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Article
Publication date: 4 August 2023

Naomi Boyle, Diane Seddon and Gill Toms

Demand for care at home is growing because of the increase in life expectancy, an ageing population and the chronic conditions that often accompany longevity. Daytime care at home…

Abstract

Purpose

Demand for care at home is growing because of the increase in life expectancy, an ageing population and the chronic conditions that often accompany longevity. Daytime care at home services have been widely reported on, but less is known about overnight care at home. This paper aims to gather evidence about overnight social care for older adults in their homes.

Design/methodology/approach

Recent studies were identified through searches in three electronic databases. Studies published in English between January 2016 and June 2022 exploring overnight care at home for older adults were eligible for inclusion. An additional Google search identified home care services within the UK currently providing overnight support.

Findings

The review retrieved five relevant papers, highlighting the paucity of research in this area. A narrative review of the literature identified common themes that suggested domiciliary night care staff play an integral role in meeting the overnight care and support needs of older adults who wish to be cared for at home. Despite the limited evidence base in this area, the Google search for UK domiciliary services who provide overnight support identified several active programmes.

Originality/value

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first scoping review exploring the provision of overnight social care to older adults in their own homes. The review highlights the need for further research to inform commissioning and practice development.

Details

Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, vol. 24 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-7794

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 June 2023

Gill Toms, Diane Seddon, Emma Miller and Nick Andrews

Short breaks enable unpaid carers to have a life alongside caring, supporting their physical and emotional well-being. In the UK, short breaks are usually explored during a Carers…

Abstract

Purpose

Short breaks enable unpaid carers to have a life alongside caring, supporting their physical and emotional well-being. In the UK, short breaks are usually explored during a Carers Assessment. The conversations underpinning these assessments require considerable skill and presently there are few tools to support the exploration of short break needs, desired outcomes and options. Images are used in other conversations to enhance communication, help people consider options and broaden thinking. This study aims to explore whether and how stakeholders thought images might support short break conversations.

Design/methodology/approach

To improve access to meaningful short breaks, we need to be guided by the insights of unpaid carers, those they support, practitioners, commissioners and policymakers. We hosted two online involvement events, designed to facilitate the exchange of perspectives and ideas amongst diverse stakeholders. The events explored the acceptability, facilitators and challenges of using images to enhance unpaid carer short break conversations.

Findings

The online events were attended by 47 short break stakeholders. These stakeholders saw merit in using images to support short break conversations. They identified several facilitators and challenges to introducing images into practice. The paper highlights how this learning can inform future research and practice development.

Originality/value

Supporting the well-being of older unpaid carers is a pertinent concern as the number of older unpaid carers continues to grow. This paper reports on how stakeholders have informed the earliest stages of practice and research development in a relevant area and provides a model of involvement that others can emulate.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 February 2023

Louise Margaret Prendergast, Gill Toms, Diane Seddon, Carys Jones, Bethany Fern Anthony and Rhiannon Tudor Edwards

The purpose of this paper is to share the learning concerning how services and the paid carers working in them can support people living with dementia (PLWD) and their unpaid…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to share the learning concerning how services and the paid carers working in them can support people living with dementia (PLWD) and their unpaid carers to overcome social isolation. This learning comes from the key findings from a Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation of a Shared Lives (SL) Day support service, known as TRIO.

Design/methodology/approach

SROI is a form of cost-benefit analysis that captures and monetises stakeholder outcomes. The SROI evaluation included a rapid evidence review, an interview study and a questionnaire study. The learning shared is drawn from the interview and questionnaire data that explored the reported outcomes relating to social connection, which included data related to participating in meaningful activities, confidence and independence.

Findings

PLWD who accessed the SL Day support service experienced better social connection, a sense of control over their activities (including their social activities) and community presence. A key foundation of these outcomes was the meaningful relationship that developed between the PLWD, their unpaid carer and the paid carer.

Research limitations/implications

This evaluation was a pilot study with a small, albeit representative sample size.

Practical implications

The learning suggests feasible and effective ways for paid carers to support the social connection of PLWD and their unpaid carers with their wider community.

