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1 – 10 of over 4000Research suggests that individuals with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) are inconsistently supported throughout the criminal justice system (CJS) in the UK. Bradley (2009…
Abstract
Purpose
Research suggests that individuals with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) are inconsistently supported throughout the criminal justice system (CJS) in the UK. Bradley (2009) recommended the introduction of criminal justice liaison and diversion (L&D) teams to bridge the gap between the CJS and mental health services and provide a more consistent and improved quality of support for individuals with vulnerabilities, including those with autism. This study aims to explore the experiences of staff working in L&D teams who encounter individuals with ASD.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews were conducted with ten L&D team members. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to gain insight into their lived experiences of working with autism in the CJS.
Findings
Interpretation of individual transcripts resulted in three super-ordinate themes: “feeling helpless and helpful in the system”, “transition to knowing” and “impact on self”. Each theme encapsulated a number of sub-themes depicting the limitations of services, difficult environments, making a difference, lack of understanding, developing understanding and the impact of these experiences on staff’s confidence, attitudes and well-being.
Practical implications
Criminal justice services are limited for people with autism. There is a lack of autism awareness by staff. Lack of awareness impacts staff attitudes and confidence. Training in autism should be provided to criminal justice staff.
Originality/value
This research highlights the limitations of services available for individuals with autism and the widespread lack of autism awareness. These concerns directly impacted participants’ confidence, attitudes and well-being. Recommendations are proposed to guide future practice and research including increasing availability of access to ASD services, enforcing mandatory autism-specific training for staff and routinely collecting service-user feedback.
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Retno Indarwati, Rista Fauziningtyas, Nur Sayyid Jalaludin, Anis Fauziah and Ferry Efendi
Older adults living in nursing homes may become vulnerable because of errors or incidents; it is necessary to create a positive safety culture to minimise such occurrences…
Abstract
Purpose
Older adults living in nursing homes may become vulnerable because of errors or incidents; it is necessary to create a positive safety culture to minimise such occurrences. However, safety culture is still a prevailing issue in Indonesian nursing homes. This study aims to examine factors related to resident safety culture in nursing homes located in Indonesia.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a cross-sectional research design and involved 13 nursing homes in East Java province, Indonesia. Multistage cluster samplings were used to determine the respondents of this study. The respondents included 219 employees: managers, health care, supportive and administrative staff. The Indonesian version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire was used to measure safety culture.
Findings
Most of the respondents (68.5%) had a positive perspective on the nursing home’s safety culture. Staffs who had worked for six to ten years in the nursing home were 17.07 times more likely to have positive perspective on safety culture with a p-value of 0.0002. Respondents who gave direct care also had a positive perception of safety culture with a p-value of 0.008.
Research limitations/implications
Broader insight into safety culture needs to be provided to all staff in the nursing home. Safety topics should be included in the orientation session for new staff.
Originality/value
The staff’s work experience and direct care have a significant connection to safety culture.
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Rouhollah Zaboli, Zainab Malmoon, Mohammad Reza Soltani-Zarandi and Mohammad Hassani
A sentinel event is an unexpected occurrence resulting in death or serious physical or psychological injury or the risk thereof. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the…
Abstract
Purpose
A sentinel event is an unexpected occurrence resulting in death or serious physical or psychological injury or the risk thereof. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influencing factors of sentinel events in the emergency department of a military hospital in Tehran to find out some of the effective solutions.
Design/methodology/approach
In this qualitative study with content analysis approach, 20 hospital healthcare personnel participated as participants from the fields of medicine and nursing. Purposive random sampling and semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. Atlas.ti software version 5.2 was used for data analysis.
Findings
Four themes and 32 subthemes were identified by numerous revisions and combining the codes. The four main themes of sentinel events were: causes, incidence barriers, cause prevention solutions, and barriers’ improvement solutions. Moreover, these main factors were related to these issues: staff and patients’ education, communication, assessment, patients and their companions, employee rights, leadership, care continuum, human factors, physical environment, information management and medication use. Some solutions were also suggested according to these factors and a policy was recommended.
Practical implications
Hospital managers and authorities should try to find the main causes of sentinel events by periodical analysis to find ways to prevent them in the future, using logical and reasonable solutions.
Originality/value
This study confirms that strategies to reduce the sentinel events in emergency departments should focus on empowerment of all staff.
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Stefanos Asonitis and Petros A. Kostagiolas
This paper aims to present a methodological framework for the identification of a hierarchy among the three categories of intellectual capital, i.e. human…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a methodological framework for the identification of a hierarchy among the three categories of intellectual capital, i.e. human, organizational/structural and relational capital, with respect to their contribution to the objective of improving a library's performance. It also seeks to provide a case study of Greek central public libraries.
Design/methodology/approach
The framework is based on an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) application including utilization of a Delphi method and ISO 11620 international standards. Finally, empirical evidence is produced for the Greek central public libraries.
