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An insight into the motivations of personal savers is offered here, and five different types are identified. It is seen that there is often no clear‐cut line between “savings” and “investments”, and only an impressionistic inter‐pretation of the findings is possible. However, this gives valuable new insights for a more detailed investigation into personal saving behaviour. The framework and context of the UK personal saving/investment market is outlined.

This paper has two purposes. First, it aims to explore how Australian universities used calculative rhetoric and practices through accounting numbers to persuade employees and legitimize their financial recovery plans to alleviate the financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, it aims to analyze how the accounting-based solutions were legitimized through a well-blended pathos, logos and ethos rhetoric.

Building on a rhetorical theory of diffusion, we employed a qualitative research design within all 37 Australian public universities involving Internet-based documentary analysis.

This study finds that in an urgent crisis like the fiscal crisis caused by COVID-19, universities again found rescue in accounting tools, in particular budgets, as a rhetorical device to justify their operational and strategic choices such as job-cuts, programs closures and staff pay-cuts. However, in this crisis, the same old accounting-based solutions were even more quickly to be accepted by being delivered in management’s colorful blending of pathos–logos–ethos rhetoric.

While this study is constrained to Australian public universities’ financial responses, its findings have implications for university decision-makers and higher education policymakers across the globe when it comes to university management using calculative devices in persuading employees to work their way through financial hardship caused by an extreme health crisis-like COVID-19 pandemic.

This study adds more evidence that the use of budgets as a calculative tool continues to play a key role in organizations in the construction, mobilization and preservation of certain strategic and operational choices during volatilities. Especially, the same way of creating calculative-based solutions can be communicated via the colorful blending of different rhetoric to make it acceptable.

Natural disasters not only cause dilapidated buildings and damaged infrastructure but also delay crucial aid for those affected in the event of a disaster and post-disaster recovery. An institutionally well-managed post-disaster housing strategy provides opportunities for physical and mental healing of its occupant. The time requires occupiers to remain in the temporary housing varies with circumstances. This paper aims to review post-disaster housing scenarios in India in comparison to two Asian cases from Indonesia and Japan. The study focuses on understanding Indian post-disaster housing strategies through a comparative review.

The research selects coastal cities of Tamil Nadu state, where the post-disaster temporary shelter and rehabilitation was planned and implemented after the Tsunami in 2004. The Tsunami created havoc in Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. Nagapattinam district reported 6,051 fatalities and many more homeless people. After the Tsunami, the government took measures to supply safe, secured and on-site shelter provisions. Surprisingly, many such shelters were never occupied. In many instances, people actually preferred to spend years in a temporary shelter rather occupying government housing. This paper evaluates such events and investigates India’s post-disaster shelter strategy against the derived best practices. This study is based on the sequential/logical reasoning and understanding of the facts. Discussions and findings from this study can be further generalised into a comprehensive policy discussion.

The paper finds that the manner of planning and design of post-disaster housing programmes influence medium- to long-term recovery of its occupant. A certain element of trade-off between implementation and quality of habitation results into compromises to achieving the desired outcome. When faced with socio-political, economic and financial constraints, the decision-makers are required to make trade-offs in deciding the manner and quantum of allocating resources. Coordination among these agencies is troublesome. It is true for all countries and there is no distinct answer to it. Public consultation and community participation in long-term rehabilitation are crucial to meet the aspiration of the local people.

The paper contributes in discussing a comparison of post-disaster housing rehabilitation between India and the two cases from Indonesia and Japan. As a review paper, the objective is to highlight the synthesis and overall understanding of post-disaster housing strategies from two cases and compare it with India.

Developing resilience is vital for firefighters and other practitioners exposed to trauma as part of their day-to-day work in maintaining physical and mental resilience. However, further understanding of what factors facilitate and hinder the development of firefighter resilience and why is needed. The current study evaluates efficacy of support mechanisms currently in place and develops an evidence base for interventions to support development of firefighter resilience.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 firefighters from across two regions in the United Kingdom, the Northwest and Southeast of England. Thematic analysis was used to analyse transcripts, highlighting themes within, and across, services to identify what factors affect development of firefighter resilience and why.

Thematic analysis highlighted four key themes shared by firefighters across regions: “informal support”, “formal support”, “basic welfare measures” and “trust”. Importantly, how effective formal measures are perceived to be and the willingness for firefighters to access these resources was dependent upon the level of trust held in senior management. Firefighters across locations highlighted levels of trust were affected by industrial actions which created divides. Accordingly, one way firefighter resilience may be further promoted is by altering how formal support mechanisms are accessed.

