Nicola Marotta, Andrea Demeco, Lucrezia Moggio and Antonio Ammendolia
This study aims to evaluate the relevance of telerehabilitation during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic based on the prevalence of participation and activity International…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the relevance of telerehabilitation during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic based on the prevalence of participation and activity International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) domains in a population with disabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
We perfomed an observational study of ICF files of people with disabilities pre- and post-three-months lockdown imposed by the government to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Findings
ICF qualifiers such as performing the daily routine (d230), using communication devices and techniques (d360) and doing housework (d640) showed a significant decrease of the disabilities (p < 0.05). Instead, a significant increase (p < 0.05) in disability was evident in relating with strangers (d730); informal social relationships (d750); acquiring, keeping and terminating a job (d845); complex economic transactions (d865); community life (d910); and recreation and leisure (d920).
Practical implications
Telerehabilitation should not be regarded as home-based rehabilitation delivered through technology. The results show how telerehabilitation should be a functional diagnostic tool and monitoring of patients’ rehabilitation needs.
Originality/value
Through a comprehensive classification scale of disability, it is possible to redefine the term telerehabilitation.
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Nicola Marinelli, Mariarosaria Simeone and Debora Scarpato
– The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the factors that affect consumer choices for both policymakers and food companies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the factors that affect consumer choices for both policymakers and food companies.
Design/methodology/approach
Four hundred questionnaires were administered in the city of Florence (Tuscany, Italy). Data analysis was carried out according to a two-step procedure in a multivariate statistical framework: in the first stage, a multiple correspondence analysis was performed; in the second step, the single-link (nearest neighbour) cluster analysis allowed three homogeneous groups of consumers to be identified on the basis of their specific socio-demographic characteristics.
Findings
Three consumer clusters were obtained: the first, “critical but non-philanthropic consumers”, who may have pathologies that require a particular diet; the second, “marginally critical consumers”, for whom freshness, the label and the assortment count for much; the third, “agnostic consumers”, who choose a product according to its origin and the price/quality relationship, while ethical aspects, health claims or information on the use are not considered as important.
Social implications
From the results it may be deduced that although recent regulations will lead to greater transparency, in many respects consumers may not be able to grasp aspects of higher quality from the label among competing products.
Originality/value
The results seem to run contrary to the trends identified in other studies with regard to critical and socially responsible production attributes. Except in cases where consumers are sensitised by the presence of food-related diseases encountered within their own family, they may not be able to grasp higher-quality aspects from the label among competing products. From the results it is evident that both educational and generational issues come into play with regard to food choices, closely linked to the media from which information is obtained.
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This chapter presents a brief description of the development of capitalism in Argentina, focusing on the situation of the working class and its practices. It analyzes the…
Abstract
This chapter presents a brief description of the development of capitalism in Argentina, focusing on the situation of the working class and its practices. It analyzes the relationship between the main directions of capitalist development and the means of struggle used by the working class for more than a hundred years. It describes the predominant tendencies (in breadth and depth) of the development of capitalism in Argentina and the consequent main direction of the movement of the population (attraction or repulsion) in relation to capitalist relations. From the nineteenth century to the mid-seventies of the twentieth century, capitalism developed mainly in breadth, incorporating population, general strikes became a frequent practice and workers achieved a place in the institutional system. In the last quarter of the twentieth century, capitalist developed mainly in depth and, consequently, repulsion of population became dominant, increasing unemployment and poverty. Workers’ organizations lost some of their strength, but new organizations of the unemployed and the poor emerged, and roadblocks extended as an instrument of struggle.
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The latest information from the magazine chemist is extremely valuable. He has dealt with milk‐adulteration and how it is done. His advice, if followed, might, however, speedily…
Abstract
The latest information from the magazine chemist is extremely valuable. He has dealt with milk‐adulteration and how it is done. His advice, if followed, might, however, speedily bring the manipulating dealer before a magistrate, since the learned writer's recipe is to take a milk having a specific gravity of 1030, and skim it until the gravity is raised to 1036; then add 20 per cent. of water, so that the gravity may be reduced to 1030, and the thing is done. The advice to serve as “fresh from the cow,” preferably in a well‐battered milk‐measure, might perhaps have been added to this analytical gem.
