The purpose of this paper is to present how high quality public spaces contribute positively to people's quality of life. However, sources of credible evidence in support of this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present how high quality public spaces contribute positively to people's quality of life. However, sources of credible evidence in support of this statement are surprisingly scarce. One impact is that it can be frustratingly difficult to quantify links between investment in the public realm and improvements to people's quality of life.
Design/methodology/approach
CABE Space, the government's national advisor on well‐designed, planned and maintained urban public spaces, fund a scoping study which seeks to determine and understand useful correlative relationships between existing data on quality of life and existing data on the quality of public space. The researchers analyse a total of 34 national datasets to ascertain what they can tell us about how the quality of public spaces affects people's quality of life.
Findings
Numerous small scale research studies have examined the benefits of high quality public spaces in terms of their economic, social and environmental value. However, a national evidence base to inform policy agendas relating to well‐being and liveability is lacking.
Research limitations/implications
Better understanding is needed to maximise the benefits of provision for individuals and the areas that they live in, especially because the poorest areas suffer from the poorest quality of environments.
Originality/value
Linking the quality of public spaces and the quality of life is a complex and multifaceted area that suffers from a meagre evidence base. This research aims to further this area of research and is original in its national scale of analysis.
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Helen Forbes-Mewett and Kien Nguyen-Trung
Since the late 1980s, social theorists championed for the birth of a new era, in which societies were increasingly exposed to growing global risks. The presence of increasing…
Abstract
Since the late 1980s, social theorists championed for the birth of a new era, in which societies were increasingly exposed to growing global risks. The presence of increasing risks including natural disasters, technological errors, terrorist attacks, nuclear wars and environmental degradation suggests that human beings are becoming increasingly vulnerable. Therefore, an understanding of vulnerability is crucial. Vulnerability is often considered as the potential to suffer from physical attacks. This approach, however, has limited capacity to explain many forms of suffering including not only physical aspects, but also mental, social, economic, political and social dimensions. This chapter draws on the vulnerability literature to present an overarching framework for the book. It starts with an outline of the concept origins, then discusses its relationship with the risk society thesis before forming conceptualisation. The chapter then points out the key similarities and differences between vulnerability and other concepts such as risk, disaster, poverty, security and resilience. The authors rework an existing “security” framework to develop a new definition of the concept of vulnerability. Finally, the authors look into the root causes and the formation of vulnerability within social systems.
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Abbeygail Jones, Shuo Zhang, Amy Woodburn, Sarah Dorrington, Alison Beck and Helen Winter
The health and well-being of healthcare staff came into focus during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as already strained workforces responded to new and…
Abstract
Purpose
The health and well-being of healthcare staff came into focus during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as already strained workforces responded to new and additional challenges. Organisational support services made efforts to adapt staff support provision. However, most literature and recommendations are centred on surveys of medical and clinical staff. The present study included staff across clinical and non-clinical workforces within a mental health trust over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic to date, and aimed to understand workforces' access to and experiences of organisational support.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study was a qualitative one using convenience and purposive sampling. Semi-structured individual and group interviews were conducted using a topic guide. Reflexive thematic analysis was used in a phenomenological framework to analyse data.
Findings
35 staff, broadly representative of the trust workforce, were recruited. Six global themes summarised the experiences of staff in relation to work practices, personal well-being and support access over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: COVID-19 disease, interpersonal relationships, individual considerations, change, working environment and support.
Practical implications
The findings from the study have implications for organisational support provisions for healthcare workers and the dissemination of these services.
Originality/value
Acknowledging the multi-various experiences of different workforces within National Healthcare Service organisations and how these change over time will facilitate innovative changes to staff support provision.
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Marta Prytys, Naureen Whittinger, Shirley Coventry, Helen Idusohan and June Brown
Insomnia is highly prevalent and has severe negative consequences, yet help‐seeking remains low. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT‐I) is an evidence‐based treatment…
Abstract
Insomnia is highly prevalent and has severe negative consequences, yet help‐seeking remains low. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT‐I) is an evidence‐based treatment, which targets factors that perpetuate insomnia over time. Using a format developed by Brown and colleagues (1999) of offering self‐referral psycho‐educational workshops for the community, one‐day CBT‐I workshops were run on a routine basis, throughout 2007, for the general public. These intensive workshop days were led by two clinical/counselling psychologists, and attracted a large number of self‐referrals. Participants completed a battery of measures at the introductory and follow up phases of the workshop programme including measures of insomnia, anxiety and depression. Of the 60 people who self‐referred, the large majority were women, 58% had clinical insomnia as indicated by the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and 75% had clinical levels of depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; scores over 10). At the follow‐up stage, there were significant improvements on all measures, and there was a high degree of participant satisfaction with the workshops. Such large‐scale interventions offer an important, potentially cost‐effective means of disseminating evidence‐based psychological interventions to large numbers of people.
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Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and…
Abstract
Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.
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R. Lyle Skains, Jennifer A. Rudd, Carmen Casaliggi, Emma J. Hayhurst, Ruth Horry, Helen Ross and Kate Woodward
The improvement in the quality of commercially packed foods made by the Food Preserving Industry in this country during the last five years has doubtless been greater than in the…
Abstract
The improvement in the quality of commercially packed foods made by the Food Preserving Industry in this country during the last five years has doubtless been greater than in the preceding twenty years. This progress has been due in no small measure to the work and advanced leadership of the Association of State and National Food and Dairy Departments.
Fiona French, Jane Andrew, Morag Awramenko, Helen Coutts, Linda Leighton‐Beck, Jill Mollison, Gillian Needham, Anthony Scott and Kim Walker
The purpose of this study was to explore gender differences in contractual commitments, job satisfaction and spouses' occupation among GP principals in NHS Scotland.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore gender differences in contractual commitments, job satisfaction and spouses' occupation among GP principals in NHS Scotland.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on data provided by a self‐completion, postal questionnaire survey. The response rate was 50 per cent.
Findings
Males worked more hours than females and were more likely to work out‐of‐hours. Females reported greater job satisfaction but only when they worked fewer hours. Females earned less than males but there were no gender differences in total household income. Both genders planned to retire at 59 years. More males would delay retirement if they could work part‐time. More females than males were in dual‐doctor households. Male respondents in dual‐doctor households were more likely to have modified their working hours or career aspirations than males in other households.
Practical implications
The number of hours worked by GPs is in part determined by the occupation/earning power of their spouse. The number of women GPs is increasing and they are likely to continue to choose to work fewer hours than their male counterparts have done in the past.
Originality/value
This study has attempted to incorporate spouse's occupation/income as a factor in the career choices of GPs in Scotland.