James Chowhan, Margaret Denton, Catherine Brookman, Sharon Davies, Firat K. Sayin and Isik Zeytinoglu
The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of stress between work intensification and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) focusing on personal support workers (PSWs…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of stress between work intensification and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) focusing on personal support workers (PSWs) in home and community care.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis sample of 922 comes from the 2015 survey of PSWs employed in Ontario, Canada. The endogenous variable is self-reported MSDs, and the exogenous variable is work intensification. Stress, measured as symptoms of stress, is the mediating variable. Other factors shown in the literature as associated with stress and/or MSDs are included as control variables. Structural equation model regression analyses are presented.
Findings
The results show that stress mediates the effect of work intensification on PSW’s MSDs. Other significant factors included being injured in the past year, facing hazards at work and preferring less hours – all had positive and significant substantive effects on MSDs.
Research limitations/implications
The survey is cross-sectional and not longitudinal or experimental in design, and it focuses on a single occupation in a single sector in Ontario, Canada and, as such, this can limit the generalizability of the results to other occupations and sectors.
Practical implications
For PSW employers including their human resource managers, supervisors, schedulers and policy-makers, the study recommends reducing work intensification to lower stress levels and MSDs.
Originality/value
The findings of this study contribute to the theory and knowledge by providing evidence on how work intensification can affect workers’ health and assist decision makers in taking actions to create healthy work environments.
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Jason Davies, Sharon Oddie and Jonathan Powls
Internet‐mediated research is becoming an increasingly viable option for forensic researchers, allowing some of the limitations of traditional approaches to be overcome. Many…
Abstract
Internet‐mediated research is becoming an increasingly viable option for forensic researchers, allowing some of the limitations of traditional approaches to be overcome. Many advantages are evident in this approach, such as the ability to access large, diverse samples and specialist groups. However, there are limitations and ethical issues that researchers need to be aware of. This paper provides an overview of internet‐mediated research for forensic researchers and practitioners, and highlights some of the ways in which this approach can be used to undertake research relevant to forensic practice. Some examples of research undertaken using this approach are provided.
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The participation of trans people is increasingly being framed as a defining issue for women's sport. A dominant narrative, promoted by various newly formed feminist organizations…
Abstract
The participation of trans people is increasingly being framed as a defining issue for women's sport. A dominant narrative, promoted by various newly formed feminist organizations located in the Global North, is that (cisgender) women's sport will be forever changed – and negatively so – by the increased recognition and sports participation of trans athletes. The message is the following: first, that biological sex is fundamentally binary; second, that the place of ‘females’ in sport depends on the recognition of this biological ‘truth’; and third, that sports policymakers must choose between advancing the rights of interests of (cisgender) women or those of trans athletes, but can't do both. I call this phenomenon biofeminism: the wielding of scientific knowledge and expertise to claim binary, biological sex difference as the ‘true’ basis of (cisgender) women's experience and her rights. In this chapter, I offer an exploratory, empirical account of this variety of feminist mobilization by analyzing an awareness-raising event held in the United Kingdom in 2019. I approach this event as an opportunity to better understand how biofeminist actors are organizing, their epistemic strategies and the political frames they rely upon to give meaning to ideologies of binary sex difference and impact policy and legislation. Given the unfinished business of realizing gender equity within the institution of sport, I reflect on how women's sports organizations might counter biofeminist mobilization and pursue allyship between cis and trans women.
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Susan Vinnicombe and Sharon Mavin
The paper provides an invited “Viewpoint” from Professor Susan Vinnicombe, along with contributions from Professor Sharon Mavin, on women leaders’ progress on UK company boards…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper provides an invited “Viewpoint” from Professor Susan Vinnicombe, along with contributions from Professor Sharon Mavin, on women leaders’ progress on UK company boards and suggests areas for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
Draws on data from the annual UK The Female FTSE Board Report (2021) and The Hidden Truth Report (2022), tracking gender diversity on UK company boards. Professor Vinnicombe outlines reflections on progress, and jointly the authors highlight suggested areas for future women-in-leadership research.
