Nicole S. Gevaux and Stephanie Petty
The purpose of this paper is to investigate optimal resources to promote resilience in staff working in inpatient mental health services. The study also provides an example of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate optimal resources to promote resilience in staff working in inpatient mental health services. The study also provides an example of card sorting methodology used as an efficient way to identify the most helpful resources for resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 25 clinical staff participated in the study. A preliminary focus group and brief literature search identified resources used in two tasks. Two card sorting tasks identified resources participants found helpful vs unhelpful and abundant vs scarce, and resources they would find valuable to use more often.
Findings
The results indicate that most resources helpful to resilience and available to staff were personal resources (relating to positive outlooks or ways of working), whereas resources valuable to resilience but scarce in the working environment were organisational resources (relating to management or social workplace culture). Resources found to not be valuable to resilience were largely personal tangible resources (e.g. smoking, massages).
Practical implications
The findings and method may be generalisable to other mental health services, giving insight into promoting resilience within individuals and organisations. This information could serve as guidelines to streamline the allocation of organisational resources to best promote resilience across various mental health settings.
Originality/value
Staff resilience to working in mental health services contributes to high-quality, sustainable patient care. This study provides further insight into how personal and organisational resources are both vital to resilience in staff working in highly challenging environments.
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Stephanie Petty, Amanda Griffiths, Donna Maria Coleston and Tom Dening
Improving hospital care for people with dementia is a well-established priority. There is limited research evidence to guide nursing staff in delivering person-centred care…
Abstract
Purpose
Improving hospital care for people with dementia is a well-established priority. There is limited research evidence to guide nursing staff in delivering person-centred care, particularly under conditions where patients are emotionally distressed. Misunderstood distress has negative implications for patient well-being and hospital resources. The purpose of this study is to use the expertise of nurses to recommend ways to care for the emotional well-being of patients with dementia that are achievable within the current hospital setting.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study was conducted in two long-stay wards providing dementia care in a UK hospital. Nursing staff (n = 12) were asked about facilitators and barriers to providing emotion-focused care. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.
Findings
Nursing staff said that resources existed within the ward team, including ways to gather and present personal information about patients, share multidisciplinary and personal approaches, work around routine hospital tasks and agree an ethos of being connected with patients in their experience. Staff said these did not incur financial cost and did not depend upon staffing numbers but did take an emotional toll. Examples are given within each of these broader themes.
Research limitations/implications
The outcome is a short-list of recommended staff actions that hospital staff say could improve the emotional well-being of people with dementia when in hospital. These support and develop previous research.
Originality/value
In this paper, frontline nurses describe ways to improve person-centred hospital care for people with dementia.
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Rosie Blagg and Stephanie Petty
The purpose of this paper is to explore how staff attend to their well-being when working in an inpatient mental health setting with older adults with dementia and complex mental…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how staff attend to their well-being when working in an inpatient mental health setting with older adults with dementia and complex mental health needs; how staff understand the link between their well-being and the well-being of patients.
Design/methodology/approach
A semi-structured group interview was held with 11 members of two multidisciplinary teams. The discussion was audio-recorded and analysed using thematic analysis.
Findings
Staff reported managing their well-being by both connecting with and avoiding the difficult emotions of the work. The team avoided the gravity of the work through humour, a task-focus, an absence of thinking and the displacement of workplace frustrations onto an outgroup. Connecting with emotions was done in tolerable ways: in contained reflective spaces, in the presence of supportive others, through genuine connections with patients as people and when the organisation demonstrated care for the staff.
Practical implications
Avoidant strategies appeared to represent short-term ways of maintaining staff well-being, while connecting with the gravity of the work appeared to represent what we hope is a more sustainable approach to managing well-being. A crucial premise for staff well-being is teams embedded within organisations that care for their employees.
Originality/value
Poor staff well-being can have serious consequences for an organisation, particularly in the existentially challenging environment of dementia care. This study offers a unique opportunity to explore staff well-being in a UK inpatient mental health setting with older adults with dementia and complex mental health needs.
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Samantha Rankin and Stephanie Petty
The perspectives of frontline clinical staff working with individuals in later life within an inpatient mental health setting, of their role in recovery, have not yet been…
Abstract
Purpose
The perspectives of frontline clinical staff working with individuals in later life within an inpatient mental health setting, of their role in recovery, have not yet been explored. The purpose of this paper is to understand what recovery means within an inpatient mental health setting for older adults. The authors address clear implications for clinical practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 multidisciplinary participants across two specialist older adult recovery units at an independent hospital in the UK. Thematic analysis was applied to the transcripts.
Findings
Three main themes were identified: participants identified their normative task as the promotion of “moving on” (clinical recovery) and their existential task as personal recovery. The context in which recovery happens was highlighted as the third theme. These represented competing workplace goals of clinical and personal recovery. This highlights the need to give permission to personal recovery as the process that enables mental health recovery in older adults.
Originality/value
Staff working in a inpatient mental health service for older adults discussed the meaning of recovery and their role in enabling recovery. This has implications for sustainable clinical practice in this setting. Recovery-orientated practice in this setting is required but the detail is not yet understood.
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Adopting a sense of critical enquiry when examining historical sources, it is possible to gain a richer and broader sense of present practice. The aim of this study is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Adopting a sense of critical enquiry when examining historical sources, it is possible to gain a richer and broader sense of present practice. The aim of this study is to emphasise the importance of historical research to present practice in teasing out the different elements at work and how they developed. A core assumption is that our consciousness depends on our interactions with others.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is part of ongoing research into the historical background of the practice of discerning compassion. The methods used include archival research and the reading of primary and secondary literature.
Findings
In particular, it becomes clear that this way of working is always going to be problematic for political authorities as it promotes the questioning of accepted beliefs. This study emphasises that the core concepts underlying enabling community practice reach deep into the past and involve events not usually associated with the traditional histories of the approach. In particular, exploring outside of the traditional mental hospital background reveals a greater involvement of women than previously demonstrated. There are processes that have deep historical roots, the culture of enquiry, the benefits of mutual support and the understanding that people flourish better interacting with each other in a supportive and trusting environment rather than through coercion and instruction.
Research limitations/implications
As with all historical research, this paper is limited by the resources available to examine particular events.
Practical implications
Recognition of the importance of historical enquiry as relevant to present-day practice.
Social implications
Historical enquiry helps to acknowledge the importance of social events in shaping our present understanding. As W.H. Rivers argues, we have to understand what happened in the past before comprehending why present sociological events occur.