Originality/value

There has been little exploration of how community-based short breaks (like SL Day support) can enhance social connection. The authors drew on a social relational model lens to illustrate how this service type had supported successful outcomes of community and social inclusion for PLWD.

Details

Working with Older People, vol. 28 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-3666

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 November 2020

Gill Toms, Stephanie Green, Alison Orrell and Fiona Verity

Research can be an influential driver in raising care home standards and the well-being and human rights of residents. This paper aims to present a case for how a relational…

Abstract

Purpose

Research can be an influential driver in raising care home standards and the well-being and human rights of residents. This paper aims to present a case for how a relational research capacity building programme could advance this agenda.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses Axel Honneth’s Recognition Theory as a lens through which to explore organisational and institutional factors (such as research capacity and investment) that can either enable or limit “recognition” in the context of research in care homes. This paper draws on recent evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK and worldwide, to argue that such a relational capacity building agenda is even more pressing in the current context, and that it resonates with evidence from existing relational capacity building initiatives.

Findings

A lack of relevant research arguably contributed to the crisis experienced by the care home sector early in the pandemic, and there are only tentative signs that residents, care home providers and staff are now informing the COVID-19 research agenda. Evidence from pre COVID-19 and insights from Honneth’s Recognition Theory suggest that relational approaches to building research capacity within the care home sector can better generate evidence to inform practice.

Originality/value

This is a novel application of recognition theory to research in the care home sector. Drawing on theory, as well as evidence, has enabled the authors to provide a rationale as to why relationship-based research capacity building in care homes warrants further investment.

Details

Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, vol. 21 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-7794

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 30 November 2020

Michele Lloyd

Media power plays a role in determining which news is told, who is listened to and how subject matter is treated, resulting in some stories being reported in depth while others…

Abstract

Media power plays a role in determining which news is told, who is listened to and how subject matter is treated, resulting in some stories being reported in depth while others remain cursory and opaque. This chapter examines how domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is reported in mainstream and social media encompassing newspapers, television and digital platforms. In the United Kingdom, newspapers have freedom to convey particular views on subjects such as DVA as, unlike radio and television broadcasting, they are not required to be impartial (Reeves, 2015).

The gendered way DVA is represented in the UK media has been a long-standing concern. Previous research into newspaper representations of DVA, including our own (Lloyd & Ramon, 2017), found evidence of victim blaming and sexualising violence against women. This current study assesses whether there is continuity with earlier research regarding how victims of DVA, predominantly women, are portrayed as provoking their own abuse and, in cases of femicide, their characters denigrated by some in the media with impunity (Soothill & Walby, 1991). The chapter examines how certain narratives on DVA are constructed and privileged in sections of the media while others are marginalised or silenced. With the rise in digital media, the chapter analyses the changing patterns of news media consumption in the UK and how social media users are responding to DVA cases reported in the news. Through discourse analysis of language and images, the potential messages projected to media consumers are considered, together with consumer dialogue and interaction articulated via online and social media platforms.

Details

Gendered Domestic Violence and Abuse in Popular Culture
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-781-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1990

Timothy C. Weiskel and Richard A. Gray

Current news on environmental problems frequently emphasizes the totally unprecedented nature of the ecological crises that beset us in this nation and the Western world as a…

Abstract

Current news on environmental problems frequently emphasizes the totally unprecedented nature of the ecological crises that beset us in this nation and the Western world as a whole. We are told, for example, that the summer of 1988 constituted “the hottest summer on record” in North America. Similarly we hear mat Boston Harbor has never in its history been so polluted, and in European waters seal populations died of an epidemic in 1988 on a scale never before witnessed by man. By stressing this “never before” aspect of events, it is sometimes argued mat the experience of the past is largely irrelevant for policy planners. Since our circumstances are new, so the argument runs, past experience leaves us with little or no instruction for the formulation of a practical public policy for the environment.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 18 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1997

Gerard McCusker

This study attempts to fill the gap in organisational identity literature. It describes the use of sound in communicating brand identity and explains the roles of the principal…

