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1 – 10 of 83Rose Onyeali, Benjamin A. Howell, D. Keith McInnes, Amanda Emerson and Monica E. Williams
Older adults who are or have been incarcerated constitute a growing population in the USA. The complex health needs of this group are often inadequately addressed during…
Abstract
Purpose
Older adults who are or have been incarcerated constitute a growing population in the USA. The complex health needs of this group are often inadequately addressed during incarceration and equally so when transitioning back to the community. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the literature on challenges older adults (age 50 and over) face in maintaining health and accessing social services to support health after an incarceration and to outline recommendations to address the most urgent of these needs.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted a narrative literature review to identify the complex health conditions and health services needs of incarcerated older adults in the USA and outline three primary barriers they face in accessing health care and social services during reentry.
Findings
Challenges to healthy reentry of older adults include continuity of health care; housing availability; and access to health insurance, disability and other support. The authors recommend policy changes to improve uniformity of care, development of support networks and increased funding to ensure that older adults reentering communities have access to resources necessary to safeguard their health and safety.
Originality/value
This review presents a broad perspective of the current literature on barriers to healthy reentry for older adults in the USA and offers valuable system, program and policy recommendations to address those barriers.
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Bettina Friedrich and Oliver John Mason
Football exercise as an intervention for people with severe mental health problems has seen an increasing interest in the past years. To date, there is, however, no comprehensive…
Abstract
Purpose
Football exercise as an intervention for people with severe mental health problems has seen an increasing interest in the past years. To date, there is, however, no comprehensive review of the empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of these interventions. In this review, the authors have comprised the research findings from the peer-review literature as well as the theoretical approaches to football exercise as an adjunct treatment. This overview will be informative to everybody who is planning to develop a football intervention for this population as well as to the people who are preparing evaluation studies that measure the effectiveness of such interventions. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors identified research papers in the peer-review literature that feature empirical findings on “football interventions” that aim at improving mental and/or physical well-being in participants with mental health problems. The authors are using the term “football intervention” here in the sense that the participants actively took part in football exercise, so the authors excluded studies in which the participants only watched football or used football as a metaphor to discuss mental health problems. In a table, the authors indicate the definition of the target group, targeted outcomes, measured outcomes, form and frequency of the intervention as well as the research method(s).
Findings
The authors identified 16 studies on 15 projects. The majority of studies were qualitative and had positive findings in which the participants reported increased well-being and connectedness, elevation of symptoms and improved physical well-being. The outcomes of the quantitative studies, however, were mixed with some results suggesting that not all intended goals were achieved. There seems to be a need for more quantitative studies to triangulate the qualitative findings. Interestingly, most interventions take place in the UK. Many studies fail to give detailed methodological information and often the aims of the interventions are vague or not stated at all.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the heterogeneity of the studies and relative scarcity of evaluation projects on football interventions for people with mental health problems, the authors could not conduct an in-depth systematic review. Furthermore, the information on methods was often unsatisfying and despite efforts to get more detailed input from the authors of cited papers, those gaps could not always be filled. Instead of coming up with a crystal-clear summary of whether and how football interventions work for everybody, topics were identified that need to be addressed in the planning of interventions, in evaluation studies, in implementation efforts and in the theoretical discourse.
Practical implications
This paper constitutes a helpful overview for everybody who is interested in the theoretical background of football interventions for people with mental health problems, for people who are planning to develop respective interventions, for researchers who engage in evaluation projects that look into the effectiveness of football interventions (or similar exercise interventions) as well as for the people who are interested in how football interventions can be implemented. This paper is likely to make a contribution to the advancement of alternative exercise interventions that aim at improving mental, physical and social health in people with mental health problems.
Social implications
This paper will help putting the topic of football interventions (and similar, alternative exercise interventions) further up on the public health agenda by providing an overview of the empirical evidence at hand and by specifying advantages of the approach as well as pointing out actions that need to be taken to make football a recognised, evidence based and viable option for adjunct mental health treatment that is attractive to potential participants as well as funders as well as to the potential participants.
Originality/value
There is no comprehensive summary to date that provides a (reasonably) systematic overview of empirical findings for football interventions for people with MH problems. Furthermore, the literature on the theoretical background of these interventions has been somewhat patchy and heterogonous. This paper aims at filling both these gaps and identifies the issues that need to be covered in the planning of respective interventions and evaluations. This paper will be useful to everybody who is developing football interventions (or similar alternative adjunct exercise interventions), who is conducting evaluation research in this area and who is interested in the implementation of football interventions.
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Mario Mendocilla, Paloma Miravitlles Matamoros and Jorge Matute
The purpose of this study is to empirically develop and validate a practical, consistent and specific scale to assess perceived service quality at the service encounter at…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to empirically develop and validate a practical, consistent and specific scale to assess perceived service quality at the service encounter at quick-service restaurants (QSRs).
Design/methodology/approach
Development and validation of the scale involved a five-stage process. Data were collected from 430 customers of a QSR belonging to an international brand located in Barcelona. Surveys were applied immediately after the service encounter, using the face-to-face method. The scale development procedure involved exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.
Findings
The results suggest a specific and parsimonious measurement scale, whose structure comprises 14 items in four dimensions. In contrast to previous studies, this study identified the appropriateness of splitting the interaction quality dimension into two single dimensions, one focusing on the interaction time and other on staff–customer interaction. Furthermore, these indicate that a speedy service, pleasant treatment and food quality are the most valued attributes in QSR.
Practical implications
This scale is a useful instrument to administer and assure service quality standards within QSR management systems. Its practical approach and short survey length ease data collection, considering that customers spend short amounts of time in this type of restaurant. Furthermore, it could also be used by franchisors and restaurant operators as a tool to monitor continuing compliance with service quality standards.
Originality/value
The resulting scale introduces a novel four-factor structure with high goodness of fit to effectively measure customers' perceived service quality in QSRs, where the ease of use and speed of gathering client responses are a key factor for successful implementation.
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Jeanette Kirk, Thomas Bandholm, Ove Andersen, Rasmus Skov Husted, Tine Tjørnhøj-Thomsen, Per Nilsen and Mette Merete Pedersen
The aim of this study is to explore and discuss key challenges associated with having stakeholders take part in co-designing a health care intervention to increase mobility in…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to explore and discuss key challenges associated with having stakeholders take part in co-designing a health care intervention to increase mobility in older medical patients admitted to two medical departments at two hospitals in Denmark.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a qualitative design to investigate the challenges of co-designing an intervention in five workshops involving health professionals, patients and relatives. “Challenges” are understood as “situations of being faced with something that needs great mental or physical effort in order to be done successfully and therefore tests a person's ability” (Cambridge Dictionary). Thematic content analysis was conducted with a background in the analytical question: “What key challenges arise in the material in relation to the co-design process?”.
Findings
Two key challenges were identified: engagement and facilitation. These consisted of five sub-themes: recruiting patients and relatives, involving physicians, adjusting to a new researcher role, utilizing contextual knowledge and handling ethical dilemmas.
Research limitations/implications
The population of patients and relatives participating in the workshops was small, which likely affected the co-design process.
Practical implications
Researchers who want to use co-design must be prepared for the extra time required and the need for skills concerning engagement, communication, facilitation, negotiation and resolution of conflict. Time is also required for ethical discussions and considerations concerning different types of knowledge creation.
Originality/value
Engaging stakeholders in co-design processes is increasingly encouraged. This study documents the key challenges in such processes and reports practical implications.
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