Originality/value
This paper is a unique enquiry into the early historical antecedents of enabling community practice. It is intended to stimulate more research into the field and to stimulate debate about the relevance of particular aspects of practice. It refers to sources that are not usually part of such discussions and, by implication, suggests that there is more to be explored. It is not an exhaustive account and is to be supplemented by another paper on leadership.
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Although the idea of a therapeutic community (TC) has lost none of its dynamism, there are many modern‐day environments in which the original TC model has been unable to make…
Abstract
Although the idea of a therapeutic community (TC) has lost none of its dynamism, there are many modern‐day environments in which the original TC model has been unable to make headway. In recent years, new ideas have been emerging for the development of institutions and services that can be adapted to a wide range of psychological needs and settings, such as homelessness hostels and refuges. The psychologically‐informed environment (PIE) arises from the scope for reflective practice, leading to changes in day‐to‐day working ‐ including a more planned variant for high secure services. The PIE approach seems to offer greater flexibility in scope than the TC model. Nevertheless, such new approaches may yet need a clear values base; and the next article in this series will explore new ideas for the creation of ‘enabling environments’ in a still wider range of settings.
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This paper aims to examine reform of mental health legislation in England and Wales. It covers the period from the introduction of the 1983 MHA to the proposed reforms outlined in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine reform of mental health legislation in England and Wales. It covers the period from the introduction of the 1983 MHA to the proposed reforms outlined in the Wessley Review that was published in December 2018.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a literature-based project.
Findings
Reform of the mental health legislation reflects two potentially conflicting strands. One is the state’s power to incarcerate the “mad”, and the other is the move to protect the civil rights of those who are subject to such legislation. The failures to development adequately funded community-based mental health services and a series of inquiries in the 1990s led to the introduction of Community Treatment Orders in the 2007 reform of the MHA.
Research limitations/implications
The development of mental health policy has seen a shift towards more coercive approaches in mental health.
Practical implications
The successful reform of the MHA can only be accomplished alongside investment in community mental health services.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the tensions between the factors that contribute to mental health legislation reform.
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This paper seeks to grasp the nettle of developing a “checklist” of standards that can be used to accredit a therapeutic community, which are concrete enough to be objectively…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to grasp the nettle of developing a “checklist” of standards that can be used to accredit a therapeutic community, which are concrete enough to be objectively assessed as present to a greater or lesser degree, but at the same time reflect the daily living learning experience of a therapeutic community in a way that practitioners will recognise as a true picture of what they do or try to do.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes the development of a set of auditable standards for democratic therapeutic communities, and the results of an initial pilot study. The original 60‐item checklist is attached.
Findings
The Kennard‐Lees Audit Checklist (KLAC) was developed out of an accreditation structure proposed to the ATC by Morris in 1998. This was developed by the present authors into 42 specific items which were posted for comment and suggestions on the ATC website in October 1999. A modified version was then discussed with the Prison Service, as a result of which a number of further items were added, resulting in the 60 items versions that was published on the ATC website in October 2000.
Originality/value
The checklist provides a set of auditable standards acceptable to managers, practitioners and residents of TCs. This early work acts as a measure for how things have changed since 2001.
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Reexamination and reinterpretation of the process of deinstitutionalization of public mental hospital inpatients.
Abstract
Purpose
Reexamination and reinterpretation of the process of deinstitutionalization of public mental hospital inpatients.
Methodology/approach
A comprehensive review of related research is presented and lessons learned for the sociology of mental health are identified.
Findings
The processes of both institutionalization and deinstitutionalization were motivated by belief in the influence of the social environment on the course of mental illness, but while in the early 19th century the social environment of the mental hospital was seen as therapeutic, later in the 20th century the now primarily custodial social environment of large state mental hospitals was seen as iatrogenic. Nonetheless, research in both periods indicated the benefit of socially supportive environments in the hospital, while research on programs for deinstitutionalized patients and for homeless persons indicated the value of comparable features in community programs.
Research limitations/implications
While the process of deinstitutionalization is largely concluded, research should focus on identifying features of the social environment that can maximize rehabilitation.
Practical implications
The debate over the merits of hospital-based and community-based mental health services is misplaced; policies should instead focus on the alternatives for providing socially supportive environments. Deinstitutionalization in the absence of socially supportive programs has been associated with increased rates of homelessness and incarceration among those most chronically ill.
Originality/value
A comprehensive analysis of deinstitutionalization that highlights flaws in prior sociological perspectives and charts a new direction for scholarship.
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The purpose of this paper is to explain that an integration of cognitivism with sociotherapy is possible and appropriate to help severe BPD cases. What follows is both an outline…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain that an integration of cognitivism with sociotherapy is possible and appropriate to help severe BPD cases. What follows is both an outline and a rationale of this integration.
Design/methodology/approach
Recovery programs for serious BPD represent a challenge because they require complex answers in three problematic areas: interdependent relationships, emotional intensity and identity, virtually at the same time. This prompted Raymond Gledhill Community the opportunity to integrate recovery programs with treatments that have yielded proven results for each cluster. Schema therapy and Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving have been integrated with sociotherapy.
Findings
This integration has led to considerable results including: increased motivation among the resident community, the adoption of a shared language, improved communication levels in the community, greater mutual support, increased trust in, and empathy toward, fellow residents, and more self-awareness – even among the facilitators.
Originality/value
It is the belief that the integration of cognitive tools with sociotherapy can indeed target recovery for people with BPD in a much more efficacious and cost effective manner.
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Brendan James Dunlop and Mark Andrew McFetridge
There is evidence that attachment style and clinical outcomes are related within Therapeutic Communities (TCs). This paper aims to examine any possible relationships between…
Abstract
Purpose
There is evidence that attachment style and clinical outcomes are related within Therapeutic Communities (TCs). This paper aims to examine any possible relationships between self-reported adult attachment style, therapy programme engagement and measures of psychological distress and dissociation on admission and discharge within a residential TC.
Design/methodology/approach
Ex-clients of the TC were contacted by post and invited to take part in this service evaluation. Additional data were sourced from a database of routinely collected outcome measures. Of 281 ex-clients, the final sample in this study was N = 32.
Findings
When attachment style is conceptualised dimensionally, participants identified most strongly with a fearful attachment style, and least with a preoccupied or secure style. A range of attachment styles were reported. A significant association was apparent between self-reported secure attachment and reduced levels of psychological distress upon discharge from the TC. The potential for changes in client attachment patterns following TC membership is discussed.
