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The purpose of this paper is to draw on systemic and psychodynamic theories to subject published serious case reviews (SCRs) involving self-neglect to a deeper level of scrutiny, in order to understand how complex contexts impact on self-neglect work. It also updates the dataset of self-neglect SCRs and accompanying thematic analysis.

Psychodynamic and systemic ideas are applied to the content of published SCRs in order to understand how different contexts – societal, legal, organisational, professional and personal – impact on and are influenced by work with adults who self-neglect. Further published reviews are added to the core dataset, with thematic analysis updated using four domains.

Thematic analysis within and recommendations from SCRs have focused on the micro context, what takes place between individual practitioners, their teams and adults who self-neglect. This level of analysis also commonly extends to how organisations have worked together and how Local Safeguarding Adults Board (LSABs) have supported and scrutinised their collaboration. This level of analysis enables an understanding of local geography. However, there are wider systems that impact on and influence this work, especially law and the societal context. If review findings and recommendations are to fully answer the question why, systemic analysis should be extended to appreciate the influence of national geography.

There is still no national database of reviews commissioned by LSABs so the dataset reported here might be incomplete. The Care Act 2014 does not require publication of reports but only a summary of findings and recommendations in LSAB annual reports. This makes learning for service improvement challenging.

Answering the question why is a significant challenge for safeguarding adults reviews (SARs). Different approaches have been recommended, some rooted in systems theory. The theoretical formulations here extend the lens of systemic analysis on the different contexts that influence how practitioners work with adults who self-neglect and simultaneously are shaped by that work. This adds to the practice, management and organisational evidence base for working with adults who self-neglect but also shines the analytic lens on legal and policy mandates.

The paper extends the use of systemic theory for understanding and learning from practice with adults who self-neglect and additionally offers psychodynamic formulations to appreciate what happens within and between practitioners and their organisations. The paper therefore contributes new perspectives to the methodology for conducting SARs. It also extends the thematic analysis of available reviews that focus on work with adults who self-neglect, further building on the evidence base for practice.

Child neglect is the most common form of maltreatment but is also one of the most complex. Neglect has a long-term negative impact on children and young people’s development and wellbeing. This study examined 20 recent serious case reviews that had taken place in England where neglect was a feature. The purpose of this study is sought to explore the barriers, which exist for social workers in England in identifying and responding to neglect in a timely, appropriate and effective manner.

Thematic analysis identified four main themes that were likely to impact upon effective interventions.

Challenges in terms of the definition of neglect and how to identify it; the use of neglect toolkits; the impact of organisational cultures on practice and the voice of the child.

In spite of its prevalence there is a dearth of literature relating specifically to the issue of neglect. There is a need for further research to be undertaken because of the acknowledged, seriousness and potential longstanding negative impact on children even into adulthood (Horwath, 2013). It is hoped that this study provides a useful insight into some of the barriers that exist for social workers in working effectively with children and families for whom neglect is an issue.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings from research into 40 serious case reviews (SCRs) involving adults who self-neglect.

The study comprised analysis of 40 SCRs where self-neglect featured. The reviews were found through detailed searching of Local Safeguarding Adult Board (LSAB) web sites and through contacts with Board managers and independent chairs. A four layer analysis is presented of the characteristics of each case and SCR, of the recommendations and of the emerging themes. Learning for service improvement is presented thematically, focusing on the adult and their immediate context, the team around the adult, the organisations around the team and the Local Safeguarding Board around the organisations.

There is no one typical presentation of self-neglect; cases vary in terms of age, household composition, lack of self-care, lack of care of one's environment and/or refusal to engage. Recommendations foreground LSABs, adult social care and unspecified agencies, and focus on staff support, procedures and the components of best practice and effective SCRs. Reports emphasise the importance of a person-centred approach, within the context of ongoing assessment of mental capacity and risk, with agencies sharing information and working closely together, supported by management and supervision, and practising within detailed procedural guidance.

There is no national database of SCRs commissioned by LSABs and currently there is no requirement to publish the outcomes of such inquiries. It may be that there are further SCRs, or other forms of inquiry, that have been commissioned by Boards but not publicised. This limits the learning that has been available for service improvement.

