Nicky Lidbetter and Dawn Bunnell
Self Help Services is a pioneering charity in how it champions personal experience of mental health and uses these experiences in the treatment of people living with common mental…
Abstract
Purpose
Self Help Services is a pioneering charity in how it champions personal experience of mental health and uses these experiences in the treatment of people living with common mental health problems – anxiety, depression, phobias, and low self‐esteem issues. This paper aims to describe how the charity grew from one individual's journey with agoraphobia to being the main provider of primary care mental health services in the North West of England.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper charts the growth of Self Help Services over time, with a particular focus on its employment of people with personal mental health problems. It describes the experiences of its founder and Chief Officer and includes case studies of a user of its e‐therapy services and the charity's Informatics and Governance Lead.
Findings
The case studies illustrate how the charity has grown in both size and success as a result of harnessing the skills and experience of large numbers of staff and volunteers living with a mental health problem. The case studies illustrate that, rather than being an issue, these personal experiences are vital tools in helping others work through their own difficulties.
Originality/value
The paper provides a detailed overview of a charity which was unique when it was formed and now thrives as a result of its uniqueness. It provides other similar organisations with advice on lessons learnt along the way, and advice for individuals or groups looking to establish similar organisations.
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Kate Cavanagh, Nick Seccombe, Nicky Lidbetter and Dawn Bunnell
Around the UK, a number of strategies are being employed to expand the availability and increase the accessibility of psychological treatments for anxiety and depression…
Abstract
Purpose
Around the UK, a number of strategies are being employed to expand the availability and increase the accessibility of psychological treatments for anxiety and depression. Recommended interventions include supported self‐help programs based on CBT principles such as computerised cognitive behavioural therapies (CCBT) for mild‐to‐moderate depression, phobia, and panic. This paper seeks to describe innovative third sector, service‐user led CCBT clinics commissioned within Greater Manchester.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes how the project was initially set up, how the services are managed, how they work, and the impact of these services on the population they serve.
Findings
The CCBT clinic achieves a high throughput of service‐users, including more than one‐third accessing the service through self‐referral. Intake and outcome measures suggest that CCBT service users are representative of both the local population and those accessing increasing access to psychological therapies (IAPT) services for common mental health problems. For those engaging with the CCBT service, outcomes are equivalent to those reported in NHS‐based demonstration IAPT services. Service users highly value the service offered including the computer‐based programs and the support offered by paid and voluntary staff.
Practical implications
Roll out of this effective service model is recommended.
Originality/value
This paper has described a successful third‐sector, user‐led, CCBT self‐help clinic offering a Tier‐2 service for anxiety and depression that meets local needs. This will be of interest to service users, providers, and commissioners who want to develop similar services.
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Dan N. Stone, Alexei N. Nikitkov and Timothy C. Miller
This paper aims to adapt Simons’ (1995b) theory of the role of information technology (IT) in shaping and facilitating the levers of control (i.e. the Levers of Control Applied to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to adapt Simons’ (1995b) theory of the role of information technology (IT) in shaping and facilitating the levers of control (i.e. the Levers of Control Applied to Information Technology – LOCaIT) as a framework for investigating how eBay’s business strategy was realized through its management control system (MCS) in the first 10 years of the online auction market.
Design and method
The qualitative method uses data from public record interviews, teaching cases, books, Securities and Exchange Commission filings and other archival sources to longitudinally trace the realization of eBay’s strategy through its MCS and IT.
Findings
Realizing its strategy through the eBay MCS necessitated a diagnostic control system unlike any previously seen. This system created a close-knit online community and enabled buyers and sellers to monitor one another’s performance and trustworthiness.
Research limitations and implications
The LOCaIT theory facilitated understanding the core aspects of the realization of eBay’s strategy through its MCS and IT. However, LOCaIT largely omits the strong linkages evident among elements of the MCS, the importance and necessity of building a core IT infrastructure to support eBay’s strategy and the central role of building consumer trust in the realization of this strategy.
Practical and social implications
eBay’s MCS is now, perhaps, the world’s most widely imitated model for creating online trust and user interactions (e.g. Yelp, TripAdvisor, Amazon). In addition, eBay’s MCS was “sold” as a consumer product that was instrumental in facilitating consumer trust in the online auction market.
Originality/value
Contributions include: tracing the creation, growth and evolution of, perhaps, the world’s largest and most widely imitated MCS, which redefined the boundaries of accounting systems monitoring; and testing the range, usefulness and limitations of Simons’ LOCaIT theory as a lens for understanding eBay’s use of IT in their MCS.
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Pia Borlund, Nils Pharo and Ying-Hsang Liu
The PICCH research project contributes to opening a dialogue between cultural heritage archives and users. Hence, the users are identified and their information needs, the search…
Abstract
Purpose
The PICCH research project contributes to opening a dialogue between cultural heritage archives and users. Hence, the users are identified and their information needs, the search strategies they apply and the search challenges they experience are uncovered.
Design/methodology/approach
A combination of questionnaires and interviews is used for collection of data. Questionnaire data were collected from users of three different audiovisual archives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two user groups: (1) scholars searching information for research projects and (2) archivists who perform their own scholarly work and search information on behalf of others.
Findings
The questionnaire results show that the archive users mainly have an academic background. Hence, scholars and archivists constitute the target group for in-depth interviews. The interviews reveal that their information needs are multi-faceted and match the information need typology by Ingwersen. The scholars mainly apply collection-specific search strategies but have in common primarily doing keyword searching, which they typically plan in advance. The archivists do less planning owing to their knowledge of the collections. All interviewees demonstrate domain knowledge, archival intelligence and artefactual literacy in their use and mastering of the archives. The search challenges they experience can be characterised as search system complexity challenges, material challenges and metadata challenges.
Originality/value
The paper provides a rare insight into the complexity of the search situation of cultural heritage archives, and the users’ multi-facetted information needs and hence contributes to the dialogue between the archives and the users.
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Izhar Oplatka and Jane Hemsley-Brown
This review provides a synthesis of the scholarship that has sought to expand understanding of educational marketing practice in schools. The following research questions guided…
Abstract
This review provides a synthesis of the scholarship that has sought to expand understanding of educational marketing practice in schools. The following research questions guided this review: (1) what are the common themes and characteristics that emerge from research about marketing in schools? (2) What remains underdeveloped in the characterization of the school marketing and what are the topics for future research? Based on 25 studies identified as pertinent for the current review, the following topics are discussed: marketing perceptions, marketing planning, marketing strategies, and promotion. The chapter concludes by providing an analysis of the limitations of the current research and discussing future directions for research on school marketing.
Gilbert Ahamer and Johannes Mayer
This paper is the continuation of an earlier paper in this journal on global megatrends provoking institutional changes. It contains sectoral analyses with relevance to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is the continuation of an earlier paper in this journal on global megatrends provoking institutional changes. It contains sectoral analyses with relevance to environmental protection. Conclusions for suitable institutional reorganisation of (environmental or other) institutions are presented. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
A planet-wide information system might optimally also include areas such as human development indicators, water supply and demand and deforestation issues.
Findings
While administrations are increasingly oriented towards servicing a society, environmental institutions should specifically take care of global megatrends in the following areas: genetic engineering and biological safety, integrated plant technology in industry, climate protection, agriculture, noise, emissions and air pollution, sustainability, spatial planning and regional planning, radiation protection and nuclear power, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Information Act, traffic, forest, water.
Originality/value
The approach of this paper is the long-term matching of (national) administrative structures with (global) megatrends.