Fiona S. Baker and Rida Blaik Hourani
The purpose of this exploratory study is to explore parent and school administrator perspectives on the value and nature of parent involvement in the city of Abu Dhabi through…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this exploratory study is to explore parent and school administrator perspectives on the value and nature of parent involvement in the city of Abu Dhabi through their perceptions of roles and responsibilities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is conducted in a random purposive sample of Public–Private Partnership schools during Abu Dhabi Education Council’s school reform.
Findings
Findings show that while both administrators and parents agree on the value of parental involvement, the perceptions of their own and each others’ roles and responsibilities means that parent involvement is characterized by unfulfilled expectations.
Practical implications
Recommendations are made to arrive at realistic roles and responsibilities for parent involvement and recommendations for a model of mutually responsive practice to evolve within a policy framework, with the support of ADEC, and informed by international and locally based research.
Originality/value
The paper sheds light on a new educational dimension beyond curricula and instruction.
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Elizabeth Mansfield, Onil Bhattacharyya, Jennifer Christian, Gary Naglie, Vicky Steriopoulos and Fiona Webster
Canada’s primary care system has been described as “a culture of pilot projects” with little evidence of converting successful initiatives into funded, permanent programs or…
Abstract
Purpose
Canada’s primary care system has been described as “a culture of pilot projects” with little evidence of converting successful initiatives into funded, permanent programs or sharing project outcomes and insights across jurisdictions. Health services pilot projects are advocated as an effective strategy for identifying promising models of care and building integrated care partnerships in local settings. In the qualitative study reported here, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the strengths and challenges of this approach.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 primary care physicians who discussed their experiences as pilot project leads. Following thematic analysis methods, broad system issues were captured as well as individual project information.
Findings
While participants often portrayed themselves as advocates for vulnerable patients, mobilizing healthcare organizations and providers to support new models of care was discussed as challenging. Competition between local healthcare providers and initiatives could impact pilot project success. Participants also reported tensions between their clinical, project management and research roles with additional time demands and skill requirements interfering with the work of implementing and evaluating service innovations.
Originality/value
Study findings highlight the complexity of pilot project implementation, which encompasses physician commitment to addressing care for vulnerable populations through to the need for additional skill set requirements and the impact of local project environments. The current pilot project approach could be strengthened by including more multidisciplinary collaboration and providing infrastructure supports to enhance the design, implementation and evaluation of health services improvement initiatives.
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Amy Lynch, Hayley Alderson, Gary Kerridge, Rebecca Johnson, Ruth McGovern, Fiona Newlands, Deborah Smart, Carrie Harrop and Graeme Currie
Young people who are looked after by the state face challenges as they make the transition from care to adulthood, with variation in support available. In the past decade, funding…
Abstract
Purpose
Young people who are looked after by the state face challenges as they make the transition from care to adulthood, with variation in support available. In the past decade, funding has been directed towards organisations to pilot innovations to support transition, with accompanying evaluations often conducted with a single disciplinary focus, in a context of short timescales and small budgets. Recognising the value and weight of the challenge involved in evaluation of innovations that aim to support the transitions of young people leaving care, this paper aims to provide a review of evaluation approaches and suggestions regarding how these might be developed.
Design/methodology/approach
As part of a wider research programme to improve understanding of the innovation process for young people leaving care, the authors conducted a scoping review of grey literature (publications which are not peer reviewed) focusing on evaluation of innovations in the UK over the past 10 years. The authors critiqued the evaluation approaches in each of the 22 reports they identified with an inter-disciplinary perspective, representing social care, public health and organisation science.
Findings
The authors identified challenges and opportunities for the development of evaluation approaches in three areas. Firstly, informed by social care, the authors suggest increased priority should be granted to participatory approaches to evaluation, within which involvement of young people leaving care should be central. Secondly, drawing on public health, there is potential for developing a common outcomes’ framework, including methods of data collection, analysis and reporting, which aid comparative analysis. Thirdly, application of theoretical frameworks from organisation science regarding the process of innovation can drive transferable lessons from local innovations to aid its spread.
Originality/value
By adopting the unique perspective of their multiple positions, the authors’ goal is to contribute to the development of evaluation approaches. Further, the authors hope to help identify innovations that work, enhance their spread, leverage resources and influence policy to support care leavers in their transitions to adulthood.
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Stephen Carbone, Gordon Arthur Walker, Susan Burney and Fiona Newton
Testicular cancer affects approximately 550 men in Australia each year. Early intervention, with the potential to reduce the burden of this serious disease, requires a strong…
Abstract
Testicular cancer affects approximately 550 men in Australia each year. Early intervention, with the potential to reduce the burden of this serious disease, requires a strong understanding of the factors that influence help‐seeking. In the current qualitative retrospective study, the symptom‐recognition and help‐seeking experiences of 11 men aged between 28‐44 years who had undergone treatment for testicular cancer were examined. Analysis of the semistructured telephone interview data indicated that most men sought help early, and were treated promptly. A few men, however, described prolonged help‐seeking delays. The factors implicated in help‐seeking delays included lack of knowledge about testicular cancer; initial misattribution of symptoms; slowly progressing or low‐severity symptoms; a busy lifestyle; embarrassment about having a genital examination; and a fear of orchidectomy and its potential threat to masculinity. Further research using quantitative methodology is required to determine the relative importance of these various factors on help‐seeking delays.
