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Evidence for the availability and utilisation of family-friendly work conditions (FFWCs) in Malaysia has not been comprehensively reviewed. Whether persistent inequities are due to poor employer provision of work conditions or low employee uptake remains unknown. This scoping review to assess the scope of available evidence for availability and utilisation of specific FFWCs among women in Malaysia, and synthesise reported findings.

This scoping review used Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and twenty-two articles were reviewed.

Flexible work hours, telecommuting/work from home, staggered work hours, childcare centres proximal to workplaces, and childcare subsidies were reported as most commonly available work conditions. Available leave varied across organisations and sectors in provision of payment and duration. Flexible work hours, leave, and childcare centres proximal to workplaces were the conditions most used by employees. However, the validity of observed availability and utilisation of work conditions in Malaysia is questionable, due to inconsistencies in the specificity and range of work conditions assessed and heterogeneity of samples.

National monitoring of the accessibility and uptake of FFWCs is required to guide investment decisions about family-friendly policy initiatives to effectively advance gender equity in the Malaysian labour force.

This scoping review provides the first comprehensive synthesis and summary of the availability and utilisation of FFWCs in Malaysia.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-02-2024-0103

According to thesaurus definitions, the absurd translates as “ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous”; “extremely silly; not logical and sensible”. As further indicated in the Latin root absurdus, “out of tune, uncouth, inappropriate, ridiculous,” humor in absurd registers plays with that which is out of harmony with both reason and decency. In this article, the authors make an argument for the absurd as a feminist method for tackling heterosexism.

By focusing on the Twitter account “Men Write Women” (est. 2019), the rationale of which is to share literary excerpts from male authors describing women's experiences, thoughts and appearances, and which regularly broadens into social theater in the user reactions, the study explores the critical value of absurdity in feminist social media tactics.

The study proposes the absurd as a means of not merely turning things around, or inside out, but disrupting and eschewing the hegemonic logic on offer. While both absurd humor and feminist activism may begin from a site of reactivity and negative evaluation, it need not remain confined to it. Rather, by turning things preposterous, ludicrous and inappropriate, absurd laughter ends up somewhere different. The feminist value of absurd humor has to do with both its critical edge and with the affective lifts and spaces of ambiguity that it allows for.

Research on digital feminist activism has largely focused on the affective dynamics of anger. As there are multiple affective responses to sexism, our article foregrounds laughter and ambivalence as a means of claiming space differently in online cultures rife with hate, sexism and misogyny.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of prison staff working with imprisoned women who self-harm in English prisons. In this small-scale study, 14 prison staff in three English prisons were interviewed to examine the strategies currently used by them to support imprisoned women who self-harm.

Thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006) was used to identify three key themes: “developing a relationship”, “self-help strategies” and “relational interventions”.

Many staff expressed some dissatisfaction in the techniques available to support the women, and felt their utility can be restricted by the prison regime.

This study suggests that there is currently a deficit in the provision of training and support for prison staff, who are expected to fulfil a dual role as both custodian and carer of imprisoned women. Further research into prison staff’s perception of the training currently available could highlight gaps between current theory and practice in the management of self-harm and thus indicate content for future training programmes. Research exploring the impact of working with imprisoned women who self-harm is suggested to identify strategies for supporting staff. It must be acknowledged that this is a small-scale qualitative study and the findings are from only three prisons and may not apply to staff in other settings.

Currently few studies have focussed on the perspective of prison staff. This study is one of very few studies which focusses on the techniques and resources available to support the women, from the perspective of the prison staff.

Care coordination for patients with chronic conditions is one aim of an integrated health care delivery system. The purpose of this paper is to compare findings from two separate New Zealand studies and discusses the implications of the results.

The paper describes and discusses the use of Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care Measure in two different geographic areas of New Zealand and at different times.

The studies suggest that, despite the time that has elapsed since government investment in care coordination for long-term conditions, there has been little change in the nature of service delivery from the patient perspective.

The paper highlights the shortcomings of simply providing additional funding for care coordination, without built in accountabilities, no planned evaluation and no concerted focus on what the model of care should look like.

The purpose of this study is to examine the implementation, care processes and sustainability of an integrated, intermediate Acute Response Team (ART) service. The primary aims of the service are to enhance the level of health and social care integration across a range of organisations, to ensure a timelier and appropriate service for people in the community at risk of admission to hospital.

A qualitative methodology was employed in order to gain a deep understanding of the experiences of staff members within the ART service and external stakeholders. Twenty-one professionals took part in a focus group or one-to-one interviews. Data were analysed thematically.

The key to successful implementation was that the service was co-created from the “ground-up” with support from local provider organisations. The inclusion of general practitioners (GPs) as part of the team was instrumental in setting up and maintaining the service and seems to be unique in intermediate care settings. Referrals into the ART service were dependent on awareness of the service at the interface with mainstream services. Transitions out were sometimes delayed due lack of availability of social care packages. To ensure sustainability of the ART and other integrated intermediate care services, continued resources, especially skilled staff members, are necessary.

