Natalie Smith, Jenny Tew and Prina Patel
– The purpose of this paper is to outline the development, structure and implementation of the Choices, Actions, Relationships and Emotions (CARE) programme.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to outline the development, structure and implementation of the Choices, Actions, Relationships and Emotions (CARE) programme.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper will present some of the background to the programme, its aims, structure and delivery methods and the nature of the treatment population to date. It will also reflect on some of the lessons learnt through the development and implementation of the programme and the challenges faced in evaluating its impact. Plans for its future evaluation and development are discussed.
Findings
Female offenders represent a distinct group with particular treatment and responsivity needs. These have traditionally been accommodated in programmes developed for male offenders, adapted slightly to meet their needs. CARE represents a distinct approach, designed specifically for the needs of female offenders with a history of violence and complex presentations.
Originality/value
CARE is a relatively new programme and this is the first paper to outline its structure and content.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the views of young adult prisoners with emerging personality disorders (PDs), who were assessed as posing a high risk of causing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the views of young adult prisoners with emerging personality disorders (PDs), who were assessed as posing a high risk of causing serious harm to others, on the process of therapeutic change in a non-residential treatment service in a UK young offender institute. The treatment model utilises an integrated approach, specifically adapted for the developmental needs of young adults and combining therapies for PD with offence focussed interventions and regular keywork.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 13 participants, who had completed at least one year of therapy, were interviewed about their perspectives about what, if any, change had occurred and how any reported change had taken place. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed via thematic analysis.
Findings
All participants described having made positive therapeutic change. Three overarching change themes were identified: mentalisation of others, self-knowledge and adaptive coping. Relationships with staff were described as the key mechanism through which change was achieved. Specific treatment interventions were mentioned infrequently, although keywork and generic individual therapy and groupwork sessions were also described as drivers to change.
Originality/value
The findings suggest the possibility of positive therapeutic outcomes for this complex service user group. They also suggest that the domains of change and associated mechanisms may be similar to those reported for other service user groups and in other settings.
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Barbara Plester and Ann Hutchison
The idea of workplace fun seems positive, straightforward and simple but emerging research suggests a surprising complexity and ambiguity to this concept. Drawing on recent…
Abstract
Purpose
The idea of workplace fun seems positive, straightforward and simple but emerging research suggests a surprising complexity and ambiguity to this concept. Drawing on recent literature and empirical data, the purpose of this paper is to use three different forms of workplace fun: managed, organic and task fun to examine the relationship between fun and workplace engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an ethnographic approach, the qualitative data originated from four different New Zealand organizations, within different industries. Organizations included a law firm, a financial institution, an information technology company and a utility services provider. Data for this study were collected from semi-structured interviews with a range of participants in each company. In total 59 interviews were conducted with approximately 15 originating from each of the four organizations. One full-time month was spent within each company experiencing the everyday life and behaviours at all levels of each organization. The specific focus of the research is organizational culture and humour and during analysis findings emerged that linked to engagement, fun, disengagement and the concept of flow.
Findings
This paper offers exploratory findings that suggest some specific connections between the concepts of fun and engagement. Empirical connections between these concepts are not currently apparent in either engagement or fun research, yet the data suggest some firm associations between them. The exploratory findings suggest that some forms of workplace fun offer individual employees a refreshing break which creates positive affect. Participants perceive that such affect results in greater workplace and task engagement. Additionally the data show that some people experience their work tasks as a form of fun and the authors link this to a specific form of engagement known as “flow” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975; Moneta, 2010). The authors suggest an organizational-level effect, where workplace fun creates enjoyment which stimulates greater overall engagement with the team, unit or organization itself. Conversely the data also suggest that for some people managed or organic fun (see Plester et al., 2015) creates distraction, disharmony or dissonance that disrupts their flow and can foster disengagement.
Practical implications
The ambiguity and complexity in the relationship between these concepts is an emerging topic for research that offers a variety of implications for scholars and practitioners of HRM and organizational behaviour. The authors contend that workplace fun potentially offers practitioners opportunities for fostering a climate of high engagement which may include most employees and thus create additional workplace benefits. Additionally through highlighting employee reactions to different types of fun we suggest ways of avoiding employee disengagement, disharmony and cynicism and the associated negative effects.
Originality/value
The concept of fun is not empirically linked with current engagement research and the authors assert that workplace fun is an important driver of employee engagement. The authors identity engagement at the individual task level and further extend engagement research by emphasizing that fun has the potential to create engagement at the team, unit or organizational level. These differing levels of engagement have not thus far been differentiated in the extant literature.