Research limitations/implications
The small sample size and correlational nature of this study means that results should be interpreted cautiously. Nevertheless, results are of clinical relevance for inpatient or residential therapy programmes (including TCs). Such programmes should routinely assess client attachment style to ensure appropriate interventions and adaptions are implemented.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, to date, this is the first known study to report on the relationship between self-reported adult attachment style and psychological outcomes specifically for women with self-defeating behaviours within a TC.
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ONE OF THE NEWER FIELDS of librarianship is that of the hospital librarian. It is advancing rapidly. My special province was a psychiatric hospital, until I resigned for domestic…
Abstract
ONE OF THE NEWER FIELDS of librarianship is that of the hospital librarian. It is advancing rapidly. My special province was a psychiatric hospital, until I resigned for domestic reasons. I found several differences almost immediately in this work as against the public library in which I had been trained.
Mental health disorders, namely, anxiety and depression, have reached an unprecedented peak; recent research demonstrates that these disorders have increased by 70 per cent over…
Abstract
Purpose
Mental health disorders, namely, anxiety and depression, have reached an unprecedented peak; recent research demonstrates that these disorders have increased by 70 per cent over the last 25 years. Additionally, developments in the field of environmental psychology have elicited that the built environment is a crucial factor affecting mental health. It is, therefore, necessary for architects to address the issue when designing, thereby using a holistic approach to promote general well-being. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The project, Asylum: A Place of Refuge, seeks to create a reinterpretation of the eighteenth century asylum, through which the intervention of nature – vast pastures and bucolic settings – believed it had the power to cure the human psyche while, simultaneously, offering redemption. This paper examines the project in relation to multiple books and readings conducted prior and while designing. These references, many of which are considered staples in the field, refer to the important role and impact architecture and landscape have on mental health. Additionally, it discusses the ways architects can consciously design to promote physiological well-being and ensure positive psychological experience through adoption of a comprehensive approach that bridges the gap between the body and mind. Finding sources related to environmental psychology was also crucial as the research conducted in this field provides scientific reasoning to support design decisions.
Findings
By employing strategies from the readings as well as creating a stimulating space that challenges the conception of architecture, the project: Asylum: A Place of Refuge, was born. The use of a powerful, specific and emotive language inherent to the setting as well as a constant relationship between nature and the built environment creates a safe haven for people to resort to, away from the pressures and stresses of everyday life amplified by bustling cities. The ethos of the project is essentially inspired upon Ebenezer Howard’s concept introduced in his book, Garden Cities of Tomorrow, where he states that “human society and the beauty of nature are meant to be enjoyed together. The two must be made one” (Howard, p. 48).
Research limitations/implications
The application and the validity of the project are limited to a conceptual proposal leading to speculative results. Although the research paper is based on architecture-related readings and research conducted in the field of environmental psychology, to verify how this project would function in a real-world setting, it is essential to build it.
Social implications
Applying these findings and this approach to architecture can enhance the quality of life. These ideas can be applied to many different building types including, but not limited to, living spaces, workplaces and recreational spaces.
Originality/value
This paper is based on an architecture project that was created by the author as part of their undergraduate thesis. As a result, this paper and proposal is fully original.
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Warwick Funnell, Valerio Antonelli, Raffaele D’Alessio and Roberto Rossi
The purpose of this paper is to understand the role played by accounting in managing an early nineteenth century lunatic asylum in Palermo, Italy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the role played by accounting in managing an early nineteenth century lunatic asylum in Palermo, Italy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is informed by Foucault’s studies of lunatic asylums and his work on governmentality which gave prominence to the role of statistics, the “science of the State”.
Findings
This paper identifies a number of roles played by accounting in the management of the lunatic asylum studied. Most importantly, information which formed the basis of accounting reports was used to describe, classify and give visibility and measurability to the “deviance” of the insane. It also legitimated the role played by lunatic asylums, as entrusted to them in post-Napoleonic early nineteenth century society, and was a tool to mediate with the public authorities to provide adequate resources for the institution to operate.
Research limitations/implications
This paper encourages accounting scholars to engage more widely with socio-historical research that will encompass organisations such as lunatic asylums.
Originality/value
This paper provides, for the first time, a case of accounting applied to a lunatic asylum from a socio-historical perspective.
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Peter Gilbert and Natalie Watts
For many people with mental health problems, spirituality is an essential part of their recovery. This is something that mental health services are beginning to recognise. Peter…
Abstract
For many people with mental health problems, spirituality is an essential part of their recovery. This is something that mental health services are beginning to recognise. Peter Gilbert and Natalie Watts outline the role and aims of the NIMHE spirituality project and the issues it aims to address.
George L. De Feis and Donald Grunewald
Later in the discussion, the options for long run strategy in dealing with a possible takeover offer and other strategic options can be discussed by the class. Lack of familiarity…
Abstract
Theoretical basis
Later in the discussion, the options for long run strategy in dealing with a possible takeover offer and other strategic options can be discussed by the class. Lack of familiarity by students with the role of the outside potential acquirer of the camp (in this case, a hotel chain) and the lack of familiarity with the role of an investor who is a family investor, who may wish to sell stock and use the proceeds for another purpose, or a small investor who invests because he or she uses the camp and takes advantage of the stockholder’s discount will probably preclude role playing, except in executive MBA classes where students have sufficient experience in possible takeover situations or in investment management, Emphasis should probably be placed on discussing the major issues, such as social and cultural issues and on marketing and public relations issues and on financial issues, including the options available in the event of a possible takeover effort. All of these issues are impacted fully by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Research methodology
Instructors will need to play an active role in teaching this case. It is recommended that the instructor give a short lecture or discussion at the beginning as to how a camp such as Camp Teddy functions. The authors recommend that the instructor then begin the case discussion by asking students questions about such issues as social and cultural issues and marketing and public relations issues.
Case overview/synopsis
Camp Teddy is a seasonal camp for families in rural Connecticut adjacent to New York City and suburbs in New York and Connecticut. It is technically a for-profit organization but operates more like a nonprofit organization because many of the campers own shares and have used the camp sometimes for several generations. The camp has traditions that are liked by many of the shareholders and campers. Although net income has increased in the past year, there does not seem to be enough funds to support necessary capital expenditures to improve facilities for the future. The largest stockholder has recently died. His immediate heirs’ control 300 of the 1,000 shares and other family members control 400 shares with the remaining 300 shares in the hands of small shareholders, many of whom use the camp each summer. A large hotel chain is interested in possibly acquiring the camp through a buyout or perhaps a hostile takeover, with a potential large gain to shareholders. The board of directors must consider a number of issues to insure good occupancy of the camp in the future and must decide what to do about a potential takeover attempt.
