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1 – 10 of 22Rebecca Conlan-Trant, Paula Connolly, Alison O’Sullivan, Anurag Nasa, Mary Sammon and Lauren Alexander
Sleep disturbance is a common difficulty in the general population. It has become particularly prevalent in the context of disruption to routine brought about by the COVID-19…
Abstract
Purpose
Sleep disturbance is a common difficulty in the general population. It has become particularly prevalent in the context of disruption to routine brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to trial a patient-guided “sleep workbook” intervention, which was developed by multidisciplinary team members, combining principles of sleep hygiene education and cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia behavioural strategies, and to evaluate its efficacy in a mixed-methods study.
Design/methodology/approach
Service users of the community mental health service were invited to participate. A total of 30 service users agreed to participate. A total of 15 participants completed both the intervention and the mixed-methods survey. Four participated in the focus group. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed on the collected quantitative data. A thematic analysis was carried out of qualitative survey responses and focus group discourse.
Findings
There was a statistically and clinically significant improvement in quantity and quality of sleep following intervention. Mean hours of sleep prior to the intervention was 4.4 hours [standard deviation (SD) = 2.2], compared to 6.1 hours (SD = 2.2) afterwards (p = 0.003). Quality of sleep improved from a mean of 2.5 (SD = 2.1) to 6.1 (SD = 2.3) following the intervention (p = <0.001). Four themes were developed using the qualitative data: “under-recognition of sleep difficulties”, “ruminations”, “practical utility” and “therapeutic autonomy”.
Originality/value
There is a growing need for occupational therapists and clinicians to provide interventions for patients with sleep difficulties and to develop sleep management practice. This patient-guided sleep workbook may be an effective intervention for these patients.
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Routine general practice (GP) care is rarely comprehensively described in clinical trials. This paper examines routine GP care within the lifestyle approach to managing panic…
Abstract
Routine general practice (GP) care is rarely comprehensively described in clinical trials. This paper examines routine GP care within the lifestyle approach to managing panic (LAMP) study. The aim of this paper is to describe/discuss routine GP care for panic disorder (PD) patients within both study arms in the LAMP study. An unblinded pragmatic randomised controlled trial in 15 East of England GP practices (2 primary care trusts). Participants met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria for PD with/without agoraphobia. Follow-up measures recorded at 20 weeks/10 months following randomisation. Control arm, unrestricted routine GP care (practice appointments, referrals and prescriptions). Trial arm, occupational therapy-led lifestyle treatment comprising lifestyle review of fluid intake, diet pattern, exercise, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine. Primary outcome measure: beck anxiety inventory. At baseline, participants attended 2-3 times more GP appointments than population average, reducing at 10 months to 1.6 times population average for routine GP care and 0.97 population average for lifestyle arm. At 10 months, 33% fewer referrals (6 referrals; 0 mental health) than at baseline (9 referrals; 2 mental health) were made for lifestyle arm patients compared with 42% increase (from 12 referrals; 8 mental health at baseline to 17 referrals; 7 mental health) in GP care arm. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were prescribed most often. Benzodiazepines and beta-blockers were prescribed more often than tricyclic against current clinical guidelines. In conclusion, we found that PD patients at baseline were high healthcare resource users. Treatment in both study arms reduced resource use. Routine GP care requires further review for this patient group.
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Rebecca Cahill and Judith Pettigrew
In the early to mid-twentieth century, psychiatrist-led occupational therapy departments emerged in Irish psychiatric hospitals. This marked a transition towards establishing…
Abstract
Purpose
In the early to mid-twentieth century, psychiatrist-led occupational therapy departments emerged in Irish psychiatric hospitals. This marked a transition towards establishing rehabilitative services in institutional settings. This paper aims to examine the development of occupational therapy in Grangegorman Mental Hospital and its auxiliary hospital, Portrane Mental Hospital from 1934-1954.
Design/methodology/approach
Historical documentary research methods were used to analyse primary source data from Grangegorman Committee Minutes, Inspector of Mental Hospital Reports, Boroughs of Mental Hospitals, Department of Foreign Affairs documents and newspaper archives. The archival data was analysed using both a chronological and thematic approach.
Findings
The main key event emerged in 1935 when four Grangegorman nursing staff were sent to Cardiff Mental Hospital to undergo a six month training course in occupational therapy. The following themes emerged – “establishing occupational therapy in Grangegorman and Portrane”; “the role of short-course trained nursing staff in providing occupational therapy services” and “therapeutic rationales vs hospital management rationales”.
