Niall Turner, Tara Nesbitt, Felicity Fanning and Mary Clarke
This paper aims to investigate the feasibility of conducting research on a two-pronged vocational intervention for people with first episode psychosis. The paper also aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the feasibility of conducting research on a two-pronged vocational intervention for people with first episode psychosis. The paper also aims to empirically examine the impact of a two-pronged vocational intervention for people with first episode psychosis by determining what effect, if any, introducing a two-pronged vocational intervention to an early intervention for psychosis service (EIPS) has on vocational outcomes using a prospective follow-up design. The approach consisted of supported employment (individual placement and support, IPS) for participants without a productive role and a job retention programme for those employed or studying.
Design/methodology/approach
Between 2010 and 2013, a supported employment specialist joined an EIPS where occupational therapy was available to all attenders. The appropriate intervention was determined by the occupational therapist on the team. Participants were interviewed at baseline and one follow-up. Ethical approval was attained. The Individual Placement and Support Fidelity Scale was used to ensure the quality of IPS implementation.
Findings
In total, 39 (20 men, 19 women) consented; 21 (54 per cent) of these participants were unoccupied; 18 (46 per cent) had a productive role; 87 per cent (n = 34) were followed up. The mean length of follow-up was 18 months. At follow-up, 50 per cent (n = 10) of unoccupied participants had attained a productive role, and 17 of the 18 participants had retained their productive role. Overall, participants were found to have spent an average of 62 per cent of the follow-up period in a productive role.
Research limitations/implications
Rates of vocational recovery among people affected by psychosis may be enhanced by a two-pronged approach that allows for the persons individual work circumstances to be taken into account.
Originality/value
This study highlights the impact of a two-progroned vocational intervention for people with first episode psychosis in Ireland. It is the first study of its kind to be published in the Republic of Ireland and the first world-wide to include a job retention element in its design.
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Margaret M. Barry, Aleisha Mary Clarke and Katherine Dowling
The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical perspective on the international evidence on promoting young people’s social and emotional well-being in schools. The challenges…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical perspective on the international evidence on promoting young people’s social and emotional well-being in schools. The challenges of integrating evidence-based interventions within schools are discussed and the need for innovative approaches to research and practice are considered in order to support more sustainable approaches that can be embedded into the everyday practice of school systems.
Design/methodology/approach
A common elements approach to intervention development and implementation is explored. A case study is presented on piloting this approach with post-primary students, based on consultations with students and teachers concerning their needs in supporting youth social and emotional well-being.
Findings
The integration and sustainability of evidence-based social and emotional skills programmes within the context of whole school systems is far from clearly established. Research on the use of a common elements approach to evidence-based treatment and youth prevention programmes is presented and the application of this method to the development and implementation of social and emotional learning interventions is considered. Preliminary case study findings are presented exploring this approach in school-based intervention development for post-primary school students.
Research limitations/implications
The potential of adopting a common elements approach is considered; however, more rigorous research is needed to identify the most potent strategies for social and emotional skills development.
Originality/value
Identifying a common set of evidence-based strategies for enhancing adolescents’ social and emotional skills could lead to innovative approaches to intervention delivery that would extend the impact and reach of evidence-based practice across diverse educational systems and school settings.
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The article seeks to look at the risks that companies face if employees are not competent and to discuss how different assessment methodologies can be applied to improve employee…
Abstract
Purpose
The article seeks to look at the risks that companies face if employees are not competent and to discuss how different assessment methodologies can be applied to improve employee competence, performance and reduce risks. The article aims to show that employee misunderstandings can be incredibly expensive and need to be reduced. The paper aims to cite research from analyst IDC which estimates that UK businesses lose £18.7 billion a year as a result of employee misunderstandings.
Design/methodology/approach
The article focuses on the different forms of employee assessments that can be used ranging from observational assessments and training days through to the use of “intelligent” online assessments that measure competence and confidence together.
Findings
The paper discusses the limitations of some assessments types such as observational assessments and then highlights how intelligent assessments have been used effectively to improve employee performance and reduce risk at Eurostar and also within utilities companies.
Practical implications
Intelligent online assessments can be used to help companies improve their training interventions, reduce the cost of training. Importantly it enables them to pinpoint incompetence and knowledge gaps and take action to reduce the risks of costly misunderstandings.
