Mark Robinson, Gary Raine, Steve Robertson, Mary Steen and Rhiannon Day
The purpose of this paper is to present findings from an evaluation of a community mental health resilience intervention for unemployed men aged 45-60. The focus is on examining…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present findings from an evaluation of a community mental health resilience intervention for unemployed men aged 45-60. The focus is on examining the place of facilitated peer support within a multi-dimensional men’s mental health programme, and exploring implications for resilience building delivery approaches for men.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a mixed methodology design involving before and after survey data and qualitative interviews, to report results concerning effectiveness in changing men’s perceived resilience, to consider project processes concerning peer support, and to situate these within wider community environments.
Findings
The programme significantly raised the perceived resilience of participants. Project activities promoted trusting informal social connections, gains in social capital arose through trusting relations and skill-sharing, and peer-peer action-focused talk and planning enhanced men’s resilience.
Research limitations/implications
The paper considers facilitated peer support on a programme, rather than on-going informal peer support or more formal peer support roles (a limitation reflecting the boundaries of the funded programme).
Practical implications
The paper discusses emerging considerations for resilience building, focusing on gender-sensitive approaches which can engage and retain men by focusing on doing and talking. It highlights the importance of peer support in community interventions which feature a social model of change. There is potential for encouraging further peer mentoring and peer led support beyond facilitated peer support in programme delivery.
Social implications
Potential exists for gender-aware programmes to sustain salutogenic change, co-producing social assets of peer support, male-friendly activities, and context sensitive course provision.
Originality/value
The paper adds fresh evidence of gendered intervention approaches with a specific focus on facilitated community peer support, including effects on male resilience. Little previous resilience research is gendered, there is little gendered research on peer support, and unemployed middle-aged men are a significant risk group.
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Mark Robinson, Steve Robertson, Mary Steen, Gary Raine and Rhiannon Day
The purpose of this paper is to present findings from an evaluation of a mental health resilience intervention for unemployed men aged 45-60. The focus is on examining the place…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present findings from an evaluation of a mental health resilience intervention for unemployed men aged 45-60. The focus is on examining the place of activities within a multi-dimensional men’s mental health programme, and exploring interactions between social context factors and models of change.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on before and after survey data and qualitative interviews, to report results concerning effectiveness in changing men’s perceived resilience, to consider project processes concerning activities, social support and coping strategies, and to situate these within wider environments.
Findings
The programme significantly raised the perceived resilience of participants. Activities were engaging for men, while the complex intersection between activities, social networking, and coping strategies course provided opportunities for men to develop resilience in contexts resonant with their male identities.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation is that the evaluation could not measure longer term impacts.
Practical implications
The paper discusses emerging considerations for resilience building, focusing on gender-sensitive approaches which can engage and retain men by focusing on doing and talking, in the contexts of men’s life-course, highlighting embodied (male) identities not disembodied “mental states”, and facilitating social support. There are challenges to recruit men despite stigma, support men to speak of feelings, and facilitate progression.
Social implications
Potential exists for gender-aware programmes to sustain salutogenic change, co-producing social assets of peer support, male-friendly activities, and context sensitive course provision.
Originality/value
The paper adds fresh evidence of gendered intervention approaches, including effects on male resilience. Application of a context-sensitive change model leads to multi-component findings for transferring and sustaining programme gains.
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Louise Margaret Prendergast, Gill Toms, Diane Seddon, Carys Jones, Bethany Fern Anthony and Rhiannon Tudor Edwards
The purpose of this paper is to share the learning concerning how services and the paid carers working in them can support people living with dementia (PLWD) and their unpaid…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to share the learning concerning how services and the paid carers working in them can support people living with dementia (PLWD) and their unpaid carers to overcome social isolation. This learning comes from the key findings from a Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation of a Shared Lives (SL) Day support service, known as TRIO.
Design/methodology/approach
SROI is a form of cost-benefit analysis that captures and monetises stakeholder outcomes. The SROI evaluation included a rapid evidence review, an interview study and a questionnaire study. The learning shared is drawn from the interview and questionnaire data that explored the reported outcomes relating to social connection, which included data related to participating in meaningful activities, confidence and independence.
Findings
PLWD who accessed the SL Day support service experienced better social connection, a sense of control over their activities (including their social activities) and community presence. A key foundation of these outcomes was the meaningful relationship that developed between the PLWD, their unpaid carer and the paid carer.
Research limitations/implications
This evaluation was a pilot study with a small, albeit representative sample size.
Practical implications
The learning suggests feasible and effective ways for paid carers to support the social connection of PLWD and their unpaid carers with their wider community.
Originality/value
There has been little exploration of how community-based short breaks (like SL Day support) can enhance social connection. The authors drew on a social relational model lens to illustrate how this service type had supported successful outcomes of community and social inclusion for PLWD.