Originality/value
This study throws light on the early practitioners of occupational therapy in Grangegorman and highlights the complexities of occupational therapy’s role origins in mid-twentieth century Ireland. In line with contemporaneous psychiatric hospitals, the occupational therapy activities promoted in Grangegorman were mainly handicraft or productivity based. The absence of patients’ voices means there are limitations to determining the therapeutic nature of this early occupational therapy service.
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Paula Ungureanu, Carlotta Cochis, Fabiola Bertolotti, Elisa Mattarelli and Anna Chiara Scapolan
This study investigates the role of collaborative spaces as organizational support for internal innovation through cross-functional teams and for open innovation with external…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the role of collaborative spaces as organizational support for internal innovation through cross-functional teams and for open innovation with external stakeholders. In particular, the study focuses on collaborative spaces as tools for multiplex (i.e., simultaneous internal and external boundary management in innovation projects).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a qualitative study in a multi-divisional organization that set up in its headquarters a collaborative space for collaborative product development. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observations.
Findings
Findings highlight that the relation between expectations and experiences about the collaborative space impact on employees' ability to perform boundary work inside and outside the organization. In addition to the collaborative space's affording role for expectations about hands-on collaborative innovation (space as laboratory), the study also highlights a set of collaboration constraints. These latter are generated by perceived boundary configurations (i.e. degree of boundary permeability and infrastructure in internal and external collaborations) and by discrepancies between expectations (space as laboratory) and actual collaboration experiences in the space (i.e. space as maze, cloister, showcase and silo). We show that space-generated constraints slow down internal and external boundary work for innovation and generate a trade-off between them.
Originality/value
Using the process-based perspective of boundary work, the paper connects studies on cross-functional teaming and open innovation through the concept of “multiplex boundary work.” It also contributes to the literature on boundary work by showing the challenges of using collaborative spaces as organizational support tools for multiplex boundary spanning.
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Joseph M. Cheer, Dominic Lapointe, Mary Mostafanezhad and Tazim Jamal
The aims of this Editorial are twofold: (i) synthesise emergent themes from the special issue (ii) tender four theoretical frameworks toward examination of crises in tourism.
Abstract
Purpose
The aims of this Editorial are twofold: (i) synthesise emergent themes from the special issue (ii) tender four theoretical frameworks toward examination of crises in tourism.
Design/methodology/approach
The thematic analysis of papers highlights a diversity of COVID-19 related crises contexts and research approaches. The need for robust theoretical interventions is highlighted through the four proposed conceptual frameworks.
Findings
Crises provides a valuable seam from which to draw new empirical and theoretical insights. Papers in this special issue address the unfolding of crises in tourism and demonstrate how its theorization demands multi and cross-disciplinary entreaties. This special issue is an invitation to examine how global crises in tourism can be more clearly appraised and theorised. The nature of crisis, and the extent to which the global tourism community can continue to adapt remains in question, as dialogues juxtapose the contradictions between tourism growth and tourism sustainability, and between building back better and returning to normal.
Originality/value
The appraisal of four conceptual frameworks, little used in tourism research provides markers of the theoretical rigour and novelty so often sought. Beck’s risk society reconceptualises risk and the extent to which risk is manmade. Biopolitics refers to the power over the production and reproduction of life itself, where the political stake corresponds to power over society. The political ecology of crisis denaturalises “natural” disasters and their subsequent crises. Justice complements an ethic of care and values like conative empathy to advance social justice and well-being.
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Samir Trabelsi and Amna Chalwati
This paper examines the relationship between poison pills, real earnings management and initial public offering (IPO) failure.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the relationship between poison pills, real earnings management and initial public offering (IPO) failure.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors sampled 2,997 IPO firms that went public during 1993-2015.
Findings
The authors find that IPO firms manipulate earnings upward using real earnings management. The authors also find that IPO firms exhibiting a higher level of real earnings management have a higher probability of IPO failure. In addition, the authors find that weak shareholders' governance is positively associated with IPO failure.
Practical implications
These results suggest that poor governance structures in failed firms open the door to manipulating real activities and increasing operational risk.
Originality/value
The study findings are of most significant interest to potential investors and other stakeholders affiliated with a firm going public, an auditor, an underwriter, the lawyers who consult with the firm and employees or executives who might consider joining that firm.
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Laila Suleiman Al-Rawahi and Abdu Mohammad Al-Mekhlafi
The present study investigated the effect of online collaborative project-based learning on the language performance and attitudes of intermediate level students at the College of…
Abstract
The present study investigated the effect of online collaborative project-based learning on the language performance and attitudes of intermediate level students at the College of Applied Sciences in Oman. The study is a quasi-experimental study and the sample consisted of four classes (93 students in total) in Nizwa College of Applied Sciences. These participants were in their foundation year and were taking the Academic English Course during the time of the research experiment. Two classes were assigned to the experimental group (46 students) and they were directed to collaborate online in doing their research projects. The other two classes were assigned to the control group (47 students) and did their projects individually. A language test containing reading and writing questions, an attitude questionnaire, students' project scores and transcripts of focused group discussions were used to collect the data needed to answer the research questions. The study revealed that the main positive effect of online collaborative project-based learning was clear on students' writing skill in the post test (i.e. students in the experimental group outperformed students in the control group).
