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1 – 10 of 12Gbogboade Ademiluyi, Charlotte E. Rees and Charlotte E. Sheard
This study aimed to evaluate the quality of Internet information on smoking cessation using a cross‐sectional survey design. The characteristics and content of 89 Web…
Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the quality of Internet information on smoking cessation using a cross‐sectional survey design. The characteristics and content of 89 Web sites containing smoking cessation information were evaluated. The quality of these sites were measured by the information quality tool (IQT), quality scale (QS) and DISCERN. The most widely reported types of information were the risks of smoking (65.2 per cent of sites) and nicotine replacement therapy (77.8 per cent of sites). Most (59.7 per cent) of the sites containing treatment information were evidence‐based. The Web sites were of variable quality and the quality of sites produced by non‐commercial organisations (e.g. universities) was significantly higher than those produced by commercial organisations (e.g. pharmaceutical companies) and private practices. Sites containing some evidence‐based information had significantly higher quality scores than sites containing no evidence‐based information. These findings have implications for practice and further research and these are discussed in the paper.
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Charlotte N. E. Tompkins, Joanne Neale, Laura Sheard and Nat M. J. Wright
Imprisonment is common among drug users. However, historically healthcare for injecting drug users in prison in England and Wales has not been equivalent to that offered…
Abstract
Imprisonment is common among drug users. However, historically healthcare for injecting drug users in prison in England and Wales has not been equivalent to that offered in community settings. Fiftyone injecting drug users who had a history of imprisonment were interviewed. Interviews focused on the experiences of drug‐related care and treatment in prison. The interviews were analysed using the Framework method. Accounts of prison drug treatment experiences provided valuable insights into drug treatment in the English prison. The participants’ accounts provided a historical perspective, many of which reflected the different practices of different prisons and prison staff and the changes in policy and practice that have occurred in prison healthcare over recent decades. Positive and negative experiences of healthcare and drug treatment in prison were discussed. Issues that affected levels of drug use inside prisons and their receipt of care, support and treatment in prison included prescribing policies, illicit drug availability and prison staff and doctor attitudes. Whilst negative experiences of prison and drug treatment prevailed, users identified that recent policy and practice changes had positively influenced healthcare provision for drug users in prison, particularly the provision of opiate maintenance therapy. Drug users often saw prison as an opportunity to detoxify and contemplate their drug use. Further work needs to build on the positive experiences identified to ensure that prison drug treatment in England and Wales is consistent, effective and efficient in the future.
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Stephen Joseph, Charlotte Beer, David Clarke, Allan Forman, Martyn Pickersgill, Judy Swift, John Taylor and Victoria Tischler
In 2005, the Qualitative Methods in Psychosocial Health Research Group (QMiPHR) at the University of Nottingham was established as a forum to bring together academics…
Abstract
In 2005, the Qualitative Methods in Psychosocial Health Research Group (QMiPHR) at the University of Nottingham was established as a forum to bring together academics, researchers and practitioners with an interest in qualitative methods. The group has provided colleagues in nutrition, psychiatry, psychology, social work and sociology with a forum for discussion around the question of how qualitative research is able to contribute to understanding mental health and the development of evidence‐based treatment. As a group, we asked ourselves where we stood in relation to the use of qualitative methods in mental health. While we are unified in our view that qualitative research is important and under‐utilised in mental health research, our discussions uncovered a range of views on the underlying philosophical stance of what it means to be a qualitative researcher in mental health. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of our discussions and our view that as qualitative approaches have become more widely accepted they have largely been assimilated within the mainstream ‘medical model’ of research. In this paper, we call for researchers to re‐engage with the philosophical discussion on the role and purpose of qualitative enquiry as it applies to mental health, and for practitioners and decision‐makers to be aware of the implicit values underpinning research.
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The aim of this book is to set an agenda and address a gap in the literature regarding Turbulence, Empowerment and Marginalisation in International Education Governance…
Abstract
The aim of this book is to set an agenda and address a gap in the literature regarding Turbulence, Empowerment and Marginalisation in International Education Governance Systems and its relationship with narrowing the global phenomena of a Black-White achievement gap.
