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Obesity and associated morbidity and mortality are major challenges for people with severe mental illness, particularly in secure (forensic) mental health care (patients who have committed a crime or have threatening behaviour). This study aims to explore experiences of weight management in secure mental health settings.

This study used a mixed-methods approach, involving thematic analysis. A survey was delivered to secure mental health-care staff in a National Health Service (NHS) mental health trust in Northern England. Focus groups were conducted with current and former patients, carers and staff in the same trust and semi-structured interviews were undertaken with staff in a second NHS mental health trust.

The survey received 79 responses and nine focus groups and 11 interviews were undertaken. Two overarching topics were identified: the contrasting perspectives expressed by different stakeholder groups, and the importance of a whole system approach. In addition, seven themes were highlighted, namely: medication, sedentary behaviour, patient motivation, catered food and alternatives, role of staff, and service delivery.

Secure care delivers a potentially “obesogenic environment", conducive to excessive weight gain. In future, complex interventions engaging wide-ranging stakeholders are likely to be needed, with linked longitudinal studies to evaluate feasibility and impact.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to involve current patients, former patients, carers and multidisciplinary staff across two large NHS trusts, in a mixed-methods approach investigating weight management in secure mental health services. People with lived experience of secure services are under-represented in research and their contribution is therefore of particular importance.

A wide gap exists between the innovation and development of self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology (SMART) technologies and the actual adoption by older adults or those caring for them. This paper aims to increase awareness of available technologies and describes their suitability for older adults with different needs. SMART technologies are intelligent devices and systems that enable autonomous monitoring of their status, data analysis or direct feedback provision.

This is a scoping review of SMART technologies used and marketed to older adults or for providing care.

Five categories of SMART technologies were identified: (1) wearable technologies and smart tools of daily living; (2) noninvasive/unobtrusive technology (i.e. passive technologies monitoring the environment, health and behavior); (3) complex SMART systems; (4) interactive technologies; (5) assistive and rehabilitation devices. Technologies were then linked with needs related to everyday practical tasks (mainly applications supporting autonomous, independent living), social and emotional support, health monitoring/managing and compensatory assistance rehabilitation.

When developing, testing or implementing technologies for older adults, researchers should clearly identify concrete needs these technologies help meet to underscore their usefulness.

Older adults and caregivers should weigh the pros and cons of different technologies and consider the key needs of older adults before investing in any tech solution.

SMART technologies meeting older adult needs help support both independent, autonomous life for as long as possible as well as aiding in the transition to assisted or institutionalized care.

This is the first review to explicitly link existing SMART technologies with the concrete needs of older adults, serving as a useful guide for both older adults and caregivers in terms of available technology solutions.

This paper is a case study of student response systems used in large-class teaching. It considers the benefits, including the engagement of students and academic gains such as reduced administration. The constraints and impacts in classroom teaching are noted, drawing upon the experience of two teachers with their learning captured as a means of dissemination of practice to support other teachers who may be considering adopting and later adapting such practices (Gribble and Beckmann, 2023).

An autoethnographical account was undertaken using an action-learning approach as a sense-making exercise. These accounts enabled a depth of insight beyond the anecdotal evidence experienced by an individual teacher alone.

The findings show that while student response systems have constraints, these can be addressed by putting pedagogical concerns in front of any technology deployment, reaping benefits for students and teachers. Once engaged in using the system, students become more willing to enter further discussions. However, the limitations of both systems indicate that there may be a need for multiple systems to be available based on the pedagogical needs of the class.

The exploration of student response systems and outcomes of positive engagement by students in classroom settings provides insight to those wishing to explore such systems for use in large-class teaching settings.

This work extends discussions surrounding interactivity using student response systems. Additionally, practical insights from the users into their experiences with their students in using such systems provide alternatives for engagement in delivering large-class learning at scale.

This paper seeks to provide a multi-theoretical explanation of the living practice of a public entity found in Uganda, an African developing country, which successfully enhanced public accountability.

A qualitative narrative enquiry through storytelling was used to portray the practices of public accountability. The perceptions of various individuals were obtained using in-depth interviews, from which a coherent story structured under the themes of context, actions, results and lessons was obtained.

