Search results

Mental health service improvement initiatives often involve the setting of targets and monitoring of performance. The purpose of this paper is to describe the application of appreciative enquiry (AE), a radically different but complementary approach to quality assurance and improvement, to specialist mental health services across a health region.

This case study describes a regional quality improvement (QI) project involving 12 early intervention in psychosis (EIP) services in South West England. In total, 40 people were trained in AE interviewing skills and in non-reciprocal peer review visits 59 interviews were conducted involving 103 interviewees including service users, carers, clinicians, managers and commissioners. Immediate verbal feedback was provided and main themes summarised in individual reports to host teams using the following headings: team values, strengths, dreams and development plans. A thematic analysis was conducted on team reports and a project report produced which summarised the stages and results of this regional initiative.

All participants rated the experience as positive; it enhanced staff motivation and led to service development and improvement.

The experiences of these 12 EIP teams may not necessarily be generalisable to other services/regions but this positive approach to service improvement could be widely applied.

AE is applicable in large-scale QI initiatives.

To the authors knowledge this is the first time that AE has been applied to large-scale mental health service improvement and innovation.

Prior research has highlighted gender differences in academic motivational attributes, and how these predict academic achievement for each gender; however, a vast amount of inconsistency exists amongst such literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the predictive value of academic motivation (achievement goal, leaning goal, performance goal (PG), self-efficacy (SE), and active learning strategies (ALS)) and study time in explaining academic achievement amongst male and female students.

Cross-sectional survey design was applied. Participants were sampled opportunistically, and consisted of final year undergraduate students, including both males (n=126) and females (n=189) attending various courses at a UK university.

A multiple regression analysis carried out for each gender revealed that study time, ALS, PG, and SE were significant predictors of achievement for males, whereas SE was the only significant predictor of achievement for females.

These findings offer practical implications in terms of methods employed by educators to enhance academic achievement. Such implications highlight the importance of the development of SE in both genders and propose methods in which universities can enhance motivation in male and female students. Recommendations for future research are also made.

This study aims to examine the impact of brand ethical behavior, specifically perceived brand ethicality, on corporate brand legitimacy in the context of halal cosmetics, by considering perceived brand integrity as a mediating factor.

The study used a quantitative cross-sectional research design to gather data from 341 fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) in Tanzania. The data was analyzed by using AMOS 21, using structural equation modeling techniques.

The findings indicated that perceived brand ethicality has a significant influence on corporate brand legitimacy through the mediation of perceived brand integrity.

The study emphasizes the significance of incorporating and clarifying Islamic laws as integral components of marketing strategies aimed at attracting conscientious customers of halal products. It recommends defining Islamic laws as societal values and norms and integrating them into various brand practices to showcase professionalism, ultimately fostering social acceptance and approval. The study presents valuable practical implications for managers and marketers of FMCG, assisting them in formulating policies and strategies that reflect societal values and norms.

This study represents a novel endeavor that explores the interplay between perceived brand ethicality, corporate brand legitimacy and perceived brand integrity in the context of halal products. It extends theoretical understanding by shedding light on the significance of Islamic laws as a foundation for establishing a competitive advantage. By offering and designing ethical practices, businesses can enhance their legitimacy among halal consumers, particularly in the domain of halal cosmetics.

This article explodes traditional notions of ethnographic documentary, and instead positions the emerging practice of ethnocinema as a 21st century modality that falls within the paradigm of what Denzin calls the ‘eighth moment scholarship’ in this ‘fractured future’. Drawing on the monological, dialogic and imagistic ‘data’ from the ethnocinematic research project Cross‐Marked: Sudanese Australian Young Women Talk Education, the article uses ethnographic documentary film theory (including Minh‐ha, Rouch, and Aufderheide) and the critical pedagogical scholarship of McLaren to examine notions of performative identity construction and the possibility of intercultural identities and collaborations. Utilising the central metaphor of Minh‐ha’s ethnographic and filmic ‘zoo’, which cages those who are Othered by race, class, gender, sexuality and a myriad of differences, this article and ethnocinema overall seek to overthrow notions of difference, culture and community while recognising the increasingly prescient power of McLuhan’s dictum that the ‘medium is the message’ in this rhizomatic age.

