Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the voluntary sector meets male rape victims’ needs in England, UK. The author’s contribution represents an attempt to piece together some of the voluntary sector’s responses to male rape victims in England, UK and examine whether they meet male rape victims’ needs.

The author draws on data collected from semi-structured interviews and qualitative questionnaires with male rape counsellors, therapists and voluntary agency caseworkers (n=70).

The findings reveal nuanced themes that have been overlooked in the existing literature of male rape: first, male rape victims are not given a choice of their voluntary agency practitioner (regarding gender) to serve them; second, there is no specific training on male rape in voluntary agencies; third, the impact of limited resources and funding in the voluntary sector means that many male rape victims’ needs are unmet; and finally, there is ageism and discrimination in some voluntary agencies, whereby male rape victims are prioritised in terms of their age.

Methodologically, the author’s sample size was not considerably large (n=70), making it difficult to generalise the findings to all voluntary agency practitioners in a British context.

At a time of scarce funding and scant resources for the third sector, the impact of limited resources and funding in the voluntary sector could mean that male rape victims may not receive proper care and treatment. Budget cuts in the third sector are problematic, in that voluntary agencies may be unable to get access to robust training programs for male rape or to resources that can help shape and develop the ways in which they serve male rape victims. The needs of male rape victims, therefore, are unlikely to be met at the local, regional and national levels.

Some practitioners are misinformed about male rape and do not have the tools to be able to adequately and efficiently handle male rape victims. Not only can their lack of understanding of male rape worsen male rape victims’ trauma through inappropriate ways of handling them, but also the practitioners may implicitly reinforce male rape myths, such as “male rape is solely a homosexual issue” or “men cannot be raped”.

Whilst previous contributions have recognised the third sector’s responses to female rape victims, little work has been done to identify their treatment of male rape victims. The author attempts to fill some of this lacuna. In particular, The author draws attention to some of the issues and dilemmas that arise when voluntary agencies provide services for male victims of rape. The author’s concern is that many male rape victims’ needs may be neglected or ignored because of the rise in neoliberalism, as there appears to be a financial meltdown in the voluntary sector.

The paper summarises some of the main results of a study of inter‐agency collaboration in the provision of community mental health services in one city in Britain. The research was based on interviews with service purchasers and providers in health, social services and the voluntary sector. The results suggest that, in spite of cordial working relationships and a historically stable organisational structure, collaboration between agencies in the provision of mental health services was being seriously damaged by contradictory central government policies of tight operational control yet fostering internal markets in purchasing and providing. It is recommended that research is urgently needed to assess the impact on vulnerable clients’ quality of life and level of functioning of changes in inter‐agency collaboration forced by the introduction of internal market mechanisms.

An enormous amount of time is spent talking about the involvement of the voluntary and community sector with crime and disorder reduction partnerships (CDRPs) and yet the reality is that the approach to the way that statutory services work with them continues to be mostly tokenistic. Whilst the government advocates the necessity of closer working relationships with voluntary or community organisations, few of these organisations play an integral part in working alongside most CDRPs as they discharge their responsibilities under the Crime and Disorder Act (1998). This article highlights the importance of CDRPs recognising how well placed the voluntary and community sector is in enabling them to plan, implement and evaluate their work.

Person-centred care is a fundamental component of any service. This case study aims to explore the delivery of person-centred care in the voluntary sector, discussing how integrating support can be achieved to benefit individuals. It identifies challenges, best practice and learning that can be applied across sectors and promotes further enquiry.

This case study is the result of a service audit at a mental health charity. The findings are a blend of reflections, observations and examples from service delivery, synthesised with national policy to provide evidence of best practice and processes that enable person-centred care.

A focus on need not diagnosis, creating accessible and inclusive services, employing dual trained practitioners, having a varied skill mix along with holistic self-assessment tools are all enablers for integrated person-centred support. Multi-agency assessment frameworks, collaboration across services, cross-agency supervision and a shared vision for integration and person-centred care support services to coordinate more effectively. Barriers to integrated person-centred support include complex physical and mental health needs and harmful risk and safeguarding. The diversity of the voluntary sector, a lack of resources along with complex and competitive funding also hinder integration.

This case study provides a valuable insight into the voluntary sector and shares its findings to enhance best practice. It aims to promote interest and invites further research into health and social care delivery by the voluntary sector. As this delivery continues to increase, it is vital to examine the interface between the voluntary and statutory sector. Through better understanding and further research across all sectors, the author can identify how they can achieve person-centred outcomes and deliver the national policies.

The purpose of this study is to consider three distinct bodies of literature and uses stakeholder theory as the premise of this study. The first deals with corporate sustainability reporting and voluntary disclosure behaviour, and corporate governance at the firm level, the second deals with the decision to utilize assurance services (voluntary adoption) and the third relates to the choice of auditor/assurance provider.

This study investigates these issues using archival data from some of the Top 200 listed companies in 2010 from the countries Australia and the UK. The final matched-pair sample consists of 220 listed companies.

The study finds that audit client size and the strength of corporate governance structures are significant in explaining the decision to produce a standalone sustainability report. Whereas few of these variables provide any explanatory value on the voluntary decision to assure the sustainability report, the existence of an active and diligent audit committee does have positive significance. Finally, the existence of an active and diligent sustainability committee is significant in explaining the choice of assurance provider where a member of the auditing profession was selected by the firm’s management.

