Nigel Rees, Patrick Rees, Lois Hough, Dylan Parry, Nicola White and Brady Bowes
Ambulance services staff worldwide have long been at risk of encountering violence and aggression directed towards them during their work. Verbal forms of violence and aggression…
Abstract
Purpose
Ambulance services staff worldwide have long been at risk of encountering violence and aggression directed towards them during their work. Verbal forms of violence and aggression are the most prevalent form, but sometimes incidents involve physical injury, and on rare occasions homicides do occur. Exposure to such violence and aggression can have a lasting negative impact upon ambulance staff and has been associated with increased levels of stress, fear, anxiety, emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and burnout syndrome. Despite the significance of this issue, little progress has been made to tackle it. The purpose of this paper is to describe this multi-agency approach being taken in Wales (UK) to reduce such harms from violence and aggression directed towards ambulance services staff.
Design/methodology/approach
An interpretative post-positivist narrative methodology and policy analysis approach was followed. Snowball methods of gathering data were used to construct this narrative involving meetings, telephone calls, review of policy documents, legislation and academic literature.
Findings
The authors report how tackling violence and aggression directed towards emergency workers has become a priority within Wales (UK), resulting in policy developments and initiatives from groups such as the UK and Welsh Government, the Welsh Ambulance Services National Health Services (NHS) Trust, Health Boards, the NHS Wales Anti-Violence Collaborative and the Joint Emergency Services Group (JESG) in Wales. This has included changes in legislation such as the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 that came into force on 13th November 2018 and policy changes such as the obligatory responses to violence in health care and the JESG #WithUsNotAgainst Us campaign. Our study however reflects the complexity of this issue and the need for further high-quality research.
Originality/value
The experiences and activities of Wales (UK) reported in this paper adds to the international body of knowledge and literature on violence and aggression directed towards ambulance services staff.
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Richard Nash, Dylan Yamada-Rice, Eleanor Dare, Steve Love, Angus Main, John Potter and Deborah Rodrigues
The purpose of this paper is to focus on a designed research methodology to distil existing research findings from an esrc/ahrc funded japan/uk network on location-based virtual…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on a designed research methodology to distil existing research findings from an esrc/ahrc funded japan/uk network on location-based virtual reality experiences for children in order to generate new knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
The structured co-production methodology was undertaken in three stages. These were: (1) a collaborative workshop which produced a series of collage narratives, (2) collaborating with a non-human entity in the form of a digital coded tool to reconfigure the workshop responses and mediate the hierarchy of roles, (3) the co-production of a zine as a collaborative reflection method, which shared via postal service enabled a dialogue and exchange of round Robin interventions by the network members.
Findings
The analysis of the data collected in this study highlighted five themes that could be used by other researchers on a wide range of projects. These were: (1) knowing through making, (2) the importance of process, (3) beyond linear representations, (4) agency of physical materials and (5) agency of digital code.
Research limitations/implications
The context of the study being undertaken during the first phase of the global pandemic, revealed insight into a method of co-production that was undertaken under emergency remote working conditions. The knowledge generated from this can be applied to other research contexts such as working with researchers or participants across global borders without the need to travel.
Originality/value
The research provides an innovative rethinking of co-production methods in order to generate new knowledge from multidisciplinary and multimodal research.
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I suppose that most noticeable of all the changes in our profession since I came into it has been the multiplicity of the methods by which one can become a librarian. A. E…
Abstract
I suppose that most noticeable of all the changes in our profession since I came into it has been the multiplicity of the methods by which one can become a librarian. A. E. Standley says in a recent article in the L.A.R., in 1970: “The term librarian includes the Library Association chartered librarian, the graduate with a degree in librarianship, the scholar librarian, the information and intelligence officer, the translator, the abstracter, the non‐library‐qualified subject expert”.
ARNOLD BENNETT was a man of two worlds. In the terms of Max Beerbohm's cartoon “Old Self” was plump, wealthy, self‐assured, a landmark of the London scene, a familiar of press…
Abstract
ARNOLD BENNETT was a man of two worlds. In the terms of Max Beerbohm's cartoon “Old Self” was plump, wealthy, self‐assured, a landmark of the London scene, a familiar of press magnates, the owner of a yacht; “Young Self” was thin, ambitious, far‐sighted, industrious, secretly terribly anxious to justify himself to himself and decidedly provincial.