Findings
The proposed framework may be employed for prioritizing intangible assets in libraries. For the Greek central public libraries it has been indicated that human capital contributes more than the organizational/structural capital and this in turn more than the relational capital.
Research limitations/implications
Although the proposed methodological framework is intended to be widely applicable, the case study results cannot be directly generalized due to the uniqueness of the Greek public libraries environment.
Practical implications
A hierarchy may be an invaluable tool for the library's management in order to better utilize the intangible resources and effectively allocate investments to human, organizational and relation capital assets in order to improve the library's performance
Originality/value
The paper shows that the framework for building a hierarchy of intellectual capital in libraries is based on a rather challenging research approach for prioritizing intangible assets with respect to predefined management objectives.
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Rasha Kassem and Fotios Mitsakis
This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of academic and professional Higher Education (HE) staff in the UK.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of academic and professional Higher Education (HE) staff in the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-method survey questionnaire was sent to almost 300 UK HE staff to secure qualitative and quantitative data to enable data triangulation.
Findings
The study found an adverse impact on academic and professional staff's mental health and wellbeing, further resulting in stress and anxiety. Several reasons for the increased stress and anxiety levels were identified, but social isolation and the increased workload were the most commonly reported. The most affected groups by the pandemic were females, younger staff, full-timers and those with disabilities or caring responsibilities.
Practical implications
This study offers a range of strategies to support staff's mental health and wellbeing; as such, it is of great interest to policymakers to inform their decisions of similar crisis events in the future. It also addresses some of the COVID-19 areas of research interest for the UK parliament.
Originality/value
The study's originality derives from exploring the pandemic's impact on UK HE staff's mental health and wellbeing by including professional staff's experiences alongside those of academics. It also expands the scant evidence concerning the pandemic's impact on HE staff in the UK.
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Terhi Saaranen, Kerttu Tossavainen, Hannele Turunen and Paula Naumanen
The purpose of this paper is to present the baseline results of a school development project where the aim was to improve school community staff's occupational wellbeing in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the baseline results of a school development project where the aim was to improve school community staff's occupational wellbeing in co‐operation with occupational health nurses.
Design/methodology/approach
The Wellbeing at Your Work index form for school staff developed for the study aimed to account for occupational wellbeing and satisfaction in terms of the activities maintaining the ability to work as well as the working conditions, working community, worker and work and professional competence and the need to develop them.
Findings
The most problematic factors of occupational wellbeing were the urgency and pace of work at school and the problems in working space, postures and equipment. In addition, the activities supporting resources, including stress control, exercise, relaxation and mentoring, were inadequate at work.
Research limitations
The sample of school staff (n=271) consisted of 12 schools in Eastern Finland, and the results cannot be generalised widely due to the small and geographically defined sample. However, the results are suggestive for other schools elsewhere in Finland.
Practical implications
The content model for the promotion of occupational wellbeing presented in the article and the results obtained provide a broad and practical approach to the development of school staff's occupational wellbeing. Occupational health care services are meant to support school communities, and they should therefore provide better information of their services and develop their competence based on the content model of occupational wellbeing.
Originality/value
The work index form based on the content model serves as a good tool for schools and occupational health care in evaluating and developing occupational wellbeing.
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Ying Hong, Ahmed W.A. Hammad, Samad Sepasgozar and Ali Akbarnezhad
The purpose of this paper is to present a model for building information modelling (BIM) implementation at small and medium-sized construction contractor organisations (SMOs). The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a model for building information modelling (BIM) implementation at small and medium-sized construction contractor organisations (SMOs). The proposed BIM adoption model assesses BIM implementation benefits, costs and challenges faced by SMOs. Correlation between BIM adoption in SMOs and the associated impacting factors, including knowledge support and BIM adoption motivation, is captured through the model.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review of BIM adoption in construction was first presented. Research data, collected from 80 SMOs in Australia through a conducted survey, are then analysed. Descriptive analysis and structural equation modelling were used to investigate SMOs’ understanding of BIM, and to qualify the correlations among the proposed latent variables impacting BIM implementation at SMOs, respectively. Additionally, this study used χ2 test to compare differences between BIM users and non-BIM users regarding BIM understanding, interested applications and attitudes towards implementation benefits and challenges.
Findings
Potential benefits associated with BIM implementation are a major motivation factor when it comes to BIM adoption at SMOs. In addition, existing staff’s capability in using BIM tools positively affects the establishment of an organisational knowledge-support system, which determines the decision of adopting BIM eventually. Ultimately, there is a need for further emphasis on staff engagement in the implementation process.
Research limitations/implications
The results presented in this paper are applicable to SMOs in the building sector of construction. BIM implementation at organisations involved in non-building activities, including civil works and infrastructure, needs to be assessed in the future.
Practical implications
The results indicate that rather than placing the focus mainly on benefits of BIM implementation, successful implementation of BIM in practice requires adequate effort to assess implementation problems, establish knowledge support and engage staff in using BIM.