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Barbara Plester and Rhiannon Lloyd
Hybrid work is changing modern conceptions of work as workers move between their office space and alternate spaces such as a home office. Social aspects of work are therefore also…
Abstract
Purpose
Hybrid work is changing modern conceptions of work as workers move between their office space and alternate spaces such as a home office. Social aspects of work are therefore also changing, and this study aims to explore the implications arising for workplace fun when workspaces become dispersed.
Design/methodology/approach
We undertook ethnographic research into two different companies to explore in depth the concept of fun at work and how it is being adapted for hybrid work. Data were collected through full immersion into both companies and gathered using mixed qualitative methods comprising semi-structured interviews, participant observations and evidence from organizational online platforms. A structured coding system was used in the analysis with an interpretive approach.
Findings
Our themes include (1) artefacts, (2) organizing fun and space and (3) loss of fun and these provide the underpinning for our theoretical contribution.
Research limitations/implications
We had limited access to online channels and identified opportunities for future research to explore fun in online platforms including chat functions, meme, gifs and other places where workplace fun may be enacted.
Practical implications
Work has changed for workers and managers, and this impacts fun which needs to adapt to hybrid work models.
Social implications
Hybrid work is changing workplace social interactions, particularly, for fun and play. We depict how workers navigate the changing context of work and the significance of emerging elements of workplace fun and the implications for fun cultures.
Originality/value
Our contribution is in a re-theorization of workplace fun arguing that sharing and supporting the creation and promotion of fun among workers at all levels offers new opportunities for organizations that value a fun culture. Our theorization of workplace fun shows its adaptation to new hybrid work contexts that deemphasize co-location and physical presence. We outline the significance of artefacts and depict the variability of workplace fun in hybrid work.
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Rhiannon Lord, Nicola Bolton, Scott Fleming and Melissa Anderson
The purpose of this paper was to review the effectiveness of telephone interviewing for capturing data and to consider in particular the challenges faced by telephone interviewers…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to review the effectiveness of telephone interviewing for capturing data and to consider in particular the challenges faced by telephone interviewers when capturing information about market segments.
Design/methodology/approach
The platform for this methodological critique was a market segment analysis commissioned by Sport Wales which involved a series of 85 telephone interviews completed during 2010. Two focus groups involving the six interviewers involved in the study were convened to reflect on the researchers’ experiences and the implications for business and management research.
Findings
There are three principal sets of findings. First, although telephone interviewing is generally a cost-effective data collection method, it is important to consider both the actual costs (i.e. time spent planning and conducting interviews) as well as the opportunity costs (i.e. missed appointments, “chasing participants”). Second, researchers need to be sensitised to and sensitive to the demographic characteristics of telephone interviewees (insofar as these are knowable) because responses are influenced by them. Third, the anonymity of telephone interviews may be more conducive for discussing sensitive issues than face-to-face interactions.
Originality/value
The present study adds to this modest body of literature on the implementation of telephone interviewing as a research technique of business and management. It provides valuable methodological background detail about the intricate, personal experiences of researchers undertaking this method “at a distance” and without visual cues, and makes explicit the challenges of telephone interviewing for the purposes of data capture.
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Jill Willis, Kelli McGraw and Linda Graham
A new senior curriculum and assessment policy in Queensland, Australia, is changing the conditions for teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to consider the…
Abstract
Purpose
A new senior curriculum and assessment policy in Queensland, Australia, is changing the conditions for teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to consider the personal, structural and cultural conditions that mediated the agency of Senior English teachers as they negotiated these changes. Agency is conceptualised as opportunities for choice in action arising from pedagogic negotiations with students within contexts where teachers’ decision-making is circumscribed by other pressures.
Design/methodology/approach
An action inquiry project was conducted with English teachers and students in two secondary schools as they began to adjust their practices in readiness for changes to Queensland senior assessment. Four English teachers (two per school) designed a 10-week unit of work in Senior English with the aim of enhancing students’ critical and creative agency. Five action/reflection cycles occurred over six months with interviews conducted at each stage to trace how teachers were making decisions to prioritise student agency.
Findings
Participating teachers drew on a variety of structural, personal and cultural resources, including previous experiences, time to develop shared understandings and the responsiveness of students that mediated their teacher agency. Teachers’ ability to exert agentic influence beyond their own classroom was affected by the perceived flexibility of established resources and the availability of social support to share student success.
Originality/value
These findings indicate that a range of conditions affected the development of teacher agency when they sought to design assessment to prioritise student agency. The variety of enabling conditions that need to be considered when supporting teacher and student agency is an important contribution to theories of agency in schools, and studies of teacher policy enactment in systems moving away from localised control to more remote and centralised quality assurance processes.