The paper identifies practice, management and organisational issues that should be considered when working with adults who self-neglect. These cases are often complex and stressful for those involved. The thematic analysis adds to the evidence-base of how best to approach engagement with adults who self-neglect and to engage the multi-agency network in assessing and managing risk and mental capacity.

The paper offers the first formal evaluation of SCRs that focus on adults who self-neglect. The analysis of the findings and the recommendations from the investigations into the 40 cases adds to the evidence-base for effective practice with adults who self-neglect.

The purpose of this paper is to update the core data set of self-neglect safeguarding adult reviews (SARs) and accompanying thematic analysis. The initial data set was published in this journal in 2015 and has since been updated annually. The complete data set is available from the author. The second purpose is to reflect on the narratives about adult safeguarding and self-neglect by focusing on the stories that are told and untold in the reviews.

Further published reviews are added to the core data set, drawn from the national SAR library and the websites of Safeguarding Adults Boards (SABs). Thematic analysis is updated using the domains used previously, direct work, the team around the person, organisational support and governance. SAR findings and recommendations are also critiqued using three further domains: knowledge production, explanation and aesthetics.

Familiar findings emerge from the thematic analysis and reinforce the evidence-base of good practice with individuals who self-neglect and for policies and procedures with which to support those practitioners working with such cases. SAR findings emphasise the knowledge domain, namely, what is actually found, rather than the explanatory domain that seeks to answer the question “why?” Findings and recommendations appear to assume that learning can be implemented within the existing architecture of services rather than challenging taken-for-granted assumptions about the context within which adult safeguarding is situated.

A national database of reviews completed by SABs has been established (www.nationalnetwork.org.uk), but this data set remains incomplete. Drawing together the findings from the reviews nonetheless reinforces what is known about the components of effective practice, and effective policy and organisational arrangements for practice. Although individual reviews might comment on good practice alongside shortfalls, there is little analysis that seeks to explain rather than just report findings.

Answering the question “why?” remains a significant challenge for SARs, where concerns about how agencies worked together prompted review but also where positive outcomes have been achieved. The findings confirm the relevance of the evidence-base for effective practice, but SARs are limited in their analysis of what enables and what obstructs the components of best practice. The challenge for SAR authors and for partners within SABs is to reflect on the stories that are told and those that remain untold or untellable. This is an exercise of power and of ethical and political decision-making.

The paper extends the thematic analysis of available reviews that focus on work with adults who self-neglect, further reinforcing the evidence base for practice. The paper analyses the degree to which SARs answer the question “why?” as opposed simply to answering the question “what?” It also explores the degree to which SARs appear to accept or challenge the context for adult safeguarding. The paper suggests that SABs and SAR authors should focus explicitly on what enables and what obstructs the realisation of best practice, and on the choices they make about the stories that are told.

This chapter explores occupational stress in research managers and administrators (RMAs). Data gathered from RMAs in the USA, Great Britain, Europe, Australasia, and Canada through the Research Administrator Stress Perception Survey (RASPerS) are used to examine factors that are known stressors or outcomes from occupational stress. The purpose of RASPerS is to measure and raise awareness about occupational stress and its impact on health behaviour in RMAs. Using descriptive statistics, factors associated with occupational stress including increasing demands, hours worked, anxiety due to competing demands between work and home, and reported self-neglect due to occupational stress are examined. We also explore what RMAs report as being the top motivating factors for remaining in the profession despite high levels of stress.

Awareness of the impact of occupational stress can aid RMAs in maintaining a healthier lifestyle and assist RMA leaders in building work environments that foster employee retention.

The paper examines three English research papers on self-neglect, from 1957, 1966 and 1975, discussing them in the context of more recent thinking and the statutory framework in England.

In reviewing the three research papers, developments and points of continuity in the field of self-neglect were identified and are discussed in this paper.

In light of the findings of the three articles, the present paper traces some of the classificatory refinements in this field that have taken place since the papers were published, notably in respect of hoarding and severe domestic squalor. Some of the difficulties in making judgements about behaviour thought to breach societal norms are described, and the challenges practitioners face in intervening in cases, particularly where the person concerned is refusing assistance, are examined.

By drawing on the historical research context, the paper contributes to our current understanding of the field of self-neglect.

