This pilot study aims to assess the feasibility of conducting shared philosophical inquiry with women at risk of re-offending to improve motivation to change. The philosophy…
Abstract
Purpose
This pilot study aims to assess the feasibility of conducting shared philosophical inquiry with women at risk of re-offending to improve motivation to change. The philosophy sessions aimed to give participants new ways to think about their lives and to help them have more control over their own mind by learning new ways to think differently.
Design/methodology/approach
The pilot study adopted a mixed-methods approach to collect and analyse data pre- and post-intervention. Ten women serving a custodial sentence at the Democratic Therapeutic Community (DTC) in HMP Send were recruited to take part in ten weekly sessions of philosophical discussion. The intervention was adjunctive and not meant to replace other treatments an inmate may already be receiving.
Findings
The results showed that most participants experienced improved levels of well-being and mental health post-intervention, and that the intervention has the potential to help participants better critically assess their own behaviour and ways of thinking. It also suggested that the intervention has the potential to help participants engage more effectively with the therapeutic process.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study are limited by the small sample size and the lack of a control group. As such this study cannot rule out that the changes observed in participants were a function of time or the specific therapeutic environment they were in (or both).
Originality/value
This pilot study is innovative not just for introducing philosophy classes to the women’s prison estate for the first time in England and Wales, but also in its ambition to contribute to the “what works” agenda in offender rehabilitation.
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Barbara de Lima Voss, David Bernard Carter and Bruno Meirelles Salotti
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in…
Abstract
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.
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Isabel de Jesus Oliveira, Flávio Filipe Sousa Ferreira and Licínia Vanessa Rodrigues Fernandes
This paper aims to disseminate the results of research aiming to identify the prevalence of dysphagia and related clinical factors in nursing home residents.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to disseminate the results of research aiming to identify the prevalence of dysphagia and related clinical factors in nursing home residents.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional descriptive study was developed, including 99 residents in five nursing homes. A sociodemographic questionnaire and the Gugging Swallowing Screen for dysphagia screening were used for data collection.
Findings
The prevalence of dysphagia was 59.59%. A significant correlation was found between dysphagia and worse scores for fall risk, pressure ulcer, level of independence for activities of daily living and cognitive functioning.
Research limitations/implications
Results should be interpreted carefully due to sample size and specific country context. A larger sample must be achieved in further research.
Practical implications
Nurses must receive proper training to perform systematic dysphagia screening, and it should be considered, given the high prevalence, the inclusion of professionals specially trained for rehabilitating dysphagic residents in nursing home teams.
Social implications
The social and economic burden of dysphagia, in addition to all the implications on the person’s quality of life, requires a differentiated focus on this issue by nursing home managers.
Originality/value
Nursing homes have nurses providing health care; however, trained professionals for dysphagia treatment commonly are not. These results highlight the importance of systematic screening for dysphagia in all residents, thus promoting timely intervention to prevent respiratory and nutritional complications.
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Constantinos-Vasilios Priporas, Durga Vellore-Nagarajan and Irene (Eirini) Kamenidou
This study aims to delineate the phenomenon of stressful eating within generation Z due to the times they are living in and to extract propositions which elucidate phases of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to delineate the phenomenon of stressful eating within generation Z due to the times they are living in and to extract propositions which elucidate phases of stressful eating within Zers.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on relevant literature on consumer obesity, theories of pure impulse buying and reasoned action, cognitive constructs eminent for reasoned conditioned behaviour are extracted. Followed by extraction of the reasoned conditioned behaviour and its cognitive constructs within Zers. Thereafter, a conceptual framework is developed with propositions of stressful eating within Zers.
Findings
Zers indulge in reasoned conditioned behaviour initially owing to their healthy understanding insights, and the activations of cognitive capacities within them due to the law of effect. The law of effect is cyclical after the first reasoned consumption among Zers, leading to obesity and constricting self-controlling behaviour.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that provides a deep understanding of the cognitive mechanism orienting generation Z’s stressful eating indulgence even though they have higher healthy lifestyle understandings.
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Carine Glaucia Comarella, Taísa Ceratti Treptow, Álisson Santos de Oliveira, Eliseu Rodrigues, Claudia Kaehler Sautter, Vivian Bochi and Neidi Garcia Penna
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ultrasound (US) treatment on the postharvest of “Isabella” grapes and the consistency of the obtained results regarding the…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ultrasound (US) treatment on the postharvest of “Isabella” grapes and the consistency of the obtained results regarding the composition of anthocyanins in grape juice over three successive harvest years using a combination of analytical techniques.
Design/methodology/approach
Juices produced from “Isabella” grapes sonicated for different durations (3, 5, 7 and 10 min) were analysed. The grapes were harvested and sonicated in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and each treated sample was stored for 1, 3 and 5 days in order to verify the time necessary for the development of the US response. The juices were analysed through physicochemical analysis (total monomeric anthocyanins). The anthocyanin profiles were quantified and identified using high performance liquid chromatography coupled to photodiode array and mass spectrometry detectors (HPLC-PDA-MSn).
Findings
The results demonstrated the potential of US in improving the quality of grape juice. In all three harvests, it was observed that the treatments were effective in increasing the concentration of anthocyanins. For the 2013 harvest, the application of US for 5 min led to a 103% increase in juice pigments. However, the US response profile varied among the three harvests, indicating that the US effect was influenced by the ripening conditions of the fruit. In total, 33 anthocyanins were identified in the grape juice. For the first time, peonidin-3-p-coumaroyl glucoside-5-glucoside was identified in “Isabella” juice.
Originality/value
The results of this study validated US treatment as a simple and effective physical method that can be used as an alternative technology for improving the general quality of products such as juice by increasing the pigment concentrations that are linked to the colour and antioxidant potential of drinks. Moreover, the results demonstrate that US treatment may be less effective in the case of a sample with distinct phenolic maturation.