Susan Saldanha, Natalie Tavitian, Elizabeth Lehman, Lindsay Carey and Peter Higgs
Housing First (HF) is an evidence-based practice effective in reducing homelessness among those who experience chronic homelessness. However, a strong synthesis evaluating the…
Abstract
Purpose
Housing First (HF) is an evidence-based practice effective in reducing homelessness among those who experience chronic homelessness. However, a strong synthesis evaluating the effectiveness of this intervention is lacking for people who use drugs. The purpose of this study is to explore international literature databases to identify the effectiveness of the HF programme among people who use drugs.
Design/methodology/approach
A modified framework from Arksey and O’Malley (2005) was used, namely: identifying the research question; developing inclusion and exclusion criteria; identifying relevant studies for study selection; charting the data; and collating, summarising and reporting the results.
Findings
Three main themes were identified: substance use related outcomes, housing-related outcomes and social outcomes. There is strong evidence that HF increases housing retention and reduces homelessness among chronically homeless people who use drugs. However, literature relating to substance use and social outcomes for this population report mixed and inconclusive findings.
Research limitations/implications
This scoping review concludes that additional research is required to conclusively determine whether HF is an effective intervention for homeless substance users. Future researchers must use formal assessments of substance use and ensure clear reporting of the HF intervention is accomplished. It is recommended for researchers and policymakers to consider the specific needs of the people who use drugs before implementation of HF for this population.
Practical implications
Differential effectiveness of HF through diagnostic subgroups such as alcohol use and drug use is varied with alcohol use being found to decrease due to the HF programme, but findings relating to other drug use outcomes are varied. As most previous studies used the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) to measure substance use among participants, however, the ASI, a self-reporting measure has unstable criterion validity and can cause under or over reporting of substance use. Structured toxicology or diagnostic assessments of substance use must be used for research instead to assist researchers in making firm conclusions about the reported rates.
Social implications
The slightly poorer housing outcomes among people who use substances indicate that this group may need more intensive approaches to finding and maintaining housing. Additional services for the group that address comorbid problems and consequences relating to substance use are required. It is suggested that housing should be provided within an integrated model that offers additional support services such as case management as when well matched to clients, case management appears to be an effective intervention among homeless sub-populations, as it reduces substance use, improves quality of life and health outcomes, improves social connectedness and increases housing tenure and satisfaction.
Originality/value
This scoping review concludes that additional research is required to conclusively determine whether HF is an effective intervention for homeless substance users. Future researchers must use formal assessments of substance use and ensure clear reporting of the HF intervention is accomplished. It is recommended for researchers and policymakers to consider the specific needs of the people who use drugs before HF implementation for this population.
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Roisin McColl, Peter Higgs and Brendan Harney
Globally, hepatitis C treatment uptake is lower among people who are homeless or unstably housed compared to those who are housed. Understanding and addressing this is essential…
Abstract
Purpose
Globally, hepatitis C treatment uptake is lower among people who are homeless or unstably housed compared to those who are housed. Understanding and addressing this is essential to ensure no one is left behind in hepatitis C elimination efforts. This study aims to explore peoples’ experiences of unstable housing and health care, and how these experiences influenced engagement in hepatitis C treatment.
Design/methodology/approach
Purposive sampling was used to recruit people with lived experience of injection drug use, hepatitis C and unstable housing in Melbourne, Australia. In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted and a case study approach with interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to identify personal experiential themes and group experiential themes.
Findings
Four people were interviewed. The precarious nature of housing for women who inject drugs was a group experiential theme, however, this did not appear to be a direct barrier to hepatitis C treatment. Rather, competing priorities, including caregiving, were personal experiential themes and these created barriers to treatment. Another group experiential theme was “right place, right time, right people” with these three elements required to facilitate hepatitis C treatment.
Originality/value
There is limited research providing in-depth insight into how personal experiences with unstable housing and health care shape engagement with hepatitis C treatment. The analyses indicate there is a need to move beyond a “one size fits-all” approach to hepatitis C care. Instead, care should be tailored to the needs of individuals and their personal circumstances and regularly facilitated. This includes giving greater attention to gender in intervention design and evaluation, and research more broadly.