Originality/value
Results of this study provide an insight into the adoption challenges of BIM in SMOs, given that the focus of previous studies has been mostly placed on BIM adoption in architectural firms and large contractors.
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Ayşe Arıkan Dönmez and Funda Aslan
Implementing physical activity in nursing homes (NHs) can improve functional capacity, quality of life and well-being and even control symptoms associated with chronic diseases in…
Abstract
Purpose
Implementing physical activity in nursing homes (NHs) can improve functional capacity, quality of life and well-being and even control symptoms associated with chronic diseases in elderly people. Taking into consideration the increasing in number of NHs in Türkiye, it is obvious that this matter should be handled. The purpose of this study is to explore health-care staff’s perspectives on implementing physical activity in NHs.
Design/methodology/approach
A generic, qualitative study using face-to-face semi-structured interviews was conducted among 25 health-care staff. A theoretical sampling strategy was used to inform data collection. Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis method.
Findings
Three main themes and seven sub-themes were generated from health-care staff’s narratives of implementing physical activity. Main themes were the lack of knowledge about physical activity, negative mindset and organizational requirements. Implementing physical activity in NHs contributes to a better quality of life for the residents and the protection and improvement of their health. However, a lack of knowledge, negative perceptions of both health-care staff and administrators about physical activity and the organizational requirement were recognized.
Originality/value
Findings from this study will enable administrators to recognize the potential challenges and make informed decisions to implement physical activity programs for NH residents from health-care staff’s perspectives who are working with elderly people.
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René Börner, Jürgen Moormann and Minhong Wang
The paper aims to explore staff's experience with role‐plays using the example of training bank employees in Six Sigma as a major methodology for business process improvement.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to explore staff's experience with role‐plays using the example of training bank employees in Six Sigma as a major methodology for business process improvement.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on a case study. A role‐play, KreditSim, is used to simulate a loan approval process that has to be improved by the participants. KreditSim has been conducted many times with various groups in both academic and professional environments. The authors used five role‐play sessions to conduct a survey among the participants and questioned seven facilitators experienced in KreditSim to generate empirical evidence for the effectiveness of such role‐plays.
Findings
Role‐play based simulations complement training programs in terms of active participation and first‐hand experience. Not only methodological learning is achieved but social and communicative as well as affective learning are supported, too. The employed role‐play highlights the relevance and applicability of the Six Sigma methodology to staff's day‐to‐day responsibilities. Besides boosting awareness for process thinking, the role‐play also helps to engage staff members in process improvement efforts.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation to the results might be the small number of facilitators that supervised the role‐play sessions so far. Thus, results may not be representative in a statistical sense. Moreover, the design of KreditSim could be modified in different ways for future seminars. Using software to automate certain activities is one possible modification. Ongoing research investigates in how far such modifications influence the effectiveness and the participant's perception of the role‐play.
Practical implications
The present study reveals that role‐plays can be effectively used for staff training. The results show that staff are strongly receptive to role‐plays in the context of business process improvement. Furthermore, several objectives such as methodological or social learning can be pursued and combined by this type of training instrument.
Originality/value
This article contributes to existing research in analyzing the effectiveness of role‐plays in a workplace setting. The paper is based on a number of professional role‐play sessions within the financial services sector. The survey comprises multiple dimensions of learning and supports that staff appreciate the usage of role‐play based simulation in a workplace environment.
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Xiao Ping Xu, Dong Ge Ke, Dong Ning Deng, Shannon H. Houser, Xiao Ning Li, Qing Wang and Ng Chui Shan
The purposes of this paper are two-fold: first, to introduce a new concept of primary care consultation system at a mainland Chinese hospital in response to healthcare reform; and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purposes of this paper are two-fold: first, to introduce a new concept of primary care consultation system at a mainland Chinese hospital in response to healthcare reform; and second, to explore the factors associated with change resistance and acceptance from both patients’ and medical staff’s perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey design study, with two questionnaires developed and distributed to patients and medical staff. Convenience and stratified random sampling methods were applied to patient and medical staff samples.
Findings
A 5-dimension, 21-item patient questionnaire and a 4-dimension, 16-item staff questionnaire were identified and confirmed, with 1020 patients (91.07 percent) and 202 staff (90.18 percent) as effective survey participants. The results revealed that patient resistance mainly stems from a lack of personal experiences with visiting general practice (GP) and being educated or having lived overseas; while staff resistance came from occupation, education, GP training certificate, and knowledge and experience with specialists. Living in overseas and knowledge of GP concepts, gender and education are associated with resistance of accepting the new practice model for both patients and staff.
Originality/value
There are few Chinese studies on process reengineering in the medical sector; this is the first study to adopt this medical consultation model and change in patients’ consultation culture in Mainland China. Applying organizational change and process reengineering theories to medical and healthcare services not only extends and expands hospital management theory but also allows investigation of modern hospital management practice. The experience from this study can serve as a reference to promote this new consultation model in Chinese healthcare reform.
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