Matthew Gough and Lianne Kerlin
The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) was implemented in 2007 as a piece of legislation to empower and protect adults who require support making decisions. Many older adults in…
Abstract
Purpose
The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) was implemented in 2007 as a piece of legislation to empower and protect adults who require support making decisions. Many older adults in residential care homes will be in this position due to developmental disabilities associated with functional impairments of the mind and brain. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of MCA training within older persons' care homes within an East‐Midlands local authority.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi structured interviews were conducted with key informants who had strategic responsibility for implementation of MCA training as well as a focus group conducted with managers/deputy managers of care homes within the local authority.
Findings
With a primary focus on training, data revealed issues surrounding the delivery and content of training, and the organisational factors relating to both training and the subsequent implementation of the knowledge learned.
Research limitations/implications
The key informants for this paper are limited to management perspectives. Interviews and a focus group were conducted with stakeholders who either had direct responsibility for service delivery or managerial oversight for training and development.
Practical implications
The paper suggests methods of delivery with the Mental Capacity Act which offer a tailored, engaging and cost effective alternative to conventional “away day” training sessions.
Originality/value
The paper challenges and critiques conventional approaches to training the social care workforce.
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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact in one local authority of Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) upon the recording of outcomes in safeguarding interventions. To…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact in one local authority of Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) upon the recording of outcomes in safeguarding interventions. To determine to what extent person centred outcomes were in evidence.
Design/methodology/approach
Analysis of data provided by the local authority across adult safeguarding teams informed by a critical theory approach.
Findings
There is a need for cultural and system change to fully embed MSP principles within local authority safeguarding. This case study identified that practitioner recording was inconsistent with the need for greater recognition of person centred approaches within adult safeguarding. Views of the service user are constructed and moderated by the assessing professional and the user voice is seldom evident in recording of safeguarding interventions.
Research limitations/implications
This study was wholly reliant upon the data provided rather than primary investigations with practitioners and service users. The focus on recorded data permitted variance and recorded data were open to worker interpretation. MSP. The starting premise of the methodology by adopting a critical perspective sought to elevate the perspective of marginalised service user groups. This may have unduly framed the practitioner provider from a deficit position.
Practical implications
The need to ensure MSP approaches are embedded fully in all aspects of local authority safeguarding. There is a need for recording to greater reflect principles of empowerment with the wishes of service users, their narratives and actual words providing greater weight to assessment.
Social implications
The power shifts apparent in the principles supporting The Care Act needed to be embedded in safeguarding to support marginalised adults.
Originality/value
MSP is a relatively new development for safeguarding adults and the evidence base is building. This paper focuses on the recorded outputs of safeguarding interventions which complements work already produced which has focused on system and strategic changes.
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There are several tensions in the disclosure of personal experience of mental health problems. The issue of “otherness” is particularly pertinent when exploring mental health…
Abstract
Purpose
There are several tensions in the disclosure of personal experience of mental health problems. The issue of “otherness” is particularly pertinent when exploring mental health. This paper seeks to draw upon workshop discussion around the theme of educators disclosing personal experience of mental health problems.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based around a critically reflective self‐selecting conference workshop for mental health educators, practitioners and others.
Findings
There are risks and benefits to personal disclosure of lived experience of mental health problems. It was found that three areas emerged when considering the dilemmas of self‐disclosure: personal impact, wider ethical issues and student learning.
Practical implications
The paper provides information on how educators can maximise the benefits and minimise the hazards associated within these areas as a means to develop good practice guidance and when and how to disclose personal experience.
Originality/value
The paper finds its value in the inclusion of recognised lived experience of mental health problems amongst educators and the tensions apparent with disclosure about such experiences.
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Matthew Egan and Barbara de Lima Voss
Big 4 professional services firms increasingly lay claim to recruiting and including staff of diverse genders, cultures, ages and sexualities. Drawing on Foucauldian insights…
Abstract
Purpose
Big 4 professional services firms increasingly lay claim to recruiting and including staff of diverse genders, cultures, ages and sexualities. Drawing on Foucauldian insights, this study explores how LGBTIQ+ staff navigated shifting technologies of client power, at the time marriage equality was legislated in Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
This article explores changing experiences of LGBTIQ+ staff and allies, through 56 semi-structured interviews undertaken through 2018–2019.