Few studies (if any), have found a link between governance characteristics, sustainability report production, and assurance provider. The current study attempts to address this knowledge gap, and also considers the assurance work by professionals outside the auditing profession, and identifies which governance and firm-level characteristics may explain demand for their assurance services. This current study, assists to understand the low incidence of assurance and what might be necessary to increase demand for this type of assurance.

Intermediate care is emerging as performing an increasingly‐significant function in bridging the care gap between hospital and home. It does not emerge from a policy or service vacuum. Relationships between statutory health and social care services and the voluntary sector have their roots in past practices and separate agendas. The findings from this study indicate that any partnership between the statutory and voluntary sectors in delivering packages of intermediate care will inevitably encounter challenges associated with multi‐level, multi‐professional and multi‐agency collaboration. This article explores these challenges and provides some insight on how to meet them.

At present no satisfactory economic theory of non‐profit organizational leadership exists. The purpose of this paper is to develop an economic theory of non‐profit leadership and apply this theory to the problem of non‐profit failure or “voluntary sector failure.”

The paper draws on the economic literature on the non‐profit sector to critically examine this approach to theorizing about non‐profit organizations (NPOs). It then considers the contribution that Lester Salamon has made to the understanding of NPOs. It is argued that the very sources of non‐profit “distinctiveness” identified by Salamon are also simultaneously associated with “voluntary sector failure.” An economic theory of non‐profit leadership is developed and it is held that appropriate leadership can reduce voluntary failure.

The major comparative advantages of NPOs make these agencies particularly prone to various forms of “voluntary failure” that present challenges not only to NPOs, but also public policy makers. This paper presents a theory of non‐profit leadership that seeks to demonstrate that appropriate forms of non‐profit leadership can overcome, or at least ameliorate, voluntary failure.

Future research could determine empirically whether leadership plays a decisive role in the performance of the non‐profit sector. This would assist in assessing the empirical validity of the presented in this paper.

The literature on non‐profit failure is incomplete without an adequate theory of non‐profit leadership. This paper develops a theory of non‐profit organizational leadership and argues that appropriate leadership can reduce the extent and severity of non‐profit failure.

Financial abuse of people with dementia is of rising concern to family carers, the voluntary sector and professionals. Little is known about preventative and early response practice among community services staff. The purpose of this paper is to investigate voluntary sector staff's views of the risks of managing money when a person has a dementia and explore ways that individuals may be protected from the risks of financial abuse.

An online survey of staff of local Alzheimer's Society groups across England was conducted in 2011 and was completed by 86 respondents. Open-ended responses supplemented survey questions. Statistical analysis and content analysis identified emergent findings.

Most respondents said their people with dementia experienced problems with money management, with almost half the respondents reporting encountering cases of financial abuse over the past year. Most were alert to warning signs and vulnerabilities and offered suggestions relevant to practice and policy about prevention and risk minimization.

Adult safeguarding practitioners are likely to encounter money management uncertainties and concerns about exploitation of people with dementia. They may be contacted by community-based support staff from the voluntary sector about individual queries but could ensure that such practitioners are engaged in local training and networking activities to promote their skills and confidence.

As with other forms of elder abuse, professionals need to be aware of risks of financial abuse and be able to suggest effective yet acceptable preventive measures and ways to reduce risks of harm and loss. Further publicity about adult safeguarding services may be needed among local community support services.

There have been few studies investigating the views of people working with people with dementia in the community about adult safeguarding.

This paper discusses the Best Value programme, introduced in 1997, which is committed to providing high quality services that citizens value. The programme radically challenged the conventional organisation of public and voluntary services. Outlines the two major trends, which have emerged from the initiative. The first is the broadening and deepening of the engagement between the private and public sectors in the provision of community services. The second trend is more complex but also more radical – pulling together agencies responsible for social services, health services, voluntary services and community and media information services. States that the initiative has given new impetus to the debate on Urban FM – the idea that community management can be wholly externalised to professional service providers, responsible for investment and management of the public infrastructure and its associated services. Urban FM is simply a logical extension of the need to reinvest in community facilities and systems, and provide a flexible “platform” in which agencies and the private sector can come together in new and innovative settings for the benefit of the community.

Services for people with dementia in the UK have developed piecemeal in the context of wider agency agendas. Health and social care agencies located in rural areas face particular challenges if they are to be able to support people with dementia within their communities. This article describes a piece of work carried out in three rural counties in East Anglia designed to map services across the statutory, voluntary and private sectors, and to describe the ways in which national policy is being interpreted to meet local need. Examples of innovative practice, as well as gaps in service design and delivery, were identified through an examination of local policy documents and qualitative interviews with strategic managers, frontline managers and practitioners, and local carers of people with dementia. The findings confirm that services for older people with dementia are under‐developed in comparison with services for older people generally, and in comparison with mental health services for working age adults. There are particular gaps with respect to rarer types of dementia, services for people with learning difficulties, and services for people from minority ethnic groups. Historically, a lack of strategic planning has meant that service development has been patchy and unco‐ordinated. Carers have been affected by a shortage of joined‐up information, high eligibility criteria and a change to short‐term working by practitioners. Nevertheless, the potential for developing community‐based and inclusive services for people with dementia is apparent, and the adaptability required of rural areas may, subject to further evaluation, provide a template for service development elsewhere.