John McEwan McManus, Styliani Gkika and Elaine Swift
Hearing voices can be a debilitating and traumatic experience, and psychiatric hospitals can feel unsafe and overstimulating to voice hearers. Research suggests this may prolong a…
Abstract
Purpose
Hearing voices can be a debilitating and traumatic experience, and psychiatric hospitals can feel unsafe and overstimulating to voice hearers. Research suggests this may prolong a service user’s admission time and lead to an unhelpful experience. Therefore, a hearing voices group (HVG) was developed to create a safe space where voice hearers could share their story with others with lived experience and access support.
Design/methodology/approach
The group was developed by the first author under the supervision of the inpatient psychology lead. Both a practice-based and expert by experience-based approach were considered during the development of the group structure. The group also aligned with the Hearing Voices Network and the Trust’s values. A questionnaire was developed to evaluate the effectiveness of the group using six five-point Likert scale questions and three open questions to collect the data, which was then analysed.
Findings
The themes from the qualitative data showed that staff and ward-based promotion of the group were paramount to ensuring patient engagement. The results also showed that voice hearers found the group therapeutic, and some found the coping skills shared to be beneficial and effective.
Research limitations/implications
A large percentage of women (76%) reported that they had attended a HVG before. This was not the case for service users from the male unit and psychiatric intensive care unit. This result is considered to reflect the fact that women in that unit had the opportunity to attend more than once during their admission, rather than that they had accessed these groups in other settings or in the community. Therefore, in the future, it would be useful to change this question to “have you attended any other HVGs in the past, prior to this admission?”, which might be more appropriate for data collection.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the original work of the first author, who is an expert by experience and an assistant psychologist. The results suggest that HVGs can be beneficial for patients in acute and intensive mental health care and highlight some necessary adaptations and the importance of adopting an MDT approach in promoting therapeutic groups.
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Personal readers’ histories have long had a respected place in reading research. They add a human, personalized dimension to the studies of reading practices, often reported…
Abstract
Purpose
Personal readers’ histories have long had a respected place in reading research. They add a human, personalized dimension to the studies of reading practices, often reported through aggregate findings and generalized conclusions. Moreover, they introduce a private context of readers’ lives, which complements other reading contexts (e.g. historical, socio-economic and cultural) required for an understanding of reading behaviours. The purpose of this paper, based on a selected data set from a larger reading study, is to introduce a gallery of portraits of immigrant readers with the aim to facilitate the library practice with immigrant communities.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative face-to-face intensive interviews with immigrant readers.
Findings
The knowledge of reading contexts and the opportunity to see readers as individuals rather than anonymous statistics are crucial for librarians who come in contact with multicultural populations. Personal histories can also serve as a step in building interpersonal relationships between librarians and community members.
Originality/value
The value of the study is in introducing a methodological approach which, through collecting and writing reading histories, allows librarians to gain insight into the cultural practices of multicultural communities and to adjust their work accordingly. This approach can also be used as a prototype for researching other community groups.
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Josef Caruana, Elaine Debono, Katya Stroud and MariaElena Zammit
This study will determine the impact COVID-19 closures had on the Megalithic Temples of Malta. The physical, economic, social and conservation impacts will be discussed.
Abstract
Purpose
This study will determine the impact COVID-19 closures had on the Megalithic Temples of Malta. The physical, economic, social and conservation impacts will be discussed.
Design/methodology/approach
This study relies mainly on field observations of the effects managerial and state decisions had on the sites. A timeline from February to July 2020 will outline all major events and changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic happening in Malta and specifically within Heritage Malta sites.
Findings
The pandemic impacted the sites under study economically, and socially, whilst the impact on the sites attributed to visitors and other agents of deterioration were variable. These findings affected the way sites reopened to the public with restrictions and additional safety measures.
Originality/value
This article highlights the effect the pandemic had on archaeological sites in Central Mediterranean islands which are heavily reliant on tourism. It also highlights the important role such open-air sites have within the local community.
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Chris Quinn, Elaine Stevenson and Helen Glenister
The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has been established to reduce the risk of patient safety incidents and promote learning across the National Health Service that will…
Abstract
The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has been established to reduce the risk of patient safety incidents and promote learning across the National Health Service that will improve patient safety and help organisations to learn from the experience of others. One of the first projects has been to look at the way that infusion devices are purchased, stored and used within hospitals. This work has resulted in a number of recommendations centred on simplifying the range of devices available, using a centralised system to maximise use of the equipment and ensuring that staff are properly trained. The work has also involved manufacturers in the hope that future developments in equipment design will result in more user‐friendly devices that will reduce the risk of misuse and any consequent harm to patients. NPSA has just issued its first Safer Practice Notice to Trusts to highlight the issues around infusion devices and offer NHS organisations a toolkit to help them improve patient safety and make significant cost savings.
