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In 2002 there were 19.8 million people in the United Kingdom over the age of 50 and it is estimated that by 2031 there will be close to 27 million (UK National Statistics Office, 2005). Predictions about the older population changes in the next twenty years indicate that although overall growth will be low, the numbers of ‘young old’ (65‐74) and ‘middle old’ (75‐84) remaining stable until 2011, the ‘old old’ (85+) will show a substantial increase (Grundy, 2004).Bowling et al (2002) stressed the importance of maintaining independence and control over one's life with ageing. This, together with having social roles and participating in social and voluntary activities/hobbies to include those performed alone, contributes to the foundation of good quality of life in old age. New European policies for older adults focus on the provision of equal opportunities, health promotion and stress their involvement in decision‐making (Fletcher, 2000). The increase in the ageing population is evident in the corresponding rise in the growth of nursing and residential homes, sheltered accommodation and home care support and it is anticipated that greater provision will be needed (Wittenberg et al, 1998), particularly if the aspirations of European policy are to be realised. However, some studies (eg, Sheppard, 2003) have documented the paucity of rehabilitation in residential and nursing homes and highlighted the disempowerment experienced by residents. The process of transition in the later stages of the life span from full independence in a familiar home environment to one of total care while providing security may engender feelings of helplessness with a decrease in psychological well‐being.This article outlines and discusses the findings of a study using narratives with older adults, undertaken to explore such effects of life changes, including transition, on their self‐concept.

Citizens of Eastern European countries need to acquire knowledge on how to start and operate business if their move to t a free‐market economy is to be successful. The acquisition of such knowledge will come from putting at the disposal of entrepreneurs a core business library and assistance on how to utilize that library properly. Public libraries are already in place. Among other things, the role of the library is to serve the information and self‐improvement needs of the public Those already working cannot be expected to take time to go to universities for formal business school programmes. However, they should be able to seek out useful business information at public libraries as part of their education about business techniques. An examination of data from the National Hungarian Public Library in Budapest indicatcs that there is a gap in the business collection concerning information on how to start and run a business. Business books and periodicals should be added to all Eastern European libraries; initially the collection should be more practical than theoretical Universities should work with the public libraries to provide basic instruction in business areas. The libraries can serve as satellite instructional facilities where seminars and workshops and ongoing reference assistance can be provided.

The significant increase in the number of older adults in the UK population is expected to continue. Physical and psychological problems associated with ageing often require older adults to move into residential care where opportunities to participate in previously enjoyed occupations may be limited. Engagement in self‐selected purposeful activities is positively related to physical and psychological well‐being. This paper aims to focus on some of these issues.

An ethnographic approach, a single case study of one care home in a semi‐rural area of Wales was designed to investigate the balance of occupation of residents. Occupations were observed and recorded using a time‐sampling frame over 12 hours on three consecutive days. Field notes were used to contextualise the data in reflecting the home environment.

The majority spent their time in the lounges and remained passive, interacting infrequently with staff and one another. Little opportunity or intervention has been afforded to residents to encourage or support participation in occupation.

A single case study may not be representative of the experiences of residents in other care homes. Time limited observation over different locations may miss activities. Future research could extend the scope of the study.

Older adults in residential care should be supported to engage in occupations. Employment of occupational therapists could allow support to be individually and appropriately focussed. There are implications for health and social care course design and also for the training of care workers.

The paper illustrates observation of activities in a care home over an extended period.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factor structure of the Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents (RSCA, Prince-Embury, 2006, 2007) and to provide supporting evidence that this is a psychometrically sound measure for practitioners and researchers to use to assess resilience in incarcerated male adolescent offenders in the UK.

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to determine if the factor structure could be replicated among incarcerated male adolescent offenders. Concurrent validation of the measure was also conducted, utilising the Beck Youth Inventory, second edition (BYI-II-II; Beck et al., 2005).

