Search results

Chronic health conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes are higher in individuals with learning disabilities and significantly affect both quality of life and longevity. Healthy eating is an important factor in preventing these chronic conditions. The study reported here explored the role paid carers played in promoting healthy eating and how they managed the daily dilemma of balancing residents’ right to make unhealthy food choices against carers’ “duty of care”.

Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with a purposive sample of six residential paid carers. Interviews were transcribed and then analysed using a thematic approach.

This small study highlights the challenges that staff face when balancing food choice against “duty of care”. It highlights that when working with less able residents, carers are motivated by “best interests”, to place boundaries and restrictions on food access and choice. It confirms previous studies that increased levels of choice for higher ability residents, often results in less healthy food choices. The study describes a lack of policy, guidance and specific training for paid carers which results in them using their personal subjective values as a basis for decision making.

Since the publication of “Valuing People” (Department of Health, 2001) the core principles of residential services changed direction towards independence and choice. This study expands our knowledge on how paid carers make sense of the everyday conflicts between choice and “duty of care” when residents continue to make unhealthy food choices affecting their physical health.

The purpose of this paper is to communicate the findings of an empirical research project based on a real world problem that involved the development of a continuous professional development (CPD) framework for a children’s integrated service workforce. In addition, to give attention to the notion that children’s integrated services have not necessarily been viewed from the perspective of conflict management and that this has meant ensuing conflicts that characterise such organisations are more often than not ignored.

A case study approach involving a mixed methodology consisting of semi-structured interviews for senior managers and service leads; a quantitative survey for frontline practitioners and focus groups for service users, carers and children.

Rather than the service being fully integrated, services were aligned, and this was reflected in the conflict between professional cultures, reinforcing an “us and them” culture. This culture had seemingly permeated all aspects of the organisation including the senior management team. It was also noted that certain systems and processes, as well as bureaucracy, within the service were seen as hindering integrated working and was in effect a catalyst for conflict.

What has become evident during the course of this empirical study is the need to further explore the functioning of children’s integrated services using conflict management theories, tools and techniques so as to understand how best to manage conflict to an optimum where an environment of creativity and productiveness is created.

Therefore, when devising a CPD framework it can be argued that there is a need to address some of the types of conflict at the micro-frontline practitioner level of the organisation, as it is this level where there is opportunity through a variety of mechanisms, for example formal and non-formal learning, ring-fenced time, attendance at conferences, team away days and shadowing opportunities can be used to achieve a greater understanding of professional roles, improve working relationships and engage in the division of tasks in a fashion that will promote collaborative working.

The extent to which a children’s integrated service can be the harbinger of a range of multi-faceted conflicts that include the jarring of professional cultures, task conflict, inter-personal incompatibilities and competing value bases cannot be underestimated. Therefore, when devising a CPD framework it can be argued that there is a need to address some of the types of conflict at the micro-frontline practitioner level of the organisation.

Through the application of conflict management theory it will be illustrated how conflict could be used to effectively steer children integrated services towards creativity and productivity through an organisational wide framework that not only embraces dissonance, but also promotes a learning environment that takes advantage of such dissonance to incorporate a hybrid of professional practice and expertise.

The Clinton Electronic Communications Project is the successor to the Clinton campaign′s e‐mail program. The object of the work reported here was to determine to which White House material posted to the Internet is more current and comprehensive than information available through more traditional sources.

Research that follows people over a period of time (longitudinal or panel studies) is increasingly recognised as of great importance in helping us to understand the ageing process and changes over time in the lives of older people. If people drop out of studies ‐ which older people are more likely to do ‐ the value of the study diminishes. This research draws on evidence from ongoing and previous longitudinal studies of people aged 55 and over to examine what factors encourage the retention of participants and what causes them to drop out. The research is synthesising existing evidence, drawing together the experiences of researchers involved in longitudinal studies, and collecting some new evidence about the views of survey participants. This article reports on the first part of the research by drawing together evidence from other studies. These show that there are some factors that are related to attrition whereas for others the evidence is mixed. Methods employed by these studies to reduce attrition and retain participants are examined. It must be noted that apart from the consistent finding that attrition is associated with age, education, socio‐economic status and cognitive impairment, not all studies examined the same variables; some only being explored by one study. This makes it difficult to draw any further conclusions and indicates that attrition needs to be addressed in a uniform manner by more studies. This article identifies some implications for policy‐makers and practitioners.

