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Apprenticeship reforms have paved the way for higher education (HE) providers, including universities, to become Degree Apprenticeships (DA) training providers, creating new work-based HE routes. The changes aim to generate a new cohort of skilled individuals to support national economic growth, as well as improve levels of social mobility. The purpose of this paper is to focus on an HE partnership project which resulted in a number of collaborative models for development that address these aims.

The paper focuses on qualitative interviews undertaken during the process of creating DAs through a consortium of HE providers. It considers the collaborative relationships which were built on and which developed across the course of the short-term project. It assesses the concept of competitive collaboration and its link to social mobility.

The paper considers the various manifestations of collaboration which supported the DA developments in a competitive environment: collaboration as embedded; collaboration as negotiation; and collaboration as a driver for social mobility and social equality.

Working collaboratively across HE providers sought to raise the status of apprenticeships, provide opportunities for the development of new degree apprenticeship curricula and enable practitioners to establish these as a new route into HE. This paper contributes to what is currently limited knowledge about the impact of degree apprenticeships on social mobility and equality.

This paper explores the importance of seeking the views of service users with dementia. This is fundamental to raising quality standards in the management of dementia care, and demands commitment to on‐going high quality training for social care staff. Contemporary research and policy developments are debated in this context.

The purpose of this paper to synthesise much of the existing research on autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and offending behaviour.

It considers three key areas, namely, first, a discussion about the nature of ASD and how it might be related to offending behaviour; second, a brief commentary about the prevalence of this population; and, finally, an exploration of the effective management and possible treatment outcomes.

Methodological limitations have resulted in variable findings which has hindered our understanding of this population. Some of the research is based on small, highly specialist samples making prevalence difficult to measure. The link between ASD and offending is still not well understood, and despite advances in staff training, awareness amongst practitioners remains an underdeveloped area, thus yielding variable treatment outcomes.

This review continues to demonstrate the urgent need for robust research in order to better understand the link between ASD and offending behaviour, to provide tailored, needs-led interventions, and reduce the risk of offending amongst this group as a whole.

Although precise numbers are unknown, it is generally acknowledged that between 5‐10% of the offending population are people with learning disabilities. While there are few provisions that explicitly target defendants with learning disabilities there is a general recognition in law that defendants must be able to understand and participate effectively in the criminal proceedings of which they are a part. The implications of the principle of effective participation are that criminal prosecution may be deemed inappropriate for certain defendants with learning disabilities, in which case they may be diverted away from criminal justice and into health care. There is scope for a variety of measures to be put into place to support defendants with learning disabilities to maximise their chances of participating effectively. However, in terms of statutory provision, there is a lack of parity between vulnerable witnesses and vulnerable defendants. Further, the absence of effective screening procedures to identify defendants' learning disabilities means that their support needs often go unrecognised and unmet.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and extent of psychosocial need fulfillment experienced by resident strata title owners and to shed light on factors that detract from residents’ lived experience in the strata title context.

An interview schedule that draws on theories of psychosocial need fulfillment was developed. In total, 16 home owners and three strata title managers were interviewed. Interviewees were sourced from three master planned communities located in South East Queensland, Australia.

The majority of owners reported high levels of need fulfillment and neighbourhood satisfaction. Primary sources of dissatisfaction appeared to be related to body corporate committee governance issues.

The study's findings are subject to the widely acknowledged limitations of small sample based interview research and the study's qualitative orientation signifies that it suffers from the compromised generalisability and potential of selective and subjective reporting of observations.

The findings suggest a need for greater societal appreciation of factors associated with living in a strata titled community. Recommendations are provided for facilitating the transition to strata title living and reducing sources of resident dissatisfaction.

The paper uniquely explores residential satisfaction from a psychosocial needs perspective. There is a paucity of related research reported in the literature.

This study aims to explore the positive and negative effects of working in an academic library, as reported by college students.

Through surveys and interviews, student workers shared their perceptions of how employment in a university library affects their academics, social life, engagement with campus life, professional skill development, and emotional/psychological states.

Results indicate that the library job is seen as a generally positive part of the students' college experience, particularly in the areas of skill development and academic performance. However, neutral, mixed, and negative effects exist as well.

