Carol Rivas, Stephanie Taylor, Stephen Abbott, Aileen Clarke, Chris Griffiths, C. Michael Roberts and Robert Stone
The purpose of this paper is to examine perceptions of local service change and concepts of change amongst participants in a UK nationwide randomised controlled trial of informal…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine perceptions of local service change and concepts of change amongst participants in a UK nationwide randomised controlled trial of informal, structured, reciprocated, multidisciplinary peer review with feedback to promote quality improvement: the National Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Resources and Outcomes Project (NCROP).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes the form of a qualitative study, involving semi‐structured interviews with 43 hospital respiratory consultants, nurses and general managers at 24 intervention and 11 control NCROP sites. Thematic analysis resulted in adoption of Joss and Kogan's quality indicators as an analytic framework.
Findings
The paper finds that peer review was associated with positive changes, which may lead to sustained service improvement. Differences existed in perceptions of change among clinicians and between clinicians and managers. “Generic changes” (e.g. changes in interpersonal relations or cultural changes), were often not perceived as change.
Research limitations/implications
The study highlights the significance of generic change in evaluations of change processes. Most participants were clinicians limiting inter‐professional comparisons. Some clinical staff failed to recognise changes they accomplished or their significance, perceiving change differently to others within their professional group. These findings have implications for policy and research. They should be considered when developing frameworks for assessing quality improvements and staff engagement with change.
Originality/value
This is the first qualitative study exploring participants' experience of peer review for quality improvement in healthcare. The study adds to previous research into UK health service improvement, which has had a more restricted focus on inter‐professional differences.
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This chapter focuses on the integration of virtual reality (VR) into human resource management (HRM), with a special emphasis on theoretical underpinnings that support its…
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the integration of virtual reality (VR) into human resource management (HRM), with a special emphasis on theoretical underpinnings that support its adoption and utilisation. The speed at which technology is improving has placed VR as potentially game-changing for the field of HRM. This chapter reviews a number of theoretical models, including the Technology Acceptance Model, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, Diffusion of Innovations Theory and Social Cognitive Theory, in an attempt to make the framework as exhaustive as possible in the quest to unravel the ingredients that influence the acceptance of VR in HRM. This chapter discusses the practical implications of VR on the enhancement of organisational efficiency and employee well-being, based on a literature review of empirical studies that shed light on the challenges for VR applications due to technical limitations, ethical concerns and people's resistance to change. It concludes by indicating the literature gaps and proposing some future lines of research for the use of VR in HRM.
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Tanja Merčun, Maja Žumer and Trond Aalberg
Despite the importance of bibliographic information systems for discovering and exploring library resources, some of the core functionality that should be provided to support…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the importance of bibliographic information systems for discovering and exploring library resources, some of the core functionality that should be provided to support users in their information seeking process is still missing. Investigating these issues, the purpose of this paper is to design a solution that would fulfil the missing objectives.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on the concepts of a work family, functional requirements for bibliographic records (FRBR) and information visualization, the paper proposes a model and user interface design that could support a more efficient and user-friendly presentation and navigation in bibliographic information systems.
Findings
The proposed design brings together all versions of a work, related works, and other works by and about the author and shows how the model was implemented into a FrbrVis prototype system using hierarchical visualization layout.
Research limitations/implications
Although issues related to discovery and exploration apply to various material types, the research first focused on works of fiction and was also limited by the selected sample of records.
Practical implications
The model for presenting and interacting with FRBR-based data can serve as a good starting point for future developments and implementations.
Originality/value
With FRBR concepts being gradually integrated into cataloguing rules, formats, and various bibliographic services, one of the important questions that has not really been investigated and studied is how the new type of data would be presented to users in a way that would exploit the true potential of the changes.
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The aim of this study is to present an approach for creating an educational process that can affect teacher trainees’ moral resilience, while investigating the manner in which…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to present an approach for creating an educational process that can affect teacher trainees’ moral resilience, while investigating the manner in which they – as teachers – perceive the concept of moral resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
A study questionnaire, designed especially for the current study, was distributed online among trainees in a teacher-training college in Israel and was completed by 123 participants.
Findings
Two major themes emerged in trainees’ conceptualizations of the notion of moral resilience: the role of the organisation in which the teaching takes place, and mechanisms that contribute to the development of moral fibre, which creates resilience.
Research limitations/implications
The following points should be addressed early on in the teacher-training process: The teaching and acquisition of tools that are fundamental to the development of moral resilience, through cognitive and experiential processes, not only through theoretical study. The construction of a supportive environment will enable students to use their internal resources for coping with events that require mental resilience and which thus serve to develop moral resilience.
