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1 – 6 of 6Solomon Amadasun and Tracy Beauty Evbayiro Omorogiuwa
As the next generation of social workers in a continent bedecked by oppressive customs, it is cardinal that the voices of social work students be heard. This study aims to share…
Abstract
Purpose
As the next generation of social workers in a continent bedecked by oppressive customs, it is cardinal that the voices of social work students be heard. This study aims to share the reflections of Nigerian BSW students about anti-oppressive approach to professional practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted among fourth-year social work students at one of the elite universities in the southern region of Nigeria.
Findings
Results reveal that, although willing to challenge oppressive practices, social work students are ill-equipped to apply anti-oppressive approach to social work practice in Nigeria.
Research limitations/implications
This study makes an important contribution to the field and to the existing literature because the findings have broader implications for social work education in Nigeria.
Practical implications
In enforcing the suggestions of this study, it is expected that social work education will become able to produce competently trained students who are only knowledgeable about anti-oppressive social work but are equally prepared to address Nigeria’s myriad oppressive practices that have long undermined the nation’s quest for social development.
Social implications
The application of the anti-oppressive approach to social work practice is integral to ridding society of all forms of overt social injustice and other forms of latent oppressive policies.
Originality/value
Suggestions are offered to Nigerian social work educators toward ensuring that students are not only well equipped in the understanding of anti-oppressive social work but also ready to apply this model to professional social work practice following their graduation.
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Humanity is facing an unprecedented challenge of climate crises. Rapid changes to the physical environment and living conditions will be accompanied by challenges to mental health…
Abstract
Purpose
Humanity is facing an unprecedented challenge of climate crises. Rapid changes to the physical environment and living conditions will be accompanied by challenges to mental health and well-being. Consequently, education for sustainable development should also include coping strategies for stress and anxiety. Adding intra-personal skills to the curriculum, such as self-reflection and mindfulness training, could aid in this education. This case study aims to explore the barriers to and drivers for fostering inner transitions through intra-personal skills training and mindfulness.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study from Lund University, Sweden, constitutes a critical case for investigating inner transitions in education. Data collection was designed around semi-structured qualitative interviews, to investigate the barriers to and drivers for intra-personal skills and mindfulness in education for sustainable development at all institutional levels of the university.
Findings
The results indicate that education for sustainable development already includes elements of introspection, albeit informally. However, there is a lack in a fundamental understanding of intra-personal skills and how they relate to other key competences for sustainable development. To make intra-personal skills training a formal component of the education, it must receive the full support from all levels of the university.
Originality/value
The study outlines general recommendations for universities to challenge existing policies while also finding ways to work around them. In the meantime, universities should make intra-personal skills training an informal learning activity. Recognizing that the students’ prior knowledge in this area is a potential asset, universities should collaborate with their students to support student-led intra-personal skills training.
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Vidhi Chaudhri, Tessa Oomen, Jason Pridmore and Alexandra Joon
Guided by the growing importance of social-mediated organisational communication, this study examines how communication professionals within healthcare organisations perceive and…
Abstract
Purpose
Guided by the growing importance of social-mediated organisational communication, this study examines how communication professionals within healthcare organisations perceive and respond to the reputation impacts of social media on the organisation’s reputation. Although the healthcare sector finds itself in the midst of a (continually) transforming landscape characterised by large amounts of digital health (mis)information and an empowered “patient-as-consumer”, little is known about how professionals in this sector understand the changes and respond to them. Moreover, much extant scholarship on the topic is published in specialised health or medical journals and does not explicitly address the communication implications for healthcare organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with communication professionals responsible for social media across eight hospitals in the Netherlands. The sample included two participants working as communication consultants/social media advisors for healthcare organisations. In all, 15 interviews were conducted.
Findings
Building on interviewee perspectives, the authors advance the CARE (Control, Access(ability), Responsive(ness) and Engagement) model of social-mediated communication, highlighting the dualistic characteristics of each dimension. This model is built upon a careful analysis of healthcare professional responses. In an always-on environment, understanding and managing the tensions within the authors’ model may be decisive to the reputation implications of social media use.
Originality/value
Understanding the tensions within each dimension lends a more nuanced perspective on the potential impact(s) of social media as experienced by professionals in the field. In shifting away from a binary, either/or approach, the paper contributes to explicating the complexities of a pervasive phenomenon (i.e. social-mediated communication) and its multifaceted impacts on the healthcare sector.