Hostels’ competitiveness relies heavily on unique and genuine service and, thus, counts on employees actively creating a social, welcoming environment and, at the same time, caring about – and being loyal to – their hostel. This paper aims to investigate whether retaining employees who care about their hostel and refrain from destructive behaviours implies that these workers need to have a better quality of working life, as well as whether work engagement mediates this relationship.

A survey was conducted with 98 employees from 40 hostels in Lisbon. An analysis of the survey data was performed to test the research hypotheses. The model was estimated by means of partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The results reveal that quality of working life has a strong negative impact on employees’ exit behaviours and a positive effect on their loyalty. In addition, work engagement was found to mediate fully the relationship between quality of working life and both employee voice and neglect, as well as partially mediating exit intentions.

This study extended prior research in two ways. First, most theoretical and empirical studies in the hospitality and tourism industry have focused on hotels, so this research targeted a new context (i.e. hostels). Second, this study offers a clear indication of the relationship between employees’ quality of working life, work engagement and behaviours, thus offering valuable insights for management and hostel staff.

In 1948, South Africa's Apartheid legislation imposed modernist spatial planning on its populations and created worlds Black people struggled to connect with. Crime, poverty and unemployment have emerged as legacies of Apartheid that continue to impact the lives of Black people living in the townships. In 1994, the new democratic government identified community engagement (CE) as a critical process that could help restore the values of Black people and the places they live in.

This chapter explores a CE process as storytelling to trace the spatiality of agency. As a researcher-architect living in a township, I examined the voluntary community organisation (VCO), Studiolight's CE process, and an exhibition entitled Who we are Macassar, which was conducted between 2016 and 2018 in the community of Macassar, a township in the Western Cape of South Africa. The VCO worked with local youth to produce story maps and a street photography project that reauthors (retells and rewrites) the stories of life in Macassar to critically engage the spatial legacies of Apartheid. Brazilian theorist Paulo Freire's writings on how neglected population groups can self-organise to create knowledge that can restore social narratives is useful to make sense of the CE process. I highlight the spaces of the CE process and use Freire's concepts of critical action, praxis and co-creation to structure the study. I then reflect on the nomadic and sporadic spatiality that emerges in Macassar to discuss how architects can think about forging places with a sense of community identity and belonging.

This is a study of Attilio da Empoli’s reception in English. Describes the search to find his works or references to him. Gives details of the search process. There are only a few references to his work in English. There is nothing about his life in English. The first biography in English, “Attilio da Empoli’s Life” is given. Describes and discusses his reception in the English language, including comments on the historical context in which his writing occurred. Contains observations about his only book in English and the theory it contains. Concludes that he deserves more recognition than he has received. Contains suggestions about the kind of research program that is needed to put him on the record in English.

This paper aims to develop conceptual arguments questioning the efficacy of administration by the transaction cost economics (TCE) approach in an organization undergoing a major change.

The focus is on three distinct dimensions of organizational life where, as per prior research, TCE is likely to be inadequate: interdependence across transactions, high reliance on managerial foresight and inseparability of administrative decisions made at different points in time.

The climate of coercion and surveillance engendered by administration based on TCE approaches – that punishes deviation from goals, even when they are framed on inadequate knowledge – forestalls creative problem-solving that is necessary to address unforeseen developments that arise during change implementation. Fiat accomplishes within-group compliance in the change project sub-teams, but between-group interdependencies tend to be neglected, hampering organizational effectiveness. Moreover, attempts to create independent spheres of accountability for concurrent fiats regarding pre-existing and new commitments breed inefficiency and wastage.

The malevolent aspects of TCE-based administration contribute to organizational dysfunctions like escalation of commitment and developing of silos in organizations.

To succeed in effecting a major organizational change, meaningful relaxation of demands for delivering on prior goals is required, along with forbearance of errors made during trial-and-error learning.

TCE-based administration is deleterious to an organization attempting a major change. Supremacy accorded to resolution of conflicts in distinct hierarchical relationships by the mechanism of fiat fails to address the needs of an organizational reality where multiple groups are engaged in a set of interdependent activities and where multiple, interdependent organizational imperatives need to be concurrently served.