Dimitar Karadzhov, Graham Wilson, Sophie Shields, Erin Lux and Jennifer C. Davidson
The purpose of this study was to explore 232 service providers’ and policymakers’ experiences of supporting children’s well-being during the pandemic, across sectors, in 22…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore 232 service providers’ and policymakers’ experiences of supporting children’s well-being during the pandemic, across sectors, in 22 countries – including Kenya, the Philippines, South Africa, India, Scotland, Sweden, Canada and the USA, in the last quarter of 2020.
Design/methodology/approach
A smartphone survey delivered via a custom-built app containing mostly open-ended questions was used. Respondents were recruited via professional networks, newsletters and social media. Qualitative content analysis was used.
Findings
The findings reveal numerous system-level challenges to supporting children’s well-being, particularly virus containment measures, resource deficiencies and inadequate governance and stakeholder coordination. Those challenges compounded preexisting inequalities and poorly affected the quality, effectiveness and reach of services. As a result, children’s rights to an adequate standard of living; protection from violence; education; play; and right to be heard were impinged upon. Concurrently, the findings illustrate a range of adaptive and innovative practices in humanitarian and subsistence support; child protection; capacity-building; advocacy; digitalisation; and psychosocial and educational support. Respondents identified several priority areas – increasing service capacity and equity; expanding technology use; mobilising cross-sectoral partnerships; involving children in decision-making; and ensuring more effective child protection mechanisms.
Practical implications
This study seeks to inform resilience-enabling policies and practices that foster equity, child and community empowerment and organisational resilience and innovation, particularly in anticipation of future crises.
Originality/value
Using a novel approach to gather in-the-moment insights remotely, this study offers a unique international and multi-sectoral perspective, particularly from low- and middle-income countries.
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Dimitar Karadzhov, Jennifer C. Davidson and Graham Wilson
This paper aims to present findings from 440 responses regarding the experiences of supervision, coping and well-being of 83 service providers and policymakers from eight…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present findings from 440 responses regarding the experiences of supervision, coping and well-being of 83 service providers and policymakers from eight countries working to support children’s well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
A smartphone survey hosted on a custom-built app was used. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The data were gathered in the last quarter of 2020.
Findings
While most respondents described the supervision they received as “useful” – both personally and professionally – and reported several characteristics of effective supervision practices, concerns about not receiving optimal support were also voiced. Respondents shared a range of stress management and other self-care practices they used but also revealed their difficulties optimally managing the stresses and anxieties during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, some respondents shared they were feeling helpless, unmotivated and unproductive. Yet, overall, responses were imbued with messages about hope, perseverance and self-compassion.
Originality/value
Using a bespoke smartphone app, rich and intimate insights were generated in real time from a wide range of professionals across high- and low- and middle-income countries – indicating the need to better support their well-being and service delivery.
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Six months prior to its closure, Tyne and Wear Development Corporation, a government agency, appointed a records management professional to assist in the disposal of its records…
Abstract
Six months prior to its closure, Tyne and Wear Development Corporation, a government agency, appointed a records management professional to assist in the disposal of its records. This article documents the challenges the project presented and the procedures which were implemented to ensure appropriate actions were taken. It concludes with a summary of the issues which arose during the project and their implications.
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Fabienne-Sophie Schäfer, Bernhard Hirsch and Christian Nitzl
Drawing upon new institutional theory and blame avoidance theory, this paper aims to examine how stakeholder pressure has an impact on the implementation and use of risk…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing upon new institutional theory and blame avoidance theory, this paper aims to examine how stakeholder pressure has an impact on the implementation and use of risk management practices in public administrations. Furthermore, this paper investigates whether top management support mediates this proposed relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a survey among public financial managers of German municipalities and federal agencies. Data from 136 questionnaires were used to evaluate the model.
Findings
The results indicate that top management support fully mediates the relationship between stakeholder pressure and risk management practices. This finding suggests that top management support is crucial for the successful implementation of accounting techniques, such as risk management, in public administrations.
Research limitations/implications
This study is based on subjective answers by public financial managers. Moreover, this study is based solely on German data. Hence, future research could use a mixed-method approach and data from other countries.