This study aims to develop and test a research model that explores the empirical relationship between consumer religiosity, brand love and consumer forgiveness. Its objective was to enhance our understanding of the mechanisms that can influence consumers to extend forgiveness to brands in the context of Islamic banking in Tanzania.

The study used a quantitative cross-sectional survey design to gather data from 399 respondents in the Dodoma and Dar-es-salaam regions of Tanzania. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data, which were subsequently analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS 21.

The study’s findings revealed that consumer forgiveness is influenced by the level of brand love at an individual level. Additionally, the findings indicate that in the context of Islamic banking, brand love is an emotional behavior that is influenced by the strength of religious beliefs, that is, consumer religiosity. Consequently, the findings highlighted the mediating role of brand love in the proposed relationship between consumer religiosity and consumer forgiveness.

The fact that Islamic banking is guided by Islamic laws (Sharia) and Islamic values means that competitiveness in this sector can be established by serving consumers who are well-versed in Islamic teachings and doctrines. Furthermore, customers who possess a strong understanding of Islamic teachings and doctrines can be an asset to Islamic banks, as they are less likely to switch banks due to service delivery issues.

This empirical study is one of the few attempts to explore the relationship between consumer religiosity, consumer forgiveness and brand love. It expands our understanding of consumer forgiveness by examining the influence of deontological norms (applying norms to assess Islamic banking practices) and teleological evaluation (evaluating Islamic banking practices based on the overall balance of right and wrong expected to occur).

Divorce has negative effects on children, although emotions that children experience after parental divorce are open to different interpretations. Accordingly, this study was conducted to explore loneliness in children of divorce.

A constructivist grounded theory study was carried out through the lens of definitive guidelines provided by Charmaz (2006). The participants were 15 female children aged 11–12 years, who were purposively selected. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and memos. To analyze data, the authors used four coding techniques, including initial, focused, axial, and theoretical coding. Also, to examine the links between the identified themes, the authors focused on three factors: conditions, actions/interactions, and consequences.

The analysis of the obtained data through the above-mentioned stages led to the identification of three main themes, including parental unavailability, rejection, and mistrust, which shaped children's experience of loneliness through lack of physical access, lack of emotional access, low levels of parental expectations, lack of supervision, absence of belongingness, being ignored, pessimistic views, and insecure relationships.

As was suggested by attachment theory, children of divorce lost their attachment bonds with their parents that intensified their perception of loneliness and negatively affected their social and academic performance. It was revealed that, effects of divorce went beyond the loss of the attachment bonds in families because our participants talked about their relationships with peers and their position in a society, where divorce carries the social stigma and children of divorced mother are marginalized.

This study aims to analyze the mediating effect of brand love (BRL) on the relationship between service quality and brand addiction (BRA) among Islamic banks. Past studies have noted that customer satisfaction as the primary means of studying customer behaviour needs to be reconsidered because even satisfied customer switch brands, and the dissatisfied customer have repurchasing intentions. Therefore, considering BRL and BRA can be a new way of studying customer behaviour in Islamic banking.

This study used a structured questionnaire administered to 380 customers of Islamic banks. The study used structural equation modelling and Process Macro test in the analysis.

The empirical findings of this study suggest that service quality is positively and significantly related to BRL and that BRL positively and significantly relates to BRA. Furthermore, the findings indicate that BRL mediates the relationship between service quality and BRA.

The findings of this study have revealed that the triangular theory of love and expectation-confirmation theory can be combined to explain the relationship between service quality and loving relationships among customers of Islamic banks.

The study provides ways in which service providers can use service qualities to manage BRL and addiction. Based on the positive and significant relationships, managers of Islamic banks can build service qualities that are vital for creating BRL and BRA.

The link between service quality, BRL and BRA is not adequately established, especially in Islamic banking. This is important to be established because studying consumer psychology is currently considered a vital strategy for customer repurchasing and switching barriers in the modern banking business. Furthermore, integrating two theories, the triangular theory of love and expectation-confirmation theory, provide a new way of combining two theoretical aspects from different disciplines.