This study adds to the intermediate care and acute response service literature by offering insights into “what works” from a professional perspective in terms of service implementation, care processes and sustainability, in an integrated care system.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks have the potential to negatively impact financial returns, yet few superannuation funds integrate these considerations into their investment selection. The Cooper Review (2010) identified a lack of member demand as a key impediment to ESG investing by superannuation funds. Given this problem, the aim of this study is to explore superannuation fund members’ perceptions of ESG investing by their funds in order to identify reasons for the lack of demand.

An on-line survey was developed and distributed to assess possible reasons why members do not select ESG investment options. In total, 549 Australian superannuation fund members responded to the survey.

Results indicate that the majority of superannuation fund members are interested in ESG investing. Members lack awareness of their fund’s approach to ESG investing, and they do not perceive there to be a financial penalty from ESG investing. Finally, members show a preference for consideration of governance issues over both social and environmental issues.

Respondents are well educated and the majority did not choose their superannuation fund. There was no measure of financial literacy included in the research instrument. There is also a general limitation in surveying superannuation fund members when they lack knowledge about superannuation.

The results indicate that superannuation members are interested in both superannuation and ESG investing. Given the low take-up of ESG investment options, this finding raises the question of how effectively funds are engaging their members.

The results should be of interest to superannuation funds and may lead to renewed interest in promoting ESG products.

This is the first study to examine superannuation members’ attitudes and behaviours towards ESG investing in the context of superannuation. The study also adds to our understanding of member decision-making in the $1.8 trillion superannuation industry.

Structural integration is increasingly explored as a means of achieving efficiency gains alongside improved health outcomes. In 2015, three boroughs in London, England began working together to develop an Accountable Care Organisation for the 750,000 population they serve. The purpose of this paper is to understand the experiences of working across organisational and sectoral boundaries for the benefit of the population, including enablers and barriers encountered, the role of financial incentives and perspectives on Accountable Care Organisations.

A single site instrumental case study involving 35 semi-structured interviews using a topic guide, with key leaders and decision makers from the site and nationally, between April 2016 and August 2016.

There are differences in levels of autonomy and operational priorities between councils and the NHS. Existing financial mechanisms can be used to overcome sectoral boundaries, but require strong leadership to implement. There are challenges associated with primary care participating in integration, including reluctance for small organisations to adopt the risk associated with large scale programmes. Interviewees were aligned on espoused ambitions for the Accountable Care Organisation but not on whether one organisation was needed to deliver these in practice.

Progressing the integration agenda requires consideration of the context of primary care and the core differences between health and government. Further, research into ACOs is required as they may not be required to deliver the anticipated integration and system outcomes. Understanding if there are specific population groups for whom cross-organisation and cross-sector working could have particular benefits would help to target efforts.

This paper highlights some of the challenges associated with cross-sector collaboration.

Suicide and self‐harm are major public health issues. This study aimed to assess how local and national data could be used more effectively in local suicide and self‐harm prevention strategies. Twelve semistructured interviews were carried out with a purposive sample of suicide prevention leads in one strategic health authority area and other key local and regional informants. Although suicide prevention work is supported by data, problems were identified with current processes and data and information availability. Local, regional and national health agencies all have a role in ensuring information is used in the best possible way to reduce self‐harm and suicide.

FOR the student who has to choose a field of study in which to learn and exercise his bibliographic skills Sociology affords an interesting and attractive challenge. Indeed, to understand his chosen profession it must necessarily be placed within its social context. Most students at some stage of their development reflect on the social problems that beset the human situation, and some, as the mass media would have us believe, are anxious to remould the “sorry scheme of things” as represented by the existing social structure.

The purpose of this paper is to critically review methods of impact assessment and economic analyses.

Reviews the literature on impact assessment, and examines some case studies of impact assessment in health libraries. Relates satisfaction and dissatisfaction assessment to impact assessment. Identifies recent impact assessment approaches in public and academic libraries, and explores different uses of terminology for impact and outcome. Reviews literature on economic analysis of value, including cost analyses, cost-effectiveness analysis and return on investment (ROI) studies.

Terms for library assessment (outcome, output, impact, value and benefit) vary among different sectors. Impact evaluation should examine initial assumptions of value carefully, and examine possible gaps in the line of argument linking inputs of library services to presumed impacts (positive and negative). More attention to sampling and response rates is required, to avoid problems such as the “warm glow” effect. Qualitative and quantitative evidence should be carefully integrated to tell the impact story. Economic impact can be estimated, but methodology depends on the service aims and sector.

Demonstrates that some of the requirements for traditional impact assessment also affect economic analyses and ROI studies.