Samuel Parker, Deborah Earnshaw, Emma Penn and Roshni Kumari
In recent years the movement of refugees has led to increasing negative media and political discourse about migration in the United Kingdom, particularly as the number of refugees…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years the movement of refugees has led to increasing negative media and political discourse about migration in the United Kingdom, particularly as the number of refugees crossing the English Channel has increased. Despite this hostility, little is known about how the UK public perceive the journeys made by refugees or the refugees themselves.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study the authors used a story completion method to analyse perceptions and understandings of refugees. Participants were given the opening of a story about refugees crossing the English Channel and were asked to complete the remainder of the story. In total, 84 participants completed stories that ranged in length from two to 423 words. The stories were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Findings
Each of the completed stories was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and three themes were generated: Conflicting emotions: Uncertainty and the relief of reaching safety after a traumatic journey; The spectre of illegality: Borders and the uncertainty of what happens next; and Welcome or unwelcome?: Cultural values of welcome and hospitality.
Originality/value
The authors argue that this original use of the story completion method highlights how participants draw on cultural narratives of hospitality and welcome and that their stories are constructed using emotional categories that are in contrast to the more binary constructions of refugees that are present in media and government discourse about refugees and the English Channel crossings.
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VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the…
Abstract
VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is edited and substantially written by Tony McSean, Information Officer for Library Automation based in Southampton University Library and supported by a grant from the British Library Research and Development Department. Copyright for VINE articles rests with the British Library Board, but opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription to VINE is £10 per year and the subscription period runs from January to December.
Elaine Farndale and Inge Murrer
In light of increasing globalization of workforces, the purpose of this paper is to explore the moderating effect of country on the relationship between job resources and employee…
Abstract
Purpose
In light of increasing globalization of workforces, the purpose of this paper is to explore the moderating effect of country on the relationship between job resources and employee engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Questionnaire responses from 19,260 employees of a large multinational financial services corporation in Mexico, the Netherlands, and the USA are analyzed using regression analyses and a study of effect sizes.
Findings
The results show that certain job resources (financial rewards, team climate, participation in decision making) positively influence engagement in all three countries. However, the study also shows distinctions between the strength of relationships between these job resources and engagement per country which are explained through cross-cultural theorizing.
Research limitations/implications
National-level variations in relationships between job resources and employee engagement are evidenced, and these can be explained to a considerable extent by applying a cross-cultural theoretical lens.
Practical implications
The study highlights the importance for firms to be aware of and learn from the equivalence of constructs and their relationships across countries: although similar relationships were observed across the three countries studied here, the differences may be sufficient to require alternate approaches to appropriate job resources to engender engagement.
Originality/value
Although there has been considerable empirical investigation into the relationship between job resources and engagement, little has focussed on different national settings simultaneously.
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VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library‐housekeeping processes, principally in the…
Abstract
VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library‐housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is edited and substantially written by the Information Office for Library Automation based in Southampton University Library and supported by a gr t from the British Library Research and Development Department. Copyright for VINE articles rests with the British Library Board, but opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription for 1981 and 1982 for VINE is £20 for UK subscribers and £23 for overseas subscribers — subscription year runs from January to December.
Catarina Barata, Vânia Simões and Francisca Soromenho
Obstetric violence is the mistreatment of women in the setting of obstetric care, which includes preconception, medically assisted reproduction, pregnancy, childbirth and…
Abstract
Obstetric violence is the mistreatment of women in the setting of obstetric care, which includes preconception, medically assisted reproduction, pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. Obstetric violence follows and perpetuates the devaluation and subjugation of women in patriarchal societies, where socio-cultural conceptions contribute to a view of the female body as faulty and deviating from the male prototype. These shape the perception that female reproductive processes require technological corrections. The medicalisation of reproductive processes and the mechanisation of a normal life event, with the threat of death and other life-changing consequences, disempower women and objectify the body and its functions.
