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1 – 10 of 41Cathy Bailey, Julie Doyle, Susan Squires, Cliodhna ni Scanaill, Chie Wei Fan, Cormac Sheehan, Clodagh Cunningham and Ben Dromey
This paper seeks to discuss the authors' experiences of multidisciplinary practice in relation to developing home‐based assisted living technologies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to discuss the authors' experiences of multidisciplinary practice in relation to developing home‐based assisted living technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on almost three years' experience of working within an ongoing, large, multi‐sited and multidisciplinary Irish national research programme: the Technology for Independent Living Centre. This involved industry and academic partners. Teams of clinicians, physical and social scientists, technologists, engineers, designers and ethnographers worked with older adults to design, test and deliver, home‐based technologies that focus on mitigating falls, keeping socially connected and maintaining or improving cognitive function. The authors' experiences and challenges are organised and presented through their retrospective team building model: ENDEA and through comparison with team building literature.
Findings
Learning outcomes and implications for technology focused multidisciplinary practice are offered. The paper concludes that a vital step in developing successful assisted living technologies with and for older adults is to spend resources on building effective, creative and committed multidisciplinary teams and practices.
Originality/value
The model, ENDEA, is proposed which is a blueprint for successful outcomes, through the management and delivery of multidisciplinary research.
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Medical and mental health professionals are in general agreement that the occurrence of anorexia nervosa and bulimia has increased dramatically during the past ten years. The…
Abstract
Medical and mental health professionals are in general agreement that the occurrence of anorexia nervosa and bulimia has increased dramatically during the past ten years. The revelation that public figures such as Karen Carpenter and Cherry Boone were victims has demonstrated that these debilitating illnesses occur more frequently than previously supposed. Not only has the number of relevant professional communications in psychology, psychiatry, and medicine multiplied, but popular periodicals, newspapers, and television have brought these psychiatric disorders to the attention of the general public. As a result, wards and clinics specializing in the treatment of eating disorders have opened in cities of even modest size. Support groups for sufferers and their families are becoming more common as the magnitude of these mental health problems is recognized.
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This paper aims to describe innovations at the Games + Learning + Society Center to explore the future of education.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe innovations at the Games + Learning + Society Center to explore the future of education.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is an overview of several published studies and design interventions.
Findings
Commercial partnerships, particularly generating copyrightable materials can maximize impact and diversify research funding, but they also run counter to the culture and purpose of many research universities.
Research limitations/implications
Researchers interested in forging new partnerships to maximize impact might explore relationships with commercial entities but be aware that they are running counter to the grain of most institutions and goals. Other universities of different sizes, ages and orientations may have different results.
Practical implications
Building private partnerships requires different staffing and skill sets than traditional research. Guidance for staffing key roles and projects are provided.
Originality/value
This paper is a reflection on unique research initiative that generated revenue and helped shape a subfield of education.
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This paper (published in two consecutive issues of On the Horizon) aims to contextualize research on games for learning by describing the current drivers of innovation in learning…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper (published in two consecutive issues of On the Horizon) aims to contextualize research on games for learning by describing the current drivers of innovation in learning technologies situated within broader trends in open educational publishing.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper begins with an overview of changes, driven largely by technology in educational technology and publishing. Using massively open online courseware as an example, it describes how these factors are aligning to challenge the status quo. Next, it provides a brief discussion of changes in higher education more generally, including changes in education as a marketplace, reductions to state funding for education and changes in the research enterprise, particularly the rapid growth of the scientific enterprise and leveling off of federal support.
Findings
The paper pivots to describe the most recent chapter of over 15 years of work within the Games + Learning + Society (GLS) Center, which has sought to create innovative models of learning, innovative models for funding and conducting research in light of these challenges, and innovative ways of engaging the public.
Practical implications
The assumption driving GLS (and this paper) is that rather than wait for these changes to happen to us, educational technologists can help drive the future by creating it. A good way to get the kinds of learning systems we want is to go about creating them and seeing what works. During this time, GLS developed and released over a dozen game-based learning titles, raised US$10,000,000s in grants and contracts, graduated over 30 doctoral students and post docs, spun out multiple companies, created materials in use by 10,000s (or more) students across the world, and helped build a nascent field of games and learning.
