Simon Chester Evans, Julie Barrett, Neil Mapes, June Hennell, Teresa Atkinson, Jennifer Bray, Claire Garabedian and Chris Russell
The benefits of “green dementia care”, whereby people living with dementia are supported to connect with nature, are increasingly being recognised. Evidence suggests that these…
Abstract
Purpose
The benefits of “green dementia care”, whereby people living with dementia are supported to connect with nature, are increasingly being recognised. Evidence suggests that these benefits span physical, emotional and social spheres and can make a significant contribution towards quality of life. However, care settings often present specific challenges to promoting such connections due to a range of factors including risk-averse cultures and environmental limitations. The purpose of this paper is to report on a project that aims to explore the opportunities, benefits, barriers and enablers to interaction with nature for people living with dementia in residential care and extra care housing schemes in the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered from 144 responses to an online survey by managers/staff of extra care housing schemes and care homes in the UK. In depth-case studies were carried out at three care homes and three extra care housing schemes, involving interviews with residents, staff and family carers.
Findings
A wide variety of nature-based activities were reported, both outdoor and indoor. Positive benefits reported included improved mood, higher levels of social interaction and increased motivation for residents, and greater job satisfaction for staff. The design and layout of indoor and outdoor spaces is key, in addition to staff who feel enabled to promote connections with nature.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is based on a relatively small research project in which the participants were self-selecting and therefore not necessarily representative.
Practical implications
The paper makes some key recommendations for good practice in green dementia care in extra care housing and care homes.
Social implications
Outdoor activities can promote social interaction for people living with dementia in care settings. The authors’ findings are relevant to the recent policy focus on social prescribing.
Originality/value
The paper makes some key recommendations for good practice in green dementia care in extra care housing and care homes.
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David Nicholas, Tom Dobrowolski, Richard Withey, Chris Russell, Paul Huntington and Peter Williams
Sketches the key characteristics of the newly information enfranchised general public (the digital information consumers). Portrays the digital consumer as…
Abstract
Sketches the key characteristics of the newly information enfranchised general public (the digital information consumers). Portrays the digital consumer as all‐conquering/powerful, short on attention, promiscuous, untrusting and – above all – interested in speed of delivery. Argues for a fundamental re‐think of the concept of the information “user”. The Web, search engines etc. are creating a level‐playing field and a homogeneity which results in academics behaving more like the general consumer and the general consumer behaving more like an academic. Considers the overall outcomes and benefits of information acquisition.
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Barrie Gunter, Chris Russell, Richard Withey and David Nicholas
The British Life and Internet Project was launched in 2002 to explore the way people use the Internet in Britain. It will survey people online throughout each year on a range of…
Abstract
The British Life and Internet Project was launched in 2002 to explore the way people use the Internet in Britain. It will survey people online throughout each year on a range of topics linked to the use of the Internet. In the first survey that was conducted, just before Christmas 2002, respondents were asked a series of questions about their history of involvement with the Internet and the nature of their online behaviour. The findings indicated that online technology was used overwhelmingly for sending and receiving e‐mails and for obtaining news and information linked to work and hobbies. Such is the demand of the Internet on the time of users that many acknowledged reducing the amount of time they spend on other activities, such as watching television, reading newspapers, and even going out to do the shopping. The Internet is, for most of its users, an important interpersonal communications medium, used to stay in touch and gossip with family and friends.
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David Nicholas, Paul Huntington, Barrie Gunter, Richard Withey and Chris Russell
In the UK, both anecdotal and research evidence points to ever greater and more sophisticated use of the Web to provide health information and advice. The study reported here adds…
Abstract
In the UK, both anecdotal and research evidence points to ever greater and more sophisticated use of the Web to provide health information and advice. The study reported here adds to this research with an online survey of Internet users’ reported use of the Web to access information about health and their opinions about the advice that can be obtained there. Over a period of three weeks more than 1,300 people responded to an online questionnaire produced by The British Life and Internet Project; 81 per cent or 997 of the respondents were British. The prime purpose of the questionnaire was to obtain information on the characteristics of the users of health information Web sites, to obtain feedback regarding for what they used online health sites and what were the perceived outcomes associated with using online health information.
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FR. Oswald A. J. Mascarenhas, S.J.