The entrance of women into the workforce and the specialised fields, feminising care professions, failed to shift this paradigm. Female health workers are trained in the procedures instituted by dominant patriarchal structures, expressing values encoded in the professional culture and the institutions where they work. As women conform to the models they are exposed to during their training, perpetuating corporate hierarchies and practices, they act as agents and perpetrators of obstetric violence. Thus, obstetric violence also constitutes a specific type of violence against women at the hands of other women.
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Roberto San José, Miguel A. Rodriguez, Enrique Cortés and Rosa Maria González
Mesoscale air quality models are an important tool to forecast and analyse the air quality in regional and urban areas. In recent years an increased interest has been shown by…
Abstract
Mesoscale air quality models are an important tool to forecast and analyse the air quality in regional and urban areas. In recent years an increased interest has been shown by decision makers in these types of software tools. The complexity of such a model has grown exponentially with the increase of computer power. Nowadays, medium workstations can run operational versions of these modelling systems successfully. Presents a complex mesoscale air quality model which has been installed in the Environmental Office of the Madrid community (Spain) in order to forecast accurately the ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide air concentrations in a 3D domain centred on Madrid city. Describes the challenging scientific matters to be solved in order to develop an operational version of the atmospheric mesoscale numerical pollution model for urban and regional areas (ANA). Some encouraging results have been achieved in the attempts to improve the accuracy of the predictions made by the version already installed.
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Jennifer C. Gibbs, Jennifer L. Schally, Ally Mullen, Melahat Akdemir, Nicholas Cutler and Timothy W. Brearly
The nature of policework is uniquely challenging to officers’ mental health, producing detrimental outcomes such as higher rates of suicide, substance abuse and divorce compared…
Abstract
Purpose
The nature of policework is uniquely challenging to officers’ mental health, producing detrimental outcomes such as higher rates of suicide, substance abuse and divorce compared to other occupations. This is especially true in small and rural police departments, where officers often have broader responsibilities and cover a larger geographic area than their counterparts who work in large urban departments. Given the limited resources available to small and rural police, the purpose of this study is to explore the mental health services available to officers in small and rural police departments.
Design/methodology/approach
We used a mixed methods approach. First, we surveyed 349 small and rural Pennsylvania police chiefs about the mental health services in their department. Of these chiefs, 53 participated in subsequent in-depth qualitative interviews about officer awareness of the mental health services available to them, what resources they thought would be helpful to officers and what barriers exist to prevent officers from seeking help.
Findings
Quantitative results indicated that 22% of small and rural police departments had no mental health programs available to officers; Critical Incident Stress Management and Employee Assistance Programs were most commonly available. Budget size and the presence of a union influenced whether a department had mental health programs available to officers. Qualitative interviews found that although most departments provided some mental health services, officers were unlikely to use them. Chiefs expressed a need for improved services that officers might be more likely to use.
Practical implications
Given the lack of resources available in small and rural police departments and the lack of adoption of some resources, we recommend peer assistance, general wellness programs and telehealth as feasible options for officer mental health.
Originality/value
Small and rural police comprise the bulk of policing in the USA, yet remain understudied. This study focuses on small and rural police.
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Nick Axford, Emma Crewe, Celene Domitrovich and Alina Morawska
This article reviews the contents of the previous year's editions of the Journal of Children's Services (Volume 2, 2007), as requested by the Journal's editorial board. It draws…
Abstract
This article reviews the contents of the previous year's editions of the Journal of Children's Services (Volume 2, 2007), as requested by the Journal's editorial board. It draws out some of the main messages for how high‐quality scientific research can help build good childhoods in western developed countries, focusing on: the need for epidemiology to understand how to match services to needs; how research can build evidence of the impact of prevention and intervention services on child well‐being; what the evidence says about how to implement proven programmes successfully; the economic case for proven programmes; the urgency of improving children's material living standards; how to help the most vulnerable children in society; and, lastly, the task of measuring child well‐being.