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The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of a refugee family navigating complex disability and restrictive practice service systems. Living with disability, or caring for someone with disability can compound the disadvantage and marginalisation already experienced by refugees. The nexus between disability and refugee status, particularly intellectual disability and restrictive practices, has received little scholarly attention and almost nothing is known of people’s experiences in this situation.

Thematic analysis of a case study is used to illustrate the experiences of a refugee family in this situation. The case study presented was part of a larger ethnographic study exploring the experiences of people of refugee background living with disability.

There were numerous barriers to accessing appropriate services. The family experienced high levels of stress simultaneously navigating the resettlement process and the disability service system. They were poorly informed and disempowered regarding the care of their loved one and the use of restrictive practices. Experiences in the country of origin, employment responsibilities, and unfamiliarity with the service system were key factors in this family’s difficulty in safeguarding the rights of their family member with disability.

This case study examines the complexity experienced when disability intersects with refugee background. Areas for additional research and significant gaps in service provision are identified. The case study clearly demonstrates the importance of understanding people’s pre- and post-settlement experiences to inform policy and service provision.

The purpose of this paper is to produce the views of parents and siblings of adults with intellectual or developmental disability (ID/DD) around the use of psychotropic medication to manage challenging behaviour (CB) where there is no co-existing mental illness.

Seven family members of six adults with ID/DD were interviewed using semi-structured interviews, over the telephone or face-to-face. The interviews were transcribed, coded and thematically analysed.

This paper identified that if used appropriately, psychotropic medication to manage CB may be of benefit to some people with ID/DD; but there is a need to ensure the medication is prescribed for the benefits of people with ID/DD rather than those around them. Drawing on the knowledge of family may allow for the use of alternative strategies and the reduction of medication to manage CB. There is the need for improved communication with family members, inclusive decision making, and access to information regarding the philosophy and legislation regarding medication used to manage CB in adults with ID/DD.

This paper presents views of a small cohort of family members of people with ID/DD in Queensland, Australia. Findings can be used to improve approaches taken by service providers in their interactions with people with ID/DD prescribed psychotropic medication to manage CB, and their family members.

This case study describes the use of antipsychotic medication by an adult woman with learning disabilities. The study first provides detailed clinical information about Jane, drawing on a comprehensive mental health assessment and then provides a thematic analysis of Jane's experiences of antipsychotic medication.

Simple linear accounts of prescribing do not adequately address reasons “why” doctors prescribe psychotropic medication to people with intellectual disability (ID). Greater understanding of the complex array of factors that influence decisions to prescribe is needed.

After consideration of a number of conceptual frameworks that have potential to better understand prescribing of psychotropic medication to adults with ID, an ecological model of prescribing was developed. A case study is used to outline how the model can provide greater understanding of prescribing processes.

The model presented aims to consider the complexity and multi-dimensional nature of community-based psychotropic prescribing to adults with ID. The utility of the model is illustrated through a consideration of the case study.

The model presented is conceptual and is as yet untested.

The model presented aims to capture the complexity and multi-dimensional nature of community-based psychotropic prescribing to adults with ID. The model may provide utility for clinicians and researchers as they seek clarification of prescribing decisions.

The paper adds valuable insight into factors influencing psychotropic prescribing to adults with ID. The ecological model of prescribing extends traditional analysis that focuses on patient characteristics and introduces multi-level perspectives that may provide utility for clinicians and researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of small-scale, rural festivals to the social sustainability of their host communities. Small-scale, community originated festivals proliferate the rural landscape throughout the UK and yet despite this, festival research has focussed predominantly on large, urban events and on their economic impact (Wood, 2009; Gibson and Connell, 2011). This paper seeks to address the perceived research gap by examining these events through a lens of social sustainability.

The research uses a case study approach focussed on four festivals in Northumberland, UK. Individual interviews and focus groups were conducted with festival organisers, key figures and visitors. Following a constructivist grounded theory method four principle indicators were identified to determine festival contribution to community social sustainability. These indicators are: contribution to community pride and localness, enhancement of knowledge and understanding, contribution to the continuity of local culture and enablement of networks of connectivity.

The findings demonstrate the networks of connections which festivals enable between the culture, heritage and people (individuals and groups) of a place. By focussing on four indicators the paper shows the social impact of connections through the festival processes and content. The paper argues that small-scale festivals in rural locations can contribute to social sustainability if they demonstrate a balance of both consistency and innovation and accessibility and openness within the locale.

This paper addresses the gap in social impact research into rural festivals and presents an original approach to identify festival impact on community social sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the prevalence and patterns of substance use among Canadian social workers. With legalisation of can professional regulatory bodies are pressed to consider implications of substance use for their members.

An online survey collected data about demographics and substance use prevalence and patterns. Statistical analysis involved pairwise comparisons, binary logistic regression models and logistic regression models to explore correlations between substance use and demographic and work-related variables.