Complexity academic level
This case can be used in several courses, including investment management, hospitality management, corporate finance and business strategy. There are ethical and societal issues in the case, so that the case might also be used in courses looking at business, environment or business ethics. The case is best used at the graduate level, but it might be suitable for some advanced undergraduate courses.
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The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the evolution of discerning compassion and how it was used in the Ingrebourne Therapeutic Community.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the evolution of discerning compassion and how it was used in the Ingrebourne Therapeutic Community.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is derived from a PhD thesis which was researched through interviews and archival research. The fundamental finding was that the therapeutic community approach was almost unique in providing a structured approach to implementing discerning compassion.
Practical implication
The therapeutic community approach for discerning compassion, in which the response to distress aims to promote flourishing.
Social implications
This paper offers a model that has implications on how care is delivered in other settings.
Originality/value
There is little literature that explores the role of compassion in therapeutic communities or in care environments of any form. The approach taken here places compassion in a historical and philosophical setting and contrasts it with the kindness expressed in traditional psychiatric care that promoted “tranquility”.
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Randall Smith, Julia Johnson and Sheena Rolph
The purpose of this paper is to examine the history of pet ownership and its relationship to wellbeing in later life. In particular, the paper addresses the issue of pet ownership…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the history of pet ownership and its relationship to wellbeing in later life. In particular, the paper addresses the issue of pet ownership in communal residential settings for older people both now and in the past, comparing attitudes, policies, and practices in regard to pets in the late 1950s with the early years of the twenty‐first century.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a review of the research literature on older people and companion animals, the paper draws on new data derived from recent research conducted by the authors. It compares archived material on the residential homes for older people that Peter Townsend visited in the late 1950s as part of his classic study, The Last Refuge (1962), with findings from revisiting a sample of these homes 50 years later. The authors employed the same methods as Townsend (observation together with interviews with managers and residents).
Findings
The historical dimension of the research reveals ambivalence both in the past and in present times in respect of residents' pets in care homes. Top‐down controlling regimes in the past have been replaced by concerns about health and safety and the need to strike a balance between rights, risks, and responsibilities. The variations in current policy and practice in England and Wales seem to reflect the subjective views and experiences of care home managers and proprietors. The lesson seems to be that care home owners should be expected to have an explicit policy in regard to the keeping of companion animals, but one that is not dictated by law.
Originality/value
The longitudinal data drawn on in this paper add a new perspective to research on older people and pets in care homes.
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Finding employment is often a key element in recovery from mental ill health but, argues Professor Geoff Shepherd, few professionals place work at the top of their list of…
Abstract
Finding employment is often a key element in recovery from mental ill health but, argues Professor Geoff Shepherd, few professionals place work at the top of their list of priorities during their efforts to support clients through rehabilitation. It is, he suggests, time for change. Mental health services need to recognise the importance of employment and accept that it is their business.
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Psychological and epidemiological literature suggests that the built environment plays both causal and therapeutic roles in schizophrenia, but what are the implications for…
Abstract
Purpose
Psychological and epidemiological literature suggests that the built environment plays both causal and therapeutic roles in schizophrenia, but what are the implications for designers? The purpose of this paper is to focus on the role the built environment plays in psycho‐environmental dynamics, in order that negative effects can be avoided and beneficial effects emphasised in architectural design.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach taken is a translational exploration of the dynamics between the built environment and psychotic illness, using primary research from disciplines as diverse as epidemiology, neurology and psychology.
Findings
The built environment is conceived as being both an agonist and as an antagonist for the underlying processes that present as psychosis. The built environment is implicated through several means, through the opportunities it provides. These may be physical, narrative, emotional, hedonic or personal. Some opportunities may be negative, and others positive. The built environment is also an important source of unexpected aesthetic stimulation, yet in psychotic illnesses, aesthetic sensibilities characteristically suffer from deterioration.
Research limitations/implications
The findings presented are based on research that is largely translated from very different fields of enquiry. Whilst findings are cogent and logical, much of the support is correlational rather than empirical.
Social implications
The WHO claims that schizophrenia destroys 24 million lives worldwide, with an exponential effect on human and financial capital. Because evidence implicates the built environment, architectural and urban designers may have a role to play in reducing the human costs wrought by the illness.
Originality/value
Never before has architecture been so explicitly implicated as a cause of mental illness. This paper was presented to the Symposium of Mental Health Facility Design, and is essential reading for anyone involved in designing for improved mental health.
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Courtney Suess and Makarand Amrish Mody
The study aims to examine how features that foster a sense of control, create positive distractions and provide access to social support influence patients’ well-being and…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to examine how features that foster a sense of control, create positive distractions and provide access to social support influence patients’ well-being and, subsequently, their likelihood to choose hotel-like hospital rooms and their willingness to pay higher out-of-pocket expenses for such rooms. While there is increasing evidence to suggest the importance of the provision of hospitality in healthcare settings, research on these developments remains under-represented, particularly in the hospitality literature. In response, the present study builds on Ulrich’s (1991) theory of supportive design to examine patient responses to hotel-like features in a hospital room.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from a survey of 406 patients, the authors used structural equation modeling to test the model.
Findings
Consistent with supportive design principles, the infusion of hotel-like features that foster a sense of control for patients, create positive distractions and provide access to social support was found to positively impact patients’ physical and mental well-being, which, in turn, increased their likelihood to choose a hospital room with hotel-like features and their willingness to pay for such rooms.
Practical Implications
Findings attest to the need for healthcare providers to make the necessary investment in hotel-like features and to leverage the communicative power of these environmental cues. Social support in the form of hospitality-trained and certified healthcare staff was found to be the most important hotel-like feature, which also presents significant commercial opportunities for hospitality companies and professionals.
Originality Value
The study represents one of the first attempts to empirically develop a structured model to examine the infusion of hospitality into healthcare. It provides researchers with a theoretically supported framework for future inquiry into the domain. It also makes a significant contribution to advancing the research on patient well-being in healthcare settings and demonstrates the importance of hospitality to such endeavors.