Abstract

This study attempts to fill the gap in organisational identity literature. It describes the use of sound in communicating brand identity and explains the roles of the principal ‘players’ in the production of one organisation's audio identity. As a case study, this research focuses on Radio Scotland's need for an identifiable sound, and also details the process involved in the design and implementation of its identity. Information about the case was generated via unstructured, open‐ended interviews with key informants within Radio Scotland and external parties who participated in the project. A chronology is used to present the findings of the case with analysis of the data led by four key research issues concerning: —sound's ability to communicate identity, —the balance between science and intuition in designing audio identity, —responsibility for sound identity production, and —requisite qualifications or knowledge for shaping audio identity. Conclusions show the use of sound to be instrumental in communicating Radio Scotland's identity, with the author suggesting that more research should be undertaken into the role of audio designs given the growth explosion in audio visual communications technology.

Details

Journal of Communication Management, vol. 1 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-254X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 October 2012

Gill Kirton and Geraldine Healy

The purpose of this article is to explore the under‐representation of women in union leadership in Barbados. The article asks if there are specific conditions faced by women there…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to explore the under‐representation of women in union leadership in Barbados. The article asks if there are specific conditions faced by women there or if the barriers for Barbadian women are the same or similar to those facing union women in developed countries.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was a small qualitative one. In‐depth interviews were carried out in 2007‐2008 with 17 women leaders from the two dominant general unions in Barbados, from two smaller female‐dominated unions and an international union federation.

Findings

The findings show that many of the barriers union women in developed countries face are also encountered in Barbados, including family and domestic and workplace/union. However, the paper shows that the local context of Barbados produces a locally specific version of oppressive gender relations that impact on union women and their ability to access leadership. In particular, the “male marginalisation thesis” holds purchase in the public mindset and has created a backlash against one of the major strategies for addressing women's under‐representation in unions – women's separate organising.

Research limitations/implications

This was a small study based on one Caribbean island and the findings do not necessarily apply to the wider region. Nevertheless, it raises sufficient questions about gender relations in union in the Caribbean to warrant further investigation both by unions and academics.

Originality/value

There is little in the international literature on women and unions in the Caribbean region.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 33 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1982

Richard E. Bopp and Judyth Lessee

[1981 was proclaimed by the United Nations as the International Year of Disabled Persons. With the theme “Full Participation and Equality,” the IYDP sought both to promote total…

Abstract

[1981 was proclaimed by the United Nations as the International Year of Disabled Persons. With the theme “Full Participation and Equality,” the IYDP sought both to promote total participation of disabled persons in all aspects of life and to encourage society to help them function as integrated members of their communities. One purpose of proclaiming such a year, and one means of achieving its goals, is to inform and sensitize the public. The following bibliographies are presented with those purposes in mind.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1954

THE year 1954 opened more brightly, in some respects, than most previous years. Salaries are better than they used to be, staffs are larger, and hours are shorter. But there is…

Abstract

THE year 1954 opened more brightly, in some respects, than most previous years. Salaries are better than they used to be, staffs are larger, and hours are shorter. But there is even less room for complacency or even bare satisfaction than there was forty years ago. Then, however poor was the pay and however long the hours, there was every indication that librarianship was gradually becoming recognized as a profession which in time would rank with the great professions. Principles and objectives were clear and were never lost sight of, but librarians and assistants of that day realized that the great professions were dependant, not only on principles but upon absolute mastery of technique; that no lawyer could survive who merely talked grandiloquently about the principles and objectives of his calling; that the medical man endured—and in many instances enjoyed—a severe and lengthy training in technique and practice, and that even when he became a specialist his prime need and principal qualification was absolute mastery and up to date knowledge of technique and practice in his field of specialisation. In the light of that fad a detailed study of library technique became accepted as essential, and a mass of practical and technical literature was studied and mastered by more than one generation. For examination purposes, perhaps more than for any other reason, the present generation of assistants continues that study, but there has been a change of weight. Today we hear frequently that technique is relatively unimportant and that principles and objectives are the vital essentials.

Details

New Library World, vol. 55 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

1 – 10 of 331