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The purpose of this paper is to explore staff and service users’ perceptions of therapeutic principles within a unique male high secure learning disability therapeutic community (LDTC).

A qualitative approach was adopted using deductive content analysis and inductive thematic analysis. In total, 12 participants took part in a semi-structured interview to explore their perceptions of Haigh’s (2013) quintessence principles and any further additional therapeutic features in the environment not captured by the theory.

All five quintessence principles were identified in the LDTC environment. Some limits to the principle of “agency” were highlighted, with specific reference to difficulties implementing a flattened hierarchy in a forensic setting. Additional therapeutic features were identified including; security and risk, responsivity, and more physical freedom which appear to aid implementation of the quintessence principles.

The study was performed within a single case study design. Therefore, results remain specific to this LDTC. However, the finding of these principles in such a unique setting may indicate Haigh’s (2013) quintessence principles are evident in other TC environments.

This is the first research paper that has attempted to test whether Haigh’s (2013) quintessence principles are evident within a given therapeutic community. The research provides empirical evidence for the quintessence principles in a novel TC setting and suggests recommendations for future research.

This paper describes SPICE (Structure Process Improvement for Construction Enterprises), which is a process improvement framework for construction organizations. SPICE is a five level step by step maturity framework. It assesses an organization’s performance against levels of process maturity, identifies their strengths and weaknesses and highlights their improvement priorities. SPICE was developed in close collaboration with the construction industry and tested on real projects. This allowed the framework to take into account practical industrial needs. This paper provides an outline of the SPICE framework. It focuses on a best practice case study of SPICE implementation on a partnering relationship between a major client and a major contractor. The paper details the SPICE assessment and fact finding process. Based on this assessment, it identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the partnering operation and provides specific guidelines for project improvement. Main strengths of the partnering included: (1) close physical proximity of client, design and project management teams; (2) top level commitment to improve productivity; and (3) adoption of manufacturing philosophies and methods in order to deliver improvements. Main weaknesses included: (1) lack of integration between systems and processes of the partnering organizations; (2) presence of cultural and incentive differences between the partnering organizations, which led to fragmentation of the project teams; and (3) little evidence of process evaluation and improvement efforts by the teams. Based on these, some recommendations are made for future improvements.

A ‘psychologically informed environment’, or PIE, is the first of many new concepts that have spun off from the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Enabling Environments (EE) initiative. Based on the early developments in the therapeutic community movement, and adapting these values and principle to the 21st century world of community mental health, the EE initiative attempts to identify the key features in any setting that fosters a sense of connected belonging; and suggests a process by which these principles can then be customised for specific settings. The implications for a new social psychiatry at the heart of any future public mental health and social policy are clear; and to be pursued further in the final paper in this trilogy.

This study aims to describe Italian and UK therapeutic community developments during 1960–2021.

Historical review and personal experience.

After significant divergence in the nature of “therapeutic communities”, mostly based on the different sociopolitical contexts in the two countries, areas of formal rapprochement have been emerging in the past 20 years.

The details of how therapeutic communities developed in Italy, particularly in the wake of Law 180, deserves investigation and comparison to the UK and other countries.

The recent collaborative work in quality, training and research could support the future use of therapeutic communities and enabling environments.

The underlying principle of “relational practice”, which underlies the therapeutic community approach, could have wider implication in public services beyond mental health.

Much has been written about the progressive intentions of Italian mental health with Law 180, but not with a specific focus on therapeutic communities – which were an important initial impetus for Basaglia and his equipé.

The current National Early Warning System for Sri Lanka (NEWS: SL) was established after the devastations of the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004. Although early warning (EW) systems and evacuation procedures are in place, several areas which need improvements have been emphasized in recent studies carried out in the country. Therefore, this paper aims to outline the gaps in existing EW and EP related to tsunami and other coastal hazards with a special focus on the use of social media for disaster communication based on age groups.

This study has drawn on a review of past studies carried out by the same research team to identify the scope of the study. In addition to that, a conceptual framework was developed for the use of social media in the event of a disaster. Based on this conceptual framework, an online questionnaire was administered to identify the current status of the use of social media in Sri Lanka during a disaster situation. In total, 408 responses were collected and analyzed using the binary logistic regression method to evaluate the variation of different predictors associated with the use of social media for disaster communication.

Findings of the study revealed that the use of social media for disaster communication depends on the previous experience of users and their age. The gender of users does not affect the use of social media for disaster communication. Therefore, the accuracy and timeliness of disaster information distributed via social media should be improved further to enhance the use of social media for disaster communication. Moreover, the findings have highlighted unaddressed issues in areas such as governance; communication of technical agencies; evacuation and shelters; and response of the community.

This paper has identified key areas that need attention in the process of enhancing the use of social media for disaster communication. More use of technological platforms such as social media for receiving disaster-related information can address issues such as bottlenecks in communication, poor awareness and lack of last-mile dissemination. Furthermore, this paper has proposed recommendations for addressing the identified gaps in the overall EW mechanisms and EP pertaining to tsunamis and other coastal hazards to enhance the coastal disaster resilience in Sri Lanka.

It is significant to assess the societal trust toward the new advancements in multi-hazard early warnings (MHEW) with the focus on disaster risk reduction (DRR). Based on this, the purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of societal trust behavior along with the parameters such as mode of communication and institutions of issuing early warnings (EWs).

A field questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the extent of societal trust. This was conducted in ten selected Grama Niladari divisions in Sri Lanka based on a developed hazard matrix. The fuzzy logic approach was applied to examine the trust level of collected 323 responses obtained through this. The analysis was done based on the responses on mobile-based platforms in EW and the credibility level of the warnings received through different institutions.