This chapter analyses the pilot episode of the ABC TV series Charlie's Angels (Spelling & Goldberg, 1976–1981) and the latest film of this media franchise, Charlie's Angels (Banks, 2019). The chapter undertakes an analysis of the three main characters in the series pilot and the three starring roles in the film, applying methodologies proposed by the cinematic poetic formalism (Bordwell & Thompson, 2006) and observing specifically the roles and motivations of these six women from a feminist perspective. On the one hand, the TV pilot engages with several of the main premises of the second-wave feminism that was in full swing at the time the series was released. On the other hand, the 2019 film was launched in the contemporary era of post-feminism, reflecting a number of the concerns that shape the post-feminist agenda. However, the main argument of this chapter is that both the series pilot released in 1976 and the 2019 film construct ambivalent feminist narratives. The analysis reveals that the Charlie's Angels franchise fluctuates between characteristics that can be labelled as feminist discourses, but also as replicators of a patriarchal model. Forty-six years later, while a few things have changed for the Angels, we argue that the characters and franchise have not lived up to its potential as a transformative feminist text.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

The purpose of this paper is to understand which change process the supplying organization should define for its customer-facing organization in order to successfully increase customer orientation and to be on the short list of their customers’ key suppliers.

Action research was used to carry out this research. Researchers were involved in the change management process of a medium-sized company that wanted to re-design their customer selection and interaction processes: one researcher was a top manager of the participating company, whereas the other researcher worked alongside the organization in a collaborative effort to introduce and roll out sales force training seminars.

Researchers’ main finding shows how the company’s top-management willingness to apply a “soft” approach to change leverages a concept called “emotional connectedness”.

The authors bridge a gap between the literature on change management and the “emotional connectedness” concept related to social psychology. The authors add to existing theories on change management a new perspective based on interpersonal relationships.

The reopening of schools during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is full of challenges for families, which are heightened for children and young people (CYP) who live with chronic illnesses. This paper aims to offer a framework to support the successful return of CYP with chronic illnesses to school using appropriate intersectoral strategies.

This paper draws on research data on the impact of school closure on CYP with chronic illness and emerging findings of global research about their lives during the pandemic. It is also informed by the perspectives of practitioners in the field, who are working with these CYP and their families.

A framework based on three different strategies for a successful return is established. A small but significant group of CYP living with conditions such as cancer will not yet return and will need ongoing home education provision. CYP with well-controlled symptoms of chronic illness will benefit from school routines and socialization with peers. CYP with poorly controlled illness will need close supervision and individual plans. All groups will benefit from better intersectoral working across education and health and from recent rapid developments in hybrid learning models and telemedicine.

This viewpoint highlights the need for a strategic approach to the return to school of CYP with chronic illness that goes well beyond classifying them as vulnerable students. This group of CYP is already at risk of lower educational attainment, so widening inequalities must be halted. This paper provides a framework for anchoring local intersectoral approaches adapted to the different situations of CYP.

This paper seeks to present findings from the first all‐Ireland study that consulted older people on their perceptions of interventions and services to support people experiencing abuse.

Utilising a grounded theory approach, 58 people aged 65 years and over took part in focus groups across Ireland. Four peer‐researchers were also trained to assist in recruitment, data collection, analysis, and dissemination.

Participants identified preventative community‐based approaches and peer supports as important mechanisms to support people experiencing, and being at risk of, elder abuse. Choices regarding care provision and housing, as well as opportunities for engagement in community activities where they can discuss issues with others, were identified as ways to prevent abuse.

The development of elder abuse services has traditionally been defined from the perspective of policy makers and professionals. This study looked at the perspective of the end‐users of such services for the first time. The research also gave an active role to older people in the research process. The policy implication of the findings from this research is that enhanced attention and resources should be directed to community activities that enable older people to share their concerns informally thereby gaining confidence to seek more formal interventions when necessary.