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1 – 10 of 11Alexander Challinor, Kathryn Naylor and Patrick Verstreken
Self-harm, including death from suicide, remains a significant public health challenge. The prison population is known to be a high-risk group for self-harm and suicide. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Self-harm, including death from suicide, remains a significant public health challenge. The prison population is known to be a high-risk group for self-harm and suicide. The purpose of this study is to explore the trends in the frequency of self-harm over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic within a high-secure hospital. The authors hypothesised that the pandemic could adversely affect the mental health of patients, which could increase the rates of self-harm. Reasons for changes in the frequency of self-harm and the strategies used in response to the pandemic were also investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper encompasses findings from a quality improvement project that investigated self-harming behaviours from February 2020 to February 2021 in a high-secure psychiatric hospital. Incidents of self-harm were recorded based on the hospital’s ward structure. Data was collected on the incidence of self-harm rates over the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on how the pandemic may have had an effect on self-harm.
Findings
This paper found an increase in the incidents of self-harm during the initial stages of the pandemic. The first national lockdown period yielded a rise in self-harm incidents from pre-COVID levels. The frequency of self-harm reduced following the first lockdown and returned to pre-COVID levels. The authors explored the psychological effects of COVID, isolation, interpersonal dynamics and changes in the delivery of care as reasons for these trends.
Practical implications
This study demonstrates the substantial challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic to secure psychiatric services. Having an awareness of how the pandemic can impact on self-harm is important, as it allows the correct balance of restriction of our patients’ liberty to a degree deemed necessary to control the pandemic and the delivery of effective patient care. The key clinical implications include the importance of direct face-to-face patient contact, effective communication, therapeutic interventions and activities, the psychological impact of quarantine and the influence the pandemic can have on an individual’s function of self-harm.
Originality/value
This paper is the first, to the authors’ knowledge, to explore the impact of COVID-19 in a high-security psychiatric hospital. The authors also explore possible explanations for the changes in the trends of self-harm and include the consideration of strategies for improving the prevention and management of self-harm in high-secure settings during a pandemic.
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Kathryn Seymour, Jennifer Skattebol and Ben Pook
The purpose of this paper is to share reflections on the frontline delivery of a wrap-around secondary school re-engagement programme on compounding digital inequality during the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to share reflections on the frontline delivery of a wrap-around secondary school re-engagement programme on compounding digital inequality during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a deliberative reflection on practice and policy lessons learned while negotiating the digital divide during the COVID-19 lockdown in the delivery of the yourtown education youth engagement programme.
Findings
Frontline youth worker practice lessons highlight the compounding effect of digital inequality on vulnerable young people who are already disengaged or disengaging from secondary education and the necessity for a reflexive, agile and adaptable practice response, particularly during unprecedented events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Originality/value
This paper presents a wraparound service perspective and outlines important practice lessons gained from adapting an education re-engagement programme to respond to the COVID-19 lockdown in the Greater Brisbane area, Australia.
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Given the resources being spent on corporate identity development,it is disappointing that the mainstream marketing texts and journalsafford it little space. Development of an…
Abstract
Given the resources being spent on corporate identity development, it is disappointing that the mainstream marketing texts and journals afford it little space. Development of an understanding of corporate identity and image is sought. Corporate identity is projected by organisations and services to shape the image held of the organisation by its publics. In the absence of tangibility, as is the case in service marketing, corporate image has a powerful role. For these reasons, financial services marketers need to treat corporate identity as a strategic marketing issue. How this may be done is theorised and a case study of Allied Irish Bank plc is used as an illustration of corporate identity development in practice. Given the company‐specific and industrywide changes that have occurred in financial services, the corporate identity issues raised will apply to many businesses within that industry.
