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1 – 10 of over 1000Shóna O’Donnell, Aishling O’Reilly, Katie Robinson, Eimer Ní Riain and Judith Pettigrew
Higher levels of participation in school are linked to greater academic performance, better health and well-being and positive long-term outcomes for young people. Evidence shows…
Abstract
Purpose
Higher levels of participation in school are linked to greater academic performance, better health and well-being and positive long-term outcomes for young people. Evidence shows that for students with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD), participation in school-based occupations is often restricted in comparison to their peers. Given the recent advancements towards introducing a new model of school-based occupational therapy in Ireland, this paper aims to discuss how occupational therapy can support students with EBD to increase their participation within the post-primary school context. The opinions in this paper are derived from the authors’ experience in the development of this practice in the Republic of Ireland.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors reviewed current literature and reflected on current practice to describe the unique role of occupational therapy in supporting students with EBD in the school environment.
Findings
Occupational therapists have potential to play a key role in school-based support for students with EBD. The authors describe how occupational therapists can promote whole school understanding of EBD and enable skill development, self-regulation, participation and school belonging, among youths with EBD. There is a significant lack of literature guiding practice in this area. Further research is required to explore professional issues and identify best practice.
Originality/value
This paper aims to provoke consideration of how school-based occupational therapists can play a crucial role in supporting students with EBD who are otherwise at risk of occupational injustice.
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Mariusz Szóstak, Tomasz Nowobilski, Abdul-Majeed Mahamadu and David Caparrós Pérez
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), colloquially called drones, are widely applied in many sectors of the economy, including the construction industry. They are used for building…
Abstract
Purpose
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), colloquially called drones, are widely applied in many sectors of the economy, including the construction industry. They are used for building inspections, damage assessment, land measurements, safety inspections, monitoring the progress of works, and others.
Design/methodology/approach
The study notes that UAV pose new, and not yet present, risks in the construction industry. New threats arise, among others, from the development of new technologies, as well as from the continuous automation and robotization of the construction industry. Education regarding the safe use of UAV and the proper use of drones has a chance to improve the safety of work when using these devices.
Findings
The procedure (protocol) was developed for the correct and safe preparation and planning of an unmanned aerial vehicle flight during construction operations.
Originality/value
Based on the analysis of available sources, no such complete procedure has yet been developed for the correct, i.e. compliant with applicable legal regulations and occupational health and safety issues, preparation for flying UAV. The verification and validation of the developed flight protocol was performed on a sample of over 100 different flight operations.
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Mohammad Nafis Sahiran, Halimatus Sakdiah Minhat and Suhainizam Muhamad Saliluddin
This study was conducted to determine the percentage and associated factors of workplace violence (WPV) among healthcare workers (HCW) working in the Emergency Departments (ED).
Abstract
Purpose
This study was conducted to determine the percentage and associated factors of workplace violence (WPV) among healthcare workers (HCW) working in the Emergency Departments (ED).
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 231 HCW using proportionate stratified random sampling. A validated and reliable self-administered questionnaire was distributed among respondents who fulfilled the eligibility criteria. Only Malaysians with a minimum employment of six months in the ED were included. The data was analysed through Multiple Logistic Regression using International Business Machines Statistical Package for Social Sciences software version 24 to determine the association between the independent variables and WPV. Significance level was set at 0.05 (p = 0.05) at 95% confidence interval (CI).
Findings
The percentage of WPV was 38%, of which 88.9% were psychological violence and were mostly perpetrated by combinations of perpetrator types (51.9%). Those aged 40 years and below, with low job support, and working in a secondary hospital have 5.4 (AOR = 5.366, 95% CI: 1.51–19.05), 2.9 (AOR = 2.871, 95% CI: 1.44–5.73) and 2.7 (AOR = 2.737, 95% CI: 1.50–5.01) times higher odds, respectively, of experiencing WPV.
Originality/value
The findings revealed a relatively high percentage of WPV among the HCW working at the ED with those of younger age with low job support and working in secondary hospitals being more at risk. Early interventions to reduce WPV are necessary in targeting those with identified risks.
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Rod Sheaff, Verdiana Morando, Naomi Chambers, Mark Exworthy, Ann Mahon, Richard Byng and Russell Mannion
Attempts to transform health systems have in many countries involved starting to pay healthcare providers through a DRG system, but that has involved managerial workarounds…
Abstract
Purpose
Attempts to transform health systems have in many countries involved starting to pay healthcare providers through a DRG system, but that has involved managerial workarounds. Managerial workarounds have seldom been analysed. This paper does so by extending and modifying existing knowledge of the causes and character of clinical and IT workarounds, to produce a conceptualisation of the managerial workaround. It further develops and revises this conceptualisation by comparing the practical management, at both provider and purchaser levels, of hospital DRG payment systems in England, Germany and Italy.