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Nicholas Ford, Paul Trott and Christopher Simms
The purpose of this paper is to explore older people’s food consumption experiences. Specifically, the paper seeks to provide understanding on the influence of food intake on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore older people’s food consumption experiences. Specifically, the paper seeks to provide understanding on the influence of food intake on consumer vulnerability and how this manifests within people’s lives.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts an interpretive, exploratory approach, using in-depth interviews with 20 older consumers in the UK. Thematic analysis is conducted, establishing patterns and contradictions with the data.
Findings
The findings demonstrate how biological, psychological and social age-related changes can contribute to reduced food intake in later life. The loss of control over one’s consumption experiences as a result of inappropriate portion sizes acts as a source of both immediate and future vulnerability. Resultant food wastage can serve as an immediate reminder of negative associates with ageing, while the accumulative effect of sustained under-consumption contributes to increased frailty. As a result, consumer vulnerability can pervade other contexts of an individual’s life.
Practical implications
The research reveals opportunities for firms to use packaging development to reduce experiences of consumer vulnerability through reduced apportionment of packaged food products. However, this needs to be considered within a multi-demographic marketplace.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to literature by providing a unique lens with which to understand consumer vulnerability. The findings offer a developmental perspective on the experience of consumer vulnerability, revealing the stages of proximate, immediate, intermediate and ultimate vulnerability. This perspective has the potential to offer more detailed, nuanced insights into vulnerability in other contexts beyond food consumption.
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Many jurisdictions fine illegal cartels using penalty guidelines that presume an arbitrary 10% overcharge. This article surveys more than 700 published economic studies and…
Abstract
Many jurisdictions fine illegal cartels using penalty guidelines that presume an arbitrary 10% overcharge. This article surveys more than 700 published economic studies and judicial decisions that contain 2,041 quantitative estimates of overcharges of hard-core cartels. The primary findings are: (1) the median average long-run overcharge for all types of cartels over all time periods is 23.0%; (2) the mean average is at least 49%; (3) overcharges reached their zenith in 1891–1945 and have trended downward ever since; (4) 6% of the cartel episodes are zero; (5) median overcharges of international-membership cartels are 38% higher than those of domestic cartels; (6) convicted cartels are on average 19% more effective at raising prices as unpunished cartels; (7) bid-rigging conduct displays 25% lower markups than price-fixing cartels; (8) contemporary cartels targeted by class actions have higher overcharges; and (9) when cartels operate at peak effectiveness, price changes are 60–80% higher than the whole episode. Historical penalty guidelines aimed at optimally deterring cartels are likely to be too low.
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Fiona King and Howard Stevenson
In recent years the benefits of distributed leadership have often assumed the status of an unchallengeable orthodoxy. There is a general acceptance that leadership is best when it…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years the benefits of distributed leadership have often assumed the status of an unchallengeable orthodoxy. There is a general acceptance that leadership is best when it is dispersed. In reality this is often little more than a form of “licensed leadership” in which those working in subordinate roles can only exercise their leadership in tightly prescribed contexts. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of teacher professional development to promoting a more optimistic vision of teacher leadership and, ultimately, organisational change. It explores the role of leadership “from above” in supporting classroom teachers to engage with and sustain change.
Design/methodology/approach
The study, which was situated in the Republic of Ireland, employed a case study approach with 20 participants in five urban disadvantaged schools.
Findings
The paper seeks to demonstrate how a professional development initiative was used to promote significant and sustained change in four of the five case study schools.
Research limitations/implications
It argues that in order to understand sustained change in schools it is necessary to better understand the complex ways in which leadership from above can generate change agency from below.
Originality/value
This paper offers a critical perspective in relation to mainstream distributed leadership theory and practice.
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Shahid Islam, Neil Small, Maria Bryant, Tiffany Yang, Anna Cronin de Chavez, Fiona Saville and Josie Dickerson
Participation in community programmes by the Roma community is low, whilst this community presents with high risk of poor health and low levels of wellbeing. To improve rates of…
Abstract
Purpose
Participation in community programmes by the Roma community is low, whilst this community presents with high risk of poor health and low levels of wellbeing. To improve rates of participation in programmes, compatibility must be achieved between implementation efforts and levels of readiness in the community. The Community Readiness Model (CRM) is a widely used toolkit which provides an indication of how prepared and willing a community is to take action on specific issues. The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a CRM assessment for the Eastern European Roma community in Bradford, UK, on issues related to nutrition and obesity.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors interviewed key respondents identified as knowledgeable about the Roma community using the CRM. This approach applies a mixed methodology incorporating readiness scores and qualitative data. A mean community readiness score was calculated enabling researchers to place the community in one of nine possible stages of readiness. Interview transcripts were analysed using a qualitative framework analysis to generate the contextual information.
Findings
An overall score consistent with vague awareness was achieved, which indicates a low level of community readiness. This score suggests that there will be a low likelihood of participation in currently available nutrition and obesity programmes.
Originality/value
To our knowledge, this is the first study to apply the CRM in the Roma community for any issue. The authors present the findings for each of the six dimensions that make up the CRM together with salient qualitative findings.