Social implications
The paper aims at creating greater safety for society.
Originality/value
The paper describes a more accurate way of assessing employees by measuring competence and confidence together.
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Argues that organizations carrying out regular, customized assessments of all their employees are best placed to know when to promote staff. Such assessments can also help…
Abstract
Purpose
Argues that organizations carrying out regular, customized assessments of all their employees are best placed to know when to promote staff. Such assessments can also help managers to make more accurate and informed decisions about redundancies.
Design/methodology/approach
Highlights the reasons that many organizations allow a “knowledge gap” to develop about their employees, describes the ways in which these can prove costly to organizations, and explains how the knowledge gaps can be closed.
Findings
Reports that 26 percent of UK workers' time is spent unproductively, with 1.3 days of every week spent doing things that do not deliver productive results. One in four employees does not understand certain aspects of the job role.
Practical implications
Reveals that improving employees' understanding of what their job roles truly entail would eradicate expensive mistakes, boost productivity levels, improve efficiency and increase employee confidence.
Originality/value
Provides information that is particularly valuable for organizations contemplating redundancies.
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Sara N. Brownmiller and Donald C. Dickinson
Librarians find the search for information on dance topics time‐consuming and difficult. There are few reference works devoted specifically to dance, and a number of those that do…
Abstract
Librarians find the search for information on dance topics time‐consuming and difficult. There are few reference works devoted specifically to dance, and a number of those that do exist are outdated and need revision. Further, because the field is so diverse, a search for dance information will frequently lead the investigator into a variety of related subject areas, each with its own complicated access problems. Reference librarians faced with dance inquiries may in the course of an hour find it necessary to consult sources in music, education, aesthetics, theatre, or physiology. On a more specific level, questions may call for information on such subtopics as ballet, folk dance, dance therapy, choreography, tap dance, and movement technique. College students may need information on famous dancers of the past; theatergoers may want an up‐to‐date evaluation of a performance of a specific ballet company; and dancers may often need information on technique and conditioning.
Kay Morris Matthews and Kay Whitehead
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the contributions of women teachers to the war effort at home in Australia and New Zealand and in Egypt and Europe between 1914 and 1918.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the contributions of women teachers to the war effort at home in Australia and New Zealand and in Egypt and Europe between 1914 and 1918.
Design/methodology/approach
Framed as a feminist transnational history, this research paper drew upon extensive primary and secondary source material in order to identify the women teachers. It provides comparative analyses using a thematic approach providing examples of women teachers war work at home and abroad.
Findings
Insights are offered into the opportunities provided by the First World War for channelling the abilities and leadership skills of women teachers at home and abroad. Canvassed also are the tensions for German heritage teachers; ideological differences concerning patriotism and pacifism and issues arising from government attitudes on both sides of the Tasman towards women’s war service.
Originality/value
This is likely the only research offering combined Australian–New Zealand analyses of women teacher’s war service, either in support at home in Australia and New Zealand or working as volunteers abroad. To date, the efforts of Australian and New Zealand women teachers have largely gone unrecognised.
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Garry D. Carnegie and Stephen P. Walker
The purpose of this paper is to extend the work of Carnegie and Walker and report the results of Part 2 of their study on household accounting in Australia during the period from…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to extend the work of Carnegie and Walker and report the results of Part 2 of their study on household accounting in Australia during the period from the 1820s to the 1960s.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a microhistorical approach involving a detailed examination of actual accounting practices in the Australian home based on 18 sets of surviving household records identified as exemplars and supplemented by other sources which permit their contextualisation and interpretation.
Findings
The findings point to considerable variety in the accounting practices pursued by individuals and families. Household accounting in Australia was undertaken by both women and men of the middle and landed classes whose surviving household accounts were generally found to comprise one element of diverse and comprehensive personal record keeping systems. The findings indicate points of convergence and divergence in relation to the contemporary prescriptive literature and practice.
Originality/value
The paper reflects on the implications of the findings for the notion of the household as a unit of consumption as opposed to production, gender differences in accounting practice and financial responsibility, the relationship between changes in the life course and the commencement and cessation of household accounting, and the relationship between domestic accounting practice and social class.