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This paper aims to assess the current state, and various methods, of public and patient involvement, particularly but not exclusively in research on ageing and dementia.

Interviews were carried out with a researcher, who has had a leading role in research on dementia; a public contributor with extensive relevant experience; and a member of the research design service with responsibility for patient and public involvement.

All those involved in the research can benefit considerably from public and patient involvement and it can make a significant difference to the course of a project. The importance of choosing an appropriate method of involvement is discussed and planning for it in both financial terms and time allowed. Examples are given of successful studies.

Those who took part in the interviews were chosen for their record in furthering public and patient involvement in research. There is no attempt to compare their views with those of the wider research community.

The various ways in which patients and the public are involved in relevant research is a guide to those designing projects and those who may want to explore opportunities for involvement.

Social implications include being able to influence research projects, contributors of all ages find they are valued.

The format of the paper is original, eliciting material from three viewpoints on research and involvement.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses are unpredictable in onset, severity, type of symptoms, and duration. They can have a profound effect on a person's daily activities, employment, relationships with friends and family, and social life. Individual budgets may be a means of providing personalised, timely, and flexible support to people with MS in preparation for, and during, a relapse. This paper aims to report on a pilot scheme that aimed to help people with MS to prepare for future relapse.

The paper provides an evaluation of a one year pilot scheme conducted in East Sussex, UK, that aimed to help people with MS to prepare for future relapse by a process of tailored relapse support planning, in combination with the provision of an individual grant of £750.

An independent, mixed methods evaluation (n=12) was conducted incorporating telephone and face‐to‐face interviews, focus groups, and self‐reported questionnaires. The evaluation indicated that the service was valued by participants and that, overall, they reported feeling more in control of managing a relapse or worsening of symptoms.

The results will inform the development and expansion of the service, with larger scale research projects required to further establish the evidence base.

This study seeks to examine the processes through which leadership is fostered and developed within student leadership development programs. While there has been some scholarly literature written in this area, a dearth in the literature exists with respect to providing a detailed chronicle and examination of the complete processes employed within an exemplary student leadership development program. Through the analysis of such a program – validated by a recent NASPA (2011) study as an exemplar in the field of student leadership development – such a program will be examined. Through a qualitative, grounded theory approach using interviews to inductively build a framework of understanding, seven themes of student leadership development are identified. How these findings extend existing literature is then presented, as is a new theoretical model illustrating the process through which leadership is fostered and developed within students, thereby aiding the construction of future programs.

This article discusses the question of risk in the lives of people who are supported by human services. It responds to the way in which risk, as it has traditionally been approached by these services, imposes a barrier to social inclusion and to an interesting and productive life. The article proposes an alternative person‐centred risk process. We argue that, by beginning with a focus on who the person is, their gifts and skills, and offering a positive vision of success, it could be possible to avoid the implied aversion to any form of risk embedded in the traditional approaches and attitudes.

Current English health policy is focused on strengthening the ‘demand-side’ of the health care system. Recent reforms are designed to significantly enhance the capability and status of the organisations responsible for commissioning health care services and, in so doing, to address some of the perceived problems of a historically provider/supplierled health system. In this context, commissioning organisations are being encouraged to draw on concepts and processes derived from commercial procurement and supply chain management (SCM) as they develop their expertise. While the application of such principles in the health sector is not new, existing work in the UK has not often considered the role of health care purchasers in the management of health service supply-chains. This paper describes the status of commissioning in the NHS, briefly reviews the procurement and SCM literature and begins to explore the links between them. It lays the foundations for further work which will test the extent to which lessons can be extracted in principle from the procurement literature and applied in practice by health care commissioners.

I address the question, Is theory useful when collaborating with teachers to improve student engagement?

We based our work on four principles of motivation drawn from the research literature: students are more likely to engage in learning if teachers support their perceptions of competence, autonomy, belongingness, and make learning meaningful. To bridge the gap between theory and practice, we suggested that teachers use certain instructional strategies, like open-ended questions, related to supporting student engagement. These strategies were both more complex than the standard practices and more challenging to implement, given the current U.S. emphasis on standardized testing. In two longitudinal studies, we provided rationales for engagement principles and instructional strategies related to student engagement and encouraged teachers to use new practices. Mixed methodology included online observation measures and video of classroom instruction, retrospective interviews with teachers, and student interviews and experience sampling self-reports.

Short case studies of teachers change illustrate the examples of implementation. In both studies, about half the teachers made significant instructional changes, which were related both to teacher perceptions of student engagement and to student self-reports.

Insights gained from the studies may offer researchers practical information about how to work with teachers to improve engagement in the classroom. They include whether teachers can understand abstract motivation terminology, consider students’ “basic needs” when planning instruction, and implement strategies so that they are likely to support student engagement. Other learnings include the strong impact of teacher culture on change efforts and the need to consider teachers’ “basic needs” if we are to support them in instructional change. Long-term collaboration and establishing mutual trust may be the best way for both researchers and teachers to develop common understandings for supporting student motivation in the classroom.

In this chapter, the authors build on the voluntary turnover model posited by Allen, Bryant, and Vardaman (2010) with reference to turnover and retention within the United Kingdom. After providing important contextual material about the United Kingdom, the authors explore turnover drivers such as work precarity, as well as the effect of Brexit, which compounds the political and economic uncertainty engendered by the pandemic. Reflecting on the role of external shocks in precipitating withdrawal processes, the authors go on to examine the extent to which job embeddedness impacts on employee turnover, and how alternative opportunities in a UK context may shape the decisions people make to stay with or leave their organizations. Central to our argument is that human resource (HR) practices as perceived by employees play a critical role in shaping attitudes such that people wish to stay in the organization. Cultural values posited by Hofstede and others are likely to significantly impact the way in which employees respond to the HR practices they perceive. Hence, leaders and HR specialists in the United Kingdom need to deploy HR practices which speak to cultural values that stand out in that context, considering that the United Kingdom is characterized by relatively low levels of power distance, low uncertainty avoidance, high individualism and higher than average indulgence.

Taken together, the model provides an overview of key internal and external factors that influence employees’ attitudes at work, their withdrawal behaviors and the ensuing turnover at the organizational-level. The authors conclude by highlighting key research questions raised by the analysis of the model within a UK context, considering where empirical research will add to understanding about turnover and retention in the United Kingdom.