Niall Turner, Tara Nesbitt, Felicity Fanning and Mary Clarke
This paper aims to investigate the feasibility of conducting research on a two-pronged vocational intervention for people with first episode psychosis. The paper also aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the feasibility of conducting research on a two-pronged vocational intervention for people with first episode psychosis. The paper also aims to empirically examine the impact of a two-pronged vocational intervention for people with first episode psychosis by determining what effect, if any, introducing a two-pronged vocational intervention to an early intervention for psychosis service (EIPS) has on vocational outcomes using a prospective follow-up design. The approach consisted of supported employment (individual placement and support, IPS) for participants without a productive role and a job retention programme for those employed or studying.
Design/methodology/approach
Between 2010 and 2013, a supported employment specialist joined an EIPS where occupational therapy was available to all attenders. The appropriate intervention was determined by the occupational therapist on the team. Participants were interviewed at baseline and one follow-up. Ethical approval was attained. The Individual Placement and Support Fidelity Scale was used to ensure the quality of IPS implementation.
Findings
In total, 39 (20 men, 19 women) consented; 21 (54 per cent) of these participants were unoccupied; 18 (46 per cent) had a productive role; 87 per cent (n = 34) were followed up. The mean length of follow-up was 18 months. At follow-up, 50 per cent (n = 10) of unoccupied participants had attained a productive role, and 17 of the 18 participants had retained their productive role. Overall, participants were found to have spent an average of 62 per cent of the follow-up period in a productive role.
Research limitations/implications
Rates of vocational recovery among people affected by psychosis may be enhanced by a two-pronged approach that allows for the persons individual work circumstances to be taken into account.
Originality/value
This study highlights the impact of a two-progroned vocational intervention for people with first episode psychosis in Ireland. It is the first study of its kind to be published in the Republic of Ireland and the first world-wide to include a job retention element in its design.
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Muhammad Yusuf Shaharudin, Zulkhairi Mohamad and Asmah Husaini
The wake of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had caused substantial disruptions to the usual delivery of healthcare services. This is because of restrictive orders that…
Abstract
The wake of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had caused substantial disruptions to the usual delivery of healthcare services. This is because of restrictive orders that were put in place to curb the spread of the infection. Palliative care services in Brunei also face challenges to deliver effective services during this period. However, the impact of advanced illnesses on patients' health and end-of-life care are issues that cannot be planned, postponed or cancelled. Hence, the palliative care team needs to continue to deliver effective palliative care services. As Brunei faced its second pandemic wave in August 2021, crucial adaptations were made to ensure palliative care service was not disrupted. This reflective case study aims to discuss the adaptations made in providing palliative care during this era of disruptions.
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Malin Tillmar, Helene Ahl, Karin Berglund and Katarina Pettersson
Contrasting Sweden and Tanzania, this paper aims to explore the experiences of women entrepreneurs affected by entrepreneurialism. This study discusses the impact on their…
Abstract
Purpose
Contrasting Sweden and Tanzania, this paper aims to explore the experiences of women entrepreneurs affected by entrepreneurialism. This study discusses the impact on their position in society and on their ability to take feminist action.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analysed interviews conducted in the two countries over 15 years, using a holistic perspective on context, including its gendered dimensions.
Findings
The results amount to a critique of entrepreneurialism. Women in Sweden did not experience much gain from entrepreneurship, while in Tanzania results were mixed. Entrepreneurialism seems unable to improve the situation for women in the relatively well-functioning economies in the global north, where it was designed.
Research limitations/implications
In mainstream entrepreneurship studies, there is a focus on the institutional context. From the analysis, it is apparent that equal attention must be given to the social and spatial contexts, as they may have severe material and economic consequences for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. The paper raises questions for further studies on the gendering of markets in different contexts, as well as questions on the urban-rural dimension.
Practical implications
In Sweden, marketisation of welfare services led to more women-owned businesses, but the position of women did not improve. The results strongly convey the need for a careful analysis of the pre-existing context, before initiating reforms.
Originality/value
The paper adds to the understanding of context in entrepreneurship studies: Africa is largely an underexplored continent and contrasting North and South is an underexplored methodological approach. This paper further extends and develops the model of gendered contexts developed by Welter et al. (2014).
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