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This paper presents findings from a project that aimed to support social work managers to observe, evaluate and give feedback on social work practice skills.

An embedded team of researchers observed over 300 meetings between parents and social workers and gave feedback based on an established research instrument that facilitated quantitative coding of individual skills such as empathy and purposefulness. Then managers took on this task to sustain ongoing feedback on practice skills beyond the timescale of the project.

A practice tool was successfully developed to take the place of the research instrument and aid managers in these observations, and it was implemented across a range of social work settings. The tool was used in a variety of ways by different managers which highlighted a range of views on what constitutes good practice. This raises questions about how far authorities can (or should) expect to achieve a consensus about the type of practice they want to deliver.

The value of this project is primarily pragmatic, in that it shows the potential for using research to develop practice tools collaboratively. However, in doing so, it brings into focus key questions around the nature of good practice.

This paper presents a practice tool, based on an established research instrument that was co-developed with senior managers. It is an aid for observation that practitioners and managers can use to support practice development.

Few research studies have worked so closely with practice managers to develop a tool that can be used to support practice. The paper also highlights the crucial and neglected role of observation in practice development.

Formulaic in both their narrative and character development, buddy-cop films are unique in their ability to present ideas about masculinity and the journey towards manhood without sacrificing the likeability or relatability of their male leads. The focus of this chapter is how aspects of masculinity are depicted when there are two or more male protagonists in an action film. Examples I have selected for analysis are the highly successful franchises Beverly Hills Cop (1984–1993) and Lethal Weapon (1987–1998). In the case of Beverly Hills Cop, the male dynamic is unique in that there are a trio of male leads (as opposed to the traditional duo), each of which depicts masculinity in different ways, often resulting in the lead characters jostling for the role of the alpha-male. In contrast, the Lethal Weapon franchise explores the dynamics of age and the importance of mateship and mentoring in the construction of relationships between men. In both examples the necessity of vulnerability in the dynamic of solid man-to-man peer relationships is also paramount. The enduring popularity of these films and their subsequent sequels is indicative of the fact that while pop-cultural ideas around masculinity may be in a constant state of flux, elements of the stereotypical action hero remain prominent.

Discussions about the male action hero will be informed by Susan Jeffords Hard Bodies (1994), while concepts of maturing will be explored through the lens of Joseph Campbell's construct of the Hero's Journey and Carl Jung's archetypes, which, as I will demonstrate, are central components of the relationship dynamics present in each film.

What is the role of ethics and values in justice and the role of justice in ethics and values? How do we do them? These questions, ever-present and often unacknowledged, undergird efforts to survive, practice mutual aid, and work to prevent and address harms produced through disasters and environmental change.

Emerging from the teachings of Reverend Richard Krajeski and to honor his call, a group of his mentees, collaborators, and co-conspirators organized a special session at the July 2020 Natural Hazards Workshop, Just Dialogue: An Intergenerational Conversation on Justice, Sustainability, and Abundance. Enough is abundance, as Dick Krajeski, a longtime leader in the hazards community, was known for saying. In this way, he reminded us that that when we live as if we already have enough, we live sustainably and in ways that help lift oppression and reduce inequality and injustice. The session brought together people from diverse and intersecting places of Dick’s life for an intergenerational conversation about hope and healing, and invited the Natural Hazards community to engage in a just dialogue to which we bring our whole, true selves (open and vulnerable) to ask – what are the questions for the Natural Hazards community to be questioning, and to be asking, to motivate change and to move our systems of research and practice toward more equitable futures for all?

The purpose of this paper is to explore perceptions of quality of life (QoL) of people with a dual diagnosis of learning disability and autism to facilitate a better understanding for clinical practice and service provision.

Mixed methods were used to gain perceptions of QoL from 20 individuals referred to their local diagnostic service. Individuals completed questionnaires and participated in in-depth interviews which were thematically analysed.

Subjective wellbeing scores were lower than those found in previous research. Social interaction was raised extensively with participants describing both positive and negative perceptions. The need for tailored social support and the value of individual control over environment were raised.

The study was small in scale and limited to subjects who had been referred for a diagnostic service. The study identified the need for further investigation, particularly in relation to the social relationships domain of QoL, and the impact of stress and anxiety.

This study demonstrated that it is possible to access views from this group and that these views are nuanced. It suggests differences between reported QoL in people with learning disabilities who are and who are not autistic. Service design and individual approaches could be improved by a better understanding of these differences.

International literature on missing persons suggests that a significant volume of missing person cases originate from hospitals and mental health units, resulting in considerable costs and resource demands on both police and health sectors (e.g., Bartholomew et al., 2009; Sowerby and Thomas, 2017). In the Canadian context, however, very little is known about patients reported missing from these locations – a knowledge deficit with profound implications in terms of identifying and addressing risk factors that contribute to this phenomenon. The present study is one such preliminary attempt to try to fill a significant research and policy gap.

The authors draw on data from a sample of 8,261 closed missing person reports from a Canadian municipal police service over a five-year period (2013–2018). Using multiple logistic regression, the authors identify, among other factors, who is most likely to be reported missing from these locations.

Results reveal that several factors, such as mental disabilities, senility, mental illness and addiction, are significantly related to this phenomenon. In light of these findings, the authors suggest that there is a need to develop comprehensive strategies and policies involving several stakeholders, such as health care and social service organizations, as well as the police.

