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1 – 10 of 189Karen Pickett, Willeke Rietdijk, Jenny Byrne, Jonathan Shepherd, Paul Roderick and Marcus Grace
The purpose of this paper is to understand early career teachers’ perceptions of the impact of a pre-service health education programme on their health promotion practice in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand early career teachers’ perceptions of the impact of a pre-service health education programme on their health promotion practice in schools and the contextual factors that influence this.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 primary and secondary trainee and qualified teachers who had trained at a university in England. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.
Findings
The teachers found the training to be a useful introduction, particularly when it was relevant to their practice. They valued gaining practical skills at university, on placement and in school once qualified. They reported that witnessing pupils’ lives in school had increased their awareness that health education is important. Their personal qualities, life experience, the school’s ethos and competing pressures influenced their practice. Teachers considered that building relationships with colleagues, pupils and parents facilitated health promotion, and that health education needs to be relevant to pupils. Some teachers expressed that teaching about health could be a “minefield”. They also discussed whether schools or parents are responsible for educating pupils about health issues and the place of health promotion within education’s wider purpose.
Originality/value
Few studies have followed-up trainee teachers once they are in teaching posts to explore the longer-term perceived impact of pre-service health education training. The findings suggest that teachers’ development takes place via an interaction between training and practice, suggesting that training could particularly aim to provide teachers with a contextualised understanding of health issues and practical experience.
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Jonathan Shepherd, Katherine Weare and Glenn Turner
Presents the results of an investigation into effective methods of peer‐led sexual health promotion work with young gay and bisexual men. The study recruited a group of young gay…
Abstract
Presents the results of an investigation into effective methods of peer‐led sexual health promotion work with young gay and bisexual men. The study recruited a group of young gay and bisexual men from Southampton who underwent training to participate in a peer‐led sexual health intervention in which they conducted one‐to‐one interviews with a selection of their peers. Reports briefly on the key learning to arise from the process of recruiting and training peer educators, and in greater depth concerning the quasi‐experimental evaluation of the intervention the peer educators participated in to promote sexual health. The study found that rapport and familiarity between project workers and potential recruits aided the recruitment process, and that informal, confidence‐building activities were key factors in the effectiveness of the peer educators’ training. The peer educators were most effective in terms of information provision, but weaker on the exploration of attitudes and beliefs, or the encouragement of safer sexual behaviour. The advantages associated with the intervention included its ability to target individuals in a range of community settings, to stimulate in‐depth discussion about sexual health, to identify individual needs and to facilitate outcome evaluation over time.
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Yael llan‐Clarke, Amanda Bunn, Jeffrey DeMarco, Antonia Bifulco, John Criddle and Gillian Holdsworth
Youth violence victimisation impacts on health, mental health and future risk trajectories. A London hospital emergency department (ED) outreach youth service provides a unique…
Abstract
Purpose
Youth violence victimisation impacts on health, mental health and future risk trajectories. A London hospital emergency department (ED) outreach youth service provides a unique intervention opportunity to support adolescents involved in violence. The purpose of this paper is to describe the set‐up of the service.
Design/methodology/approach
Young people (YP) targeted were aged 12‐18, from two London boroughs and attended ED with injuries from a violent incident. They were referred to Oasis youth workers for a mentoring/youth work intervention. Lifestyle and symptom scales were used to assess risk profile. Hospital staff questionnaires determined service awareness in the first six months, and interviews/focus group identified potential barriers to service uptake.
Findings
By 12 months, the service was operating smoothly. Of the first 505 YP attending ED, a third were referred, a third ineligible and a third non‐contactable/refused. Detailed analysis of the first 30 attending found most were male (87 per cent), equal White or Black ethnicity (40 per cent) with 20 per cent “Other” ethnicities, with only a third living with both biological parents. This was similar to the full population attending. Nearly half (49 per cent) had been assaulted, 30 per cent had injuries self‐generated through poor anger management, the remainder injured in fighting. Over half (57 per cent) had disorder, mostly behavioural, correlated with lifestyle risk scores. Barriers to service use/implementation included YP mistrust and fear of reprisals, problems with service visibility in the busy hospital environment and ineffective staff communication with YP, all countered during the running of the service. Gauging outcome at follow‐up is the second evaluation stage.
Originality/value
The youth violence project is an important initiative for intervention in youth violence.
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Eric Shaunn Mattingly and Jonathan H. Westover
This paper aims to offer borrowed legitimacy through coalitions as an explanation for how an organization might successfully deviate from social norms to enact change, yet still…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to offer borrowed legitimacy through coalitions as an explanation for how an organization might successfully deviate from social norms to enact change, yet still gain sufficient cognitive and sociopolitical legitimacy for survival. This paper explains that borrowing legitimacy through a coalition allows an illegitimate organization to impose an alternative future despite institutional pressures for its convergence to social norms, rules and expectations.
Design/methodology/approach
To explore the ability of an organization that lacks legitimacy to borrow legitimacy through a coalition, the authors use a case study and content analysis of interviews, news articles and other publicly available secondary data to examine an environmentalist organization, Sea Shepherds, who openly seek legitimacy and resources, and are engaged in enacting change while using a unique or alternative form.
Findings
The case study here shows how a coalition with another organization that already has legitimacy can help the reference organization gain legitimacy themselves by borrowing legitimacy initially. Specifically, because more constituents are aware of the organization with existing legitimacy, the coalition allows the reference organization to borrow that cognitive legitimacy and constituents become aware of the reference organization as well.
Research limitations/implications
Although this study provides meaningful insights to the phenomena at hand, it is limited in method and scope. As noted by Zucker, the institutional environment is very important to organization form and likelihood of success (Zucker, 1987); however, this paper does not include a parameter that recognizes the environment specifically. Instead, the model includes a parameter, p, to acknowledge that there are exogenous factors that affect the likelihood of a successful outcome that are not considered individually in the model. Also, this study does not empirically test specific hypotheses using a generalizable sample.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to institutional theory by providing a case study of an organization that is enacting change in lieu of the forces that promote institutionalization. The reference organization in the case study demonstrates one form of entrepreneurial organization that successfully deviates from social norms to enact change, yet still gains cognitive and sociopolitical legitimacy. The case study in this paper contributes by providing an example of an organizational form that allows a seemingly illegitimate organization to envision and impose an alternative future despite institutional pressures by forming a coalition with an actor that already has legitimacy.
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Robert Newbery, Jonathan Lean and Jonathan Moizer
Serious games are playing an increasingly significant role across a range of educational contexts. Business focused serious games can provide students with an authentic learning…
Abstract
Purpose
Serious games are playing an increasingly significant role across a range of educational contexts. Business focused serious games can provide students with an authentic learning experience and their use has been increasingly taken up by business school faculty, including those delivering entrepreneurship education (EE). The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of participation in a serious business game on the entrepreneurial intent (EI) of undergraduate students.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design. It employs a modified version of Linan et al.’s (2011) EI model in the form of a questionnaire survey completed by 263 undergraduate business and management students.
Findings
A logic regression model was used to analyse the survey responses. The research findings indicate that the serious game used in this study has a significant negative impact on EI. Gender and role model effects are also identified from the analysis.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it demonstrates the impact of serious business games on EI during the enterprise awareness stage of a student’s EE. Second, it provides a foundation for exploring the role that serious games can play in educating the potential entrepreneurs of the future.
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