A question of size THE Committee set up by the Minister of Education in 1957 to “consider the structure of the public library service in England and Wales, and to advise what…
Abstract
A question of size THE Committee set up by the Minister of Education in 1957 to “consider the structure of the public library service in England and Wales, and to advise what changes, if any, should be made n the administrative arrangements, regard being had to the relation of public libraries to other libraries,” was the first such since the Kenyon Committee which reported in 1927. One of the most controversial aspects of the Roberts Committee's deliberations was the consideration of the minimum size (in terms of population) of an independent library system.
Diversity and uncertainty summarise Taiwan’s Generation Z. Diversity because the background of fewer than 3.4 million Taiwanese, which is less than 20% of the overall population…
Abstract
Diversity and uncertainty summarise Taiwan’s Generation Z. Diversity because the background of fewer than 3.4 million Taiwanese, which is less than 20% of the overall population, cannot be included in a ‘one-fits-all’ category. As a sovereign nation, Taiwan has developed through various cultural, economic, and political stages. Democratic freedom has given the Taiwanese the right and terrain to de-Sinicise their homeland and politically construct ‘Taiwanese Consciousness’. These points are essential, because this is the societal fabric given to Generation Zers. Apart from national identity, this chapter illustrates the uncertainties that Generation Zers are facing in relation to education, job opportunities, and living standards. It is suggested that conditions are easier for those that have received ‘superior’ education and have enjoyed family-economic support. Their consumer behaviour, Generation Z in the workplace, as well as voters are also carefully analysed in this chapter.
While age is receiving increased attention in the literature on workplace diversity, it remains under researched. Intergenerational contact and its relationship to ageism require…
Abstract
Purpose
While age is receiving increased attention in the literature on workplace diversity, it remains under researched. Intergenerational contact and its relationship to ageism require further research to understand their mechanisms and impacts. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Using semi-structured interviews in the Norwegian technical industry, this paper explores how generations are formed and how this influences intergenerational contact.
Findings
Through the lens of ageism, the findings reveal that generational stereotypes are strongly held by respondents, and may affect how members of the generations interact in the workplace. Further, the data demonstrate that both age and generation are socially constructed, and age discrimination is perceived by both older and younger workers.
Originality/value
The study has relevance for managers who are overseeing organizations with considerable age differences.
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Hazel A. Wright, Joseph E. Ironside and Dylan Gwynn‐Jones
Owing to the specialist nature of biological experimentation, scientific research staff have been largely neglected from the pro‐environmental initiatives which have inundated…
Abstract
Purpose
Owing to the specialist nature of biological experimentation, scientific research staff have been largely neglected from the pro‐environmental initiatives which have inundated other areas of higher education. This dearth of studies is surprising given that scientific research is recognised as a substantial contributor to the environmental impact of tertiary institutes. The present study seeks to utilise the current sustainability literature to identify barriers to sustainability in scientific fieldwork and determines which methods or procedures might increase pro‐environmental behaviours in this technical environment. The resultant information serves to provide a comparison with previously identified barriers to sustainability in the laboratory environment and identifies which environmental initiatives might be successful in both the field and laboratory.
Design/methodology/approach
This study gathers qualitative data from a sample of scientific researchers presently conducting field experimentation in the agricultural sciences. A “sustainability in science” questionnaire was developed and distributed to all staff undertaking research at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research.
Findings
Despite favourable sustainability beliefs and perceptions, almost three‐quarters (71 per cent) of researchers at this institute agreed that they were not conducting their current research activities in the most sustainable way possible. Barriers to sustainability included lack of support, lack of information, lack of training and lack of time. The provision of awards for pro‐environmental behaviours and the application of costs for unsustainable behaviours were the initiatives most likely to encourage research staff to be sustainable in the work environment.
Research limitations/implications
Many agricultural field based research projects manipulate the environment in order to cultivate and develop commercial foodstuffs. Identifying the potential to reduce such waste was an inherent part of the present study. However, identifying the ways in which such environmental manipulation modifies the landscape – whether sustainably or unsustainably – was outwith the scope of the present study and presents an interesting area for future sustainability research.
Practical implications
The information presented in this paper has immediate practical implication for tertiary bodies and agricultural institutes wishing to adopt more sustainable fieldwork practises.
Originality/value
This is the first study to design a sustainability questionnaire specifically targeting field active research scientists in a tertiary institute.