The aims are met by addressing the following quesitions. First, how do senior leaders of Educational Governance Systems who are from and represent marginalised groups in society, describe and understand how School Governance Systems empower or disempower them to develop school communities as societal innovators for equity, and renewal? Second, how do these senior-level leaders within Education Governance Systems describe and understand the role mentors and/or advocates play to support their navigation through the turbulence? Third, to what extent, do these senior-level leaders of Education Governance Systems believe a cultural change is required to empower them in school and college communities including staff, families, students and community partnerships to Empower Young Societal Innovators for Equity and Renewal (EYSIER)? Finally, what theories of knowledge to action emerge regarding how these senior-level leaders might successfully navigate turbulence to empower marginalised groups for equity and renewal for all in Public Corporate Education Governance Systems?
We identified in Chapter 1 that the context is one of colonisation between different groups. In Chapter 2, The review of literature focused on turbulence in Education Governance Systems and identified the global distribution of knowledge concerning education from cash-rich countries has had a tremendous impact on what is taught and tested in schools. Nation states that are not cash rich are marginalised in a global politics. International Testing Industries examine the output of national education systems through a global lens. These studies do not shed light on: the socio-economic, or political context that shape the values, primary moral virtues and secondary intellectual virtues and acts of particular legislation; the fair funding formulas that underpin the allocation of funds to the construction of infrastructure; the Education Governance Systems structures and agencies; and the organisation of processes and practices of the education system within the international community. Intellectual and cultural colonisation that may lack what Adler calls moral and ethical frameworks may accelerate the commodification of education. Chapter 3 critically discussed how we implemented the same research design in each case taking a humanistic approach and identified that the research adopts a shared world view and seeks to recognise scientific, intellectual knowledge, and metaphysical moral and empirical knowledge. Chapters 4 through 9 presented the English, Northern Irish, Arab-Israeli, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States cases, and each case identified a clash of values between the professional educational credentialed senior-level leaders with track records for outstanding school improvement, and those in Educational Governance Systems with: no professional credentials; no track record of school improvement; a tendency to promote competition rather than cooperation; a desire for internal succession planning, rather than succession planning to achieve national education goals. The clash of cultures put senior-level leaders into a mode of protectionism with a focus on keeping their post and ‘watching their backs’, rather than building capacity for sustainable instruction within the Education Governance Systems they lead manage and administrate to optimise students’ learning, students’ outcomes and social mobility.
These senior-level leaders with Professional Credentials, and outstanding track records of school improvement need Education Governance Systems to empower them to do their job and create realistic opportunities to develop networks of professional experts in partnership with the academy to support them navigate any clash of world views. Funding is required for professional learning to ensure ‘old opinion is handed down among them by ancient tradition’ that is rationalised with logic, compared and contrasted with empirical evidence, and synthesised with innovations guided by a moral compass within an ethical infrastructure. These senior-level leaders need to be empowered to empower their staff as autonomous professionals to empower the parents and the students to gain the thinking tools they need to be lifelong learners with the capability to be self-legislating. This requires a culture change that prioritises the moral virtues of learning how to learn as moral citizens in becoming, above the secondary intellectual virtues demonstrated through success in high stakes tests.
Knowledge to action reveals young people need Education Governance Systems that EYSIER and underpin success in student outcomes for social mobility. Success in both these spheres will enable them to break their chains that have kept them dependent on the guidance of others who may seek to exploit them (De Gruy, 2008).
Further research is recommended to implement the knowledge to action impact strategies that emerge from all five cases.
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This paper aims to explore the cessation of injecting amongst male drug users when in prison in England and uncovers what influenced this behaviour and why.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the cessation of injecting amongst male drug users when in prison in England and uncovers what influenced this behaviour and why.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 male drug users on release from prison to explore what happened to their injecting drug use in prison. The research was conducted from a pragmatic harm reduction approach using grounded theory.
Findings
Not injecting in prison was identified as a pertinent finding and nine overarching themes accounted for this decline. The themes often overlapped with one another, highlighting how the decision not to inject when last in prison was multi‐factorial. Running throughout the themes were participants' concerns regarding the health and social risks attributed to injecting in prison, alongside an appreciation of some of the rehabilitative measures and opportunities offered to injecting drug users when in prison.
Originality/value
This qualitative research offers an updated perspective on illicit drug injecting in prison in England from the view of drug users since health and prison policy changes in prescribing and practice. It contributes to evidence suggesting that prisons can be used as a time of reprieve and recovery from injecting drug use.