Findings
The authors argue against the continued use of the business case for gender diversity and suggest a research agenda for future women-in-leadership research concerning: gender-aware Chairs of Boards and Chief Executive Officers and men allies; access and appointment to senior board roles; and bias in senior appointments. We suggest a return to examining barriers to women’s progress in middle management, the role of middle managers/leaders and the uptake and impact of established flexible ways of work at executive levels. New research is possible into how women leaders in top positions have a positive influence on gender diversity yet are discriminated against by various publics. The authors recommend further intersectional research as a priority for women-in-leadership research to enable further theorizing and feminist progress.
Originality/value
Professor Sue Vinnicombe has dedicated her academic career to questioning barriers to women’s progress in management/leadership and actively influencing organisational practice. Sue was influential in the field before her first co-authored papers were published in Women in Management Review (our predecessor) in 2001 and 2002. Professor Sharon Mavin is a previous co-editor of Gender in Management: an international journal. Her first papers were published in Women in Management Review in 1999 and 2001. Sharon is co-editor of the Special Issue, women-in-leadership research and feminist futures: new agendas for feminist research and impact on gender equality.
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Sharon J. Williams, Lynne Caley, Mandy Davies, Dominique Bird, Sian Hopkins and Alan Willson
Quality improvement collaboratives (QICs) are a popular approach to improving healthcare services and patient outcomes. This paper evaluates a QIC implemented by a large…
Abstract
Purpose
Quality improvement collaboratives (QICs) are a popular approach to improving healthcare services and patient outcomes. This paper evaluates a QIC implemented by a large, integrated healthcare organisation in Wales in the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
This evaluation study draws on two well-established evaluation frameworks: Kirkpatrick's approach to gather data on participant satisfaction and learning and Stake's approach to gather data and form judgements about the impact of the intervention. A mixed methods approach was taken which included documentary analysis, surveys, semi-structured interviews, and observation of the QIC programme.
Findings
Together the two frameworks provide a rounded interpretation of the extent to which the QIC intervention was fit-for-purpose. Broadly the evaluation of the QIC was positive with some areas of improvement identified.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to a QIC conducted within one organisation. Further testing of the hybrid framework is needed that extends to different designs of QICs.
Practical implications
A hybrid framework is provided to assist those charged with designing and evaluating QICs.
Originality/value
Evaluation studies are limited on QICs and if present tend to adopt one framework. Given the complexities of undertaking quality improvement within healthcare, this study uniquely takes a hybrid approach.
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This is a comparative case study of how three high school history teachers in the U.S.A. use art in their practice. The following research question was investigated: How do…
Abstract
This is a comparative case study of how three high school history teachers in the U.S.A. use art in their practice. The following research question was investigated: How do secondary history teachers incorporate the arts—paintings, music, poems, novels, and films—in their teaching of history and why? Data were collected from three sources: interviews, observations, and classroom materials. Grounded theory was utilized to analyze the data. Findings suggest these teachers use the arts as historical evidence roughly for three purposes: First, to teach the spirit of an age; second, to teach the history of ordinary people invisible in official historical records; and third, to teach, both with and without art, the process of writing history. Two of the three teachers, however, failed to teach historical thinking skills through art.
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This paper aims to question the utility of addressing food insecurity through food assistance programmes and by separating food security into pillars, and it argues for a systemic…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to question the utility of addressing food insecurity through food assistance programmes and by separating food security into pillars, and it argues for a systemic innovation and complexity approach. This is achieved by demonstrating that food insecurity is a wicked problem and therefore needs to be addressed holistically.
Design/methodology/approach
To establish that food insecurity is a wicked problem, characteristics of food insecurity are aligned to characteristics of wicked problems. The need to address wicked problems holistically through a systemic innovation approach and an understanding of complexity theory is discussed by referring to the literature. How to take such an approach for addressing food insecurity is illustrated by describing the use of an online tool that takes a systemic innovation and complexity approach.