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Helen Payne and Daryl May
In 2000, a national initiative “Enhancing the Healing Environment” (EHE) was launched by the King's Fund to celebrate the millennium. This aimed to support nurse‐led teams to…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2000, a national initiative “Enhancing the Healing Environment” (EHE) was launched by the King's Fund to celebrate the millennium. This aimed to support nurse‐led teams to undertake an environment improvement programme in their National Health Service (NHS) hospital. Sheffield Care Trust (SCT) decided to carry out this project in its intensive treatment suite, a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) providing care for up to six patients. There were no known examples of an EHE project being undertaken in a PICU elsewhere in the NHS. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of EHE design principles in improving the patient experience, from the perspectives of staff and patients.
Design/methodology/approach
A focus group and individual interviews were used as the primary method of data collection. Secondary data comprised sets of statistics related to pre‐ and post‐refurbishment periods.
Findings
It was found that staff and patients liked many aspects of the changed environment. Staff felt improved openness of space, natural light, fresh air, reduced noise levels and greater choice of spaces to provide care, were most important. Patients cited a high quality, comfortable and homely environment (not like a typical NHS ward) as important; they also valued high standards of cleanliness, tidiness, choice and being able to view the outside, open windows and let in fresh air. Experiencing high quality clinical care was equally important. Incidence of physical assaults decreased markedly in the new environment.
Practical implications
NHS mental health services trusts will understand the benefits of applying EHE principles in PICUs or similar environments. Some project management shortcomings are identified and improvements suggested.
Originality/value
This paper is of value to NHS mental health trusts which need to decide on the effectiveness of different design principles for PICUs or similar environments.
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Yashodhan Kishor Karulkar, Ananya Prabhu and Helly Desai
This case is written on the basis of available secondary data sources including news articles, book chapters, video (YouTube) interviews, research papers and industry reports.
Abstract
Research methodology
This case is written on the basis of available secondary data sources including news articles, book chapters, video (YouTube) interviews, research papers and industry reports.
Case overview/synopsis
The case study examines Taylor Swift’s professional journey from her debut in the mid-2000s to the present, highlighting her notable accomplishments as a singer-songwriter and entrepreneur. Swift’s success in music, evident through chart-topping albums, sold-out tours and strategic partnerships, positions her as a significant figure in the industry. However, her primary challenge involves maintaining relevance and staying ahead in a continually evolving environment. To sustain her leadership role, Swift must consistently innovate across music, public image and promotional approaches. This entails adapting to changing trends, using digital platforms for increased audience engagement and exploring themes such as audience connection, brand evolution, effective marketing and the ongoing pursuit of competitiveness and influence amid dynamic market conditions. This case delves into Taylor Swift’s evolution as a multifaceted entrepreneur, exploring her strategies to merge personal values with commercial success while navigating public scrutiny and market demands. It highlights her strategic use of social media, engagement with controversies and carefully crafted personal brand to maintain her global influence.
Complexity academic level
This case may be taught in advanced undergraduate level courses or graduate level courses such as MBA. This case is appropriate for students studying entrepreneurship, marketing and business strategy.
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This case study will detail and discuss the decision by a central student-facing learning development unit at Keele University, to provide student writing retreats, accessible to…
Abstract
This case study will detail and discuss the decision by a central student-facing learning development unit at Keele University, to provide student writing retreats, accessible to students at all levels of higher education (HE) studies. Staff and researcher writing retreats have been found to improve productivity and motivation, and to develop some participants’ sense of identity as “writers” (Casey, Barron, & Gordon, 2013; Moore, 2003; Murray & Newton, 2009; Papen & Thériault, 2018; Swaggerty, Atkinson, Faulconer, & Griffith, 2011). Many UK higher education institutions provide a range of writing retreats, in varying formats, to staff and PhD students to further their writing goals but rarely, if ever, to undergraduate (UG) or postgraduate-taught (PGT) students.
Over the past four academic years, the learning development unit at Keele University have been developing and running a range of student writing retreats for UG and PGT students as part of our freestanding academic skills development provision. This case study will provide a summary scope of the sector, present relevant literature supporting writing retreats and critically reflect on and evaluate the freestanding writing retreats provided to students. The educational evaluation to be presented here stands as an innovation in the teaching and support of academic writing practices of students.
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Mona Eskola, Minni Haanpää and José-Carlos García-Rosell
This chapter sets out to explore consumer-centred experiential luxury from the perspective of a human body. We focus on the various practices related to a yoga retreat holiday…
Abstract
This chapter sets out to explore consumer-centred experiential luxury from the perspective of a human body. We focus on the various practices related to a yoga retreat holiday experience in luxury hotel premises, such as encounters with hotel facilities, employees, nature and atmosphere besides yoga practice. Attention to bodily practices and affectivities on a yoga retreat holiday experience enables discussing intangible luxury beyond the traditional debate of luxury as related to product or brand features or experiential luxury focused only on the cognitive multisensory perceptions. The autoethnographic approach supports unwrapping the subtle affectual sensations building individual luxury in the experience setting. The data are gathered along with the first author's fieldwork during her three yoga retreat holidays in Thailand. The embodied investigation of tourist practices inducing luxury in the premises of a luxury hotel enriches the discussion of the co-creation between human bodies and the experience setting. It draws attention to the dynamic, situational and sensitive nature of luxury in the contemporary touristic experience of a yoga retreat holiday. It also advances the existing research on the body, practice and knowing by featuring the way luxury is emerging within the practice of yoga retreat holiday. By challenging the paradigm of luxury sensed only through our five external senses, our findings on the being, doing and moving body deepen the understanding of the co-creation and sensitiveness, affecting the subjective, transparent and embodied understanding of luxury experience.
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This is a troubled age for democracy, but the nature of that trouble and why it is a problem for democracy is an open question, not easy to answer. Widespread wishing for…
Abstract
This is a troubled age for democracy, but the nature of that trouble and why it is a problem for democracy is an open question, not easy to answer. Widespread wishing for responsible leaders who respect democratic norms and pursue policies to benefit people and protect the vulnerable don’t help much. The issue goes well beyond library contexts, but it is important that those in libraries think through our role in democracy as well. Micro-targeting library-centric problems won’t be effective and don’t address the key issue of this volume. The author can only address the future if we recover an understanding of the present by building up an understanding of actually-existing democracy: (1) the scope must be narrowed to accomplish the task; (2) the characteristics of the retreat from democracy should be established; (3) core working assumptions and values – what libraries are about in this context – must be established; (4) actually-existing democracy should then be characterized; (5) the role of libraries in actually-existing democracy is then explored; (6) the source and character of the threat that is driving the retreat from democracy and cutting away at the core of library assumptions and values is analyzed; (7) the chapter concludes by forming a basis of supporting libraries by unpacking their contribution to building and rebuilding democratic culture: libraries are simultaneously less and more important than is understood.
