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1 – 8 of 8Biological understandings of mental illness are promoted by both anti-stigma campaigners and increasingly by activists protesting against social security cuts. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Biological understandings of mental illness are promoted by both anti-stigma campaigners and increasingly by activists protesting against social security cuts. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the pitfalls of the “illness” conceptualisation for reducing discrimination, comments on divisions between those arguing for a right to work and those who seek a right not to work, and proposes bridge building and more effective messages, drawing on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
Review of relevant evidence on the effectiveness or lack of it of the “mental illness is an illness like any other” message in anti-stigma work, and discussion of grey literature from campaigners and bloggers.
Findings
There is a growing body of evidence that the “illness like any other” message entrenches rather than reduces stigma and discrimination: this message should not be used in anti-discrimination work. At the same time some social security bloggers and campaigners have argued they are “sick” in order to resist efforts to compel them to seek work or face sanctions; whilst older disability rights campaigners have argued for the right to work. The paper argues for new bridge building and use of evidence based messages in campaigning.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is based on review of evidence on the impact of using the “illness” message to reduce stigma and discrimination; and on discussion of campaigns and blogs. It is not based on a systematic review of campaigns.
Practical implications
There is a need for campaigns that support rights holistically – the right to a decent standard of living and the right to work. This requires bridge building between activists, which could usefully be rooted in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The “illness” conceptualisation is harmful to the effort to reduce stigma and discrimination. Mental health staff can act as allies to those they serve in securing all these rights.
Originality/value
This is the only recent paper to analyse the evidence that the “illness like any other” message is harmful in anti-stigma work, together with its implications for the recent phenomenon of mental health campaigners moving from opposition to the medical model, to a new argument that they are “too sick” to work. This paper suggests ways forward for everyone with an interest in combatting stigma and discrimination.
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David Eugene Johnson and Debora Jane Shaw
The purpose of this paper is to inform or alert readers to the extensive use and ready availability of genetic information that poses varying degrees of social and legal danger…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to inform or alert readers to the extensive use and ready availability of genetic information that poses varying degrees of social and legal danger. The eugenics movement of the 1920s and the general acceptance of genetic essentialism provide context for considering contemporary examples of the problem.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes an argumentative approach, supporting proposals with ideas from historical and current research literature.
Findings
The limits of data protection, extensive use of direct-to-consumer genetic testing and use of genetic information in white nationalist circles portend a resurgence of eugenic beliefs from a century ago.
Social implications
Research-based recommendations may help to avoid extreme consequences by encouraging people to make informed decisions about the use of genetic information.
Originality/value
The paper counterposes contemporary understanding of genetic testing and data accessibility with the much older ideology of eugenics, leading to concerns about how white nationalists might further their aims with 21st century technology.
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Dorothy Nelkin and Mark Michaels
Looks at the contemporary debate on US immigration, focusing particularly on the increasing articulation of eugenics. Notes that, at times of economic and moral crisis, biological…
Abstract
Looks at the contemporary debate on US immigration, focusing particularly on the increasing articulation of eugenics. Notes that, at times of economic and moral crisis, biological generalizations tend to resurface to provide support for the existing system of privilege and rights, and that the information superhighway provides the perfect vehicle for rapidly spreading beliefs and information. Addresses three specific issues – the genetically determined traits and behaviours of specific racial groups, culture as an expression of biological characteristics, and immigration destroying the racial purity of American society. Outlines briefly US history of immigration. Airs the current concerns on US immigration – pinpointing that concern lies not in immigration per se., which has declined in the last decade, but in the changing national origin of new immigrants, that is immigrants are now mainly Latin American or Asian, which is seen as a threat to Anglo‐Saxon hegemony. Refers to the work of the Pioneer Fund, exploring human variation through the racial basis of intelligence and propensity to violence and/or crime. Claims that scientific language has been adapted to reinforce worries about immigration reducing the supremacy of America’s culture.
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To explore the alternative futures of work and the changing nature of the organization.
Abstract
Purpose
To explore the alternative futures of work and the changing nature of the organization.
Design/methodology/approach
Along with a long‐term macrohistorical approach, two futures methods are used: emerging issues analysis and scenarios.
Findings
Four scenarios are developed: business as usual (pendulum of labour versus capital); social and innovative transformation (moving toward the triple bottom line and flatter organizations); gut‐wrenching globalization (outsourcing of everything and the end of the nation‐state); and the unknown world (dramatic changes in the nature of work and organization, particularly because of AI technologies).
Originality/value
Novel approach in linking macrohistory to emerging issues to scenarios. Challenges litany approaches to work and the organization and links with deeper worldviews.
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Louise Alexander, Jade Sheen, Nicole Rinehart, Margaret Hay and Lee Boyd
This critical review of historical and contemporary literature explores the role of television media in the prevalence of stigma towards persons experiencing a mental health…
Abstract
Purpose
This critical review of historical and contemporary literature explores the role of television media in the prevalence of stigma towards persons experiencing a mental health challenge. In addition to this, the purpose of this paper is to examine the notion of perceived dangerousness, which is a concept where persons with mental illness are thought by others to be inherently dangerous.
Design/methodology/approach
A vigorous search of databases was undertaken for articles published between 2000 and 2016. Some seminal literature prior to 2000 was used to compare historical data with current literature. In total, 1,037 publications were reviewed against inclusion criteria.
Findings
While mental illness stigma has received much attention in the literature, television media and public perceptions of dangerousness have not. While these concepts are complex and multi-factorial, what we do understand is that approaches to address stigma have been largely unsuccessful, and that persons experiencing mental health challenges continue to be significantly disadvantaged.
Practical implications
Implications to practice for clinicians working in mental health on this issue have not been adequately explored within the literature. While media guidelines assist journalists to make informed choices when they portray mental health issues in television news, there are no such guidelines to inform drama television viewing.
Originality/value
Significantly, television’s role in perpetuation of perceptions of dangerousness has not been adequately explored as a combined co-occurring factor associated with the stigmatisation and avoidance of persons experiencing a mental health challenge. In an era when mental health challenges are on the rise, it is of great importance that we collectively seek to minimise negative impacts and improve the experiences of those with a mental health challenge through addressing stigma both individually and in television media.
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Kathrin Cresswell, Allison Worth and Aziz Sheikh
This paper aims to outline an approach to study the implementation and adoption of information technology systems in healthcare.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to outline an approach to study the implementation and adoption of information technology systems in healthcare.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use the introduction of electronic health records, part of the English National Programme of Information Technology, as an example to illustrate how theoretical lenses need to be effectively integrated with practical considerations in order to help researchers to overcome the theory‐practice gap in relation to research in this area.
Findings
Integrating actor‐network theory (ANT) with other theoretical lenses can usefully inform the design of evaluation of the implementation of electronic health record systems into healthcare settings, but it is necessary that such deliberations are informed by guidance on how to use conceptual considerations in practice.
Originality/value
The paper outlines how combining a case study‐based approach informed by multi‐sited ethnography and drawing on ANT offers a method for a theoretically‐based approach to such evaluations.
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