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1 – 10 of 16Eric Emerson, Gyles Glover, Sue Turner, Rob Greig, Chris Hatton, Susannah Baines, Alison Copeland, Felicity Evison, Hazel Roberts, Janet Robertson and Victoria Welch
The purpose of this paper is to describe the first 15 months of operation of an innovative specialist national public health observatory for intellectual disability.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the first 15 months of operation of an innovative specialist national public health observatory for intellectual disability.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides a narrative account of aims and achievements of the service.
Findings
In the first 15 months of operation the observatory has: made available to those involved in commissioning health and social care services, a wealth of information on the health needs of people with intellectual disabilities; identified specific improvements that could viably be made to increase the quality of future information; and begun working with local agencies to support them in making the best use of the available information.
Originality/value
People with intellectual disabilities experience significant health inequalities. This paper describes an innovative approach to helping local agencies make the best use of available information in order to commission services that may reduce these inequalities.
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Gyles Glover, Rebecca Lee and Alison Copeland
This paper seeks to discuss the development of a prototype index of the factors influencing mental wellbeing in local areas in England.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to discuss the development of a prototype index of the factors influencing mental wellbeing in local areas in England.
Design/methodology/approach
To support developments in mental health policy, a prototype version of an index of the extent of factors affecting wellbeing was developed for the 149 local government areas (local authorities). The work was based on a well‐developed conceptualisation of factors affecting mental wellbeing set out in a current Department of Health background paper. This identified five domains of relevant factors with positive and negative influences in each. For each of the five domains (“a positive start in life”, “resilience and a safe and secure base”, “integrated physical and mental health” “sustainable, connected communities”, and “meaning and purpose”), the authors attempted to find proxy measures of positive and risk factors among routinely collected government statistics. This proved difficult; measures for positive factors in three domains and risk factors in four domains were identified. These were combined to give scores for overall positive and negative influences on wellbeing and a resulting overall index. This was done using the methods developed for the English Index of Multiple Deprivation.
Findings
Positive factor scores are generally higher in rural areas, particularly the West Midlands, Bedfordshire, and Cambridgeshire, a southerly strip from Somerset and Dorset to Surrey, and Yorkshire, and Northumberland in the north. In London, Richmond, Bromley, and Havering score highly. High‐risk factor scores are generally seen in most urban areas, with a band of high scores from Liverpool and Manchester, through the West Yorkshire towns to Hull and Scunthorpe, clusters in the North East around Tyneside and Teesside and central London, particularly Hackney, Haringey, Islington, Southwark, Lambeth, and Kensington and Chelsea. In London, Richmond, Harrow, and Redbridge have notably low scores. Some notable regional differences were seen in the patterns of positive and risk rankings. The North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the North West stand out as having generally higher positive scores for any level of risk than Midland and Southern regions; London authorities have the lowest positive – in relation to risk scores.
Originality/value
The authors hope that the publication of a pilot study may prove helpful in identifying some of the issues which will need to be tackled if a fully working index in this area is to be developed.
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Trevor Hartland, Heather Skinner and Alison Griffiths
Sports sponsorship is perceived as important in developing relationships with key clients. However, few companies set relationship marketing objectives when sponsoring sports…
Abstract
Sports sponsorship is perceived as important in developing relationships with key clients. However, few companies set relationship marketing objectives when sponsoring sports. This paper aims to examine whether sports sponsors are pursuing the right objectives. It concludes that a deeper understanding of the sponsor's relationship marketing objectives could heighten the sponsor's success, thereby reinforcing and sustaining their own relationship with the sponsoring organisation.
Alison Fox, John R Grinyer and Alex Russell
This paper examines the lobbying behaviour of UK managers who commented on Accounting Standard Board proposals to re‐introduce full provision deferred taxation accounting…
Abstract
This paper examines the lobbying behaviour of UK managers who commented on Accounting Standard Board proposals to re‐introduce full provision deferred taxation accounting. Although there were no direct cash‐flow implications associated with these proposals, they had the potential to affect a company’s reported net income and revenue reserves. Using published comments and financial statements data, the paper tests: (a) the conventional positive accounting theory gearing hypothesis, using debt/equity ratios and (b) a new dividend hypothesis that is presented in the paper. The findings did not provide support for the gearing hypothesis and are therefore consistent with recent work of various other authors. However, the new dividend hypothesis was supported and the paper therefore suggests that the potential impact that an accounting treatment has on the revenue reserves of a company, and thus its dividend paying capacity, is a plausible reason for observed lobbying behaviour in the UK.
