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Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.

This paper aims to further research on leadership and knowledge management through formal knowledge strategies in knowledge-intensive organizations (KIOs), and analyse knowledge management challenges and approaches within KIOs, especially tacit knowledge.

This paper is based on conceptual and literature research.

Managing knowledge as an organizational asset involves how knowledge is obtained, stored and organized, and accessed and shared when needed. This is crucial for KIOs. Knowledge that is not captured, understood and transferred, throughout the organization, is useless. This requires the integration of systems and processes with people and leadership. Tacit knowledge generation and transfer is especially important in KIOs. In particular, the success of KIOs depends crucially on management’s ability to give leadership in a way that supports knowledge-intensive teamwork. The global nature of internal and external knowledge networks adds to the leadership challenge. This can be made more complex by cultural differences, intellectual property protection (formal and informal) and talent scarcity.

Further research is needed to identify the types of KIO and to better understand sound common knowledge management and related leadership principles across all types of KIO and those that are more context-dependent on the type of KIO and/or its business and cultural context. More research is needed on policy making organizations, in-company policy-making research and development and creative industries.

The paper takes forward research on leading knowledge management in KIOs and introduces 14 challenging new papers in this specific field of research.

Academic healthcare systems face great challenges in coordinating services across a continuum of care that spans hospital, community providers, home and chronic care facilities. The Johns Hopkins Community Health Partnership (J-CHiP) was created to improve coordination of acute, sub-acute and ambulatory care for patients, and improve the health of high-risk patients in surrounding neighborhoods. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

J-CHiP targeted adults admitted to the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, patients discharged to participating skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and high-risk Medicare and Medicaid patients receiving primary care in eight nearby outpatient sites. The primary drivers of the program were redesigned acute care delivery, seamless transitions of care and deployment of community care teams.

Acute care interventions included risk screening, multidisciplinary care planning, pharmacist-driven medication management, patient/family education, communication with next provider and care coordination protocols for common conditions. Transition interventions included post-discharge health plans, hand-offs and follow-up with primary care providers, Transition Guides, a patient access line and collaboration with SNFs. Community interventions involved forming multidisciplinary care coordination teams, integrated behavioral care and new partnerships with community-based organizations.

This paper offers a detailed description of the design and implementation of a complex program to improve care coordination for high-risk patients in an urban setting. The case studies feature findings from each intervention that promoted patient engagement, strengthened collaboration with community-based organizations and improved coordination of care.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design, implementation and evaluation of a small UK case study of a mentoring style pilot intervention integrating a specially trained police officer alongside mental health professionals to support highly intensive service users of emergency services.

The development of the conceptual framework informing the mentoring intervention is described and its implementation evaluated using a range of qualitative and quantitative outcome measures.

The four high intensity service users involved in the pilot had internalised the need to participate in recommended recovery pathways. Mental health nurses reported improved compliance with treatment. Although the sample was small, the number of police mental health crisis detentions was reduced by 66 per cent after one year and by 100 per cent after 18 months. Usage of other emergency public services had also drastically reduced, or been eliminated altogether.

Limited time and resources and the need for a solution that could be implemented as soon as possible meant a pragmatic design, implementation and evaluation.

The study indicated that a wider roll out of the new multi-agency mentoring model would be beneficial.

This is the first intervention to integrate mental health professionals and a trained police officer directly into the care pathway of repeated users of emergency public services with complex mental health needs.

This paper aims to describe the development and evaluation of integrated intensive support service (ISS) for adults with learning disabilities who have complex needs and are at risk of admission to an inpatient unit.

Existing services were remodelled. The service explored external service models and established an integrated ISS comprising intensive community support and intensive support beds.

Data indicates that the majority of people referred to the service avoid both admission to an inpatient unit and placement breakdown. Most people admitted to the inpatient unit are not known to community services. Length of stay has significantly reduced.

Other services can use the information to remodel how to provide intensive support and avoid admission to an inpatient unit.

It demonstrates how remodelling can drive improvements to reduce placement breakdown and risk of admission.