Design/methodology/approach
We make a qualitative test of our initial assumptions about the antecedents, character and consequences of managerial workarounds by comparing them with a systematic comparison of case studies of the DRG hospital payment systems in England, Germany and Italy. The data collection through key informant interviews (N = 154), analysis of policy documents (N = 111) and an action learning set, began in 2010–12, with additional data collection from key informants and administrative documents continuing in 2018–19 to supplement and update our findings.
Findings
Managers in all three countries developed very similar workarounds to contain healthcare costs to payers. To weaken DRG incentives to increase hospital activity, managers agreed to lower DRG payments for episodes of care above an agreed case-load ‘ceiling' and reduced payments by less than the full DRG amounts when activity fell below an agreed ‘floor' volume.
Research limitations/implications
Empirically this study is limited to three OECD health systems, but since our findings come from both Bismarckian (social-insurance) and Beveridge (tax-financed) systems, they are likely to be more widely applicable. In many countries, DRGs coexist with non-DRG or pre-DRG systems, so these findings may also reflect a specific, perhaps transient, stage in DRG-system development. Probably there are also other kinds of managerial workaround, yet to be researched. Doing so would doubtlessly refine and nuance the conceptualisation of the ‘managerial workaround’ still further.
Practical implications
In the case of DRGs, the managerial workarounds were instances of ‘constructive deviance' which enabled payers to reduce the adverse financial consequences, for them, arising from DRG incentives. The understanding of apparent failures or part-failures to transform a health system can be made more nuanced, balanced and diagnostic by using the concept of the ‘managerial workaround'.
Social implications
Managerial workarounds also appear outside the health sector, so the present analysis of managerial workarounds may also have application to understanding attempts to transform such sectors as education, social care and environmental protection.
Originality/value
So far as we are aware, no other study presents and tests the concept of a ‘managerial workaround'. Pervasive, non-trivial managerial workarounds may be symptoms of mismatched policy objectives, or that existing health system structures cannot realise current policy objectives; but the workarounds themselves may also contain solutions to these problems.
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Andreas Wallo and Alan Coetzer
This study aims to explore how human resource (HR) practitioners conceive of their practice, reveal challenges they grapple with in daily work and generate a conceptual framework…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how human resource (HR) practitioners conceive of their practice, reveal challenges they grapple with in daily work and generate a conceptual framework of HR praxis.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on interviews with HR practitioners in Sweden and a review of articles that examine aspects of HR practitioners' work.
Findings
The HR practitioners' work is fragmented and reactive, filled with meetings and affords few opportunities to work undisturbed. Operational tasks are prioritised over strategic work, and their work sometimes involves tasks that are not HR's responsibility. The nature of HR practitioners' daily work mimics the work of their main “customer”, i.e. managers within the organisations.
Practical implications
The HR practitioners were working mainly in the service of managers, which suggests that they have an internal focus. Consistent with current, prescriptive HR discourse, HR practitioners should adopt a multi-stakeholder perspective of human resource management (HRM) and a more external focus that is necessary to contribute to wider, organisational effectiveness. The findings could enrich what is taught in higher education by providing students with an account of the reality of HR practitioners' daily work.
Originality/value
The study provides a situated account of the daily work of HR practitioners, which is largely absent from the literature.
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Kesavan Manoharan, Pujitha Dissanayake, Chintha Pathirana, Dharsana Deegahawature and Renuka Silva
Sources highlight that insufficient skills of site supervisors considerably influence the progress of many construction projects in numerous countries. This study intends to…
Abstract
Purpose
Sources highlight that insufficient skills of site supervisors considerably influence the progress of many construction projects in numerous countries. This study intends to identify the crucial supervisory competencies that influence the effectiveness of building project operations in the context of developing countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The crucial construction site supervisory competencies were qualitatively identified through a comprehensive literature survey and a series of expert interviews with the use of thematic analysis approaches. A questionnaire survey was then carried out among 154 building project firms to quantify the impacts of the competencies on the effectiveness of project tasks with the use of the relative importance index approach. Additionally, industry-consultative meetings were held using problem-focused communication strategies to scrutinise the necessary actions.
Findings
Overall, 22 cognitive elements and 24 skills/abilities of supervisors were determined as being critical according to their impact values, where the site supervisors cognitive domains in construction planning and construction materials were determined as the top-ranking competencies in the list, with their manual skills/abilities in labour management and labour performance evaluation. Accordingly, a group of key competency outcomes were produced for the considerations in developing new site supervisory training components. Relevant statistical analysis results and the industry consultative outcomes substantiated the validity and dependability of the overall results.
Research limitations/implications
Although the study's focus was to site supervision procedures used in Sri Lankan building construction projects, the overall findings/outcomes might be put to the test in related situations in other emerging industries in other countries.
Originality/value
The study has constructed a base that shows how the significant site supervisory competencies influence the effectiveness of building construction operations, contributing to making a big difference in the methods of reskilling/upskilling in the industry associated with construction labour, supervision, efficiency management and productivity enhancement.
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