Although existing research has found factors which promote resilience of firefighters, evaluation of specific services is lacking. The current research highlights areas among two UK services where resilience is effectively being promoted and areas for potential improvement.

This paper aims at reflecting on the role of accounting and accountability mechanisms in pre-COVID-19 conditions and how it may evolve in “new normal”, post-COVID-19 conditions.

Moving from the papers in this special issue, the authors draw on the literature on the social construction and reflective approaches to understand pre- and post-COVID-19 events and the role of accounting therein.

The “new normal” may exacerbated the difficulty of public sector organizations to manage the uncertainties and risks associated to the new context. While “old” wicked issues remain, such as social inclusion, poverty and corruption, new ones come. The authors speculate on the “new” and “old” roles accounting and accountability can play to support governments.

The paper contributes by setting new research avenues for future studies in a post-COVID-19 era.

The purpose of this paper is to review all the research on Somali refugee communities’ “explanatory models” of “mental health” or psychological suffering, and also report original research in order to allow for more contexts on their “mental health” terms to emerge.

The authors talked in a conversational manner with a small number (11) of Somali people (10 females and 1 male), but this was done intensively over time and on multiple occasions. They discussed their community terms for “mental health” issues but in their own contexts and with their own examples.

The results showed that Somali as a community had three main groupings of symptoms: Jinn or spirit possession; waali or “craziness”; and a group of terms for serious anxieties, rumination, worrying and thinking too much. What was new from their broader descriptions of context was that the community discourses were based on particular contexts of the person and their behavior within their life history, rather than aiming to universal categories like the DSM.

Both research and practice on mental health should focus less on universal diagnoses and more on describing the contexts in which the symptoms emerge and how to change those contexts, especially with refugee and other less well-understood groups.

The review and original results support symptom-based or contextual approaches to mental health; we should treat the “mental health” symptoms in their life contexts rather than as a disease or disorder. We can learn from how Somali describe their “mental health” symptoms rather than treat their descriptions as crude forms of the “correct” western diagnostics.

According to the UN High Commission on Refugees, over 82 million people are currently displaced globally and of those nearly 25 million are refugees. Every community in the United States – urban, suburban, and rural – is shaped by newcomers seeking safety, opportunity, and self-improvement. Libraries are often the place that feels most welcoming to refugees and newcomers, making them well positioned to offer relevant and impactful programs and services to these communities. Using the International Federation of Library Associations’ (IFLA) conceptual rubric of sanctuary, storehouse, gateway, and bridge, my research explores a variety of programs and services deployed by libraries to address the needs of refugee and newcomer populations. Based on fieldwork in the United States, the Netherlands, and Germany, this chapter describes how libraries impact refugees and newcomers in decisive and meaningful ways. From informal gatherings to national government collaborations of digital content, libraries provide an array of compassionate, effective, scalable interventions for newcomers. Such interventions also positively impact the non-displaced communities in which they operate, fostering deeper connections between newcomers and their communities. Library services to refugees and newcomers provide a broad collective impact in the global crisis of displacement and belonging.

This study aims to improve the efficiency of the assessment process within a Step4 Psychological Therapies Service by identifying factors related to assessment non-attendance and service suitability for referred clients.

Referral and assessment information was accessed between October 2019 and March 2020 from Step4 routine service data, electronic client records where necessary and Step4 staff self-report questionnaires.

All clients offered an assessment during this time attended. Findings indicated several factors could influence service suitability in meeting client need. These included individual differences such as readiness to change, which was not necessarily identified at referral or prior to assessment, and potential systemic factors, such as the opt-in procedure, which possibly impeded access. Though the necessity for assessment in clarifying client needs and treatment was indicated, an assessment (from referral to assessment appointment) that led to discharge could take an excess of one working day of service time, associated with considerable opportunity cost to other clients awaiting assessment. Recommendations are made for improving assessment efficiency.

With a high prevalence of poor mental health in the UK, efforts must be made to identify and reduce additional demand upon service time and resources within mental health services to effectively meet people’s needs. Recommendations to improve assessment process efficiency include the use of a standardised referral form, offer of follow-up support procedures, increased client involvement, a streamlined opt-in battery and ongoing monitoring to ensure shared practice between clinicians. These are transferable to other mental health services, with implications for subsequent quality and timeliness of care.