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This paper seeks to provide a history and a prehistory of the therapeutic community movement, and a series of questions still debated in the field.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to provide a history and a prehistory of the therapeutic community movement, and a series of questions still debated in the field.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper discusses the factors which favour the creation of therapeutic communities, drawing on Winnicott's views on democracy and the history of therapeutic community innovations. Some key factors are identified and their implications discussed.
Findings
The paper suggests that the therapeutic community impulse takes root where a number of individuals, with what Winnicott has called the “democratic tendency”, come together in response to a community's need for psychological care and support, and this can happen anywhere.
Originality/value
The paper offers a history and a prehistory of the therapeutic community movement, and draws out some of the implications for the future development of therapeutic communities and the nurturing of the therapeutic community impulse.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the notion and function of silent landscape in a touristic experience by presenting the findings of a study on silent retreats in a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the notion and function of silent landscape in a touristic experience by presenting the findings of a study on silent retreats in a Buddhist meditation retreat center in Northern India.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted a sensory ethnography approach applied through interviews and participant observation methods conducted during and after nine retreats in a meditation center.
Findings
This study suggests that silent landscapes are not only backdrops of touristic experiences but can be considered as inter-subjective performative and resourceful milieu of engagement that intertwine intimate embodied experiences with broader social and cultural values.
Originality/value
Despite landscapes having been thoroughly investigated in tourist studies, this paper underlines the pertinence of mobilizing the lens of other forms of presences such as affects, embodiment, sensoriality and sonority to understand the inter-relation between tourists-selves and the surrounding world encountered during their travels.
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The boundaries of Little Italy are not precise, and have shifted over time. In the 19th century, the district extended south of Canal Street into the area identified by Jacob Riis…
Abstract
The boundaries of Little Italy are not precise, and have shifted over time. In the 19th century, the district extended south of Canal Street into the area identified by Jacob Riis as the “Mulberry Bend,” and described as “the foul core of New York’s slums.”3 By the 1960s, Little Italy had retreated across Canal Street, as the Italian population began to leave the neighborhood for other areas in the city. For the purposes of this paper, Little Italy shall be understood as comprising three census tracts in New York City’s Manhattan county, numbers 41, 43, and 45. This area, lying within a short walking distance of City Hall, is roughly bounded by Canal Street on the south, Bowery on the East, Broadway on the west, and East Houston street to the north. Nicknamed the Mulberry District, it became the first and largest Italian enclave in the United States between 1870s and 1924. While there had been an Italian community in New York for generations, historian George Pozetta has argued that the winter of 1872–1873 was pivotal in the development of this community, when more than 2000 poor Italian immigrants, arrived at Castle Garden, the immigrant reception center, unable to care for themselves.4 These immigrants were quickly fitted in to the preexisting Italian community, taking advantage of the contacts provided by the bossi, typically northern Italian men who had arrived earlier, to find jobs in such local enterprises as groceries and saloons, and with American employers. Once the new comers settled, a process of chain-migration began. By the later 1870s, the bossi were acting as agents for gangs of labor sent out from New York to work in other areas across North American. As a result, the Mulberry district became a sort of transshipment point for Italian labor.
Howard S. Schwartz and Larry Hirschhorn
Cross-level analysis is a problem for mainstream approaches to organizational behavior, but not for psychoanalytic theory. The reason is that psychoanalytic theory is not so much…
Abstract
Cross-level analysis is a problem for mainstream approaches to organizational behavior, but not for psychoanalytic theory. The reason is that psychoanalytic theory is not so much about behavior as about the meaning of behavior, which is relatively invariant across levels. The Jayson Blair scandal at the New York Times is analyzed at the individual, the group, the intrapsychic, the interpersonal, and the organizational levels. Blair’s behavior and the behavior of the Times toward him are explained in terms of a clash between two ways in which meaning is made: the Oedipal and the anti-oedipal.
Petia Petrova and Annika Coughlin
The purpose of this article is to disseminate to a readership of researcher development professionals the authors' own experiences of having organised four writing retreats, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to disseminate to a readership of researcher development professionals the authors' own experiences of having organised four writing retreats, and to share their tips for good practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Although the authors do draw upon references to pertinent literature, they choose a predominantly descriptive format. They detail the format of each retreat and present their reflections on the process of organising and delivering the retreats.
Findings
Retreats are positive, inspirational and valuable to those involved. They provide an opportunity to participate in the practices that are generally central to an academic identity and that can help participants in their identity transitions.
Research limitations/implications
This is not intended to be an academic article.
Practical implications
The article can inform practice and provides practical recommendations for delivery of writing retreats.
Social implications
The article incorporates discussion of the authors' experientially‐informed view that writing retreats offer supportive environments for developing early career researchers, and enabling their career growth through publishing, and often they provide opportunities for engaging with the academic community, which participants may not have experienced before.
Originality/value
There are few published articles that focus on writing retreats. What this article offers is a culmination of experiences from four different retreats. It has the potential to provide a reference point for academic developers and those considering writing retreats or related researcher development interventions.
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The elimination of the retreating blade stall speed limitation for helicopters by means of an appropriately programmed feathering input is studied for the general case of a rigid…
Abstract
The elimination of the retreating blade stall speed limitation for helicopters by means of an appropriately programmed feathering input is studied for the general case of a rigid flapping blade with hinge constraint (thus making the results applicable to conventional, offset‐hinged or cantilevered rotor blades). It is concluded that second harmonic feathering alone will not be particularly effective in delaying the stall limit, but that a suitable programme of several higher harmonic inputs will enable the retreating blade stall limit to be pushed beyond the advancing blade compressibility limit. In the course of the investigation generalized equations were developed for blade flapping to the nth harmonic under the influence of feathering to the nth harmonic. The resultant matrix is symmetrical and checks with the few available limit cases derived by other workers. Because of loose coupling in the matrix generalized equations can be derived giving the effect of any particular harmonic of feathering upon flapping and angle of attack distribution around the disk. The effect of higher harmonic feathering upon rotor stability derivatives is not discussed in this text, but examination of the equations indicates that an improvement in stability could be obtained by the application of second harmonic control. This paper does not discuss the mechanical details of obtaining a higher harmonic feathering input, nor is it suggested that this is necessarily the best means of obtaining higher forward speeds. In certain cases it may be the only means however.
