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1 – 10 of 95Claire Ellis, Frances Johnson and Jennifer Rowley
Academic libraries have sought to become the leaders in the provision of information literacy (IL). The purpose of this paper is to identify to what extent IL is being promoted…
Abstract
Purpose
Academic libraries have sought to become the leaders in the provision of information literacy (IL). The purpose of this paper is to identify to what extent IL is being promoted through institutional websites.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from all UK university websites (n=133) in early 2015 to identify the promotion of IL. Content analysis was used for the five categories: IL in the mission statement, visions or strategic plan; IL model or framework; IL policy; IL assessment; and, IL training. Data collection was limited to information in the public domain which could be accessed from individual websites, which were searched and browsed systematically.
Findings
In total, 85.7 per cent of universities promote IL to some extent on their websites in at least one of the five categories, however the degree of the information provided varied extensively. Less than 6 per cent of universities promote IL at institutional level. Only 17.3 per cent refer to a model or framework, 15.8 per cent show their IL policy and 9 per cent provide information on their assessment of students’ IL skills. Information on IL training is offered on 84.2 per cent of websites, the most common method being online tutorials, although 52.6 per cent only offer training for one or two aspects of IL, primarily information seeking and citing and referencing.
Originality/value
This paper provides up-to-date data concerning how universities in the UK promote IL in the public domain via their websites. It should be of interest to academic librarians who are responsible for IL provision.
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Madeleine Claire Valibhoy, Josef Szwarc and Ida Kaplan
The purpose of this paper is to examine barriers to accessing mental health services, from the perspective of young people of refugee background who have been service users, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine barriers to accessing mental health services, from the perspective of young people of refugee background who have been service users, and to suggest strategies to improve access to mental health services.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study was conducted with 16 young people (aged 18-25), who had been refugees and who had attended mental health professionals in Australia. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically to examine participants’ perspectives on what hinders initial access to mental health services.
Findings
Stigma about mental health problems was particularly prominent. Many believed a high level of disturbance was the threshold for entering services, and for some there was no knowledge of such services’ existence. Options for assistance other than mental health services were often preferred, according to young people’s explanatory models. Apprehension was expressed that sessions would be uncomfortable, distressing or ineffective. The desire to be self-reliant functioned as a further barrier. Finally, structural obstacles and social exclusion deterred some young refugees from accessing services.
Practical implications
Implications include the need for service providers to be equipped to provide culturally sensitive, responsive services that ideally offer both practical and psychological assistance. Potential referrers, including health professionals and community leaders, could facilitate increased access if trained to recognise and address barriers. Finally, findings indicate potential content for awareness-raising initiatives for young refugees about mental health problems and services.
Originality/value
This paper is original in its sample, method, topic and findings; being drawn from the first known qualitative research exploring views of young mental health service users who have been refugees about barriers to accessing mental health services.
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Rosemary J. Perez, L. Wesley Harris, Jr, Claire K. Robbins and Cheryl Montgomery
The purpose of this study was to explore how graduate students demonstrated agency after having oppressive or invalidating experiences based on their socially constructed…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore how graduate students demonstrated agency after having oppressive or invalidating experiences based on their socially constructed identities during graduate school and the effects of leveraging agency.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used critical constructivist qualitative methods (i.e. interviews and visual methods) to explore how 44 graduate students across an array of disciplines and fields at two public research institutions in the USA demonstrated agency after having oppressive or invalidating experiences targeting one or more of their socially constructed identities.
Findings
In response to oppressive or invalidating experiences related to their socially constructed identity, participants engaged in self-advocacy, sought/created support via community, conserved their psychological and emotional energy and constructed space for identity-conscious scholarship and practice. Although participants leveraged their agency, the strategies they used were often geared toward surviving environments that were not designed to affirm their identities or support their success.
Research limitations/implications
This study highlights the need for additional research to complicate educators’ understandings of how graduate students respond to oppressive or invalidating experiences and the nature of bi-directional socialization processes.
Practical implications
The findings of this study reinforce the need to foster equitable and inclusive graduate education experiences where students may use their agency to thrive rather than to survive.
Originality/value
Few studies examine graduate students’ agency during their socialization to their disciplines and fields. This study adds complexity to researchers’ understandings of bi-directional socialization processes in the context of graduate education.
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Dagmar Daubner-Siva, Sierk Ybema, Claartje J. Vinkenburg and Nic Beech
The purpose of this paper is to provide an inside-out perspective on the practices and effects of talent management (TM) in a multinational organization.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an inside-out perspective on the practices and effects of talent management (TM) in a multinational organization.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts an autoethnographic approach focusing on the experiences of the first author during her employment in a multinational organization. This approach contributes to the literature by providing an insider talent perspective that thus far has not been presented in TM research.
Findings
Applying autoethnography as a means to address the inside-out perspective in TM reveals a tension. The authors label this phenomenon the “talent paradox,” defined as the mix of simultaneously occurring opportunities and risks for individuals identified and celebrated as a talent.
Originality/value
The paper may be of value to TM scholars and practitioners, as well as to employees who have been identified as high potentials or talents in their organizations. In contrast with the TM literature’s optimism, the findings illuminate that being identified as a talent may paradoxically produce both empowerment and powerlessness. Attending to personal aspects of TM processes is relevant for organizations as well as for individuals as it enables reflection and sensemaking.