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Lisa Rogers, Aoife De Brún, Sarah A. Birken, Carmel Davies and Eilish McAuliffe
Implementing change in healthcare is difficult to accomplish due to the unpredictability associated with challenging the status quo. Adapting the intervention/practice/program…
Abstract
Purpose
Implementing change in healthcare is difficult to accomplish due to the unpredictability associated with challenging the status quo. Adapting the intervention/practice/program being implemented to better fit the complex context is an important aspect of implementation success. Despite the acknowledged influence of context, the concept continues to receive insufficient attention at the team-level within implementation research. Using two heterogeneous multidisciplinary healthcare teams as implementation case studies, this study evaluates the interplay between context and implementation and highlights the ways in which context influences the introduction of a collective leadership intervention in routine practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The multiple case study design adopted, employed a triangulation of qualitative research methods which involved observation (Case A = 16 h, Case B = 15 h) and interview data (Case A = 13 participants, Case B = 12 participants). Using an inductive approach, an in-depth thematic analysis of the data outlined the relationship between team-level contextual factors and implementation success.
Findings
Themes are presented under the headings: (1) adapting to the everyday realities, a key determinant for implementation success and (2) implementation stimulating change in context. The findings demonstrate a dynamic relationship between context and implementation. The challenges of engaging busy healthcare professionals emphasised that mapping the contextual complexity of a site and adapting implementation accordingly is essential to enhance the likelihood of successful implementation. However, implementation also altered the surrounding context, stimulating changes within both teams.
Originality/value
By exposing the reciprocal relationship between team-level contextual factors and implementation, this research supports the improved design of implementation strategies through better understanding the interplay and mutual evolution of evidence-based healthcare interventions within different contexts.
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Hugo Valenzuela-Garcia, Miranda Jessica Lubbers and Jose Luis Molina
The aim of the paper is to ethnographically detail the poverty-shame nexus in contemporary Spain, and to highlight the contradictions of the newly adopted consumption-based models…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the paper is to ethnographically detail the poverty-shame nexus in contemporary Spain, and to highlight the contradictions of the newly adopted consumption-based models of inclusion led by charities.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on 39 cases out of a sample of 78 gathered through two long-term research projects, the paper employs a mixed-methods approach that mainly draws on a multi-sited ethnographic approach and interviews.
Findings
The paper ethnographically documents major contradictions that shed light on the complex relationships between poverty, shame, work and consumption in modern societies.
Research limitations/implications
This paper analyses the sources of shame in the experience of poverty and downward mobility, but also it opens new ground for understanding the complex poverty–shame nexus and lets some questions unanswered.
Practical implications
The contradictions highlighted shed light on the complex relationships between poverty, shame, work and consumption that may inform modern policies to fight poverty. Ethnography gives voice to these individuals that currently experience an increasingly precarious and unequal modern world.
Social implications
The paper contributes to a better understanding of the processes that underlie modern poverty and downward social mobility and points out the contradictions generated by consumption-based models of inclusion.
Originality/value
While the poverty-shame nexus has been already analyzed from the point of view of stigma and exclusion from the labor market, the links between a growing consumerism and the neo-liberal values that underlie our modern societies are largely unexplored. The ethnographic contribution and the detailed case studies are also original in the case of Spain.
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Femke Damen, Ruud Verkerk and Bea Steenbekkers
Adolescence is a period in which autonomy grows and where children develop into independent and active consumers and a period in which their food choices are also becoming more…
Abstract
Purpose
Adolescence is a period in which autonomy grows and where children develop into independent and active consumers and a period in which their food choices are also becoming more autonomous. Snacking is known to increase during the period of adolescence and the snack choice of adolescents is often unhealthy. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to know when adolescents perceive a snack as healthy. As healthiness perception could be linked to the perception of naturalness and sustainability of a snack, these are interesting product characteristics to study as well.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews with 20 adolescents were conducted to characterize their perception of healthiness, naturalness and sustainability. Chocolate snack bars were used as a stimulus product.
Findings
All participants mentioned consuming snacks because they like them. Healthiness was seen as important but was not always a priority in adolescents' snack choices. Naturalness and sustainability were concepts which the adolescents were not aware of or did not perceive as important during snack choice. The adolescents mentioned experiencing natural products to be healthier compared to not natural products. The consequences of the discerned dimensions time, impact and effect of choices were rather limited for this target group.
Originality/value
Understanding the healthiness, naturalness and sustainability perception of chocolate snack bars by adolescents may help to better understand drivers for adolescents' snack choices.
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