Peter Angood and Diane Shannon
This paper aims to present the argument that effective physician leadership is needed to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery in the USA and around the world…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present the argument that effective physician leadership is needed to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery in the USA and around the world.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on an in-depth literature review, interviews with physician leaders and a study of the competencies required for physicians to successfully lead healthcare organizations.
Findings
The paper finds that a clear need exists for training to improve specific leadership competencies among physicians, regardless of their career stage or career path.
Research limitations/implications
Limited research has been conducted on the value of physician leadership and its impact on quality outcomes and patient safety.
Practical implications
This paper establishes the need for physician leadership in healthcare organizations.
Social implications
This paper will influence public attitudes within the healthcare sphere on the value that physician leaders can bring to healthcare.
Originality/value
This paper fulfils a need for more study on the impact that physician leadership brings to quality and patient care, and establishes the need for physician leaders to obtain specific leadership competencies.
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Hussain Alshahrani and Diane Rasmussen Pennington
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sources of self-efficacy that researchers rely on when using social media for knowledge sharing and to explore how these sources…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sources of self-efficacy that researchers rely on when using social media for knowledge sharing and to explore how these sources impact their use.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employed 30 semi-structured interviews with researchers at a major Scottish university. The authors analysed the interview transcriptions using directed content analysis.
Findings
The researchers relied on the four sources of self-efficacy proposed by Bandura (1977) when using social media for knowledge sharing. These sources lead researchers to use social media effectively and frequently for sharing knowledge, although some may discourage its use.
Research limitations/implications
It extends the self-efficacy integrative theoretical framework of Bandura (1977) by presenting the relative amount of the influence of these sources for researchers to share their ideas, experiences, questions and research outputs on social media. While the participants included academic staff, postdoctoral researchers, and PhD students, the majority were PhD students.
Practical implications
The findings can help universities understand how to promote productive use of social media. For example, academic staff who have high personal mastery experience could mentor those who do not.
Originality/value
This is the first known study to investigate the sources of self-efficacy that impact researchers’ use of social media for knowledge sharing.
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Alan Kerr and Diane Rasmussen Pennington
The purpose of this paper is to examine current public library apps in Scotland and assess Scottish public library users’ opinions of those apps.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine current public library apps in Scotland and assess Scottish public library users’ opinions of those apps.
Design/methodology/approach
Two qualitative and quantitative surveys were conducted. One survey was distributed to each Scottish local authority, the entities responsible for public libraries and Scotland. The second survey was made available to the public. The results were analysed with nonparametric statistics and content analysis.
Findings
All 32 authorities responded. In all, 17 authorities had an app, two had one in development, and 13 had none. Offering an alternative means of communication to patrons was the main reason for providing an app, while cost and low priority were the main reasons provided against app provision. Authorities were satisfied with the core services offered in their apps, but less so with others. No authorities had consulted the public regarding app provision. The public (n=185), while satisfied with current library apps, criticised the complex procedures required to access external services. Patrons from authorities without an app stated interest in apps.
Research limitations/implications
It is vital for public libraries to implement at least core services that are optimised for mobile devices. They should consult with the public before and throughout the development process to ensure they are happy with the implementation.
Originality/value
This is the first known study to explore public library app use in Scotland as well as one of the first in public library app use worldwide.
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Suzanne Molitor, Lana Parker and Diane Vetter
After many years working with mentors for beginning teachers, both through a formal, Ministry-sponsored program, known in Ontario as the New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) and…
Abstract
Purpose
After many years working with mentors for beginning teachers, both through a formal, Ministry-sponsored program, known in Ontario as the New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) and through a university-based Faculty of Education practicum, the authors cultivated an understanding of the value of both mentoring and the communities that foster it. The authors observed that pre-service mentors are not offered the same level of support as their induction mentor counterparts. The purpose of this paper is to explore the aforementioned gap by bringing together a small group of pre-service mentor teachers with several highly trained induction mentors from the NTIP program in two full days of professional development: one day of learning and community building among mentors, and the second day of collaboration by pre-service mentors alongside their teacher candidates (TCs). The authors learned that pre-service mentors need and desire professional learning and community mentoring support to develop foundational understandings about the role of mentors and the skills and strategies that support an effective mentoring practice. As a result, the authors advocate for sustainable professional development that leverages existing programs and the clarification of the pre-service mentoring role through continued study and collaboration over time.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study was designed to explore, understand, and interpret pre-service mentor teachers’ experience of professional learning about mentoring and the role of the mentor, including their responses to participating in a like community of learners. This study brought together educators serving as pre-service and induction mentors to engage them in formal professional learning about mentoring, within an environment that created the conditions for collaboration and community in the context of learning about mentoring.
Findings
This study surfaces the insights related to the types of knowledge and skills that mentors developed in this study in addition to pointing toward the knowledge and skills they perceive to be necessary to their effective participation in their roles as mentors. The study also identifies both the value that pre-service mentors perceived as a result of being invited into a learning space and the dynamics of professional learning and dialogue in collaboration with their induction mentor counterparts and their pre-service mentees.
Research limitations/implications
This research study explores a research gap in the area of mentoring as it relates to pre-service mentors or cooperating teachers. Its unique feature involves bringing together two previously segmented groups of mentors: pre-service mentors supporting developing TCs and induction mentors supporting novice teachers. It describes the value and impact of mentoring as understood by pre-service mentors, in particular identifying the reciprocal benefits they experienced. The authors also investigate and shed light on the value and impact of pre-service mentor participation in a community that is intentionally created to support their professional learning about their role. It provides recommendations for practice and indicates areas of potential research.