Originality/value
This paper helps to establish a discourse and develop terminology to implement this subject.
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Carol K.H. Hon, Chenjunyan Sun, Bo Xia, Nerina L. Jimmieson, Kïrsten A. Way and Paul Pao-Yen Wu
Bayesian approaches have been widely applied in construction management (CM) research due to their capacity to deal with uncertain and complicated problems. However, to date…
Abstract
Purpose
Bayesian approaches have been widely applied in construction management (CM) research due to their capacity to deal with uncertain and complicated problems. However, to date, there has been no systematic review of applications of Bayesian approaches in existing CM studies. This paper systematically reviews applications of Bayesian approaches in CM research and provides insights into potential benefits of this technique for driving innovation and productivity in the construction industry.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 148 articles were retrieved for systematic review through two literature selection rounds.
Findings
Bayesian approaches have been widely applied to safety management and risk management. The Bayesian network (BN) was the most frequently employed Bayesian method. Elicitation from expert knowledge and case studies were the primary methods for BN development and validation, respectively. Prediction was the most popular type of reasoning with BNs. Research limitations in existing studies mainly related to not fully realizing the potential of Bayesian approaches in CM functional areas, over-reliance on expert knowledge for BN model development and lacking guides on BN model validation, together with pertinent recommendations for future research.
Originality/value
This systematic review contributes to providing a comprehensive understanding of the application of Bayesian approaches in CM research and highlights implications for future research and practice.
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Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way…
Abstract
Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.
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Purpose – This chapter explores how discourses of obesity as addiction are taken up by weight loss surgery patients and medical and scientific professionals.Methodology/approach �…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter explores how discourses of obesity as addiction are taken up by weight loss surgery patients and medical and scientific professionals.
Methodology/approach – Based on 14 semistructured interviews, I discuss the ways in which bariatric patients partially account for their presurgical bodies and contemporary struggles with weight loss and regain by referencing food addiction. This work is part of a larger project involving 35 interviews and participant-observation work and therefore these results should thus be considered preliminary.
Findings – I argue that bariatric patients and bariatric professionals portray weight loss surgery as an extraordinary tool that allows the “out of control” to become controllable. However, bariatric patients also emphasize the hard work that is entailed in both losing weight and maintaining a weight loss even after surgery.
Social implications – I suggest that this portrayal, in addition to being an accurate assessment of the potential for regain following weight loss surgery, is a technology of stigma management.
Originality/value – This work contributes to the sociology of the body and medical sociology literatures by illustrating that, within a neoliberal and anti-fat social context, highlighting the hard work involved in weight loss and weight maintenance allows bariatric patients to demonstrate proper subjectivity and thereby reclaim “proper selves” as they work toward a “proper bodies.”
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This paper offers a definition of the core of information science, which encompasses most research in the field. The definition provides a unique identity for information science…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper offers a definition of the core of information science, which encompasses most research in the field. The definition provides a unique identity for information science and positions it in the disciplinary universe.
Design/methodology/approach
After motivating the objective, a definition of the core and an explanation of its key aspects are provided. The definition is related to other definitions of information science before controversial discourse aspects are briefly addressed: discipline vs. field, science vs. humanities, library vs. information science and application vs. theory. Interdisciplinarity as an often-assumed foundation of information science is challenged.
Findings
Information science is concerned with how information is manifested across space and time. Information is manifested to facilitate and support the representation, access, documentation and preservation of ideas, activities, or practices, and to enable different types of interactions. Research and professional practice encompass the infrastructures – institutions and technology –and phenomena and practices around manifested information across space and time as its core contribution to the scholarly landscape. Information science collaborates with other disciplines to work on complex information problems that need multi- and interdisciplinary approaches to address them.
Originality/value
The paper argues that new information problems may change the core of the field, but throughout its existence, the discipline has remained quite stable in its central focus, yet proved to be highly adaptive to the tremendous changes in the forms, practices, institutions and technologies around and for manifested information.
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This article focuses on group work with children using a board game format. Combining the principles of group work and board games helps to engage and motivate children and…
Abstract
This article focuses on group work with children using a board game format. Combining the principles of group work and board games helps to engage and motivate children and adolescents to address and work through their difficulties. Lifegames are a series of six therapeutic board games developed for group work with children and adolescents who encounter adversity in their life as a consequence of bereavement, family break up, poor relationships, bullying, chronic illness or obesity. The games facilitate the understanding and disclosure of the complex feelings experienced by children and young people when they are confronted with traumatic life events. The games encourage and assist the participants to obtain and maintain behavioural change. Lifegames are a means to assist professionals in their group work with children and adolescents.