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Carla Treloar, Eileen Baldry, Peter Higgs, Paul Dietze, Mark Stoove and Andrew Lloyd
Jane Andrew, Max Baker, Christine Cooper and Yves Gendron
The current academic publishing model, in which researchers rely significantly on multinational publishing companies to disseminate their work, has implications for knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
The current academic publishing model, in which researchers rely significantly on multinational publishing companies to disseminate their work, has implications for knowledge enterprise both in terms of knowledge production and distribution. This study aims to provide a critical reflection on the academic publishing model and how it works, particularly in light of the rise of open access publishing and the growing analytics focus of publishing companies and discusses the impact on knowledge equity.
Design/methodology/approach
This exploratory essay offers a critical analysis of the impact of the current academic publishing model on research practices. The discussion provides a foundation for the argument that knowledge equity is essential to social justice.
Findings
To effectively fulfil the transformative aims of the interdisciplinary research community within social and environmental accounting, it is imperative to establish equitable access to published research.
Originality/value
This essay opens space for discussion of the current publishing model, given its dominance of the knowledge enterprise. It outlines some of the implications of this model for knowledge equity and suggests strategies for fostering a more inclusive and accessible dissemination of scholarly work.
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The purpose of this paper is to expand on some of the points made in Ken Merchant's paper (this issue) in connection with the research‐practice gap.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to expand on some of the points made in Ken Merchant's paper (this issue) in connection with the research‐practice gap.
Design/methodology/approach
Aiming to be provocative for the purpose of evoking further discussion, this commentary adopts the perspective that some deeply rooted misconceptions about the nature and production of scientific knowledge underpin the research‐practice gap.
Findings
There are three key findings. First, contrary to popular belief, practical knowledge does not simply derive from basic (“scientific”) knowledge “trickling down” to practice; instead, basic knowledge needs to be transformed into a theory or phronesis of management accounting in a manner that reflects the context and purpose of organizations. Practical knowledge therefore becomes a distinct and rigorous mode of knowing in its own right, no less important than basic knowledge. Second, the adoption of field research or the case study method may be the only way to overcome all of the dimensions associated with the “data problem” existing in management accounting. Finally, a strong argument can be made to suggest that the research‐practice gap and its epistemological underpinnings not only impede the discipline's ability to carve out its own unique intellectual identity (Malmi and Granlund), but they also explain the discipline's inability to produce a cumulative body of knowledge.
Originality/value
The paper suggests that a key step, among others, in addressing the researcher‐practitioner gap is the need to overcome philosophical misconceptions about the nature and production of scientific knowledge. This perspective has not received significant coverage in accounting.
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The formulated proposals for this legal principle in the trade battern of the European Community have again appeared in the EEC draft Directive. It has been many years in coming…
Abstract
The formulated proposals for this legal principle in the trade battern of the European Community have again appeared in the EEC draft Directive. It has been many years in coming, indicating the extreme difficulties encountered in bringing some sort of harmony in the different laws of Member‐states including those of the United Kingdom, relating to the subject. Over the years there were periods of what appeared to be complete inactivity, when no progress was being made, when consultations were at a stand‐still, but the situation was closely monitored by manufacturers of goods, including food and drink, in the UK and the BFJ published fairly detailed reviews of proposals being considered — in 1979 and 1981; and even as recently as the last few months — in “Consumerism in the Community”, the subject was briefly discussed.
The paper's purpose is to identify the inappropriateness of the current model of regulation of corporate governance, which applies worldwide; and inherent paradoxes in the five…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper's purpose is to identify the inappropriateness of the current model of regulation of corporate governance, which applies worldwide; and inherent paradoxes in the five areas of best practice in corporate governance.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a review paper building new conceptualization for research into governance. The paper identifies the origins of the issues with weaknesses in the ontological and epistemological base for theorizing about corporate governance and its regulation. It suggests an alternative theoretical basis, identifying ways forward for developing theoretically aligned best practice along with regulation that properly reflects the complexity of the post‐modern business world.