There are very few individuals who have studied the question of weights and measures who do not most strongly favour the decimal system. The disadvantages of the weights and…
Abstract
There are very few individuals who have studied the question of weights and measures who do not most strongly favour the decimal system. The disadvantages of the weights and measures at present in use in the United Kingdom are indeed manifold. At the very commencement of life the schoolboy is expected to commit to memory the conglomerate mass of facts and figures which he usually refers to as “Tables,” and in this way the greater part of twelve months is absorbed. And when he has so learned them, what is the result? Immediately he leaves school he forgets the whole of them, unless he happens to enter a business‐house in which some of them are still in use; and it ought to be plain that the case would be very different were all our weights and measures divided or multiplied decimally. Instead of wasting twelve months, the pupil would almost be taught to understand the decimal system in two or three lessons, and so simple is the explanation that he would never be likely to forget it. There is perhaps no more interesting, ingenious and useful example of the decimal system than that in use in France. There the standard of length is the metre, the standard of capacity the cubic decimetre or the litre, while one cubic centimetre of distilled water weighs exactly one gramme, the standard of weight. Thus the measures of length, capacity and weight are most closely and usefully related. In the present English system there is absolutely no relationship between these weights and measures. Frequently a weight or measure bearing the same name has a different value for different bodies. Take, for instance, the stone; for dead meat its value is 8 pounds, for live meat 14 pounds; and other instances will occur to anyone who happens to remember his “Tables.” How much simpler for the business man to reckon in multiples of ten for everything than in the present confusing jumble. Mental arithmetic in matters of buying and selling would become much easier, undoubtedly more accurate, and the possibility of petty fraud be far more remote, because even the most dense could rapidly calculate by using the decimal system.
Luca Pirrotta, Amerigo Ferrari, Paola Cantarelli and Nicola Belle
Communication and job satisfaction are two key factors for the success of public organisations. The study aims, firstly, to examine the effects of training activities and internal…
Abstract
Purpose
Communication and job satisfaction are two key factors for the success of public organisations. The study aims, firstly, to examine the effects of training activities and internal meetings on the perceived quality of communication processes; secondly, to explore the nuanced relationship between communication and job satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a cross-sectional study based on results from organisational climate surveys conducted between 2019 and 2020 in six Italian Regional Healthcare Systems, involving a total of 58,888 employees. Linear regression models were performed.
Findings
Results highlight that employee satisfaction is positively influenced by high-quality internal communication. The organisation of frequent internal meetings and the offer of ad hoc training sessions on communication were found to be antecedents of good communication.
Practical implications
The study offers practical implications for healthcare organisations, highlighting specific strategies that can be employed to enhance internal communication and, subsequently, job satisfaction. The emphasis on training programmes and internal meetings provides actionable insights for organisational improvement.
Originality/value
The originality and value of this study lie in its unique large datasets, which significantly strengthen the reliability of the findings and make them more applicable to a wider range of contexts. Also, the exploration of the relationship between internal communication processes and job satisfaction within public healthcare organisations contributes to the growing body of knowledge in organisational studies.
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Eoin Gorman, Sally Kingston and Nicola Giles
Social farming is the use of commercial farms and agricultural landscapes to promote mental and physical health for service users through ordinary farming activities. While…
Abstract
Purpose
Social farming is the use of commercial farms and agricultural landscapes to promote mental and physical health for service users through ordinary farming activities. While previous research has focused on the service user, the farmer’s perspective and well-being has not been extensively considered in the research. The purpose of this study was to explore Irish-based farmer's experiences of social farming.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative-descriptive approach was used to explore the form, function and meaning of facilitating social farming. Purposive sampling was used for recruitment. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with ten social farmers.
Findings
Four themes emerged from the interviews: characteristics of the farm and farmer, connection, mutually beneficial farming and challenges of social farming.
Originality/value
This study sheds light on the experience of occupational rejuvenation that occurs for the farmer and their family through engagement in social farming, seen through their renewed passion for farming and the focus on mundane occupations. This highlights how the occupation of facilitating social farming can increase the well-being of those involved in the occupation.
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Reto Steiner, Claire Kaiser, Christopher Tapscott and Carmen Navarro