Ashleigh I. Hodge, Keith L. Warren and Jessica V. Linley
– The purpose of this paper is to examine personal and social network characteristics that predict staff ratings of therapeutic community (TC) resident role model status.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine personal and social network characteristics that predict staff ratings of therapeutic community (TC) resident role model status.
Design/methodology/approach
In all, 49 incarcerated female residents tracked interactions with peers, including verbal affirmations and corrections, during a 12-hour period. Two weeks later, staff members were surveyed about their view of participants as role models. Poisson regression was used to analyze resident interactions and demographics as predictors of role model status.
Findings
The number of corrections given to peers was positively related to staff ratings of role model status (B=0.234, SE=0.088, p=0.008). The number of affirmations given was negatively related to staff ratings (B=−0.112, SE=0.051, p=0.028). Resident phase was positively related to staff ratings (B=0.256, SE=0.102, p=0.012). These values did not significantly change when controlling for affirmations and corrections received from peers, non-programmatic interactions between residents, or resident demographics.
Research limitations/implications
These results imply that TC staff judge role model status by resident actions in the community rather than demographics or peer reactions. External validity is limited by the single site, case study design, and the fact that only female TC residents were sampled.
Originality/value
This study is the first to track resident peer interactions over the course of a day and to link those interactions to role model status.
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Anup Gampa, Jessica V. Linley, Brian Roe and Keith L. Warren
Therapeutic communities (TCs) assume that residents are capable of working together to overcome substance abuse and criminal behavior. Economic games allow us to study the…
Abstract
Purpose
Therapeutic communities (TCs) assume that residents are capable of working together to overcome substance abuse and criminal behavior. Economic games allow us to study the potential of cooperative behavior in TC residents. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze results from a sample of 85 corrections-based TC residents and a comparison group of 45 individuals drawn from the general population who participated in five well-known economic experiments – the dictator game, the ultimatum game, the trust game, risk attitude elicitation and time preference elicitation.
Findings
TC residents keep less money in the dictator game and return more in the trust game, and prefer short-term rewards in the time preference elicitation. In the ultimatum game, nearly half of all residents refuse offers that are either too low or too high.
Research limitations/implications
While the study involves a sample from one TC and a comparison group, the results suggest that residents are at least comparable to the general public in generosity and appear willing on average to repay trust. A substantial minority may have difficulty accepting help.
Practical implications
Rapid peer feedback is of value. Residents will be willing to offer help to peers. The TC environment may explain residents’ tendency to return money in the trust game. Residents who refuse to accept offers that are either too low or too high in the ultimatum game may also have difficulty in accepting help from peers.
Social implications
Economic games may help to clarify guidelines for TC clinical practice.
Originality/value
This is the first use of economic games with TC residents.
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Jessica V. Linley and Keith L. Warren
Aftercare is an important predictor of outcomes following treatment for substance abuse. Despite this, there is evidence that the great majority of substance abusing clients…
Abstract
Purpose
Aftercare is an important predictor of outcomes following treatment for substance abuse. Despite this, there is evidence that the great majority of substance abusing clients choose not to participate in aftercare. Aftercare programs that are tied to specific residential treatment facilities, sometimes known as alumni groups or alumni clubs, might increase participation by offering former residents the opportunity to maintain treatment oriented social networks. Therapeutic communities (TCs), which emphasize mutual aid between residents, are ideal candidates for such programs. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 100 randomly chosen former TC residents were randomly surveyed regarding their contact with fellow alumni and their exchange of recovery oriented helping behaviors. A thirty day timeline follow-back methodology was used.
Findings
Contact was primarily through electronic means, particularly phone calls, texts and the alumni club Facebook page. Participants who reported more electronic contact also reported more days in which they offered and received recovery oriented help. Participants who were African American or had spent more time in TC treatment offered and received recovery oriented help on more days.
Research limitations/implications
While this is an exploratory study limited to one TC, this alumni club allows for the maintenance of a mutual aid network after termination. That network primarily consists of electronic forms of contact. A longer time spent in TC treatment may allow for the internalization of the practice of mutual aid. Further research on alumni clubs is warranted.
Originality/value
This is the first survey of TC alumni club members.
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Jessica Pace, Narcyz Ghinea, Sallie-Anne Pearson, Ian Kerridge and Wendy Lipworth
In this study, the authors aimed to explore consumer perspectives on accelerated access to medicines. The authors were particularly interested in how they balance competing…
Abstract
Purpose
In this study, the authors aimed to explore consumer perspectives on accelerated access to medicines. The authors were particularly interested in how they balance competing considerations of safety, efficacy, equity and access; whether and how their views change when there are different levels of uncertainty surrounding the safety and efficacy of new medicines; and the procedures that they think should be used to make decisions about accelerated access to new medicines.
Design/methodology/approach
This was an exploratory qualitative study. Thirteen semi-structured interviews with patient advocates and two focus groups with patients were conducted and analysed thematically. Interviews and focus groups were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed through inductive thematic analysis.
Findings
Participants outlined a range of justifications for accelerated access, including addressing unmet medical needs and encouraging further research and development. However, they were also cognisant of the potential risks and viewed ongoing data collection, disinvestment and market withdrawal as ways to address these. They also emphasised the importance of transparent decisions being made by people with relevant expertise, based on a thorough consideration of scientific evidence and stakeholder perspectives.
Originality/value
This is the first study to comprehensively explore Australian consumers' views of accelerated access to medicines. The results suggest that consumers want timely access to new medicines, but not at the expense of safety, efficacy, equity and sustainability. While accelerated access programs are likely to be welcomed by consumers, they must be fully informed of their conditions and limitations, and robust post-market data surveillance must be implemented and enforced to protect the interests of both individual patients and the broader community.
