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This chapter intends to provoke thought around assumptions about young people providing care, what influences how young carers are perceived and how stigma and judgement associated with caring are discussed. We conclude by emphasising the significance of the role as an educator in creating discussion about the breadth and diversity of care experiences. This role includes both educating young people about young caring and being mindful that your students may currently be or previously been a young carer.

The purpose of this paper is to share the learning concerning how services and the paid carers working in them can support people living with dementia (PLWD) and their unpaid carers to overcome social isolation. This learning comes from the key findings from a Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation of a Shared Lives (SL) Day support service, known as TRIO.

SROI is a form of cost-benefit analysis that captures and monetises stakeholder outcomes. The SROI evaluation included a rapid evidence review, an interview study and a questionnaire study. The learning shared is drawn from the interview and questionnaire data that explored the reported outcomes relating to social connection, which included data related to participating in meaningful activities, confidence and independence.

PLWD who accessed the SL Day support service experienced better social connection, a sense of control over their activities (including their social activities) and community presence. A key foundation of these outcomes was the meaningful relationship that developed between the PLWD, their unpaid carer and the paid carer.

This evaluation was a pilot study with a small, albeit representative sample size.

The learning suggests feasible and effective ways for paid carers to support the social connection of PLWD and their unpaid carers with their wider community.

There has been little exploration of how community-based short breaks (like SL Day support) can enhance social connection. The authors drew on a social relational model lens to illustrate how this service type had supported successful outcomes of community and social inclusion for PLWD.

The purpose of this study is to examine the rostering practices and work experiences of medical scientists at four health services in the Australian public healthcare sector. There are over 16,000 medical scientists (AIHW, 2019) in Australia responsible for carrying out pathology testing to help save the lives of thousands of patients every day. However, there are systemic shortages of medical scientists largely due to erratic rostering practices and workload issues. The purpose of this paper is to integrate evidence-based human resource management (EBHRM), the LAMP model and HR analytics to enhance line manager decision-making on rostering to support the wellbeing of medical scientists.

Using a qualitative methodological approach, the authors conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with managers/directors and nine focus groups with 53 medical scientists, making a total 74 participants from four large public hospitals in Australia.

Across four health services, manual systems of rostering and management decisions do not meet the requirements of the enterprise agreement (EA) and impact negatively on the wellbeing of medical scientists in pathology services. The authors found no evidence of the systematic approach of the organisations and line managers to implement the LAMP model to understand the root causes of rostering challenges and negative impact on employees. Moreover, there was no evidence of sophisticated use of HR analytics or EBHRM to support line managers' decision-making regarding mitigation of rostering related challenges such as absenteeism and employee turnover.

The authors contribute to HRM theory by integrating EBHRM, the LAMP model (Boudreau and Ramstad, 2007) and HR analytics to inform line management decision-making. The authors advance understandings of how EBHRM incorporating the LAMP model and HR analytics can provide a systematic and robust process for line managers to make informed decisions underpinned by data.

Those who care for people with schizophrenia and substance use disorders (PLS-SUD) are faced with the complex demands of a long journey to recovery. For the carers, this translates into specific needs related to various areas of their lives. However, few studies have contributed to the understanding of these carers’ needs. The purpose of this qualitative evaluative study is to identify, understand and prioritize the needs of PLS-SUD carers in the context of intervention design from the viewpoint of carers themselves (n = 9), those they were accompanying (n = 5) and other key actors involved (n = 10).

A design of action research was employed. Data analysis was done in three phases: concept map analysis, thematic analysis and transversal analysis of the results from two focus groups, 28 interview transcriptions and a logbook.

Over 60 needs were identified. After review, 39 of those were selected for prioritization. For needs related to the carers’ role as clients of the health-care system, the committee prioritized the needs for support, sharing with other carers and improving their own well-being. For the role of supporter, knowledge about substance use disorders and their interactions with psychotic disorders as well as skills such as communication and problem resolution were considered priorities. Needs to be prioritized relating to the role of partner were fewer.