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Jenny Weinstein and Markella Boudioni
The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the need for a more holistic approach to mental health training that brings together the medical and the social knowledge and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the need for a more holistic approach to mental health training that brings together the medical and the social knowledge and skills required by today's practitioners.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on the authors' experience of developing, delivering and evaluating a joint mental health programme at London South Bank University between 2004 and 2008.
Findings
The authors suggest some advantages of the model as indicated by the scant literature, the findings of a small pilot evaluation study and from information recorded and shared by other university providers of joint programmes – the Joint Programmes Forum. Further investigation is recommended.
Research limitations/implications
The absence of systematic evaluation of joint programmes over the 20 years of their existence and the limitations of the evaluation undertaken by the authors is acknowledged.
Originality/value
It is suggested in the paper that a specialist holistic training that incorporates nursing, social work (and in the future possibly occupational therapy and psychology) knowledge and skills would create well‐prepared professionals to work with mental health and learning disability service user groups (and a similar model could equally be explored for older people and people with physical disabilities or long‐term health conditions). This may be considered as a more successful solution to the effective integration of interprofessional education than the current struggles to superimpose it on uni‐professional courses.
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Damiano Petrolo, Mohammad Fakhar Manesh, Massimiliano Matteo Pellegrini and Giulia Flamini
Scholarly literature on entrepreneurial activities in the agri-food sector has flourished over the years in several different ways. This study uses the metaphor of an orchard to…
Abstract
Purpose
Scholarly literature on entrepreneurial activities in the agri-food sector has flourished over the years in several different ways. This study uses the metaphor of an orchard to describe how this stream of literature has evolved from its initial “seeds” to the rich and diversified “fruits” of current debate. It is now time to harvest and catalogue these “fruits”. This study aims to map out and systematise the current stock of knowledge on agri-food entrepreneurship, so as to identify gaps and thus “plant” new seeds for the future of the “orchard”.
Design/methodology/approach
To identify thematic clusters, this study used a bibliometric analysis coupled with a systematic literature review performed over a dataset of 108 peer-reviewed articles.
Findings
The results revealed six thematic clusters related to agri-food entrepreneurship: ecosystems, formal and informal institutions; contextual entrepreneurial practices; community and stakeholders’ engagement; barriers and opportunities; entrepreneurial orientation; and sustainable entrepreneurship. After investigating each of them, this study created a framework to highlight future avenues through which the topic could be further developed.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to systematise, analyse and critically interpret the literature concerned with agri-food entrepreneurship.
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Shiji Lyndon, Preeti S. Rawat, Ketan Bhardwaj and Ajinkya Navare
The purpose of this paper is to extend the theoretical understanding of the disclosure dilemma experienced by lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) employees. The study focuses on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to extend the theoretical understanding of the disclosure dilemma experienced by lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) employees. The study focuses on examining the factors related to self-disclosure such as co-worker support and fear of disclosure. Further, the study also aims at testing the impact of coworker support on the psychological well-being of LGB employees.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a concurrent triangulation research design, which involves a simultaneous collection of quantitative and qualitative data. Using a survey questionnaire, data from 200 LGB employees were collected. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 10 LGB employees. The qualitative findings were treated as complementary to the relationship tested through the quantitative method.
Findings
Quantitative results reveal that co-worker support positively impacts self-disclosure by LGB employees. And the fear of disclosure mediates the relationship between coworker support and self-disclosure. Further, self-disclosure is positively related to psychological well-being. The qualitative study brings insights from the lived experiences around these factors. This research expands knowledge about the factors associated with the disclosure of LGB employees.
Originality/value
The study examines the factors related to the disclosure of sexual identity and the experiences of the dilemma of LGB employees in the workplace. Most of the studies in the context of LGB have adopted a quantitative research design. The current study adopts a mixed methods approach with a concurrent triangulation research design.
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Sophie Hennekam and Irena Descubes
Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, this study aims to examine which job demands individuals with diagnosed mental illness perceive to be most challenging as they…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, this study aims to examine which job demands individuals with diagnosed mental illness perceive to be most challenging as they navigate the workplace, why this is the case and which resources individuals tend to mobilize to meet these demands.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw on 257 qualitative surveys filled out by individuals with mental illness in various parts of the world.
Findings
The findings show that job demands that are common in today's workplace such as a high workload and a stressful environment are considered challenging by individuals with mental illness. Further, the authors show that this is the result of the ideal worker norm consisting of the need to be a steady performer that is confident, resilient and social with which the performer cannot comply on the one hand and the particularities of this population, such as performers' self-perceived low self-esteem, sensitivity to stress, fluctuating symptoms and difficulties with the social aspects of organizational life on the other hand.
Originality/value
The study points to the unique challenges of individuals with mental illness in the workplace and highlights the role human resource management (HRM) can play in providing support to allow this population to meet the demands of one's job more easily and thrive at work.