Findings
Given food insecurity is a wicked problem and needs to be addressed holistically, the focus when addressing food insecurity should not be on programmes or pillars. Instead, it needs to be on increasing the coherence and building the adaptive capacity of food insecurity solution ecosystems.
Practical implications
This paper provides insights into the nature of food insecurity and how to address food insecurity.
Originality/value
For the first time, this paper aligns characteristics of food insecurity to characteristics of wicked problems and demonstrates how an online tool for systemic innovation can assist food insecurity solution ecosystems to address food insecurity.
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The purpose of this paper is to question the appropriateness of current lab types for addressing wicked problems. A new lab type, a Systemic Innovation Lab, is proposed which…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to question the appropriateness of current lab types for addressing wicked problems. A new lab type, a Systemic Innovation Lab, is proposed which combines the features of existing labs that are suited to addressing wicked problems.
Design/methodology/approach
Characteristics of initiatives that are considered appropriate for addressing wicked problems and existing lab types that contain any of these characteristics are identified. These lab types are Social Innovation Labs, Living Labs, Urban Living Labs, Urban Transition Labs and Public Sector Innovation Labs. The proposed new lab type is reasoned by combining the features of existing labs that are suited to addressing wicked problems. How the new lab would work in practice is illustrated with a case study.
Findings
When addressing wicked problems, labs need to take a systemic design and not a service design approach. They also need to focus on addressing complex problems, take a place-based and transition approach, enable coherent action by diverse actors, involve users as co-creators, support a networked governance approach and recognize government as an enabler of change.
Practical implications
This paper provides a new lab type designed specifically for addressing wicked problems. This new lab supports practitioners that take a systemic design, solution ecosystem and systemic innovation approach. Systemic design is based on a core set of principles that are a crossover between design and complexity theory.
Originality/value
For the first time, this paper analyzes different lab types to determine their appropriateness for addressing wicked problems. It also proposes a new lab type whose sole purpose is addressing wicked problems.
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Sharon Howden, Jayde Midgley and Rebecca Hargate
The purpose of this paper is to conduct a preliminary evaluation of a Violent Offender Treatment Program (VOTP) adapted for use in a medium secure unit (MSU). The patient…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to conduct a preliminary evaluation of a Violent Offender Treatment Program (VOTP) adapted for use in a medium secure unit (MSU). The patient population is adult male mentally disordered offenders.
Design/methodology/approach
Patient outcomes are explored using the Reliable Change Index and Clinical Significance Criterion. Outcomes are assessed using VOTP facilitators violence risk assessment (VRS), multi-disciplinary team violence risk assessment (HCR-20 and GAS-V), and patient self-report using two measures (FAVT and STAXI-2).
Findings
There was evidence of improved outcomes for some participants in some areas related to risk of violence.
Research limitations/implications
Consideration is given to using varied risk assessments to evaluate outcomes of an adapted VOTP for a MSU.
Originality/value
There is limited development and evaluation of psychological treatment programmes that aim to reduce risk of violence for male offenders within MSUs. Outcomes of this evaluation could influence treatment delivery and evaluation in other services.
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This chapter works to provide a space beyond the predictable discourses of early childhood education in order to interrogate the social practices of teachers and children. What is…
Abstract
This chapter works to provide a space beyond the predictable discourses of early childhood education in order to interrogate the social practices of teachers and children. What is presented in this chapter is not a collection of dispassionately observed facts but one person's reconstruction of some important language ‘moments’, in the lived experience of a few Year One children. Through the use of pastiche and collage as the medium for ‘displaying’ the data, this work of interrogation involves pulling apart the tried and true, established mechanisms for reading the classroom. The result is a much untidier picture of the lived experience of Year One children than the traditional educational discourses have allowed.