable experiences for their customers. The proposed research methodologies allow companies to get a more fine-grained image of what impacts customers over the course of their experience and to actively integrate the use of emotions into creating experiences, as emotions are key to making them memorable.
Originality/value
The paper sketches the contours of a rapidly emerging framework that unpacks memorable experiences into their constituent element – emotions. It is proposed that this will contribute to a deeper understanding of how consumers experience offerings in the hospitality, tourism and leisure industry.
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