Findings
The paper calls for a fresh approach to governance theorizing for regulation and best‐practice through considering governance praxis rather than structure and the reconceptualization of governance as a process of systematically balancing out tensions in order to effect good governance.
Practical implications
Governance research and regulation requires reframing so that good theory can improve practice.
Originality/value
The paper goes against the conventional wisdom in governance research, falling in with more advanced thinking for practice‐based studies of organising.
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This paper examines post‐Enron developments in UK audit and corporate governance regulation. It considers the latest government‐initiated reviews into audit regulation…
Abstract
This paper examines post‐Enron developments in UK audit and corporate governance regulation. It considers the latest government‐initiated reviews into audit regulation, specifically those conducted by the Co‐ordinating Group on Audit and Accounting Issues and the DTI Review Team, and into corporate governance, specifically those undertaken by Derek Higgs and Sir Robert Smith. The paper notes that the reviews were undertaken in the context of developments initiated both before and after the collapse of Enron, including, respectively, the new system for the regulation of the UK accountancy profession as established by the Accountancy Foundation, and the US Sarbanes‐Oxley Act. The reviews have been welcomed by government and thus should play a large part in setting the agenda for the future regulation of UK audit and corporate governance. The proposals for auditing share a number of characteristics with the recommendations of a pre‐Enron empirical study which investigated the regulation of UK listed company audit, although significant distinctions remain. The proposals for corporate governance continue the ‘comply or explain’ approach and do not recommend passing its regulation from the Financial Reporting Council to another independent body of ‘stature’ such as the Financial Services Authority (FSA). It is concluded that key to successful implementation of recent proposals will be the need, for audit, to demonstrate that there is no cosy relationship between regulators and the auditing profession, especially the ‘Big Four’ firms, and, for corporate governance, a willingness to look outside the ‘one‐size‐fits‐all’ approach.
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Denning, L.J. Diplock and L.J. Russell
March 18, 1966 Trade Dispute — Acts in furtherance of — Procuring breach of contract — Sub‐contract for “labour only” — Trade union objection in principle to “labour only”…
Abstract
March 18, 1966 Trade Dispute — Acts in furtherance of — Procuring breach of contract — Sub‐contract for “labour only” — Trade union objection in principle to “labour only” contracts — Industrial action to procure termination of sub‐contract continued after opportunity to learn terms on which sub‐contract terminable — Application by sub‐contractors for interim injunction — Whether industrial action prima facie unlawful interference with sub‐contract — Whether “labour only” contract “contract of employment”, Trade Disputes Act, 1906 (6 Edw. VII, c.47),s.3 — Trade Disputes Act, 1965 (c.48),s.1.
Philip O'Regan, David O'Donnell, Tom Kennedy, Nick Bontis and Peter Cleary
The emergence of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector in Ireland over the course of the past decade has paralleled a period of exceptional national economic…
Abstract
Purpose
The emergence of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector in Ireland over the course of the past decade has paralleled a period of exceptional national economic growth. This has raised questions regarding wealth distribution, power and governance. This paper seeks to identify some of the characteristics of the governance culture in this sector in Ireland. It deals specifically with issues such as board composition, non‐executive directors and the perceived role and usefulness of accounting information in the decision‐making process.
Design/methodology/approach
Questionnaire feedback from chief financial officers (CFOs), focusing specifically on the board of directors of indigenous, private firms.
Findings
The research indicates that firms operating in this sector adopt structures and cultures similar to those in more traditional sectors. However, there is evidence that Irish ICT firms have responded positively to calls for the roles and responsibilities of non‐executive directors to be recognised and accommodated. It also confirms the continuing centrality of accounting information to the decision‐making process.
Originality/value
The research represents an initial survey of firms operating in this sector. As such it is concerned with identifying overall patterns and contours. It is unusual in seeking feedback from CFOs and, as such, offers some unique insights. The findings will be of interest to those operating in the ICT sector and those seeking to identify the governance features that characterise this emerging and dynamic area.