Search results

The restrictive nature of low secure mental health settings and the issues associated with risk management and safe practice raise numerous challenges which need to be overcome for individuals to engage in community-based programmes. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Two community-based schemes are described. The first uses the natural environment as a medium in which to deliver opportunities to develop vocational skills. The second provides exercise-based activity to promote healthier living. This paper aims to explore the acceptability, feasibility and sustainability of the projects along with the views and achievements of participants.

Both schemes were well-attended with positive views from participants and others. Planned positive risk taking enabled individuals to participate in a safe and structured way. Initial evaluation of the projects suggest that they were viewed as acceptable by the service and valued by participants. Participation led to some individuals engaging in new opportunities for vocational and leisure activities.

Fostering access to community-based occupational opportunities for those in low secure mental health services can be achieved safely and with numerous apparent benefits. Research is now needed to determine further the nature and extent of the gains made through such activity.

This is the first known study of its kind utilising inter-agency collaboration to address the needs of those residing in a low secure mental health facility. Within the forensic mental health population, the standards of care recommend a comprehensive, recovery-focused approach aimed at building resilience and preventing relapse, with the need for thorough intervention for physical health needs. This study supports these recommendations by providing opportunities for planned positive risk taking, opportunities for social inclusion, skills development, increased access to physical exercise to address overall wellbeing.

The wider research literature indicates that health professionals’ ability to identify possible child maltreatment varies, and that this can lead to under-reporting of possible maltreatment to local authority (LA) statutory child protection agencies. The purpose of this paper is to understand how acute trust paediatric and LA services work together in suspected cases of child maltreatment, and what is viewed locally as good practice.

A mixed-method approach, consisting of an online survey, qualitative case studies and good practice examples, was used to describe key features of current practice in joint working between acute trusts and LA services, and to generate insights that could help improve practice.

Holistic assessment and information gathering, supported by training and expert input, were identified as being critical to a comprehensive approach to identifying maltreatment. Both in-hospital and community-based social work arrangements can be effective bases for joint working in respect of child maltreatment. Effective joint working relies on shared vision and values, and investment in, and commitment to, collaborative working.

This study covered arrangements in emergency departments (EDs) and maternity departments only, so future research could usefully look more broadly within acute care settings. Study respondents were also limited to safeguarding leads so, in future, there would be real value in exploring the experiences, practices and views of frontline practitioners.

The study includes practical implications for hospital and social work teams working to safeguard children.

The study highlights the characteristics of effective liaison between acute trust maternity and EDS and social work teams.

Catherine Avent reviews some of the recent crop of careers guidance books and pamphlets.

The purpose of this paper is to present the challenges encountered when conducting qualitative research in foodservice operations and to discuss the strategies to overcome the identified challenges.

The researchers conducted food safety observations, interviews, and focus groups with more than 600 foodservice employees and managers. The researchers encountered multiple challenges including institutional review board approvals, managements' willingness to participate, and organizational and cultural barriers.

Obtaining in‐depth, credible information through observations, interviews, and focus groups adds depth and breadth to hospitality studies. However, given high industry turnover, recruitment and retention throughout a study is problematic. Moreover, researchers encounter many barriers as they obtain data, such as establishing authenticity and overcoming Hawthorne and halo effects.

Strategies to increase participation and thereby improve qualitative research have not been previously addressed in the hospitality literature

This article focuses attention on the charity and voluntary sector in the UK. It provides an overview of the nature of the sector and the position of records management within it. Two short case studies present examples of records management work and describe solutions to specific issues achieved with limited resources. Finally, challenges facing records management in the sector are discussed, along with reasons for its vulnerability.

The purpose of this paper is to test the effects of nine district characteristics on student achievement, explored the conditions that mediated the effects of such characteristics and contributed to understandings about the role school-level leaders play in district efforts to improve achievement.

Data for the study were provided by the responses of 2,324 school and district leaders in 45 school districts to two surveys. Student achievement evidence was provided by multi-grade provincial measures of math and language achievement. The analysis of these data included calculation of descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and regression mediation analysis.

Seven of nine district characteristics contributed significantly to student achievement and three conditions served as especially powerful mediators of such district effects. The same three conditions, as well as others, acted as significant mediators of school-level leader effects on achievement, as well.

District characteristics tested in the study provide a powerful framework for guiding the district improvement work of senior educational leaders. The organizational improvement efforts of both district and school leaders would be substantially enhanced by a better understanding of how to diagnose and improve the status of those conditions acting as significant mediators of the effects of both district and school leadership on student achievement.

This is one of a very few large-scale quantitative studies examining the extent to which characteristics frequently identified by district effectiveness research explain variation in student learning. It is also one of the very few studies identifying classroom, school and family variables that mediate district effects on such learning. The study also adds to a growing body of evidence about variables which mediate school leaders’ effects on such learning.

This study aims to develop immersive scenarios (immersive videos) to foster generalization of learning while addressing social cognition, a factor associated to violence in schizophrenia. The authors sought to develop immersive videos that generate a sense of presence; are socially realistic; and can be misinterpreted and, if so, lead to anger.

A multiphase mixed method was used to develop and validate the immersive scenarios. The development phase consisted of preliminary interviews and co-design workshops with patients (n = 7) and mental health practitioners (n = 7). The validation phase was conducted with patients (n = 7) and individuals without mental disorders (n = 7).

The development phase led to the creation of five scenarios (S1, S2, S3, S4, S5); they included social cues which could lead to self-referential and intentional biases. Results of the validation phase showed that all scenarios generated a sense of presence and were considered highly realistic. Three scenarios elicited biases and, consequently, moderate levels of anger (annoyance).

Immersive videos represent a relevant and accessible technological solution to address social-cognitive domains such as self-reference bias.

No intervention using immersive technologies had been developed or studied yet for individuals with schizophrenia at risk of violence in secure settings. This project demonstrated the feasibility of creating immersive videos which have relevant attributes to foster generalization of learning in the remediation of social-cognitive deficits.

Accounting researchers have performed many studies related to public sector budgeting and financial management. Public sector accounting research seeks to explain the role of accounting and auditing in the public sector. For example, researchers examine issues such as (1) the use of accounting information by elected officials, (2) the demand for auditing, and (3) the determination of bond ratings. This review of the public sector accounting literature describes some of the theoretical foundations utilized in public sector accounting research and reviews a sample of selected empirical studies.