Findings
Technologies of client power were central to shaping workplace experiences for LGBTIQ+ staff. However, each firm was also keen to carve unique and bold responses to changing societal attitudes regarding sexuality and gender. These progressive moves did not sit comfortably with all clients, and so this article provides insight into the limitations of client privilege within professional services firms. For staff, this increasing complexity of sometimes opaque, contradictory and shifting technologies of client and firm power, enabled agency to explore a sense of self for some, but continued to exclude others.
Originality/value
Little attention has been directed to exploring challenges for staff of sexual and gendered diversity within professional services firms, or to exploring how staff navigate changing perceptions of client power.
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Kate Heward, Brendan Gough and Matthew Molineux
The diagnosis of a chronic progressive condition such as multiple sclerosis (MS) can impact on many aspects of daily life. Living with, and caring for, an individual with such a…
Abstract
The diagnosis of a chronic progressive condition such as multiple sclerosis (MS) can impact on many aspects of daily life. Living with, and caring for, an individual with such a condition is likely to have emotional and psychological consequences. We carried out semi‐structured interviews with nine partners and analysed the interview transcripts using grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), the phase presented in this article formed part of a larger overall study that explored the impact of living with MS for partners and a family. Our analysis in this phase highlights two core themes centred on identity issues faced by the participants: ‘playing detective’ in order to acquire information and manage the situation; and ‘reshaping identities’ in a shifting context, which reflected the participants' difficulties in reconfiguring important identities (at work and at home). Although previous research has addressed how carers cope, there is a dearth of qualitative literature relating to whether or not partners' identities are affected by taking a central role in caring, including how previous identities are maintained and new ones acquired.
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Brian R. Hopkins and Robert L. Williams
The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Ohio University has designed, constructed, and controlled a new 6‐dof in‐parallel‐actuated platform, a combination and modification of…
Abstract
The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Ohio University has designed, constructed, and controlled a new 6‐dof in‐parallel‐actuated platform, a combination and modification of existing designs. The 6‐PSU platform consists of six legs with a prismatic joint, spherical joint, and universal joint connecting links in each leg which move the platform in the six Cartesian freedoms with respect to the base. The prismatic joint is actuated while the other two joints in each leg are passive. The six prismatic joints move vertically with respect to the base, which appears to be a big improvement over the standard Gough/Stewart platform. Experimental results from the Ohio University manipulator are presented.
Large accounting firms lay claim today to a broad focus on staff diversity and inclusion. Related initiatives focus on gender, culture, age and sexuality. This paper aims to seek…
Abstract
Purpose
Large accounting firms lay claim today to a broad focus on staff diversity and inclusion. Related initiatives focus on gender, culture, age and sexuality. This paper aims to seek insight from publicly available discourse provided by the “Big 4” in Australia (Deloitte, Ernst and Young, KPMG and PwC), along with two second-tier firms, into the nature and drivers of diversity initiatives for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) staff.
Design/methodology/approach
Web-based discourse provided as at May 2017 is examined and analysed.
Findings
All six firms provided a range of related disclosures, suggesting that a cultural shift for LGBTI staff was underway. Detail provided on actual policies and procedures was limited, and a struggle was suggested, between balancing the needs of diverse staff, with concerns for some, perhaps, more conservative clients. Some repositioning of arguments was suggested, focussed on shifting responsibility to staff and on shifting the object of celebration from staff to the firm.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to an interpretation of carefully constructed publicly disclosed statements. Further studies could explore the lived experience of these apparent changes with staff.
Practical implications
Recruitment and staff retention continue to be on-going challenges within the accounting profession. This study provides insight into initiatives targeted to support LGBTI staff.
Social implications
Availing space to bring ‘whole selves’ into the workplace is an important element of creating a pleasant, comfortable and engaging environment for staff. This study provides insight into the perspective of employers on the importance of such initiatives.
Originality/value
Little attention has been directed to exploring sexual diversity in the workplace or to sexuality within accounting studies.