While empirical studies establish the importance of procurement planning in achieving value for money (VfM) in procurement, there is scant evidence demonstrating a link between procurement planning and procurement regulatory compliance, and thus VfM. As a result, this study examined how procurement regulatory compliance can be applied when procurement practitioners in Tanzania seek to maximize VfM through procurement planning.

A cross-sectional research design was adopted from which data were collected once through a structured questionnaire. The structural equation modeling (SEM) and Hayes' PROCESS macro test for mediation analysis were used to analyze the collected data.

Procurement planning has a significant and positive relationship with procurement regulatory compliance (ß = 0.491, p < 0.001). Procurement regulatory compliance has a significant and positive relationship with VfM in procurement (ß = 0.586, p < 0.001). Results also show that procurement planning is a significant positive predictor of VfM (ß = 0.257, p = 0.005). Furthermore, the bootstrapping confidence intervals revealed that procurement regulatory compliance significantly mediates the relationship between procurement planning and VfM in procurement.

Although the study was able to accomplish its overall objective, it is limited in terms of the geographical setting under which the study was conducted. Hence, the generalization of research results should be made with caution as each country has specific public procurement laws and regulations governing the conduct of procurement activities in the public sector.

The study contributes to the growing debate on achieving VfM in procurement activities. The study adds to the literature on public procurement by establishing the mediation effect of procurement regulatory compliance on the quest toward achieving VfM in public procurement.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the moderation effects of religiosity in the relationship between service quality (SQ), customer satisfaction (CS), relationship quality (RQ) and Islamic banking (IB) loyalty in a non-Islamic country.

This study used a quantitative approach and a cross-sectional research design. The data was collected by a closed-ended questionnaire from a systematic sample of 267 customers of full-fledged Islamic banks in Tanzania. Structural equation modeling and regression analysis techniques were used to analyze the data.

Results indicate that religiosity is a significant (p < 0.05) moderator of the relationship between SQ and loyalty (β = 0.176), and between CS and loyalty (β = 0.263). However, religiosity sharpens the impact of CS on loyalty (β increases from 0.170 to 0.263, p < 0.05) and does not sharpen the impact of SQ on loyalty (β decreases from 0.338 to 0.176, p < 0.05). The results further indicate that religiosity is not a significant moderator (p > 0.05) in the link between RQ and loyalty (β = −0.112).

This study used only full-fledged Islamic banks in Tanzania. Therefore, future research could be undertaken by including conventional banks that have introduced an IB window.

To build and maintain a loyal customer base, Islamic banks should take advantage of religiosity by providing a wide range of Sharia-based products and services that truly distinguish them from conventional banks. Accordingly, policymakers should establish an appropriate legal framework to enable Islamic banks to leverage religiosity to sharpen the impact of CS on loyalty and hence maintain loyalty in non-Islamic countries like Tanzania.

This study proposes and validates the theoretical model of loyalty in IB by showing the role of religiosity as a moderator in a non-Islamic country. This knowledge strengthens the overall understanding of loyalty in IB. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the moderation effects of religiosity in the link between RQ and loyalty, and thus between SQ, CS, RQ and loyalty in a single study.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the University of Exeter Family Interventions (FIs) training programme for the South West region which was commissioned as part of the NHS England Access and Waiting Times standards (A&WTS) initiative for early psychosis. This programme (10 taught days and 6 months of supervised practice) is designed to maximise implementation in practice.

The programme introduces students to a flexible, widely applicable FI approach which integrates cognitive behavioural/psycho-educational and systemic approaches. It refreshes and develops CBT-based psycho-social intervention skills, so that clinicians feel confident to use them in family sessions and integrate these with foundation level family therapy skills. The approach facilitates engagement, and it is designed so that every session is a “mini intervention”. This enables clinicians to offer standard NICE-concordant FI or a briefer intervention if this is sufficient to meet the particular needs of a family.

This paper provides details of the regional training programme and evaluates the first four training courses delivered to nine early intervention in psychosis teams. It considers how a combination of training a critical mass of staff in each service, ongoing supervision, regional events to maintain skills and motivation to deliver FI, and the national and regional auditing of FI as part of the A&WTS all contribute to clinical implementation.

The unique design of this programme maximises implementation in practice by virtue of its widely applicable integrated FI approach, the focus on ongoing skills development and by embedding it within regional and local service support structures.