Morality is primarily a system of values, meanings, convictions, beliefs, principles, and drivers of good behavior and good outcomes in any organization. Using systems thinking…
Abstract
Executive Summary
Morality is primarily a system of values, meanings, convictions, beliefs, principles, and drivers of good behavior and good outcomes in any organization. Using systems thinking concepts and applications introduced and developed during the last 50 years or so by various scholars from MIT, Stanford, and Wharton, such as Chris Argyris, Russell Ackoff, G. K. Forrester, Peter Senge, Stephen Covey, and Jim Collins, this chapter seeks to explore various past and contemporary market systems and challenges in terms of specific inputs, processes, and outputs. Systems thinking reckons everything in the cosmos (usually classified as subjects, objects, properties, and events) as a system (composed of two or more interactive parts with individual and interactive effects) that is connected to every other system in the universe. Various systems thinking laws and archetypes that have been developed thus far by systems thinkers will be introduced in order to identify basic patterns, structures, and constraints of human thinking and reasoning that create market phenomena. The academic and managerial challenge is to identify, explore, and capitalize such nonobvious connections for creating and developing new markets and corporate growth opportunities in the highly turbulent markets of today. In a globalized, digitized, and networked planet and universe, systems thinking is a very effective tool for analyzing turbulent market systems holistically and in an inclusive and integrated manner, with their specific inputs, processes, and outcomes. Several contemporary market cases will be included to illustrate the contents of this chapter.
Paul Huntington, David Nicholas, Barrie Gunter, Chris Russell, Richard Withey and Panayiota Polydoratou
In the case of health information the quality and authenticity of the digital information have always been a matter of major concern for health and information professionals. This…
Abstract
In the case of health information the quality and authenticity of the digital information have always been a matter of major concern for health and information professionals. This paper seeks to explore these concerns from the consumers' perspective. It addresses issues around the consumers' trust of health information. An online questionnaire was used to gather the data. Over a period of three weeks more than 1,300 people responded to the online questionnaire produced by The British Life and Internet Project: 81 per cent or 997 of the respondents were from the UK. A major finding was that half the respondents believed only some or even none of the health information found on the web and 45 per cent said that they had found misleading health information. This was found to be truer for respondents who surfed around. Thus respondents who used five or more sites to inform them were more likely to have found misleading information. Finally, data are presented to show that data collected from another independent study, conducted on behalf of the Department of Health, come to many of the same conclusions.
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Paul Huntington, David Nicholas, Janet Homewood, Panayiota Polydoratou, Barrie Gunter, Chris Russell and Richard Withey
Examines statistically the public's use and attitudes towards interactive and personal health services via an online questionnaire survey and enhances these data with an expert…
Abstract
Examines statistically the public's use and attitudes towards interactive and personal health services via an online questionnaire survey and enhances these data with an expert assessment of a number of consumer health sites and their services. Over a period of three weeks more than 1,300 people responded to an online questionnaire produced by The British Life and Internet Project. Of the respondents, 81 per cent were British. The likely potential uptake figure for support group participation among Internet health users is about 20 per cent while around 11 to 13 per cent will go online to describe a medical condition. Those in poor heath were approximately ten to 13 times more likely to have participated in an online support group. Those aged over 65 were four times as likely to e‐mail their doctor. More positive health outcomes were associated with those respondents that participated in online support groups and the least number of health outcomes were associated with those people that maintained e‐mail contact with a doctor or surgery.
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Barrie Gunter, Chris Russell, Richard Withey and David Nicholas
An online survey was run to investigate the broadband Internet users in Britain. A sample of 1,594 Internet users replied to questions that asked them about their different uses…
Abstract
An online survey was run to investigate the broadband Internet users in Britain. A sample of 1,594 Internet users replied to questions that asked them about their different uses of the Internet and reasons for using this medium. Comparisons were made between respondents (33 per cent) who said they had a high‐speed of “broadband” Internet connection and those (67 per cent) who had a narrowband connection. Broadband users were more likely to be male and older than narrowband users. Broadband respondents were also likely to be more experienced Internet users, having had longer Internet access and being more frequent users. Broadband respondents were more advanced Internet users than narrowband respondents, being more likely to engage in consumer and financial transactions online and to exchange software and files with other users. Evidence emerged among all Internet users in the sample that online behaviour was displacing off‐line media use. Internet users felt that they had reduced the time they spent in reading newspapers and watching television.
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Paul Huntington, David Nicholas, Hamid R. Jamali and Chris Russell
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate of the results of a survey which asked people where they went online for their health information, why and what success they had. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate of the results of a survey which asked people where they went online for their health information, why and what success they had. The prime purpose of the questionnaire was to obtain information on the audience for health information web sites and to obtain feedback as to what they used online health sites for. The focus was on two major publicly funded health internet sites: NHS Direct Online and the BBC web site.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was carried out with a population of internet users in the UK in the winter of 2004, yielding a sample of nearly 1,000 (923) people and a response rate of 4.4 per cent was achieved.
Findings
The survey identified that indeed both sites were well used although their users were very different in terms of how they arrived at each site and in terms of what they were looking for. Outcomes resulting from using the sites are discussed and compared. Though outcomes differed between NHS Direct Online and the BBC the data suggest that the national sites were not meeting the demanding information needs of some users.
Originality/value
It is the first time that two publicly funded national sites that aim to provide the UK population with health information are compared.