In recent years, a wide range of psychosocial health interventions have been implemented among military service members and their families. However, there are questions over the evaluative rigor of these interventions. We conducted a systematic review of this literature, rating each relevant study (k = 111) on five evaluative rigor scales (type of control group, approach to participant assignment, outcome quality, number of measurement time points, and follow-up distality). The most frequently coded values on three of the five scales (control group type, participant assignment, and follow-up distality) were those indicating the lowest level of operationally defined rigor. Logistic regression results indicate that the evaluative rigor of intervention studies has largely remained consistent over time, with exceptions indicating that rigor has decreased. Analyses among seven military sub-populations indicate that interventions conducted among soldiers completing basic training, soldiers returning from combat deployment, and combat veterans have had, on average, the greatest evaluative rigor. However, variability in mean scores across evaluative rigor scales within sub-populations highlights the unique methodological hurdles common to different military settings. Recommendations for better standardizing the intervention evaluation process are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to gain an in-depth view into how participants perceived their experience of engaging in an enhanced Intensive Intervention and Risk Management Service (IIRMS), which is a part of the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway based within the community.

Five participants were interviewed. They were at different points of engagement with the service. Interviews were taped, transcribed and analysed using the grounded theory methodology.

Participants were able to provide in-depth reflections about their experiences at the service. The main issues centred upon “managing fragile relationships” and “an emerging self”. Subcategories linked to managing fragile relationships were: “letting people in and keeping them away”; “surviving the ruptures”; and “treating me like a person”. Subcategories linked to an emerging self were: “readiness to change” and “making new connections”.

This study focused upon one enhanced IIRMS and findings are not necessarily generalisable to other services within the OPD pathway, although themes are likely to resonate for those leaving custody with complex interpersonal difficulties.

This study has provided access to participants’ perspectives on engaging with an IIRMS. Many factors impact upon the individual’s journey, which is central to the relational approach underpinning the pathway.

The findings have important messages for service providers and commissioners and crucially service user perspectives have been obtained that are integral to future development of the OPD pathway. The findings are also relevant for released prisoners attempting to reintegrate within the community.

It is widely acknowledged that there is a significant gap between the demand for psychological therapy services and the supply (Bower & Gilbody, 2005). It is also well‐known that the health needs of people with learning disabilities are typically greater than those of the rest of the population, and that they are more likely to experience mental health problems and psychological distress (Lindsey, 2002). Difficulties in accessing psychological therapy services and long waiting times have been commonplace in recent years (Richards et al, 2003). Current moves towards modernising the NHS have led to increased accountability and competition between health providers, and many providers of psychological services have tried to increase their accessibility, effectiveness and efficiency. Adaptations to referral pathways and service delivery models in psychological care services have made changes to how clients access services and the input they receive. Accessible services, employing collaborative and stepped care models, have been identified as effective in delivering services in ways which best meet the needs of individuals and maximise the efficient use of resources (Bower & Gilbody, 2005). In our local psychology service for adults with learning disabilities, we have attempted to develop service delivery strategies and modernise referral routes so that services can be delivered which better meet the needs of our client group by optimising accessibility, efficiency and effectiveness.

Alternative Education Placements (AEPs) are unique and complex settings that serve students with varieties of needs and strengths, though in practice such settings may be used most frequently to serve students with serious challenging behavior. Although research supports a number of individual interventions for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), including intensive, individualized interventions, less is known about adapting such interventions for AEPs, and especially about the potential for AEPs to adopt a flexible, positive, multitiered framework for behavior and school climate. Emerging evidence suggests that Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) can be integrated into alternative education settings with careful planning. This chapter provides (1) an overview of AEPs, (2) a description of six steps recommended for integrating PBIS into AEPs, and (3) a brief overview of recent literature regarding PBIS in AEPs.

The purpose of this paper is to present the service model and evaluation of Southwark Enhanced Intervention Service (EIS). EIS is an intensive community service for adults with intellectual disabilities whose behaviours challenge in the context of the Transforming Care agenda.

The service model is described and the following evaluation data over four years are presented: key performance indicators, descriptive data, clinical outcomes, financial outcomes and qualitative feedback on users’ experience.

The EIS has demonstrated good outcomes for a small number of adults with complex needs by supporting them at crisis point locally and preventing hospital admission or a move to a restrictive environment out of area. EIS has also supported the successful transition back to area of a small number of adults with complex needs. The evaluation has shown improvements in behaviour, wellbeing and quality of life as well as demonstrating financial savings. Families’ and providers’ qualitative feedback indicates that the service has been highly valued and in particular the access to timely multidisciplinary coordination of input.

The service was developed around the same time as the start of the Transforming Care agenda. It presents findings of a four-year evaluation at a time when there is limited evaluation of such service models focusing on the Transforming Care aims. The paper presents significant findings in support of guidance and recommendations published more recently as well as reflections on components of effective service delivery.