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Diane Crone, Linda Heaney, Jennifer Morgan, Rob Macpherson, Rhiannon Herbert and Lynne Johnston
People with long‐term, severe mental health problems are at higher risk of premature death linked to lifestyle. They are more likely to smoke, to be overweight, and to take little…
Abstract
People with long‐term, severe mental health problems are at higher risk of premature death linked to lifestyle. They are more likely to smoke, to be overweight, and to take little or no exercise. Their physical health needs also tend notoriously to be neglected by the health services. Diane Crone and colleagues conducted a comparative survey of the health behaviours and lifestyles of mental health service users in one city in the south west, and found much cause for concern.
Annie Williams, Hannah Bayfield, Martin Elliott, Jennifer Lyttleton-Smith, Honor Young, Rhiannon Evans and Sara Long
Using a mixed methodology comprising interviews, case file analysis and descriptive statistics, this study aims to examine the experiences of all 43 young people in Wales subject…
Abstract
Purpose
Using a mixed methodology comprising interviews, case file analysis and descriptive statistics, this study aims to examine the experiences of all 43 young people in Wales subject to secure accommodation orders between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2018.
Design/methodology/approach
Children in the UK aged 10–17 years who are deemed to be at a significant level of risk to themselves or others may be subject to a secure accommodation order, leading to time spent in a secure children’s home (SCH) on welfare grounds. Following a rise in the number of children in Wales referred to SCHs for welfare reasons, this paper describes these young people’s journeys into, through and out of SCHs, giving insight into their experiences and highlighting areas for policy and practice improvements.
Findings
Findings indicate that improvements in mental health support and placement availability are key in improving the experiences of this particularly vulnerable group of young people throughout their childhood.
Practical implications
Other practical implications of the study’s findings, such as improvements in secure transport arrangements, are also discussed.
Originality/value
While the findings are limited by the reliance on self-report methods and the size of the study, namely, the small number of young people with experience of SCHs who were able to participate, the findings build on the existing knowledge base around children’s residential accommodation and provide new insights into how best to support these children.
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This chapter explores three different Cinema, Memory and Wellbeing pilot projects, two of which were carried out in Liverpool and the other in Petrópolis, a city of comparable…
Abstract
This chapter explores three different Cinema, Memory and Wellbeing pilot projects, two of which were carried out in Liverpool and the other in Petrópolis, a city of comparable size in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It begins by discussing our motivations for developing these projects and how we drew on our previous research relating to films and cinema-going. It then presents the three different projects, showing how each was tailored to the care context in question (a residential nursing home and a day-care centre on Merseyside, and a GP practice in Brazil), explaining how they were conducted and discussing the results, with a view to informing and improving future initiatives of this type. We also show how our findings have shaped the creation of the ‘best-practice’ toolkit designed to enable activities coordinators, carers and health professionals to optimize the benefits of using films to stimulate memories and reminiscence and promote an improved sense of wellbeing among older people and those living with dementia. (This toolkit is available to download from the Emerald website in English: https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/detail/Selfies/?K=9781787437173). We recount in detail our practical experiences of setting up and running screenings in diverse environments, how we set about trying to ‘measure’ or at least gather some tangible evidence of the wellbeing benefits of these events, and provide numerous examples of the reminiscences that they generated, as well as the feedback on the projects that we received from both the people who participated and the people who care for them.
Rhiannon Roberts, Isabella E. Castillo, David R. White and Joseph Schafer
The level of cynicism officers experience can directly impact their day-to-day decisions, especially in policing’s currently strained climate. This paper provides an updated…
Abstract
Purpose
The level of cynicism officers experience can directly impact their day-to-day decisions, especially in policing’s currently strained climate. This paper provides an updated systematic review of the predictors, outcomes and conceptualizations of police cynicism within the relevant literature.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review was conducted utilizing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach. Results from the 56 articles published after Langworthy’s 1987 systematic review are included. It was hypothesized that due to the current climate, police cynicism may be more discussed within the literature, especially when examined with the “Ferguson Effect.”
Findings
Researchers conceptualize police cynicism in various ways outside the traditional measures. Officers who were more cynical were more likely to maintain tougher law enforcement orientations and may have been more likely to engage in problem behaviors. Lack of internal support was related to organizational cynicism. Support for the Ferguson effect and demographic-related variables (tenure, racial identity and gender) on police cynicism yielded mixed findings despite the field’s inclination of their augmenting impact.
Research limitations/implications
More research needs to be conducted on operationalizing and conceptualizing police cynicism. Researchers should establish standardized measures of police cynicism to help disaggregate results, as well as recruit from multiple agencies to increase generalizability.
Originality/value
This review is the first literature review conducted on police cynicism since Langworthy’s 1987 review. Exploring data post-1987 illustrates contemporary conceptualizations of police cynicism and related significant findings.