Search results

In the present climate of risk assessment and management, the risk posed by the mentally disordered offender might be considered central to the role of mental health professionals working with this population. To discipline risk is a challenge that involves making something uncertain somehow quantifiable, so that decisions about the short‐longer‐term future of another individual can be made and justified (Rose, 1998). Although unauthorised patient absence from secure hospitals in the UK is an infrequent phenomenon, there are often prominent repercussions, perpetuated by negative media coverage, often resulting in responses from the highest political level. This article will attempt to highlight known statistics on absconsion from secure hospitals, including frequency and consequences, and impact of negative media coverage and various reviews, inquiries and proposed recommendations, which have resulted in the proposed reforms of the Mental Health Act 1983. Finally, the article will outline the work conducted by the social work department at Chadwick Lodge and Eaglestone View (medium secure hospitals) in the development of an 'absconsion pack'. This development provides an example of safe practice through its use of collaborative inter‐professional and multidisciplinary team working, resulting in a procedure that should reduce the risks in the event of an absconsion from a medium secure hospital. The wider implications of this work will be discussed.

As CD‐ROM becomes more and more a standard reference and technical support tool in all types of libraries, the annual review of this technology published in Computers in Libraries magazine increases in size and scope. This year, author Susan L. Adkins has prepared this exceptionally useful bibliography which she has cross‐referenced with a subject index.

With a high rate of mobile technology ownership in the home, it is unknown how parents’ behavioral intention influences mobile technology adoption and children’s informal use to support reading. The purpose of this paper is to identify 120 parents’ intentions to adopt mobile technology and gather in-depth perceptions about mobile technology adoption with a smaller subset of 13 parents.

The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology adoption model and the ecological systems theory help explain the interconnections of the child’s home and school on mobile technology intentions and use behavior. A mixed-method explanatory research design obtained behavioral intention scores from a parent survey and individual interviews explained intention scores and depth of perceptions.

Parents’ behavioral intention scores show, on average, parents agree with using mobile technology to help their child read in the home. Behavioral intention concerns are influenced by children’s individual experience with technology: reluctant users prioritize media-safe education; indifferent users perceive technology as entertainment and desire a balance of text mediums; eager users are influenced socially and recognize interactive and individual affordances when reading with technology.

Knowing that parents’ behavioral intentions vary based on their individual concerns, transparency between parents and teachers about parents’ concerns and children’s mobile technology use in the home can strengthen children’s mobile learning opportunities between home and school.

Data were collected from 46 classrooms between two K-5 elementary schools in the southeastern USA, which offers a unique glimpse into technology adoption behavior in two different communities.