Originality/value
The paper pivots to describe the most recent chapter of over 15 years of work within the GLS Center, which has sought to create innovative models of learning, innovative models for funding and conducting research in light of these challenges and innovative ways of engaging the public.
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Danielle Hitch, Kate Lhuede, Susan Giles, Robyn Low, Kathryn Cranwell and Rachel Stefaniak
Leadership is a critical topic in healthcare because of its influence on direction and culture. This study aims to measure perceptions of leadership styles amongst occupational…
Abstract
Purpose
Leadership is a critical topic in healthcare because of its influence on direction and culture. This study aims to measure perceptions of leadership styles amongst occupational therapy clinicians. The study also sought to identify any significant differences between the perceptions of clinician groups, compare findings with established norms and explore associations between leadership styles and outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross sectional, descriptive study method was used, using the multifactor leadership questionnaire 5X (MLQ-5X) to survey occupational therapists working in physical and mental health clinical services in Australia. Descriptive statistics were used to address the aims of this study.
Findings
A number of significant differences in leadership perceptions were identified between junior and senior clinicians, however, very few differences were detected between the physical and mental health settings. The scores provided by participants were consistently lower than those reported for geographically relevant norms, with the majority on or close to the 40th percentile. A significant relationship was found between transformative leadership and outcomes, and a strong relationship between contingent reward and outcomes. However, the negative relationships between other leadership styles and outcomes reported in other studies were not found.
Research limitations/implications
Transformational leadership, and some aspects of transactional leadership, are used in occupational therapy. The career stage has an impact on how leadership behaviours are perceived. The MLQ-5X could enable a consistent approach to research into healthcare leadership, and the exploration of whether these findings are generalisable beyond the Australian context.
Practical implications
Career stage may be a more significant influence on leadership perception than service setting, and efforts to develop leadership in occupational therapy should focus on both transformative and transactional leadership. Perceptions of occupational leadership from all areas of the workforce are important to understand, given their potential impact on workplace behaviour, career progression, recruitment and retention.
Originality/value
This study is a partial replication of a previous study conducted in the USA, being the first to use the MLQ-5X with the Australian occupational therapy workforce. As such, it consolidates the existing evidence base in this area and also enables international comparisons of findings.
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Interlending activities in various countries, particularly inacademic libraries, are examined. The growth of networking and theimportance of a strong infrastructure are discussed…
Abstract
Interlending activities in various countries, particularly in academic libraries, are examined. The growth of networking and the importance of a strong infrastructure are discussed. A system of cost recovery for large net‐lenders is outlined. Developments in copyright are reviewed.
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Ten years have elapsed since the author was a doctoral student and conducted a study on the life stories of abusive men, about which the author writes in the present…
Abstract
Purpose
Ten years have elapsed since the author was a doctoral student and conducted a study on the life stories of abusive men, about which the author writes in the present autoethnography. The research was submitted and earned the author her PhD; the findings were written in a book published in 2003, and the author also had articles published abroad. And yet, not one word of what the author relates here was reported to her supervisor, nor did it appear in any of the publications dealing with that study. This paper seeks to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
In this autoethnography the author describes some episodes that occurred while she was conducting this research and raises some questions regarding feminist research and the power relations between a female researcher and male participants – questions such as “Could it have been less abusive?”, “Why did I not write all this as part of my reflection on myself and my research process?”, “Why did it take me so long to be able to talk about it in a professional forum?”, “Does it happen to every researcher who studies men?”, “Can it happen again?” and “Does it lie somewhere in the seductive part of female interviewer‐male participant relationships?”.
Findings
In light of the episodes described, the paper will discuss the dilemmas of being a woman and a feminist researcher, vulnerable to some male research participants.
Originality/value
The question of a woman researcher's vulnerability is scarcely described in research methodology articles and books.
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