Findings may not be generalizable due to the limited number of participants and their employment in a single department. Future research could include students in other departments, libraries, or universities. This study employed a single survey and interview, capturing a snapshot of student perceptions. A more longitudinal approach could examine how the attitudes and perceptions of working students change over time as a result of their employment.

This study presents suggestions for how librarians, faculty, staff, and administrators can promote working students' academic success and professional development.

This paper contributes a new perspective to the current literature on the academic and social effects of library employment. By gathering student perceptions via surveys and interviews, this research provides one of the first analyses of the experiences of library student workers as shared in their own voices.

This article is an extended version of an ‘experts’ briefing' commissioned to inform senior child welfare managers in English local authorities and voluntary agencies about the available evidence to inform the provision of effective services in complex child protection cases. It starts by noting how differences in the approach to service provision in different jurisdictions affect both the nature of research conducted and its transferability across national boundaries. It then summarises the characteristics both of parents who are likely to maltreat their children and also of the children most likely to be maltreated. The factors that make some families ‘hard to engage’ or ‘hard to help/change’ are then discussed, as are the essential elements of effective professional practice in child protection. Particular attention is paid to effective approaches to helping families and young people who are hard to identify or engage.

For many years, science fiction has been perceived as “rayguns and rocket ships” boys' literature. Any number of impressionistic and statistical studies have identified the typical SF reader as male, between the ages of twelve and twenty and, in the case of adults, employed in some technical field. Yet I continually find myself having conversations with women, only to find that they, like myself, began reading science fiction between the ages of six and ten, have been reading it voraciously ever since, and were often frustrated at the absence of satisfying female characters and the presence of misogynistic elements in what they read. The stereotype of the male reader and the generally male SF environment mask both the increasing presence of women writers in the field of science fiction and the existence of a feminist dialog within some SF novels. This dialog had its beginnings in the mid‐sixties and is still going strong. It is the hope of the feminist SF community that this effacement can be counteracted.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the current service provision offered by a mental health service in a young offenders institute (YOI) in England.

A qualitative exploratory approach was adopted. Five prison officers (POs) (four male and one female) with direct experience supporting young people through mental health intervention were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Data was analysed using thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006), which allowed evaluation of the current mental health provision to evolve.

Five overarching themes (process of referrals; intervention and its impact; role and function of the health and well-being team; collaboration and involvement; and feedback, communication and intervention) were found to be highly salient when evaluating service provision. Notably all themes interrelated with one another, demonstrating that changes or improvements made to the service need to consider all factors individually and collectively.

This study was based on a small sample of POs in only one YOI in England, and therefore cannot be generalised to the entire prison estate. However, it does offer a rich insight into local service provision from the perspective of a group whose opinion is rarely sought.

POs’ perspectives of service provision are important in informing service developments. Lessons can be learnt from their unique insight into how prison mental health services are run to improve processes and collaborative working in the management of young offenders with mental health difficulties.

This preliminary and exploratory study is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first study evaluating service provision by using the perspectives of POs. The findings suggest that POs make valuable contributions to the service development and should be involved in similar evaluations in future.

Religion and spirituality are well-researched concepts within the field of psychology and mental health yet they have rarely been researched in high-secure services within the UK. Research in mental health and prison contexts suggests benefits of religion/spirituality to coping, social support, self-worth, symptoms of depression and anxiety and behavioural infractions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of religion/spirituality in high-secure service users’ personal recovery.

Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 13 male patients in a high-secure hospital, with primary diagnoses of mental illness (n=11) or personality disorder (n=2). Participants were from a range of religious/spiritual backgrounds and were asked about how their beliefs impact their recovery and care pathways within the hospital. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Three superordinate themes were identified: “religion and spirituality as providing a framework for recovery”; “religion and spirituality as offering key ingredients in the recovery process”; and “barriers to recovery through religion/spirituality”. The first two themes highlight some of the positive aspects that aid participants’ recovery. The third theme reported hindrances in participants’ religious/spiritual practices and beliefs. Each theme is discussed with reference to sub-themes and illustrative excerpts.

Religion/spirituality might support therapeutic engagement for some service users and staff could be more active in their enquiry of the value that patients place on the personal meaning of this for their life.

For the participants in this study, religion/spirituality supported the principles of recovery, in having an identity separate from illness or offender, promoting hope, agency and personal meaning.