Search results

1 – 9 of 9
Article
Publication date: 4 September 2019

Heilwine Bakker, Marc van Veldhoven, Tony Gaillard, Remy Hertogs and Margot Feenstra

Since policemen have a highly demanding job, they have a high risk of developing mental health problems, which may have a negative influence on their private life. The purpose of…

Abstract

Purpose

Since policemen have a highly demanding job, they have a high risk of developing mental health problems, which may have a negative influence on their private life. The purpose of this paper is to present a new questionnaire for measuring the functioning of rescue workers in life tasks outside of work.

Design/methodology/approach

The internal consistency, factor structure and concurrent validity of this life tasks test (LTT) were examined in a group of 108 policemen.

Findings

The test measures perceived effectiveness in the following five domains: social life, maintaining mental health, household and finance, giving meaning and maintaining positivity. Cronbach’s α was acceptable for two scales (>0.60) and good for the other three (>0.70). The hypothesized five-factor structure of the LTT was corroborated in a confirmatory factor analysis. Concurrent validity was examined by correlating the scores on the LTT with two established questionnaires, one for personality characteristics and one for work characteristics and work stress. All LTT scales, with the exception of social life, showed significant correlations with social support, workload and personality.

Research limitations/implications

This provides support for the concurrent validity of the questionnaire. Practical uses and future research are discussed.

Practical implications

The items are close to everyday clinical practice. It adds valuable information to the commonly used questionnaires on mental health complaints. The test may also provide insight on which life tasks domains are functioning well and which are in need of attention to improve the effectiveness.

Social implications

In both preventive and curative mental health support, it is important to enhance the effectiveness in life tasks, because it works as a buffer for the adversity of rescue work. Moreover, it gives rescue workers mastery of their personal life, makes self-management stronger, as well as it gives feelings of confidence and positive energy.

Originality/value

This is the first questionnaire to be designed and implemented for rescue workers.

Details

International Journal of Emergency Services, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2047-0894

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 June 2017

Tony Rey, Loic Le De, Frederic Leone and David Gilbert

The purpose of this paper is to develop a multidimensional approach for effectively managing natural disasters; this paper has three research objectives. First, it provides an…

1277

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a multidimensional approach for effectively managing natural disasters; this paper has three research objectives. First, it provides an analysis on the hydro-geomorphological effects of the cyclone in the urban context. Second, it proposes an analysis for the vulnerability and resilience recovery of the populations living in urban areas. Third, it specifies the implications for sustainable recovery and longer-term disaster risk reduction.

Design/methodology/approach

A detailed case study of the tropical cyclone Pam was carried out to identify hydro-geomorphologic effects and damages in an urban area and specific problems associated with managing natural disaster in Vanuatu.

Findings

The investigations reveal that living in an urban area increases a population’s exposure to hydrological, weather and sea-related risks. Whereas advice on cyclones seems to work very well, the coastal risks and floods seem to be underestimated with a very high exposure and vulnerability to risk. Pre-existing vulnerabilities were exacerbated after cyclone Pam. However, other communities have been able to reinforce their resilience through local initiatives. The government and outside aid were very quick to react, despite problems of coordination, exchange of information, communication and long-term strategy.

Practical implications

The bottom-up, top-down, local and global approaches, applied on the time scales, should lead to actions that will reinforce the ability of the people of Vanuatu to adapt to high-energy events and to the effects of climate change.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the importance of understanding how the urban communities are vulnerable to natural hazards and of strategies for increasing their resilience.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 26 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 October 2008

Rutledge M. Dennis

I don’t remember exactly when I began to be interested in music, but my mother and godmother would laughingly recall when they knew I would be musically inclined. Though I was…

Abstract

I don’t remember exactly when I began to be interested in music, but my mother and godmother would laughingly recall when they knew I would be musically inclined. Though I was then in diapers, whenever Tommy Dorsey's recording of Boogie Woogie was played, I would immediately begin to pat my feet. My first conscious memory of reacting to music when I was very young were the times my father would sing little ditties and play his banjo. He could carry a tune, and he played the banjo quite well. His greatest musical feat, however, was as a whistler, and I would try to imitate his whistling style, without success as I grew older. Then too, my siblings and I would sing and recite little nursery rhymes before our parents, and I would compose songs for my sisters to sing. Before he died an early death at 37 my father gave me a mouth harp and a harmonica which I kept for many years; I later misplaced it while in college. I later bought another harmonica which I kept throughout my years in the U.S. Army, my travels throughout Europe, and throughout my years in graduate school. How and why we each possess the talents and skills we have are questions I’ve never fully understood. So I’ve concluded that we just have them, and we’ll never be able to explain it. Throughout this chapter four reference points will be used to explain my exposure to music and my music biculturality: schools, churches, home, and my neighborhood. If I make very few references to whites, it is simply because during my early life my contact with whites was minimal, and white individuals played a minor role in my life, as at home my world centered around my parents and godparents, siblings, and other family members, and neighborhood friends; at school my world was a completely black world. The first white I got to know outside of my early work experiences was the white Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church who visited St. John's Episcopal Church at least six or seven times a year.

Details

Biculturalism, Self Identity and Societal Transformation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1409-6

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 May 2002

1314

Abstract

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 11 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Abstract

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 32 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Article
Publication date: 2 May 2023

Ashleigh Rushton and Jazmin Scarlett

The purpose of this article is to draw attention to how harmful and inaccurate discourses pertaining to disaster responsibility is produced, the negative implications such…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to draw attention to how harmful and inaccurate discourses pertaining to disaster responsibility is produced, the negative implications such narratives pose and the role of the media in the ways in which discourses about queerness and disaster are reported.