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Anna Marie Johnson, Amber Willenborg, Christopher Heckman, Joshua Whitacre, Latisha Reynolds, Elizabeth Alison Sterner, Lindsay Harmon, Syann Lunsford and Sarah Drerup
This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction through an extensive annotated bibliography of publications covering all…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction through an extensive annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2017 in over 200 journals, magazines, books and other sources.
Findings
The paper provides a brief description for all 590 sources.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.
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Scott R. Colwell, May Aung, Vinay Kanetkar and Alison L. Holden
The purpose of this paper is to report on the development and nomological testing of a 17‐item scale measuring the five dimensions of service convenience (decision, access…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on the development and nomological testing of a 17‐item scale measuring the five dimensions of service convenience (decision, access, transaction, benefit, and post‐benefit) as proposed by Berry, Seiders, and Grewal.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross‐sectional survey methodology was used to collect the data.
Findings
Reliability and validity assessments provided evidence of the scale's psychometric validity. Service convenience was found to be a significant predictor of overall satisfaction in the context of personal cellular telephone and internet usage.
Research limitations/implications
This study uses a student sample which may limit its generalizability to other respondents. Also, the cross‐sectional survey methodology does not allow for the investigation of causation. Future research should investigate other contexts outside of the cellular and internet services examined in this study and across a broader sample. Furthermore, the ability to retrospectively rate service convenience, the trade‐off between price and convenience, and the continuum of convenience need to be investigated further.
Originality/value
This study provides psychometrically valid scales to measure service convenience as conceptualized by Berry et al..
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Abbeygail Jones, Shuo Zhang, Amy Woodburn, Sarah Dorrington, Alison Beck and Helen Winter
The health and well-being of healthcare staff came into focus during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as already strained workforces responded to new and…
Abstract
Purpose
The health and well-being of healthcare staff came into focus during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as already strained workforces responded to new and additional challenges. Organisational support services made efforts to adapt staff support provision. However, most literature and recommendations are centred on surveys of medical and clinical staff. The present study included staff across clinical and non-clinical workforces within a mental health trust over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic to date, and aimed to understand workforces' access to and experiences of organisational support.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study was a qualitative one using convenience and purposive sampling. Semi-structured individual and group interviews were conducted using a topic guide. Reflexive thematic analysis was used in a phenomenological framework to analyse data.
Findings
35 staff, broadly representative of the trust workforce, were recruited. Six global themes summarised the experiences of staff in relation to work practices, personal well-being and support access over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: COVID-19 disease, interpersonal relationships, individual considerations, change, working environment and support.
Practical implications
The findings from the study have implications for organisational support provisions for healthcare workers and the dissemination of these services.
Originality/value
Acknowledging the multi-various experiences of different workforces within National Healthcare Service organisations and how these change over time will facilitate innovative changes to staff support provision.
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The following is an annotated list of materials dealing with information literacy including instruction in the use of information resources, research, and computer skills related…
Abstract
The following is an annotated list of materials dealing with information literacy including instruction in the use of information resources, research, and computer skills related to retrieving, using, and evaluating information. This review, the eighteenth to be published in Reference Services Review, includes items in English published in 1991. A few are not annotated because the compiler could not obtain copies of them for this review.
The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online…
Abstract
The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:
Jennifer Hall, Tess Kay, Alison K. McConnell and Louise Mansfield
Prolonged workplace sitting can harm employee health. Sit-stand desks are a potential workplace health initiative that might reduce and break up the time office-based employees…
Abstract
Purpose
Prolonged workplace sitting can harm employee health. Sit-stand desks are a potential workplace health initiative that might reduce and break up the time office-based employees spend sitting in the workplace. However, little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of providing sit-stand desks. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study sought stakeholder employee views surrounding sit-stand desk implementation within two UK-based non-profit organisations with open-plan offices. This paper draws on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 26 stakeholder employees and 65 days of participant observations. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, and organisational cultural theory framed the study.
Findings
Stakeholders employees’ positioning of sit-stand desks as a workplace health initiative reflected their perceptions of the relationship between sit-stand desk provision, employee health and organisational effectiveness. Perceptions were shaped by the nature and context of the organisation and by occupation-specific processes. Relatively fixed (e.g. organisational structure) and modifiable (e.g. selecting products compatible with the environment) factors were found to restrict and facilitate the perceived feasibility of implementing sit-stand desks.
Practical implications
The findings offer several recommendations for workplaces to improve stakeholder employee attitudes towards sit-stand desk provision and to increase the ease and efficiency of implementation.
Originality/value
Whilst extant literature has tended to examine hypothetical views related to sit-stand desk provision, this study consulted relevant stakeholders following, and regarding, the sit-stand desk implementation process.
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