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Claire Jin Deschner, Léa Dorion and Lidia Salvatori
This paper is a reflective piece on a PhD workshop on “feminist organising” organised in November 2017 by the three authors of this paper. Calls to resist the neoliberalisation of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is a reflective piece on a PhD workshop on “feminist organising” organised in November 2017 by the three authors of this paper. Calls to resist the neoliberalisation of academia through academic activism are gaining momentum. The authors’ take on academic activism builds on feminist thought and practice, a tradition that remains overlooked in contributions on resisting neoliberalisation in academia. Feminism has been long committed to highlighting the epistemic inequalities endured by women and marginalised people in academia. This study aims to draw on radical feminist perspectives and on the notion of prefigurative organising to rethink the topic of academic activism. How can feminist academic activism resist the neoliberal academia?
Design/methodology/approach
This study explores this question through a multi-vocal autoethnographic account of the event-organising process.
Findings
The production of feminist space within academia was shaped through material and epistemic tensions. The study critically reflects on the extent to which the event can be read as prefigurative feminist self-organising and as neoliberal academic career-focused self-organising. The study concludes that by creating a space for sisterhood and learning, the empowering potential of feminist organising is experienced.
Originality/value
The study shows both the difficulties and potentials for feminist organising within the university. The concept of “prefiguration” provides a theoretical framework enabling us to grasp the ongoing efforts on which feminist organising relies. It escapes a dichotomy between success and failure that fosters radical pessimism or optimism potentially hindering political action.
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David Dickson, Owen Hargie, Karen Brunger and Karyn Stapleton
The growth of the “patient‐centred” approach to health care has highlighted the importance of quality communication practices. One area that remains problematic, however, is the…
Abstract
The growth of the “patient‐centred” approach to health care has highlighted the importance of quality communication practices. One area that remains problematic, however, is the process of breaking bad news to patients and/or relatives. Hence, there have been calls for more research and training in this domain. Reports the findings of a study that used the critical incident technique to explore the breaking bad news encounter from the perspective of the health care practitioner. In total 33 senior medical and nursing staff reported on situations in which they described specific, vividly recalled, experiences of both “effective” and “ineffective” bad news delivery. These reported incidents were content analysed and a range of key dimensions was identified for both effective and ineffective experiences. Interpersonal communication skills emerged as particularly salient factors and these are discussed in detail, together with implications for future research and training.
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Janice Kathleen Moodley, Bianca Rochelle Parry and Marie Claire Van Hout
The menstrual health and menstrual hygiene management (MHM) of incarcerated women remains relatively low on the agenda of public health interventions globally, widening the…
Abstract
Purpose
The menstrual health and menstrual hygiene management (MHM) of incarcerated women remains relatively low on the agenda of public health interventions globally, widening the inequitable access of incarcerated women to safe and readily available menstrual health products (MHP). The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted on the MHM gains made in various development sectors in the global North and South, through its amplification of vulnerability for already at-risk populations. This is especially significant to developing countries such as South Africa where the incarcerated female population are an often-forgotten minority.
Design/methodology/approach
This viewpoint highlights the ignominious silence of research and policy attention within the South African carceral context in addressing MHM. The ethical and political implications of such silences are unpacked by reviewing international and local literature that confront issues of inequality and equitable access to MHP and MHM resources within incarcerated contexts.
Findings
Structural inequalities in various contexts around the world have exacerbated COVID-19 and MHM. Within the prison context in South Africa, women face multiple layers of discrimination and punishment that draw attention to the historical discourses of correctional facilities as a site of surveillance and discipline.
Research limitations/implications
This study acknowledges that while this viewpoint is essential in rising awareness about gaps in literature, it is not empirical in nature.
Practical implications
The authors believe that this viewpoint is essential in raising critical awareness on MHM in carceral facilities in South Africa. The authors hope to use this publication as the theoretical argument to pursue empirical research on MHM within carceral facilities in South Africa. The authors hope that this publication would provide the context for international and local funders, to assist in the empirical research, which aims to roll out sustainable MHP to incarcerated women in South Africa.
Social implications
The authors believe that this viewpoint is the starting point in accelerating the roll out of sustainable MHP to incarcerated females in South Africa. These are females who are on the periphery of society that are in need of practical interventions. Publishing this viewpoint would provide the team with the credibility to apply for international and national funding to roll out sustainable solutions.
Originality/value
It is hoped that the gaps in literature and nodes for social and human rights activism highlighted within this viewpoint establish the need for further participatory research, human rights advocacy and informed civic engagement to ensure the voices of these women and their basic human rights are upheld.
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Claire E.A. Seaman, Alan H. Hughes, Charles E. Hinks and Doreen A. Parry
Describes the sensory evaluation techniques which have beendeveloped and their historical perspective. Outlines the uses to whichthe different sensory tests can be put together…
Abstract
Describes the sensory evaluation techniques which have been developed and their historical perspective. Outlines the uses to which the different sensory tests can be put together with some of the limitations and practical advantages of each technique.
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The purpose of this paper is to discuss how fieldwork impacted the author's own and one participant's positioning; the author's reflexivity, experiences and feelings of alterity;…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss how fieldwork impacted the author's own and one participant's positioning; the author's reflexivity, experiences and feelings of alterity; the participant's performances and conversations between the author and participant.
Design/methodology/approach
The author uses a confessional tale to describe the time spent with the participant and confesses how it impacted on the author as the researcher. The author examines her biases, feelings, and vulnerabilities, and explores some of the methodological and positioning issues with which she struggled.
Findings
The author ponders on what she learned while being in such close quarters with a participant and discusses what she should keep in mind about herself as the researcher during subsequent data collection forays. Researchers should know themselves well before attempting such closeness because when we are researchers, we can’t change who we are as people.
Originality/value
It is believed that the extreme researcher/participant closeness was unique but was, at the same time, an extremely useful form of data collection.
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