Findings show that public entities that put in place oversight mechanisms and management structures, involve stakeholders and create an ethical work climate enhance public accountability. The results further show that the integration of theories (agency, stewardship, stakeholder and ethical work climate) promotes public accountability.

In terms of limitations and areas for future research, the study has been conducted on a single city authority to explain public accountability. Perhaps there is a need to conduct similar studies with other city authorities or a combination of organizations. The study has used a qualitative methodology through narrative enquiry to explain public accountability. Future studies can use a quantitative methodology, more so to test the proposed conceptual model of public accountability. Despite the study limitations, the results of this study remain relevant.

This study uses the positive story of a public entity from a developing country that successfully practiced public accountability. Consequently, from a practical perspective, the findings of this study can be used as a benchmark for promoting effective public accountability practices, especially in developing countries across the globe, where public accountability has proven to be a challenge. Furthermore, governments in developing countries can also use the study findings to strengthen public accountability policies in their respective countries.

The study suggests that enhancement in public accountability practice requires an approach that brings together a multiplicity of factors. The study affords public accountability practitioners an opportunity to replicate the successful accountability practices from the story. When public accountability is enhanced, service delivery in terms of social services by the public organizations is likely to improve, leading to better quality of life in the communities served.

The study is novel in its use of a positive story that depicts an entity from a developing country that successfully enhanced public accountability. To explain this phenomenon, the study uses a multi-theoretical approach, unlike prior studies.

Megaprojects stimulate and challenge public opinion across countries, generating extensive reactions from citizens. Given their ability to attract public attention, they may also influence public participation in collective choices and political decision-making. These issues are relevant for evaluating projects, but are unfortunately rarely discussed in the managerial literature. This study aims to open up a debate on social issues and how they could be taken into account within management studies.

This study carried out a systematic review of the literature on the social impact of megaprojects to identify different research areas related to the evaluation of megaprojects from a social perspective.

This study identified three different research areas related to the evaluation of megaprojects from a social perspective: the role of power and social issues; infrastructure and social space; and stakeholder engagement and endorsement.

This paper underlines the need to go beyond current understanding of the social impacts of megaprojects and calls for a more interdisciplinary research agenda.

This study aims to explore the NEET (Not in Education, Employment and Training) experiences of young people living in impoverished settings.

Methodologically, this study was informed by a qualitative analysis of visual and textual data related to a body mapping exercise with eleven young people who were participants in a four-day start-up workshop in a larger action research project.

The findings reveal that, although being NEET negatively affects young people’s self-esteem, confidence, hope for the future and general well-being, body mapping can help them discover latent assets useful for reducing their insecurities.

Researchers using this method need to be well prepared to deal with possible emotional trauma, and to this end, we provide some guidelines for the effective implementation of body mapping.

Studies of inter-organizational relationships have traditionally overlooked the human resource management (HRM) field, with most research focusing on collaborations in the technical domain. This study endeavors to explore the impact of organizational human resources (HR) collaborations on HR innovativeness, drawing on theories about organizational learning capabilities to explain this connection. By analyzing the synergies arising from inter-organizational HR collaborations, this study aims to seek to shed light on the potential for HRM to contribute to organizational performance and foster innovation.

The study is based on a quantitative survey conducted among 326 Dutch companies. The survey aims to find out whether these companies collaborate with other organizations on HR-related issues, the extent to which they renew their HRM function, and whether they apply organizational learning practices. The data collected for the survey are analyzed using Hayes PROCESS macro to investigate mediation effects.

As per the study, HR collaboration results in innovation. The research suggests that collaborating with HR across different organizations significantly contributes to HR innovation. This relationship can be explained by the inter-organizational learning practices that organizations adopt. Therefore, when organizations collaborate with each other, they learn from each other, which enhances their learning capabilities and ultimately leads to HR innovation.

This study delves into the extent to which organizations collaborate on HR-related issues, which is a relatively new field. Moreover, it contributes to the research on the connection between inter-organizational relationships and innovation by showing how much of it is explained by organizational learning.