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1 – 8 of 8Tikka Rachael, Laura Blackhall, Claire Jones and Annette Law
Group‐based psycho‐educational interventions offer a cost‐effective solution to meeting the very high level of demand for psychological services in primary care. This…
Abstract
Group‐based psycho‐educational interventions offer a cost‐effective solution to meeting the very high level of demand for psychological services in primary care. This qualitative study investigated reasons for dropout from an established psychoeducational course programme in Swindon and Wiltshire. Ninety people were followed up by telephone who had attended at least one session of a course over a three‐month period. Reasons stated for dropout were more often related to personal circumstances such as other commitments and ill health (75%), than to dissatisfaction with the courses (25%). It is concluded that providing group‐based interventions for common mental health problems is acceptable to patients in primary care and that service development should focus on making such interventions flexible and accessible to patients.
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Elisa J. Gordon and Betty Wolder Levin
Ethnography is a qualitative, naturalistic research method derived from the anthropological tradition. Ethnography uses participant observation supplemented by other…
Abstract
Ethnography is a qualitative, naturalistic research method derived from the anthropological tradition. Ethnography uses participant observation supplemented by other research methods to gain holistic understandings of cultural groups’ beliefs and behaviors. Ethnography contributes to bioethics by: (1) locating bioethical dilemmas in their social, political, economic, and ideological contexts; (2) explicating the beliefs and behaviors of involved individuals; (3) making tacit knowledge explicit; (4) highlighting differences between ideal norms and actual behaviors; (5) identifying previously unrecognized phenomena; and (6) generating new questions for research. More comparative and longitudinal ethnographic research can contribute to better understanding of and responses to bioethical dilemmas.
Laura Lea, Sue Holttum, Anne Cooke and Linda Riley
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of service user involvement in mental health training but little is known about what staff, trainees and service users…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of service user involvement in mental health training but little is known about what staff, trainees and service users themselves want to achieve.
Design/methodology/approach
Three separate focus groups were held with service users, training staff and trainees associated with a clinical psychology training programme. Thematic analysis was used to identify aims for involvement.
Findings
All groups wanted to ensure that future professionals “remained human” in the way they relate to people who use services. Service user and carer involvement was seen as a way of achieving this and mitigating the problem of “them and us thinking”. The authors found that groups had some aims in common and others that were unique. Service users highlighted the aim of achieving equality with mental health professionals as an outcome of their involvement in teaching.
Research limitations/implications
The samples were small and from one programme.
Practical implications
Common aims can be highlighted to foster collaborative working. However, the findings suggest that service users and carers, staff and trainees may also have different priorities for learning. These need to be recognised and addressed by mental health educators.
Originality/value
This was the first study to explore in depth the differing aims of different stakeholder groups for service user involvement. Clarification of aims is a vital first step in developing any future measure of the impact of service user involvement on mental health practice.
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Laura Galloway, Maggie Anderson, Wendy Brown and Laura Wilson
In response to the emergence of an enterprise economy, government claims that building an enterprise culture is vital. Correspondingly, provision of entrepreneurship…
Abstract
Purpose
In response to the emergence of an enterprise economy, government claims that building an enterprise culture is vital. Correspondingly, provision of entrepreneurship education in higher education has expanded. The paper aims to assess the potential of entrepreneurship education to develop skills, and of whether students perceive them as having value within the modern economy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws from a longitudinal, collaborative study of students of entrepreneurship in four universities. Using a questionnaire‐based methodology, the paper is based on responses from a sample of 519 students.
Findings
Results include that any increase in graduate entrepreneurship is most likely to be a long‐term. Results also suggest that many students expect to work in new and small firms, and that skills developed by entrepreneurship education are applicable to both waged employment and entrepreneurship. Accordingly, entrepreneurship education seems to have much potential to develop skills appropriate for the enterprise economy.
Research limitations/implications
The research is limited by its quantitative nature. As the primary purpose is to evaluate attitudes to entrepreneurship and perceptions of the economic environment, further research should involve qualitative follow‐up, in the form of focus groups and/or longitudinal case studies.
Originality/value
The value of the paper lies in the suggestion that investment in entrepreneurship education is likely to have a positive impact within the economy. The long‐term impact of an increase in awareness of entrepreneurship; of the ability to start firms; and an increase in skills transferable to waged employment within an enterprise‐based economy, can not be underestimated.
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Laura Galloway and Wendy Brown
There is, in the UK, increasing attention being paid to the potential of university education to facilitate high quality growth firms. While some commentators believe that…
Abstract
There is, in the UK, increasing attention being paid to the potential of university education to facilitate high quality growth firms. While some commentators believe that this potential can be realised in the short term, many believe that only a long‐term view of the entrepreneurial potential of graduate entrepreneurship is feasible as new graduates lack the resources, skills and experience necessary for sustainability and growth of ventures. Like most university entrepreneurship “departments”, the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde examines the profile of students and outcome of entrepreneurship electives in terms of student ambition and motivation. Using data from this exercise along with data from a study of 2,000 Strathclyde alumni, an impression of potentiality and actual outcome of entrepreneurship electives is possible.
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William Keogh and Laura Galloway
Business skills, particularly in the areas of science, engineering and technology (SET) and small firm development are becoming increasingly important. The vocational…
Abstract
Business skills, particularly in the areas of science, engineering and technology (SET) and small firm development are becoming increasingly important. The vocational skills student learns can be augmented by an understanding of how business operates as well as an appreciation that enterprise skills can be applied within an organisation i.e. acting as an “intrapreneur”. Universities prepare students for many of the “professions” such as medicine, engineering, law and accountancy. Many other disciplines such as healthcare, social sciences and the sciences also require a professional attitude to be adopted. However, new graduates generally begin their post‐university career in a form of apprenticeship where their professional skills are developed, often via a pre‐registration period before achieving, for example, for engineers, chartered status. After that stage is reached, and with a few years work experience, they may move on to form practices or partnerships of their own. Based on the principle that business skills development, particularly in the SET disciplines, is likely to have a positive impact on the competitiveness of existing SET organisations, as well as encourage the creation of new, innovative knowledge firms, this paper aims to document the experience of introducing and embedding entrepreneurship education into vocational disciplines at Heriot‐Watt University, with a key objective being to provide a model which other institutions may find useful.
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The aim of this research is to define the development and boundaries of the retailer brand primarily through the elements of identity and image. Two perspectives are…
Abstract
The aim of this research is to define the development and boundaries of the retailer brand primarily through the elements of identity and image. Two perspectives are introduced to explain the ways in which three‐dimensional branding and sensory experiences of the retail brand can arise. One approach is marketing led; the other is based on design studies. The study assesses the development of retail branding, the areas in which sensory experience of the retail brand occurs and its implications for retailers. It concludes with new insights into retail branding and proposals for the subject to be studied across disciplinary boundaries.