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– The purpose of this paper is to present a Leadership Team Tool for developing reflexivity in the context of leadership teams.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a Leadership Team Tool for developing reflexivity in the context of leadership teams.
Design/methodology/approach
The Leadership Team Tool is based on the theoretical premises of seeing communication as meaning making, and therefore placing discourse and conversation in the center of developing leadership teams.
Findings
The paper illustrates how reflexivity can be facilitated through a structured process of using the Leadership Team Tool. An empirical investigation of using the tool in an authentic leadership team setting is warranted to further develop the Leadership Team Tool.
Originality/value
The paper makes a practical contribution to several fields of studies, such as team communication and reflexivity, leadership team research and dialogic organization development. The paper addresses the need to develop solutions to enhance reflexivity, as prior research has not established the best ways to foster reflexivity.
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Eric C.K. Cheng and John C.K. Lee
– The purpose of this paper is to explore strategies to develop communities of practice (CoP) to improve teaching in a school context.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore strategies to develop communities of practice (CoP) to improve teaching in a school context.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional questionnaire is developed to collect data from participants in a project that aims to cultivate a CoP to improve their small class teaching skills. A total of 125 teachers from 35 primary schools participated in the survey. A structural equation model is used to explore the predictive power of the strategies on all three of the CoP elements.
Findings
Content strategy is confirmed as the predictor of all the CoP elements, while process strategy is a predictor only for joint enterprise and shared repertoire.
Practical implications
The application of these strategies to develop a CoP in schools involves designing a reflective and collaborative learning content, as well as monitoring, regulating and streamlining the learning process.
Originality/value
The study contributes an empirical framework to the research of CoP and practical guides for school leaders to facilitate knowledge sharing in CoPs.
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Jem Bendell, Neil Sutherland and Richard Little
The purpose of this paper is to prepare the conceptual groundwork for the future study of leadership for sustainable development. The paper demonstrates the relevance of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to prepare the conceptual groundwork for the future study of leadership for sustainable development. The paper demonstrates the relevance of Critical Leadership Studies to future research on sustainable development policies and practices. A critical approach is also applied to concepts of sustainable development, with three paradigms of thought described.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach taken is an extensive literature review in fields of leadership and sustainable development, with a focus on some of the broad assumptions and assertions in those literatures.
Findings
A key finding is that leadership studies drawing from critical social theory can provide important insights into future research and education on leadership for sustainability. This literature shows that some assumptions about leadership may hinder opportunities for social or organisational change by reducing the analysis of factors in change or reducing the agency of those not deemed to be leading. These limitations are summarised as “seven unsustainabilities” of mainstream leadership research.
Research limitations/implications
The paper calls for the emerging field of sustainable leadership to develop an understanding of significant individual action that includes collective, emergent and episodic dimensions. The paper then summarises key aspects of the papers in this special issue on leadership for sustainability.
Practical implications
The implications for practice are that efforts to promote organisational contributions to sustainable development should not uncritically draw upon mainstream approaches to leadership or the training of leaders.
Originality/value
The authors consider this the first paper to provide a synthesis of insights from Critical Leadership Studies for research in sustainability.
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Hsiang Ru Chen and Bor‐Wen Cheng
The purpose of this paper is to integrate the ISO 9001:2008 and blueprints by using a process approach, to have systematic regulation in hospital quality management.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to integrate the ISO 9001:2008 and blueprints by using a process approach, to have systematic regulation in hospital quality management.
Design/methodology/approach
This study promotes a process approach when developing, implementing, and improving the effectiveness of hospital service quality to enhance patients’ satisfaction by meeting their requirements. This study completes the hospital’s blueprints with the process approach by using case study research methods such as in‐depth interviews with relevant personnel, on‐site observations, and experts’ advice.
Findings
The results of hospital blueprints described in this study comprise five‐plane lines to have systematic regulations. The ISO 9001:2008 process approach and service blueprint are not merely a technological application for medical healthcare services, but rather a fully patient‐driven, technologically integrated, and diligently implemented programme.
Practical limitations
Because of organisational financial confidentiality, this study does not consider the financial performance of the case hospital, and the results of blueprints may be revised afterward.
Originality/value
This paper promotes the adoption of a process approach when developing, implementing, and improving the effectiveness of a hospital outpatient service management system, to enhance outpatients’ satisfaction by meeting their requirements.
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