Each year, thousands of people go missing in Canada with a large number being reported from hospitals and mental health units, which can be burdensome for the police and health sectors in terms of human and financial resource allocation. Yet, very little is known about patients reported missing from health services – a knowledge deficit with profound implications in terms of identifying and addressing risk factors that contribute to this phenomenon. This manuscript seeks to remedy this gap in Canadian missing persons literature by exploring who goes missing from hospitals and mental health units.

This study aims to use the theory of third places to understand how different kinds of social interactions in small hospitality businesses, such as restaurants and cafes, can enhance senior customers’ experiences and alleviate their loneliness.

The target population of this study were Hong Kong residents of age 60 or older. The sampling frame comprised respondents who visited a Cha Chaan Teng (i.e. a Hong Kong-style tea restaurant) more than once a year. The authors distributed 500 questionnaires and collected 411 valid responses in 2016. They used structural equation modeling for data analysis.

The results show that social interactions (service manner and need identification) with employees and other customers have a positive effect on senior customers’ experiences, while the service manner of employees reduces senior customers’ loneliness.

This study demonstrates the respective contributions of social interactions with employees and those with other customers to enhancing senior customers’ experiences and alleviating their loneliness. This study’s findings may provide a foundation for future research into the relationships between social interactions, customer experience and loneliness in third places (that are, informal public places that offer individuals opportunities to escape from home and the workplace and to enjoy voluntary conversation, entertainment and gatherings). Further, this study also demonstrates the specific role and importance of the hospitality industry in addressing a contemporary social problem in the form of seniors’ loneliness.

Using a complexity-informed approach, we aim to understand why introduction of a mobile service delivery model for osteoporosis across diverse organisational and country contexts in the UK National Health Service (NHS) met with variable success.

Six comparative case studies; three prospectively in Scotland using an action research-informed approach; and three retrospectively in England with variable degrees of success. The Non-adoption, Abandonment, Scale-up, Spread and Sustainability framework explored interactions between multi-level contextual factors and their influence on efforts to introduce and sustain services.

Cross-boundary service development was a continuous process of adaptation and evolution in rapidly shifting healthcare context. Whilst the outer healthcare policy context differed significantly across cases, inner contextual features predominated in shaping the success or otherwise of service innovations. Technical and logistical issues, organisational resources, patient and staff actions combined in unpredictable ways to shape the lifecycle of service change. Patient and staff thoughts about place and access to services actively shaped service development. The use of tacit “soft intelligence” and a sense of “chronic unease” emerged as important in successfully navigating around awkward people and places.

“Chronic unease” and “soft intelligence” can be used to help individuals and organisations “tame” complexity, identify hidden threats and opportunities to achieving change in a particular context, and anticipate how these may change over time. Understanding how patients think and feel about where, when and how care is delivered provides unique insights into previously unseen aspects of context, and can usefully inform development and sustainability of patient-centred healthcare services.

This study has uniquely traced the fortunes of a single service innovation across diverse organisational and country contexts. Novel application of the NASSS framework enabled comparative analysis across real-time service change and historical failures. This study also adds to theories of context and complexity by surfacing the neglected role of patients in shaping healthcare context.

As Lorna Jowett and Stacey Abbott have pointed out, the US TV serial Supernatural owes much of its success to the way it combines horror with family drama, strengthening the affective involvement of viewers in the lives of its protagonists, the monster-hunting Winchester brothers. The notion of home – presented variously as a domestic, feminine space from which the Winchesters and their compatriots are excluded; a mobile and contingent space of masculine bonding; and a hybrid space which allows for self-expression outside prescribed gender norms, but which also holds the potential for danger – is central.

Heather L. Duda has pointed to the ways monster hunters are excluded from the normative institutions of their societies, and this is certainly true of the Winchesters, who live in their family car and are unable to maintain ‘normal’ homes. Later seasons give them a home in the form of an underground bunker, not designed as a domestic space, but nonetheless a place where their hypermasculine behaviours can be relaxed. This chapter examines the tensions that emerge in this apparent move from a traditional narrative of the home as feminine space under threat to something more ambivalent, where masculine identity itself may be in danger.

A 20‐minute drive inland from the immaculate little new airport above the resort of Newquay takes the visitor to the market town of Bodmin situated on the edge of Bodmin Moor and midway between north and south Cornish coasts. Flat moorland scenery is broken up by ‘artificial’ hills — conical waste dumps characterising china‐clay country. The moors are also home to Bronze Age stone circles, Iron Age hill forts and ruined engine houses, a relic of the 19th century tin‐mining industry. Bodmin itself, Cornwall's historic county town, boasts as its latest tourist attraction the former county prison — Bodmin Gaol — now open to the public. Dating back to 1776, the jail offered protection to the Crown Jewels and the Domesday Book during World War I, and prisoners were still being hanged there less than 80 years ago. Further points of interest are the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry Museum and a standard gauge steam railway. On a day when British Rail signal operators had almost paralysed the public rail service nation‐wide, the rhythmic puffing of ‘Swiftsure’, the Bodmin & Wenford Railway engine, as it climbed the gradient to Bodmin General Station, was a welcome, if unexpected, sound.

ISHM‐Benelux held its 1987 Autumn Conference on 29 October, at the Antwerp Crest Hotel. This one‐day meeting focused on applications of hybrid circuit technology in various fields of electronic and related industries.