CFA of the RSCA was unable to confirm the structure of the measure at an item level, therefore parcelling techniques were utilised similarly to Prince-Embury and Courville (2008), using the subscales for the factors as indicators for the factors. While a three-factor model was found to be an acceptable fit to the data, there was also some support for a two-factor model. Despite this, there was more statistical support for the three-factor model and arguments are made for retaining this structure. Expected associations between the three subscales of sense of mastery, sense of relatedness and emotional reactivity were found with the Beck Youth Inventory demonstrating support for the concurrent validity of the measure in incarcerated male adolescent offenders.

This paper provides support for the internal structure of the RSCA with incarcerated male adolescent offenders within the UK, although some caution should be used when interpreting scores from the subscales. The findings suggest that the RSCA can be utilised by practitioners to identify young people who may benefit from additional support and also in assessment and treatment/intervention planning. This may be particularly useful when practitioners wish to explore the potential protective nature of resilience.

The current study is the first of its kind to formally explore the factor structure of the RSCA with incarcerated male adolescent offenders.

This study proposes to examine whether tales from childhood influence the psyche and self of the adult in their professional role as a leader in a large organization. It is positioned within a social constructionist and postmodernist framework.

The methodology development was challenging; to capture the level of abstraction within which it was positioned. Using narrative inquiry allowed for a less rigid methodology, data collection and analysis. The data were collected using a non‐structured single interview with a known subject, the data analysed using an initial thematic analysis followed by an in‐depth analysis of the themes against the background of an Enid Blyton novel.

This research project has shown how all are products of their whole life experiences to date; thus the tales from childhood must also impact on adult lives. This project identified links between the adult professional self and the characters in the tales, which were read as children. Leadership can be read as an adventure story or fairy tale, a myth born out of the narratives and language often used to describe it, reflecting tales of quest and achievement.

The interpretations on offer are only one version; another reader or teller would experience a different interpretation; finding her own story, while constructing herself as a researcher, was unexpected and surprising. There are at least two stories running throughout predominantly: the subjects’ story and the story of the research.

In this chapter, we used a research-based case study titled “The Desirable Prince Meeting” to explore how interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives on the child can be used to prompt critical reflection on socially just equity praxis in early childhood education. We argue that using multiple theoretical perspectives to analyze teaching and learning can generate and drive critical reflection on equity praxis more effectively than using a single perspective that presents a single truth about teaching and learning moments.

This paper aims to present the first systematic review of the literature relating to the relationships between organisations and their marketing agencies, the agency–client relationship, and presents a concept matrix that identifies the key areas of investigation, and topics where further research would be beneficial. As agencies play a pivotal role in operationalising marketing strategy, this relationship is central to marketing theory, management and practice.

A systematic review of the literature was performed using key databases and search terms, and filtering on the basis of criteria relating, for example, to relevance and format, to create a core set of refereed papers on the agency–client relationship in the marketing and advertising domains. Bibliographic and thematic analysis was used to profile the literature in the dataset, and to draw out key themes.

The paper provides an analysis of the extant knowledge base, including key themes, journals and research methods. The following themes emerged from the literature, and are used to elaborate further on the existing body of knowledge: conflict, client account management, contracts and agency theory, cultural and international perspectives and co-creation. An agenda for future research is proposed that advocates a focus on theoretical foundations, research strategies and research topics and themes.

This is the first systematic review of the literature on agency–client relationships, which is scattered across disciplines and informed by several theoretical perspectives. Given the increasing complexity of agency–client relationships in the digital age, and increasing need to understand “marketing-as-practice”, the coherent overview offered by this paper is of particular value for guiding future research.

This paper explores the links between economic and social structures and ethical norms for economic life. As such, the essay is a contribution to the more general philosophical discussions on the relation between fact and value in the social sciences. I begin with a brief discussion of ethics which highlights the social character of ethical “value” and draws upon the work of the Canadian philosopher, Bernard Lonergan, to introduce a novel way of understanding social structures. The analyses show how economic structures can be understood as cooperative meaning schemes, how such schemes are embedded within a wider ecology of social meaning schemes, and how the dynimic relations among such schemes reveal ethical goals and make ethical demands upon participants who depend upon them for their living. I illustrate these linkages in a discussion of three examples drawn from economic life: a consumer purchase transaction, an ancient trade scheme drawn from the work of Karl Polanyi, and a rather novel approach to economic development proposed by Jane Jacobs.