Practical implications
This study surfaces the potential benefits of professional learning and community for pre-service mentors who play an integral role in supporting TCs in the completion of their education degrees. It makes practical recommendations which point to uniting pre-service and in-service mentors as participants in learning communities that build leadership capacity and advance mentoring knowledge and skills to impact the mentoring relationship. This study advocates for a restructuring existing practice in the area of pre-service mentoring to encourage professional learning and interaction that connects the work of pre-service and in-service mentors, bridging two currently separate mentoring communities.
Originality/value
This study offers a re-visioning of mentoring as a community endeavor. It advances the notion that, supported by a targeted program of professional development and participation in communities of inquiry, knowledge creation and mobilization, mentors can build their mentoring and leadership capacity and extend their professional impact.
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Hussain Alshahrani and Diane Pennington
This study aims to investigate the outcomes that researchers expect from using social media for knowledge sharing and to explore how these outcomes impact their use.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the outcomes that researchers expect from using social media for knowledge sharing and to explore how these outcomes impact their use.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with researchers at a major Scottish university. They analysed the interview transcripts using directed content analysis.
Findings
Researchers expect social and personal outcomes from the use of social media to share knowledge. Each type has positive and negative forms. The positive outcomes motivate researchers to use it, whereas negative outcomes prevent them from using it.
Research limitations/implications
This study extends the integrative theoretical framework of outcome expectations within the social cognitive theory by exploring these outcomes and their relative amount of influence on sharing ideas, experiences, questions and research outputs on social media. While the participants included academic staff and postdoctoral researchers, the majority were PhD students.
Practical implications
The findings will help individual researchers and universities to use social media effectively in sharing ideas and promoting research through identifying the positive outcomes. Identifying the negative outcomes will help in using solutions to overcome them.
Originality/value
This is the first known study to investigate the outcome expectations that impact researchers’ use of social media for knowledge sharing.
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Louise Margaret Prendergast, Gill Toms, Diane Seddon, Carys Jones, Bethany Fern Anthony and Rhiannon Tudor Edwards
The purpose of this paper is to share the learning concerning how services and the paid carers working in them can support people living with dementia (PLWD) and their unpaid…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to share the learning concerning how services and the paid carers working in them can support people living with dementia (PLWD) and their unpaid carers to overcome social isolation. This learning comes from the key findings from a Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation of a Shared Lives (SL) Day support service, known as TRIO.
Design/methodology/approach
SROI is a form of cost-benefit analysis that captures and monetises stakeholder outcomes. The SROI evaluation included a rapid evidence review, an interview study and a questionnaire study. The learning shared is drawn from the interview and questionnaire data that explored the reported outcomes relating to social connection, which included data related to participating in meaningful activities, confidence and independence.
Findings
PLWD who accessed the SL Day support service experienced better social connection, a sense of control over their activities (including their social activities) and community presence. A key foundation of these outcomes was the meaningful relationship that developed between the PLWD, their unpaid carer and the paid carer.
Research limitations/implications
This evaluation was a pilot study with a small, albeit representative sample size.
Practical implications
The learning suggests feasible and effective ways for paid carers to support the social connection of PLWD and their unpaid carers with their wider community.
Originality/value
There has been little exploration of how community-based short breaks (like SL Day support) can enhance social connection. The authors drew on a social relational model lens to illustrate how this service type had supported successful outcomes of community and social inclusion for PLWD.
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Elizabeth Borland and Diane C. Bates
Although there are more primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) than research-oriented institutions (ROIs) in the United States and more professors work at PUIs than ROIs…
Abstract
Purpose
Although there are more primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) than research-oriented institutions (ROIs) in the United States and more professors work at PUIs than ROIs, most research on gender inequality among faculty has focused on ROIs. Do patterns of women’s numeric scarcity, gender-hostile work climates, and difficulties with work-life balance found at ROIs hold true for PUIs? This chapter examines one PUI to address this question.
Methods
We analyze data from four sources: an archival database of all professors at the institution, interviews with full and associate professors, and two surveys.
Findings
Similar to ROIs, our study found women were less likely to achieve higher ranks, and take longer than men to do so. However, we find greater numbers of women and few gender differences in perception of climate, so numeric scarcity and gender-hostile climate cannot explain persistent lags in women’s advancement. Instead, we find women struggle with work-life balance more than men, especially in science disciplines. Thus, gender parity in advancement has yet to fully emerge, despite more women in the faculty and a more equitable climate than at ROIs.
Research implications
Differences between faculty cohorts are intensified at the PUI because of changes to the institution’s mission, but our research demonstrates that not all gendered patterns found at ROIs apply to PUIs.
Practical and social implications
PUIs that increasingly emphasize scholarly output should enact family-friendly policies to support all professors, including on-campus or subsidized childcare, flexible scheduling, family leave, and dual-career hiring policies.
Originality/value
This chapter demonstrates that there are important differences between ROIs and PUIs that must be taken into account if we are to understand and remedy gender inequality in academia.
Valerie Naquin, Spero Manson, Charles Curie, Shannon Sommer, Ray Daw, Carole Maraku, Nemu Lallu, Dale Meller, Cristy Willer and Edward Deaux
The demand for evidence‐based health practices has created a cultural challenge for Indigenous people around the world. This paper reports on the history and evolution of…
Abstract
The demand for evidence‐based health practices has created a cultural challenge for Indigenous people around the world. This paper reports on the history and evolution of evidence‐based care into its mainstream status within the behavioural health field. Through the leadership of an Alaska Native tribal organisation, an international forum was convened to address the challenges of evidence‐based practice for Indigenous people. Forum participants developed a model for gathering evidence that integrates rigorous research with Indigenous knowledge and values. The model facilitates development of practices and programmes that are culturally congruent for Indigenous people, accepted and validated by the research community, and deemed supportable by private and governmental sponsors.