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Generation A individuals with Asperger's (high-functioning autism) might increase their chance that their skills fit with job requirements (person-job fit) by considering various…
Abstract
Generation A individuals with Asperger's (high-functioning autism) might increase their chance that their skills fit with job requirements (person-job fit) by considering various nonacademic and popular lists of Asperger's-friendly jobs. Asperger's “celebrity” and professor Temple Grandin's list of 51 jobs was investigated using Asperger's-related job characteristics from the US Department of Labor's O*NET job description database. Using a factor analysis resulting in six Asperger's-related job characteristics, social orientation was the only factor that significantly predicted Grandin's judgment of what is an Asperger's-related job based on a binomial logistic regression analysis. Another analysis using O*NET data showed a wide variety of jobs that were most and least associated with each of the six factors. Study limitations and future research follow the analyses.
In a world teeming with concurrent processes and associated chaos, organizational working procedures have adapted to new trends; employees must keep up with everything while…
Abstract
In a world teeming with concurrent processes and associated chaos, organizational working procedures have adapted to new trends; employees must keep up with everything while maintaining their mental health. Spirituality lends a person's life significance. Spirituality in the workplace can both physically and psychologically engage employees. Spirituality in the workplace is reflected in the organizational culture, which is founded on fundamental values such as trust, honesty, appreciation, innovation, care, respect, and loyalty. Workplace spirituality encompasses the pursuit of one's ultimate purpose in life, the development of a solid connection to colleagues and other people associated with work, and the consistency or alignment between one's fundamental beliefs and the organization's values. To have a competitive advantage and attract the best personnel, an organization's working environment must be based on strong ethical and spiritual values such as compassion, integrity, respect, harmony, trust, teamwork, and forgiveness, among others.
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The purpose of this paper is to review issues of relevance to practitioners using group cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with women in secure settings.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review issues of relevance to practitioners using group cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with women in secure settings.
Design/methodology/approach
The extant literature on CBT as applied to women in secure settings is reviewed to highlight best practice. Aspects of best practice are illustrated with examples from a women's medium secure service.
Findings
Obstacles include the characteristics of the patient group, treatment non compliance and an environment that accepts the primacy of security over treatment. Environmental and need factors amenable to intervention are highlighted in addition to CBT specific considerations that include the timing and intensiveness of treatment, content and delivery of therapy, treatment readiness and use of the group process. The use of a manualised CBT group treatment aid attempts to ensure treatment integrity is associated, and which is associated with treatment outcome. A focus on the social and environmental factors that attribute to the therapeutic milieu is vital to treatment generalisation, as is harnessing the therapeutic potential of the built environment. Finally, treatment evaluation imposes a structure that can facilitate progress in treatment.
Originality/value
There is comparatively little work on CBT group treatments for women in secure settings. Attempts to synthesise best practice initiatives in this area are helpful in guiding treatment developments.
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Brian Taylor and Barbara Campbell
Governance is an emerging aspect of social care organisations embodying professionally‐led risk management, quality assurance and service improvement. The purpose of this paper is…
Abstract
Purpose
Governance is an emerging aspect of social care organisations embodying professionally‐led risk management, quality assurance and service improvement. The purpose of this paper is to put forward a broad conceptualisation of the main dimensions of quality and risk in social care.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was undertaken to seek the perspectives on social care governance (SCG) of social workers in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland where clinical and SCG is formalised in the integrated health and social care service.
Findings
The 123 respondents were from a wide range of grades, aspects of work (practice, management and training) and both children's and adult services. Approximately, 60 per cent of social workers thought themselves knowledgeable on SCG, but this self‐reported knowledge was considerably higher amongst managers and trainers than practitioners. The risk register was familiar to 61 per cent of respondents. Social workers thought that useful ways to learn about SCG were team meetings, local workshops and engagement in developmental projects rather than training events.
Research limitations/implications
The 41 per cent response rate is typical of surveys of busy professionals.
Practical implications
Social workers were generally not very aware of the systems being developed to implement accountability and support through SCG, presenting challenges to the tasks of managing risk and improving the safety and quality of services.
Originality/value
The paper shows that Northern Ireland is pioneering the development of SCG in parallel with clinical governance in health care. Valuable lessons are being learned about the application of concepts of risk and quality in the complexity of social work.
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There is evidence that spirituality at the workplace has positive effects on work outcomes, and there are different models conceptualizing the construct. To date, there is no…
Abstract
Purpose
There is evidence that spirituality at the workplace has positive effects on work outcomes, and there are different models conceptualizing the construct. To date, there is no discussion highlighting how digitalization is affecting workplace spirituality and vice versa. The present review tries to close this gap by discussing the psychological dynamics in light of digitalization and spirituality in the context of work.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual discussion based on an extensive narrative review. The conceptual design is further tested with a real-life case study.
Findings
The result is a model that may guide future research, which consists of the four highly interdependent domains, namely psychology (with the dimensions of emotion, cognition and behavior), digitalization (with the dimensions of platforms, data and algorithms), spirituality (with the dimensions of meaning, self-transcendation and belonging), as well as the workplace (with the dimensions of work tasks, location, community and culture and values). The discussion includes implications for the future of work, suggestions for management decisions and potential future research directions.
Originality/value
To date, there are many discussions about digital transformation and a limited amount of them have invested in analyzing psychological dimensions. The application to spirituality and the workplace – especially when the two are combined – is almost wholly absent, which makes the present discussion both innovative and original.