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Jorge Arteaga-Fonseca, Yi (Elaine) Zhang and Per Bylund
In this paper, the authors suggest that Central Americans can use entrepreneurship to solve economic uncertainty in their home country and that entrepreneurship can contribute to…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, the authors suggest that Central Americans can use entrepreneurship to solve economic uncertainty in their home country and that entrepreneurship can contribute to reducing the number of undocumented migrants to the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors first illustrate the context of Central American illegal migration to the USA from a transitional entrepreneurship perspective, the authors address the economic drivers of illegal migration from Central America, which results in marginalization in the USA. Second, the authors build a theoretical model that suggests that Central Americans can improve their entrepreneurial abilities through the entrepreneurial cognitive adjustment mechanism.
Findings
Central Americans at risk of illegally migrating to the USA have high entrepreneurial aptitudes. Entrepreneurship can help them avoid the economic uncertainty that drives Central Americans to illegally migrate to the USA and become part of a marginalized community of undocumented immigrants. This conceptual paper introduces an entrepreneurial cognitive adjustment mechanism as a tool for Central Americans to reshape their personalities and increase their entrepreneurial abilities in their home countries. In particular, entrepreneurial intentions reshape the personality characteristics of individuals (in terms of high agreeableness and openness to experiences, as well as low neuroticism) through the entrepreneurial cognitive adjustment mechanism, which consists of reflective action in sensemaking, cognitive frameworks in pattern recognition and coping in positive affect.
Originality/value
This paper studies Central Americans at risk of illegal migration using the lens of transitional entrepreneurship, which advances the understanding of the antecedents to marginalized immigrant communities in the USA and suggests a possible solution for this phenomenon. Besides, the authors build a cognitive mechanism to facilitate the transitional process starting from entrepreneurial intention to reshaping individuals' personality, which further opens individuals' minds to entrepreneurial opportunities. Since entrepreneurial intention applies the same way to all entrepreneurs, the authors' aim of constructing the entrepreneurial intention unfolding process will go beyond transitional entrepreneurship and contribute to intention-action knowledge generation (Donaldson et al., 2021). Moreover, the conceptual study contributes to public policy such that international and local agencies can better utilize resources and implement long-term solutions to the drivers of illegal migration from Central America to the USA.
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Households are exposed to a wide array of risks, characterized by a known or unknown probability distribution of events. Disasters are one of these risks at the extreme end…
Abstract
Households are exposed to a wide array of risks, characterized by a known or unknown probability distribution of events. Disasters are one of these risks at the extreme end. Understanding the nature of these risks is critical to recommending appropriate mitigation measures. A household’s resilience in resisting the negative outcomes of these risky events is indicative of its level of vulnerability. Vulnerability has emerged as the most critical concept in disaster studies, with several attempts at defining, measuring, indexing and modeling it. The paper presents the concept and meanings of risk and vulnerability as they have evolved in different disciplines. Building on these basic concepts, the paper suggests that assets are the key to reducing risk and vulnerability. Households resist and cope with adverse consequences of disasters and other risks through the assets that they can mobilize in face of shocks. Asustainable strategy for disaster reduction must therefore focus on asset‐building. There could be different types of assets, and their selection and application for disaster risk management is necessarily a contextual exercise. The mix of asset‐building strategies could vary from one community to another, depending upon households’ asset profile. The paper addresses the dynamics of assets‐risk interaction, thus focusing on the role of assets in risk management.
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The purpose of this paper is to focus on the theory and practice of disability psychotherapy (DP) using the integrative Frankish model (2013a). This draws on the model’s use with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the theory and practice of disability psychotherapy (DP) using the integrative Frankish model (2013a). This draws on the model’s use with a 28-year-old male with a mild intellectual disability (ID) who presented with a range of emotional and behavioural problems.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study reporting on the practice of DP of psychodynamic orientation.
Findings
Adaptations useful in providing DP with people with IDs and the type of issues which arise are reported.
Research limitations/implications
DP is possible and beneficial in community settings. Limitations of a single case study include generalisability of findings.