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Kathryn L. Fonner and Michael E. Roloff
Linkages between downsizing, job insecurity, and negative employee outcomes have been established, but little is known about the impact they have on interns who observe them. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Linkages between downsizing, job insecurity, and negative employee outcomes have been established, but little is known about the impact they have on interns who observe them. This article aims to examine the relationship between interns' exposure to downsizing and job insecurity and their ongoing workplace perceptions and expectations.
Design/methodology/approach
Two studies analyze the negative workplace experiences that influence interns' vocational socialization and pre‐employment schemata. Study 1 surveyed 96 students interning in the United States and Australia, and Study 2 surveyed 100 interns in the United States. Linear regressions were used to test hypotheses.
Findings
Study 1 reveals that interns at organizations with low employee morale, previous downsizing, and job insecurity are pessimistic about the organization in which they interned and the typical organizational culture. Study 2 indicates that interns exposed to job insecurity expect less trust and support in future employment relationships.
Research limitations/implications
Data were collected using self‐report surveys, and may also reflect a uniquely American perspective. Future research should be conducted in additional locations, utilizing a longitudinal approach and various data collection methods.
Originality/value
These studies provide insight into the influence negative internship experiences may have on interns' future workplace and job expectations.
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Kathryn Fonner and Michael Roloff
Economic insecurity has had a major impact on employees; however, much less is known about its relationship to the expectations of individuals as they prepare to enter the…
Abstract
Purpose
Economic insecurity has had a major impact on employees; however, much less is known about its relationship to the expectations of individuals as they prepare to enter the full‐time professional workplace. This study aims to focuss on relationships between negative workplace information and emotional support communicated by social networks and the development of undergraduates' pre‐employment schemas.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of university upperclassman was conducted, resulting in a sample of 153 participants. Correlations and linear regressions were used to test hypotheses.
Findings
Results indicated that the emotional support undergraduates receive from parents and employed friends is more strongly related to their workplace expectations than the specific information they receive regarding downsizing, the faltering economy, and job insecurity.
Research limitations/implications
Data were collected using self‐report surveys. Future research should examine “non‐traditional” undergraduates who may have greater work experience and exposure to the workplace. Further exploration of work‐related discussion content, and whether it differs across cultures, is also warranted.
Originality/value
This study offers insight into the relationship between interpersonal discussions about the workplace ‐ and specifically emotional support during those discussions – to undergraduates' pre‐employment schemas. Study results contribute uniquely to the socialization literature by confirming the crucial role of friends as sources of information and emotional support during later stages of the anticipatory socialization process.
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Mike Danson and Kathryn Burnett
This chapter contributes to addressing the gap in the literature on entrepreneurs and enterprise in island and remote rural environments.
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter contributes to addressing the gap in the literature on entrepreneurs and enterprise in island and remote rural environments.
Approach
The research, policy and practice literature on island enterprises and entrepreneurs is reviewed, taking Scotland as a focus within wider international contexts. Islands – as spaces and cultural places – are recognised in terms of ‘otherness’ and difference, not least in respect of tourism and culture. The importance of distance, isolation and peripherality is discussed as social constructions – myths and narratives – as well as in their mainstream measured equivalences. Agencies and policies are introduced at different levels and given significance reflecting their particular relevance in remote and isolated communities. The significance of the dominant paradigm founded on agglomeration, clusters, connectivity, proximity and competitiveness in the peripheralisation of those establishing and running businesses on islands is explored critically. This is contrasted with experiences from comparative northern European locations of smart specialisation, innovation and resilience, and the underpinning key roles of social capital, relationships and cultural values and norms are identified. Sectoral case studies and enterprise are offered to examine these issues in context.
Findings
As this is an exploratory study, results are neither comprehensive nor definitive. However, they are indicative of how forces and obstacles apply in island and remote rural environments.
Research, practical and social implications
The study confirms the need to recognise social relations locally, and for policies and strategies to be proofed for locational differences.