Enakshi Sengupta and Patrick Blessinger
Higher education has recently experienced an advancement in teaching and learning methods. Academics are experimenting with innovative techniques in using e-learning due to the…
Abstract
Higher education has recently experienced an advancement in teaching and learning methods. Academics are experimenting with innovative techniques in using e-learning due to the global pandemic which has given a new dimension to classroom teaching. Hybrid teaching is becoming the new norm for classroom teaching which includes both face-to-face and online modes. Smart gadgets and technology are being used to design classroom delivery, assessment, and evaluation of students. The use of innovative teaching and learning methods becomes crucial to motivate and teach a spirit of learning. The development in the information and communication technologies (ICTs) sector has led to knowledge-intensive, interdependent and internationalized societies exploring and experimenting with opportunities for the design and delivery of education. ICTs are opening up new horizons to facilitate the exchange of creativity and intercultural dialogue. This book volume highlights case studies and innovative teaching methods used by academics across the globe. It talks about how teaching staff should stimulate students’ active engagement in their own learning processes leading to transformative student learning. It discusses the in-class approach of implementing high-quality project-based learning activities that integrate learning in an authentic real-world manner. Chapters are dedicated to experiential learning which encourages critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills in students which is the essence of innovative teaching-learning methods. Academics are applying these methods to ensure that the student learning process is free flowing and stimulates students toward role-playing and mastering problem-based learning.
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The notion of partner‐violence as a male‐perpetrated phenomenon is not a scientific position but an amelioration of cognitive‐dissonance within a political mindset. Against all…
Abstract
The notion of partner‐violence as a male‐perpetrated phenomenon is not a scientific position but an amelioration of cognitive‐dissonance within a political mindset. Against all the data, this ‘gender paradigm’ persists as a series of staged retreats as new research debunks each in turn. Supposed highly sex‐differential injury rates, male unilaterality of perpetration, female self‐defence, male ‘control’, and female especial fear are all discredited as reasons to focus solely on men's aggression. By contrast, scientific theorising regarding the root of the great bulk of partner‐violence is in terms of the biological phenomenon of mate‐guarding. However, the usual model of male proprietariness over female fertility itself is in part a ‘gender paradigm’ position. Recently revealed sex‐symmetries necessitate a major overhaul of this model. Drawing on new understanding of the basis of pair‐bonding, outlined here is a parsimonious account of mate‐guarding as being by both sexes; notably women, owing to sex‐dichotomous mate‐value trajectory. This framework heralds the complete abandonment of the ‘gender paradigm’ and thus the end of a highly inappropriate intrusion of extreme ideology into science.
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This paper reviews the relationship between property and the changing coastal environment. It looks at issues around the mismatch between the protection of private property rights…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reviews the relationship between property and the changing coastal environment. It looks at issues around the mismatch between the protection of private property rights implicit in our property law, which assumes stability and permanence, and the protection of public rights and environmental values expected of coastal land, which is increasingly vulnerable to climate change hazard. Issues of retreat from the coast, perhaps with compensation and incentives, will need to be dealt with.
Design/methodology/approach
New Zealand situations and examples are used to illustrate the conflicts between secure property rights and changing coastal land.
Findings
The effects of climate change on coastal land will be significant. This era of environmental degradation and climate change will require a significant re-ordering of property law. Changes in coastal land will require property owners to adapt their use and occupation of the coastal zone, if necessary by retreating. Similarly, local authorities will need to be proactive in planning for coastal land changes.
Social implications
Property will need to be re-imagined to support public and environmental goals for the coast.
Originality/value
This paper extends other discussions about how property law and the protection of property rights is a barrier to implementing climate change responses.
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Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) from 1979 to 2008, this study examines how employment precarity is associated with the transition to first marriage…
Abstract
Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) from 1979 to 2008, this study examines how employment precarity is associated with the transition to first marriage. Building upon research on precarious work and economic determinants of marriage, I employ various measures of precarious work, including health insurance coverage, the provision of pension benefits, and part-time work. Results from the discrete-time hazard models show that precarious work delays men’s marriage entry more than women’s. For men, all indicators of precarious work decrease the odds of first marriage by up to 40%. Compared to men, women’s entry into first marriage is delayed when they have part-time employment. My study findings contribute to the theoretical discussions of the causes of family inequality, which have suggested the precarization of work and associated deterioration of job quality as one of the leading influences on the retreat from marriage. Further, results of this study indicate that the spread of precarious work has profound social consequences through its impact on family formation. In light of limited empirical research on the impact of precarious work on non-work-related outcomes, subsequent research needs to continue examining how employment precarity and family inequality are intertwined with various substantive foci across societies.
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Paul T. Jaeger, Karen Kettnich, Ursula Gorham and Natalie Greene Taylor
Examines the shift in priorities of US industrial firms from thoseof securing market share by means of product innovation and aggressivepricing strategy to that of the achievement…
Abstract
Examines the shift in priorities of US industrial firms from those of securing market share by means of product innovation and aggressive pricing strategy to that of the achievement of short‐term objectives such as the satisfaction of financial markets and shareholders. Describes an eight‐year study tracking the use of pricing strategy by industrial firms in the 1980s, situating them in the wider context of Japanese‐led changes to the US market during that period. Concludes that instead of reacting defensively, abandoning pricing as a market strategy or using it for short‐term profitability, US business should concentrate on product innovation/development and the pursuit of long‐term profit goals via marketing and pricing strategies appropriate to the external marketplace.
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Using an action research method to study the vision-based strategic planning processes of four nonprofit human service organizations, the author identifies factors that influence…
Abstract
Using an action research method to study the vision-based strategic planning processes of four nonprofit human service organizations, the author identifies factors that influence the successful initiation of the planning process, the formulation of a vision-based plan, and the use of the plan to guide organizational performance. The author identifies transformational leadership and an organizational commitment to cultural change as important to the mobilization of these success factors and to the subsequent achievement of viable vision-based strategic plans.
Abu F. Dowlah and John E. Elliott
Gorbachev′s vision of democratic, decentralised and market‐orientedsocialism has generated diverse and controversial perceptions in theSoviet Union. Gorbachev′s claim that the…
Abstract
Gorbachev′s vision of democratic, decentralised and market‐oriented socialism has generated diverse and controversial perceptions in the Soviet Union. Gorbachev′s claim that the USSR is not retreating from socialism but advancing towards it, having dismantled the Stalinist Command model, is assessed.