Originality/value
Existing papers focus on the model (Frankish, 2013a), development of the emotional development measuring tool (Frankish, 2013b) and contextual issues (Frankish, 2013c). This case study provides novel information on the practice of DP, and analysis of manifestations of white supremacy (Ani, 1994) in psychotherapy with people with IDs.
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Leon Schiffman, Shawn T. Thelen and Elaine Sherman
The purpose of this research is to examine whether generally trusting people are any more likely to be the same people who are also more politically trusting. In particular, the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to examine whether generally trusting people are any more likely to be the same people who are also more politically trusting. In particular, the research focuses on the relationship between interpersonal trust and three political trust‐related constructs: trust of government form, political cynicism, and incumbent trust.
Design/methodology/approach
The intention was to model the impact of general or interpersonal trust – i.e. Rotter's Interpersonal Trust scale, on three specific dimensions of political trust – i.e. “trust in government form”, “political cynicism”, and “incumbent trust”. This was achieved through a questionnaire, which was mailed to a random sample of 4,000 American households.
Findings
The structural aspects of the model reveal a significantly strong path between Rotter's broad‐based interpersonal trust scale and the more specific incumbent trust measure. The model also indicates a modestly strong relationship between interpersonal trust and trust in form of government, and a weak relationship between interpersonal trust and political cynicism.
Originality/value
This research should prove useful to academic research, campaign managers, and political strategists in terms of reinforcing the importance of different aspects or components of trust, as well as their interrelationship, and how they might impact political strategy and campaign development.
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THE influence of wireless on libraries is marked. As a method of publicity it is unmatched. On April 20th the new secretary of the Library Association, Mr. Guy Keeling, joined the…
Abstract
THE influence of wireless on libraries is marked. As a method of publicity it is unmatched. On April 20th the new secretary of the Library Association, Mr. Guy Keeling, joined the number of library broadcasters with a talk from 2 LO on “What Your Public Library can do for You.” The announcer said he regarded the talk as a fresh mark of the co‐operation between the B.B.C. and the public libraries which had been so fruitful in the past; and Mr. Keeling made his first real public appearance as Secretary with a clearly Stated account of our ordinary activities, enlivened with humour, and delivered in excellent manner. Together with all those who have any vision in the matter, he looks forward to co‐operation between all libraries.
Ibrahim Elbeltagi, Thijs Kempen and Elaine Garcia
This research covers a rather unexplored area of customer relationship management (CRM) by questioning the mechanism between on the one hand the Pareto-principle and on the other…
Abstract
Purpose
This research covers a rather unexplored area of customer relationship management (CRM) by questioning the mechanism between on the one hand the Pareto-principle and on the other hand traditional non-IT supported operational CRM processes. Thus, the paper aims to explore whether a minority of processes and process-aspects deserves credit for achieving a majority of CRM goals.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach is the most appropriate due to the assumption that access to the reality of a situation is only possible through social construction. A qualitative approach seeks to answer questions posed by studying different social settings. As noted by Berg, qualitative techniques make it possible for researchers to participate in understanding and perceiving others, as well as permitting them to discover how people structure their daily lives to make them more meaningful.
Findings
The questioned mechanism of on the one hand traditional non-IT supported operational CRM process-aspects and on the other hand the Pareto-principle is confirmed by the majority of interviewees who answered affirmatively to small things making big differences in customer contact.
Research limitations/implications
Regarding the limitations of this study, the results are hard to generalise as the research context depends on a single case study. However, the high levels of detail that allows for greater insight into manufacturing SMEs in HGV-Trailer that want to adopt non-IT support operational CRM where there is lack of financial resources justify the choice of this case study.
Practical implications
This study is important for management to focus and develop social on top of technical competencies. This was clear from the importance of social intercourse as the glue that links all the non-IT supported operational processes from break down to invoices. It helps in removing the uncertainty from the view point of customers and highlights the importance of the care that companies need to give to the human side of the process more than objectifying things. Moreover, the finding provides an important implication for practitioners involved spare-parts purchasing process and the warranty claiming process should continuously assess whether they operate in support of a breakdown or not and subsequently use this insight to prioritize their tasks.
Originality/value
This research tried to answer how the Pareto-principle applies to traditional non-IT supported operational CRM process-aspects by concluding that the first social intercourse, as well as problem ownership, belongs – from a customers' viewpoint – to the “vital few” leading to “trivial many” results of rational and emotional nature. This is especially true in the breakdown process, and processes that operate in support of breakdowns.