The analyzed survey responses indicated that society has a higher extent of trust toward the EWs disseminated through mobile-based platforms. Moreover, these represent a strong positive correlation among the societal trust level and the level of importance of EW dissemination through mobile-based platforms. Further, in terms of trusted stakeholders in issuing EW alerts, Disaster Management Center, Sri Lanka Police and Media ranked the highest in the Sri Lankan context. Overall, findings were visually mapped through the causal loop diagrams (CLDs).

In enhancing the effectiveness of the existing MHEW mechanism, the policy implications could be done, based on the results obtained from this research study. These could be altered with the implementation of DRR strategies with a community focus.

The fuzzy logic approach was used in the determination of the societal decision-making on the extent of trust level. Fuzzy triangulation is mainly applied in the interpretation of the results. Further, overall parameters that determine the community trust on MHEW are represented through CLDs through system dynamics application.

This paper aims to describe an in-depth study that aimed to assess and develop a strategic disaster risk reduction plan to integrate climate change adaptation countermeasures in Cilincing, a North Jakarta City sub-district.

The study used a back-casting approach to cover hazard assessment induced by increased susceptibility, as well as vulnerability, both as a baseline study and projected up to 2045 at the micro level. The urban village (Kelurahan) level is the unit of analysis. The capacity analysis is used as baseline data, which is reviewed against the trend of the hazard and vulnerability.

The results of the study identify short-, medium- and long-term recommendations to integrate disaster risk reduction and climate change adaption. These include capacity building, especially emergency response capabilities, an increase of drainage capacity, improvements to transboundary management and minimising driving forces.

These findings at the micro level are very important to present a more holistic and realistic strategy that can be implemented until 2045, but also provides a basis for up scaling into metropolitan region planning.

This is a unique, micro-scale case study in the Cilincing sub-district of Jakarta that assesses and develops strategic disaster risk countermeasures and a reduction plan that integrates the effects of climate change, thereby addressing future disaster risk in Jakarta.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the application of therapeutic community (TC) method in non-TC environments.

Milieu treatment is defined and differentiated from TC “proper”. Literature is reviewed covering attempts to use TC methods in inpatient wards, across hospitals, and more recently in the criminal justice system and more widely through the enabling environments initiative.

It is unclear whether TC milieu treatments proved helpful in acute ward environments in their heyday in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, in particular those involving people suffering from acute psychosis, and the changing landscape of psychiatric provision may make further investigation difficult. The reasons for this, and for the difficulties reaching a firm conclusion, are outlined. In contrast, TC milieu interventions appear to be demonstrating usefulness more recently in less mixed populations without the implementation of full TC “proper”.

Much of the research is old and the methodology poor, which limits the conclusions that can be drawn.

Recent innovations pick up in a more accessible way principles of therapeutic communities that can inform and improve care in a variety of contexts. They are sufficiently well defined to lend themselves to research, which should now be a priority.

After a gap in developments in the field, recent innovations are reintroducing elements of TC functioning to new contexts including criminal justice settings, inpatient wards, homeless shelters and city communities.

The purpose of this paper is to deliver a detailed analysis of the functioning of upstream–downstream interface process of the tsunami early warning and mitigation system in Sri Lanka. It also gives an understanding of the social, administrative, political and cultural complexities attached to the operation of interface mechanism, and introduces an analytical framework highlighting the significant dynamics of the interface of tsunami early warning system in Sri Lanka.

Through the initial literature review, a conceptual framework was developed, highlighting the criteria against which the interface process can be assessed. This framework was used as the basis for developing data collection tools, namely, documentary analysis, semi-structured interviews and observations that focused on the key stakeholder institutions in Sri Lanka. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data according to the conceptual framework, and an improved and detailed framework was developed deriving from the findings.

The manner in which the interface mechanism operates in Sri Lanka’s tsunami early warning system is discussed, providing a detailed understanding of the decision-making structures; key actors; standardisation; technical and human capacities; socio-spatial dynamics; coordination among actors; communication and information dissemination; and the evaluation processes. Several gaps and shortcomings were identified with relation to some of these aspects, and the significance of addressing these gaps is highlighted in the paper.

A number of recommendations are provided to address the existing shortcomings and to improve the overall performance of tsunami warning system in Sri Lanka.

Based on the findings, a framework was developed into a more detailed analytical framework that depicts the interface operationalisation in Sri Lanka, and can also be potentially applied to similar cases across the world. The new analytical framework was validated through a focus group discussion held in Sri Lanka with the participation of experts and practitioners.

This paper aims to identify the main aspects requiring immediate attention in the post-disaster reconstruction of road infrastructure, thereby providing a major synthesis, which advances the understanding in this important area.

Literature and empirical evidence obtained from documents and semi-structured interviews with 28 respondents of three case study districts in Aceh, Indonesia was analysed using NVivo 10. The findings were validated through triangulation with the literature and consultation with the experts in the field of disaster management and road infrastructure.

The authors propose a framework for the reconstruction of road infrastructure, which respond to the peculiarities of road projects in a post-disaster setting. The framework comprises various components requiring detailed attention in the reconstruction process and describes their position in the road project and disaster management cycle.

The framework fills the gap in the body of knowledge with regard to road infrastructure reconstruction in a post-disaster context. For the first time, this paper recognises the importance of local government capacity in the Aceh Province with regard to the sustainability of the post-disaster reconstruction assets.