Among the respondents (n=489), findings indicate that past-year use of cannabis (24.1 per cent), cocaine (4.5 per cent), ecstasy (1.4 per cent), amphetamines (4.3 per cent), hallucinogens (2.4 per cent), opioid pain relievers (21.0 per cent) and alcohol (83.1 per cent) are higher than the general Canadian population. Years of work experience and working night shift were significant predictors of total number of substances used in the past year. Use of a substance by a person when they were a student was highly correlated with use when they were a professional.

Prevalence of substance use among social workers was found to be higher than the Canadian population; potential due to the anonymous nature of data collection.

This study has implications for social conceptualisations of professionalism and for decisions regarding professional regulation. Previous literature about substance use by professionals has focussed predominantly on implications for increased surveillance, monitoring, and disciplinary action. We contend that since substance use among professionals tends to be concealed, there may be exacerbated social misconceptions about degree of risk and when it is appropriate to intervene.

This article argues that accounting practice is complex. The determination to implement a particular type of accounting practice is not a simple task. It is a decision that necessitates thorough considerations involving knowledge, human needs and interests, and situations surrounding the decision maker. The decision process itself thus represents complex activities. To ease understanding of this complexity, this study suggests to use metaphor, Javanese Language Speech Level metaphor. Metaphor, many have argued, helps to highlight and explain the core idea of a study, and to understand the nature, the significance, and the social dimensions of the phenomena being investigated. In sustaining its arguments, this study provides an illustration of some accounting practices that satisfy the appropriateness of Javanese language as metaphor.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the ethical orientations of undergraduate business students in Greece by exploring the relations among students' internalized code of ethics, anomia and students' judgment related to ethical problem situations within classroom as well as business context.

A conceptual framework was developed and a pilot empirical research was conducted based on a questionnaire addressed to a sample of 123 business school undergraduate students. Hypotheses were stated and tested.

The paper finds that internalised code of ethics (ICE) and anomia constructs proved to be reliable and captured the examined students' profile in terms of both their ethical orientations and their world view. Greek future business people's ethical judgement tends to incline towards the ethical side. The ICE appears to influence students' ethical judgment while anomia has no impact. Further, academic dishonesty is positively related to students' attitudes towards unethical managers' behaviors in the business context.

The nature of the research is explanatory, addressed to students of one semester and thus results cannot be generalized on a broader context. Also the construct developed by the authors need to be further tested to increase its validity.

Business schools need to empower students' internalized code of ethics towards the development of more socially responsible future managers and leaders.

The developed construct of the internalized code of ethics and its revealing key role on Greek business students' ethical judgment is considered by the authors as the main contribution of this study.

Public sector has started exploiting artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, however, mainly for operational but much less for tactical or level tasks. The purpose of this study is to exploit AI for the highest strategic-level task of government: to develop an AI-based public sector data analytics methodology for supporting policymaking for one of the most serious and large-scale challenges that governments repeatedly face, the economic crises that lead to economic recessions (though the proposed methodology is of much more general applicability).

A public sector data analytics methodology has been developed, which enables the exploitation of existing public and private sector data, through advanced processing of them using a big data-oriented AI technique, “all-relevant” feature selection, to identify characteristics of firms as well as their external environment that affect (positively or negatively) their resilience to economic crisis.

A first application of the proposed public sector data analytics methodology has been conducted, using Greek firms’ data concerning the economic crisis period 2009–2014, which has led to interesting conclusions and insights, revealing factors affecting the extent of sales revenue decrease in Greek firms during the above crisis period and providing a first validation of the methodology used in this study.

This paper contributes to the advancement of two emerging highly important, for the society, but minimally researched, digital government research domains: public sector data analytics (and especially policy analytics) and government exploitation of AI. It exploits an AI feature selection algorithm, the Boruta “all-relevant” variables identification algorithm, which has been minimally exploited in the past for public sector data analytics, to support the design of public policies for addressing one of the most serious and large-scale economic challenges that governments repeatedly face: the economic crises.

The proposed methodology allows the identification of characteristics of firms as well as their external environment that affect positively or negatively their resilience to economic crisis. This enables a better understanding of the kinds of firms that are more strongly hit by the crisis, which is quite useful for the design of public policies for supporting them; and at the same time reveals firms’ practices, resources, capabilities, etc. that enhance their ability to cope with economic crisis, to design policies for promoting them through educational and support activities.

This methodology can be very useful for the design of more effective public policies for reducing the negative impacts of economic crises on firms, and therefore mitigating their negative consequences for the society, such as unemployment, poverty and social exclusion.

This study develops a novel approach to the exploitation of public and private sector data, based on a minimally exploited, for such purposes, AI technique (“all-relevant” feature selection), to support the design of public policies for addressing one of the most threatening disruptions that modern economies and societies repeatedly face, the economic crises.