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Article
Publication date: 1 June 2005

Nicky Mendoza and Norma McGough

This paper gives an overview of the prevalence, symptoms, diagnosis and management of coeliac disease and associated disorders. It also gives some background to gluten testing in…

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Abstract

Purpose of the paper

This paper gives an overview of the prevalence, symptoms, diagnosis and management of coeliac disease and associated disorders. It also gives some background to gluten testing in foods and developments in identification of gluten‐free foods at consumer level.

Design/methodology/approach

The most up‐to‐date literature on various aspects of the disease have been considered and included in the report.

Findings

Coeliac disease is now known to affect one in 100 of the population, including both adults and children. As more is understood about the pathophysiology of the disease and antibody screening techniques improve rates of diagnosis are increasing. The biopsy is still required for a firm diagnosis. The range of symptoms that is now recognised is far wider than previously thought, but symptoms are still often missed, or mis‐diagnosed as IBS. The treatment for coeliac disease is the gluten‐free diet, which controls the symptoms and reduces the risk of complications such as osteoporosis and gut cancer. Prescriptions of gluten‐free foods are known to improve adherence to the diet, and with the range of suitable foods in supermarkets increasing rapidly, gluten‐free living is becoming easier.

Originality/value

Information on several aspects of coeliac disease are presented in this paper to give the non‐expert a general, up‐to‐date overview of the disease.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science, vol. 35 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 January 2023

Helen M. Achat, Joanne M. Stubbs, Rakhi Mittal, Suzanne Schindeler and Nicole Gilroy

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge healthcare systems worldwide. The authors examined the lived experiences and perceptions of healthcare workers (HCWs) in managerial…

Abstract

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge healthcare systems worldwide. The authors examined the lived experiences and perceptions of healthcare workers (HCWs) in managerial and senior positions to explore the pandemic's effects on well-being and valued organisational responses.

Design/methodology/approach

Using purposive sampling, the authors conducted 39 semi-structured interviews with senior staff including health service administrators, heads of department and senior clinicians at a designated COVID-19 facility in New South Wales, Australia. Interviews were conducted from November 2020 to February 2021 to reflect on experiences during the height of the pandemic in 2020 (mid-March to the end of May 2020).

Findings

Workplace experiences affecting HCWs' well-being included being shunned by others, fear of infecting family, fear of the unknown, concerns about personal protective equipment, lack of direction from above and increased workload. Organisational interventions to protect the health and safety of HCWs and their patients included redeployment, improved communication, effective management committees, education and mental health supports.

Practical implications

Organisations can minimise worker-identified factors threatening their well-being during a health crisis by applying broad-ranging initiatives including inclusive and open communication, promoting flexible work practices, providing up-to-date guidelines and policies and fostering camaraderie between workers.

Originality/value

The voices of senior clinical and managerial staff have been largely unheard during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors addressed this deficit by describing their experiences and insights regarding the pandemic's impact on well-being and the organisation's responses to simultaneously safeguarding its staff and providing quality patient care.

Details

International Journal of Workplace Health Management, vol. 16 no. 2/3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8351

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 September 2024

Ashok Ashta and Peter Stokes

“Omotenashi” has become a buzzword denoting the Japanese ethic for excellence in customer care. However, while there is an emerging body of research on the spirit of the provider…

Abstract

Purpose

“Omotenashi” has become a buzzword denoting the Japanese ethic for excellence in customer care. However, while there is an emerging body of research on the spirit of the provider side, nevertheless, the customer care experiences from the beneficiary perspective – especially the dynamics that manifest when such care fails – remain undercommented. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to identify critical dynamics of how unexpected thorny disharmony might manifest in instances of customer care failure, with a focus on customer service and intercultural lived experiences. In doing so it challenges a prevailing and dominant view of flawless Japanese customer care – Omotenashi.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on a multi-disciplinary approach the current research proposes a conceptual model and uses autoethnography to offer insights at the individual level unit of analysis.

Findings

The findings break ground towards innovative understanding of customer care failure dynamics, by considering intercultural situations.

Research limitations/implications

By express design and paradigm, the research is limited to subjective interpretivism. The paper offers important implications for understanding customer beneficiary experience, especially to nuance and challenge the current hegemonic view of the positive nature of Japanese “Omotenashi” customer care in extant literature.

Practical implications

The findings have important practical implications for customer care managers. The paper aims to prompt a pause for thought, a warning of a drift towards organizational self-satisfaction and back slapping in relation to customer care and makes a call for a return to consider the holistic customer experience in the Japanese and inter-cultural contexts.

Social implications

It can be argued that there appears to be a tendency in some quarters to massage and manipulate broader society by pointing to the positive. However, marketing scholars are aware that raising customer expectations in this way can magnify backlash when disconfirmation occurs. This study lends support to the notion that there may be a need to temper expectations and hype in customer relation contexts. This is predicated on the observation that individual – and, therefore, beneficiary – experience is unique, that uniqueness may be accentuated in intercultural situations.

Originality/value

The paper nuances the general positively portrayed aspects of Omotenashi by curating insights into when care fails. It addresses the paucity of lived experience accounts of the beneficiary experience of Japanese Omotenashi care in intercultural situations.

Details

Journal of Asia Business Studies, vol. 18 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1558-7894

Keywords

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