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Lyn Kathryn Sonnenberg, Lesley Pritchard-Wiart and Jamiu Busari
The purpose of this study was to explore inter-professional clinicians’ perspectives on resident leadership in the context of inter-professional teams and to identify a definition…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore inter-professional clinicians’ perspectives on resident leadership in the context of inter-professional teams and to identify a definition for leadership in the clinical context. In 2015, CanMEDS changed the title of one of the core competencies from manager to leader. The shift in language was perceived by some as returning to traditional hierarchical and physician-dominant structures. The resulting uncertainty has resulted in a call to action to not only determine what physician leadership is but to also determine how to teach and assess it.
Design/methodology/approach
Focus groups and follow-up individual interviews were conducted with 23 inter-professional clinicians from three pediatric clinical service teams at a large, Canadian tertiary-level rehabilitation hospital. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to inductively analyze the data.
Findings
Data analysis resulted in one overarching theme: leadership is collaborative – and three related subthemes: leadership is shared; leadership is summative; and conceptualizations of leadership are shifting.
Research limitations/implications
Not all members of the three inter-professional teams were able to attend the focus group sessions because of scheduling conflicts. Participation of additional clinicians could have, therefore, affected the results of this study. The study was conducted locally at a single rehabilitation hospital, among Canadian pediatric clinicians, which highlights the need to explore conceptualization of leadership across different contexts.
Practical implications
There is an evident need to prepare physicians to be leaders in both their daily clinical and academic practices. Therefore, more concerted efforts are required to develop leadership skills among residents. The authors postulate that continued integration of various inter-professional disciplines during the early phases of training is essential to foster collaborative leadership and trust.
Originality/value
The results of this study suggest that inter-professional clinicians view clinical leadership as collaborative and fluid and determined by the fit between tasks and team member expertise. Mentorship is important for increasing the ability of resident physicians to develop collaborative leadership roles within teams. The authors propose a collaborative definition of clinical leadership based on the results of this study: a shared responsibility that involves facilitation of dialog; the integration of perspectives and expertise; and collaborative planning for the purpose of exceptional patient care.
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Mohammed Rahman and Adam Lynes
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the nature and extent of violent practice in the motorcycle underworld. It does this by considering the murder of Gerry Tobin, and then…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the nature and extent of violent practice in the motorcycle underworld. It does this by considering the murder of Gerry Tobin, and then uses the biography of the founding member of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club (HAMC) for a critical analysis. The authors are interested in understanding the role of masculine honour and collective identity, and its influences in relation to violence – namely, fatal violence in the motorcycle underworld. The authors argue that motorcycle gangs are extreme examples of what Hall (2012) considers “criminal undertakers” – individuals who take “special liberties” often as a last resort.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodological approach seeks to analyse the paradigm of “masculine honour”, and how the Outlaws MC (OMC) applied this notion when executing the seemingly senseless murder of Gerry Tobin. So too, the author triangulate these findings by critically analysing the biography of the founding member of the Californian chapter of the HAMC – Sonny Barger. Further to this, a case study inevitably offers “constraints and opportunities” (Easton, 2010, p. 119). Through the process of triangulation, which is a method that utilises “multiple sources of data”, the researcher can be confident that the truth is being “conveyed as truthfully as possible” (Merriam, 1995, p. 54).
Findings
What is clear within the OB worldview is that it can only be a male dominant ideology, with no allowance for female interference (Wolf, 2008). Thus, Messerschmidt’s (1993) notion of “hegemonic masculinity” fits the male dominated subcultures of the HAMC and OMC, which therefore provides the clubs with “exclusive” masculine identities (Wolf, 2008). For organisations like the HAMC, retaliation is perceived as an alternative form of criminal justice that is compulsory to undertake in order to defend their status of honour and masculinity.
Originality/value
Based on our understanding, this is the first critical think piece that explores a UK case of homicide within the context of the motorcycle underworld. It also provides a comprehensive understanding of violent practice with the motorcycle underworld from criminological and sociological perspectives. This paper will inform readers about an overlooked and under researched underworld culture.
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