Design/methodology/approach

Throughout this paper, the authors detail examples of media reporting on discourses relating to people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) being blamed and held responsible for disasters across the world. The authors examine the value of such reporting as well as describing the harm blame narratives have on queer people and communities.

Findings

There is little value in reporting on accounts of people publicly declaring that people with diverse SOGIESC are to blame for disaster. More sensitivity is needed around publishing on blame discourses pertaining to already marginalised communities.

Originality/value

This article contributes to the developing scholarship on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, agender, asexual and aromantic individuals, plus other gender identities and sexual orientations (LGBTQIA+/SOGIESC) and disasters by detailing the harm of blame discourses as well as drawing attention to how the media have a role to play in averting from unintentionally providing a platform for hate speech and ultimately enhancing prejudice against people with diverse SOGIESC.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 September 2011

Herman B. Kok, Mark P. Mobach and Onno S.W.F. Omta

The purpose of this paper is to define the added value of facility management (FM) in general and to develop a typology of facility services based on their added value in the…

6130

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to define the added value of facility management (FM) in general and to develop a typology of facility services based on their added value in the educational environment.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on a literature review and first assesses the different aspects of FM added value. The different variables and relations between the use of facility services and their effects on the educational achievement are then conceptualised and studied.

Findings

Research shows that FM added value is the customer perceived trade‐off between the effects of the use of facility services on the outcome of their processes, its costs and risks. On this basis, a typology of facility services was constructed around their level of fixity and their influence on the learning outcome.

Practical implications

The typology strongly indicates for FM when to engage in the decision‐making process relating to the educational environment in order to contribute to education. Also the typology is useful for deriving priorities for adjusting the current use situation of facility services to enhance their effectiveness in both a time and financially efficient manner.

Originality/value

This paper operationalises the concept of FM added value and provides several hypotheses and firm recommendations for further research to maximise the contribution of FM. The paper also presents a practical framework for evidenced‐based decision making on the use of facility services in the educational environment. It thus offers opportunities for FM to support the future learning landscape.

Details

Journal of Facilities Management, vol. 9 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-5967

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1909

THIS scheme of exact classification has now been long enough upon trial to justify the publication of a few explanatory notes, adjustments, and revisions which may be useful to…

31

Abstract

THIS scheme of exact classification has now been long enough upon trial to justify the publication of a few explanatory notes, adjustments, and revisions which may be useful to present and future users of the system. For an entirely new scheme, which to some extent broke fresh ground, its reception has been extremely kind and flattering, and although it has not escaped criticism, nothing has appeared which has been anything but reasonable and helpful. A surprising circumstance has been that, notwithstanding the very controversial nature of much of the subject, so few points of difference have appeared. These are all more or less directed against the mere placing of certain topics and do not to any extent reflect upon the theory or structure of the system as a whole. One mistake has been made, however, of a more important nature, but this must have arisen either through misapprehension or carelessness. It has been assumed that the Subject Classification claims to be thoroughly scientific, and that each class is arranged in a logical and evolutionary order, so as to modulate or merge naturally into its successor. Any modest claim which may have been made to an attempted logical order is invariably qualified by a statement in the “Introduction” to the effect that such perfect order is only to be expected to a very limited extent. On page eight it is stated that—“The departments of human knowledge are so numerous, their intersections so great, their changes so frequent, and their variety so confusing, that it is impossible to show that they proceed from one source or germ, or that they can be arranged so that each enquirer will find the complete literature of his special subject at one fixed place.” All through the tables and the introduction the same kind of limitation is insisted upon, and it can only be due to misunderstanding to say that I have made such a preposterous claim to sequential perfection. No librarian who has attempted to compile a system of exact classification would ever dream of claiming that he did more than get as near as possible to an ideal arrangement in accordance with his basal plan.

Details

New Library World, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2017

Siti Irene Astuti Dwiningrum

The purpose of this paper is to create a valid and fit instrument to measure school resilience, and to understand teachers’ and students’ contributions to build school resilience.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to create a valid and fit instrument to measure school resilience, and to understand teachers’ and students’ contributions to build school resilience.

Design/methodology/approach

The construct of school resilience is adapted from Henderson and Milstein’s (2003) concept regarding two factors: mitigating risk factor in environment and building resilience in the environment. Senior high school teachers and students in a disaster-prone area in Indonesia were chosen as the sample using purposive sampling technique.

Findings

The results of this research are that the instrument is considered as good, valid, reliable, and fit for measuring the students’ and the teachers’ contributions in building school resilience; and the results of the confirmatory factor analysis test of the hypothesized model of school resilience of teachers and students in a disaster-prone area are in line with the empirical data. Based on the analysis of the value of the major loading factors, teachers and students show different contributions. In building school resilience for disaster mitigation, teachers begin by mitigating risk factor in the environment whereas students tend to give a priority to build resilience in the environment.

Practical implications

The results of this study are applicable to develop school resilience on disaster mitigation, and the instrument of the research provides a practical contribution to broader research scope, in terms of different population, school level, socio-cultural background, and disaster-prone area.

Originality/value

This study presents reliable instrument to measure teachers and students’ contribution in building school resilience. This study also sought to understand the different contributions shown by teachers and students in building school resilience for disaster mitigation.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 26 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

1 – 9 of 9