The results of this study highlight the diversity and complexity of the needs experienced by carers.

This is among the first needs surveys carried out by stakeholders to describe the needs of PLS-SUD carers.

Powered by artificial intelligence, voice assistants (VAs), such as Alexa, Siri and Cortona, are at early-stage adoption rates in service contexts. Customers express hesitance in using the technology. Furthermore, the effect of a relevant variable (VA empathy) as a determinant of VAs is not widely researched. This study aims to extend the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and social response theory (SRT) to propose and test a conceptual model of the role of customer perceptions of VA empathy and risk on VA adoption and usage intensity.

In this study, data were collected from 387 VA users in the USA using a survey administered through Amazon MTurk. Data cleaning retained a final n = 318 for structural equation modeling analysis.

Findings show that perceived VA empathy enhances customers’ attitude toward VA and drives adoption, thereby increasing VA usage intensity. Perceived risk is a moderator; users with high perceptions of VA empathy have greater VA adoption rates when they have high (vs low) risk perceptions of using VA.

This research is one of the first known studies to provide empirical evidence of the role of customer perceptions of VA empathy and risk on VA adoption in service delivery. It goes beyond VA adoption research to provide empirical evidence of the impact of VA adoption on actual usage intensity. By extending the UTAUT and SRT, this research adds to the theoretical foundation for research on VA adoption, offering practical insights for firms regarding empathetic VA design to enhance customer service delivery.

The purpose of this paper is to give an account for preparative collaboration between the police and municipal eldercare in Sweden concerning missing persons with dementia.

Design/methodology/approach used was a qualitative case study design, consisting of one focus group with representatives for the participating organisations, followed by directed content analysis.

The findings showed a lack of current collaboration and reluctance to new collaborative initiatives. However, when focussing on preparative collaboration of coordinated responses to missing incidents, possibilities for improvement could be identified. The improvements concerned updated personnel response checklists, along with suggestions for an elaborate life story document in eldercare, with police access. Finally, better coordination of the return of the found person and a follow up were proposed.

It is suggested that collaboration must be given different meanings and use different approaches adapted to the different phases in a rescue operation. In the preparation and the response phase, the focus should be on coordination of the resources available. In the pre-planning and prevention phases, as well as in evaluation and learning, horizontal collaboration is more suitable. The amount of data in this study is a research limitation which calls for further research.

It is suggested that collaboration must be given different meanings and use different approaches adapted to the different phases in a rescue operation. In the preparation and the response phase, the focus should be on coordination of the resources available. In the pre-planning and prevention phases, as well as in evaluation and learning, horizontal co-operation is more suitable.

The originality/value of this paper can be found in the novelty of missing person research in Sweden, and in practical suggestions for preparative collaboration concerning persons with dementia who go missing. Finally, it can be found in the suggested need for a more dynamic and process-sensitive view of collaboration in SAR or rescue operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruption in community support for vulnerable older people and is thought to have exacerbated existing issues within UK adult social care. This study aims to examine the legacy of that disruption on how meeting centres for people affected by dementia have been impacted in continually evolving circumstances.

Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were conducted at three meeting centre case study sites. Ninety-eight participants, including people living with dementia, family carers, staff, volunteers, trustees and external partners, were asked about the impact and legacy of the pandemic upon meeting centres. A thematic analysis was carried out on the data.

Ten themes were identified: ability to re-open venues; increased health decline and loss of members due to isolation; closure or halting of linking services and dementia community support; disruption to diagnosis and referrals; increase in outreach, building communities and overall reach; digital access and use of technology (boom and decline); changes to carer involvement and engagement; continued uncertainty and changes to funding, resources and governance; staff and volunteer recruitment issues; and relief at/wish for return to pre-pandemic norms.

This paper offers new insight into a still-developing situation, namely, the legacy effects of the pandemic upon third-sector community support for people affected by dementia and the health and social care services that support it. The reduction in maintenance of pandemic-era technological innovations is a key finding.