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Rebecca G. Smith and Joseph Tse-Hei Lee
The five-decade-long Chinese colonialization of Tibet has led to a refugee flow. No longer confined to the Tibetan Plateau, Tibetans are scattered over the world, placing deep…
Abstract
Purpose
The five-decade-long Chinese colonialization of Tibet has led to a refugee flow. No longer confined to the Tibetan Plateau, Tibetans are scattered over the world, placing deep roots in host nations, in cities stretching from Oslo to New York City. Faced with new ideas, cultures and ways of life, diasporic Tibetans confront the same challenges as countless refugees before them. The purpose of this study is to investigate the efforts of Tibetan New Yorkers to preserve their language and culture. To what extent should they integrate themselves into host countries? What mechanisms could they use to hold onto their native heritage without isolating themselves in a foreign environment? How should they construct new diasporic identities and reconcile such efforts with their ongoing political struggles?
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on documentary sources and interviews to examine the ways in which diasporic Tibetans understood and portrayed the conventional categories of language, cultural heritage and religion, especially with respect to the Tibetan Government-in-exile in India, and in which they maintained and reinvented their linguistic and cultural heritage in the cosmopolitan environment of New York City.
Findings
There is a gradual process of identity formation among Tibetan New Yorkers. While exiled Tibetans are asserting their agency to reinvent a new sense of belonging to America, they still hold onto the regional identity of their family households. Meanwhile, the US-born younger generations strengthen their ties with the larger Tibetan diaspora through community events, socio-cultural activism and electronic media.
Research limitations/implications
Despite the small sample size, this study presents the first investigation of the Tibetan New Yorkers, and it provides an insider’s perspective on the efforts to preserve their native heritage in a globalized environment.
Practical implications
This study is a useful case study of the Tibetan diasporas in comparison with other Chinese diasporas in the West and beyond.
Originality/value
This study is the first scholarly investigation of the sociocultural experiences of Tibetan New Yorkers.
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Margarita Lyulicheva, Sheau Fen Yap and Ken Hyde
Wellness tourism offers opportunities for consumers to explore the self. This paper aims to explore how identity transitions occur in a liminal tourism space – a holistic wellness…
Abstract
Purpose
Wellness tourism offers opportunities for consumers to explore the self. This paper aims to explore how identity transitions occur in a liminal tourism space – a holistic wellness retreat.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopt a qualitative methodology, including in-depth semi-structured interviews supplemented by various projective techniques. Following an interpretivist approach, eight consumers were interviewed at the commencement and the completion of a holistic wellness retreat stay. Participant observation was also undertaken during the retreat programme.
Findings
The paper shows an identity transition is facilitated by the liminal space of the holistic wellness retreat and further shaped by self-work during the retreat. As participants gain new knowledge on the self and start living “consciously”, they gain a sense of vision, clarity and direction to a new self, wherein identity transition is a starting point and a process of change rather than an end goal.
Originality/value
While much past research views tourism activities as mainly “play”, the findings reveal the holistic wellness retreat experiences as both identity play and identity work. This paper provides theoretical insights into the process from identity play to identity work and what makes this process effective for identity transition.
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Chris Ansell, Arjen Boin and Moshe Farjoun
The environment of most organizations is beset by continuous change, instability, flux, and unpredictability. If organizations are to survive and prosper under such conditions…
Abstract
The environment of most organizations is beset by continuous change, instability, flux, and unpredictability. If organizations are to survive and prosper under such conditions, they must be capable of dynamic adaption and stable and reliable performance. Organization theory recognizes the importance of both imperatives, but typically assumes that they pull organizations in different directions. Building on Selznick’s theory of institutionalization, we argue that institutions can, should and sometimes do master the challenge of being responsive and stable, while avoiding the potentially destructive tendencies of rigidity and opportunism. Contrary to a prominent view that strong institutionalization leads to inertia, Selznick’s theory suggests that strong institutions are capable of preemptive adaptation to protect the character of their institutions. We describe this state as one of dynamic conservatism and explore four types of preemptive internal reform strategies: strategic retreat, self-cannibalization, experimentation, and repositioning. We conclude with a consideration of factors that might moderate the ability of strong institutions to proactively change in order to remain the same.
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This chapter investigates the nature of the transformation of macroeconomics by focusing on the impact of the Great Depression on economic doctrines. There is no doubt that the…
Abstract
This chapter investigates the nature of the transformation of macroeconomics by focusing on the impact of the Great Depression on economic doctrines. There is no doubt that the Great Depression exerted an enormous influence on economic thought, but the exact nature of its impact should be examined more carefully. In this chapter, I examine the transformation from a perspective which emphasizes the interaction between economic ideas and economic events, and the interaction between theory and policy rather than the development of economic theory. More specifically, I examine the evolution of what became known as macroeconomics after the Depression in terms of an ongoing debate among the “stabilizers” and their critics. I further suggest using four perspectives, or schools of thought, as measures to locate the evolution and transformation; the gold standard mentality, liquidationism, the Treasury view, and the real-bills doctrine. By highlighting these four economic ideas, I argue that what happened during the Great Depression was the retreat of the gold standard mentality, the complete demise of liquidationism and the Treasury view, and the strange survival of the real-bills doctrine. Each of those transformations happened not in response to internal debates in the discipline, but in response to government policies and real-world events.
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Sylvester B. Maphosa and Alphonse Keasley
Leadership development is an essential yet complex process that manifests over a long period of time. Owusu et al. assert that in African researchers’ graduate programs, the…
Abstract
Leadership development is an essential yet complex process that manifests over a long period of time. Owusu et al. assert that in African researchers’ graduate programs, the learners receive theory, research methods and grant writing instruction without significant attention to leadership development. So, how do researchers, academics, administrators, and think-tanks plan and carry out leadership–followership development within organizational and transitional justice fields? The research capacity building of young African scholars in the knowledge production community has the potential to lead to the development and articulation of norms and values that will seek to address fundamental issues of transformation, direct, structural, and cultural violence, and assist in addressing a wide range of problems associated with violence of social injustice. We draw lessons from the Africa Young Graduate Scholars (AYGS) 2017 conference and writing retreat, which drew 22 young scholars (with 10 females and 12 males) who had completed original research and five facilitators (two females and three males) from universities in Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe for developing research leader–follower insights.
Building research leadership–followership capacity in knowledge production communities in the context of conflict prevention is crucial for establishing sustainable peace. It is recommended that: (1) the AYGS be replicated on other parts of the continent and throughout the diaspora; (2) publications from emerging leaders and followers in the research/knowledge production community begin to increase; and (3) establishment and expansion of leadership development programs for research leaders and followers in African graduate programs.