Originality/value
This paper examines whether stakeholder pressure exerts an impact on the sophistication of public risk management practices.
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Xue Cao, Luke Nelson Carter, Victor Manuel Villapún, Francesco Cantaboni, Giulia De Sio, Morgan Lowther, Sophie Elizabeth Thompson Louth, Liam Grover, Paola Ginestra and Sophie Constance Cox
Selective laser melting (SLM) is increasingly used to manufacture bone implants from titanium alloys with particular interest in porous lattice structures. These complex…
Abstract
Purpose
Selective laser melting (SLM) is increasingly used to manufacture bone implants from titanium alloys with particular interest in porous lattice structures. These complex constructs have been shown to be capable of matching native bone mechanical behaviour leading to improved osseointegration while providing numerous clinical advantages, encouraging their broad use in medical devices. However, producing lattices with a strut diameter similar in scale to a typical SLM melt pool or using the same process parameters and scan strategies intended for bulk solid components may lead to geometric inaccuracies. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and optimise the single contour strategy for the production of Ti-6Al-4V lattices.
Design/methodology/approach
Herein, the potential of an unfilled single contour (SC) scanning strategy to improve the reproducibility of porous lattices when compared with a single contour and fill approach (SC + F) is explored. For this purpose, two parametric analysis were carried out on Ti-6Al-4V diamond unit cell lattices with different strut sizes and scan strategies. Porosity and accuracy measurements were correlated with processing parameters and printing strategy to provide the optimal processing window for lattice manufacturing.
Findings
SC is shown to be a viable strategy for production of Ti-6Al-4V lattices with a strut diameter below 350 µm. Parametric analysis highlights the limits of this method in producing fully dense struts with energy density presented as a useful practical tool to guide some aspects of parameter selection (design strut diameter achieved at approximately 0.1 J/mm in this study). Finally, a process map combining data from both parametric studies is provided to guide, predict and control lattice strut geometry and porosity obtained using the SC strategy.
Originality/value
These results explore the use of non-standard SC scanning strategy as a viable method for producing strut-based lattice structures and compare against the traditional contour and fill approach (SC + F).
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Several factors and forces in school-level leaders' work can heighten emotions and incite emotionally charged situations. Challenges that heighten school-level leaders' emotions…
Abstract
Several factors and forces in school-level leaders' work can heighten emotions and incite emotionally charged situations. Challenges that heighten school-level leaders' emotions are related to systemic factors, people factors and personal factors. The extent to which each of these different factors influence the emotional experiences of school-level leaders, and whether that influence ends up being positive, negative or neutral, is contextual in nature. The systemic factors include encountering barriers when advocating for students, managing an intensified and expanding workload, working within disorienting policy contexts, and receiving a lack of support from their employer. Changes in school-level leaders' work and workload due to the COVID-19 pandemic that heightened emotions and emotional labour are also considered when discussing the systemic factors. People factors evident in the literature include workplace conflict, gendered power relations and crises and tragedies in the school community. The emotional labour inherent in school-level leadership comes to the forefront when considering the impact of these people factors on emotions at work because school-level leaders are tasked with making decisions that can have an immense impact on peoples' lives. Personal factors discussed in this chapter surround a school-level leader's individual emotional intelligence abilities and media attention directed towards them.
Andy Cook and Julie Payne
The purpose of this paper is to describe family intervention (FI) with four families in which the service user is under the care of forensic mental health services. There is a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe family intervention (FI) with four families in which the service user is under the care of forensic mental health services. There is a focus on identifying how systemic practice is used or adapted in working with families who have a family member who has presented risk and caused harm.
Design/methodology/approach
Four case studies are used to provide a basis for the exploration of commonalities in practice between the cases and the utility of FI within forensic services, which have the dual purpose of promoting mental health recovery and reducing offending/risk behaviour.
Findings
Family work can be a key healing tool in the recovery journey of forensic service users and their families. An integrated systemic and psycho-educational FI approach was found to be appropriate in the cases described. Issues particular to forensic services are identified; these include the role of safety planning; the function of talking about the history of trauma in the family including the impact of offending behaviour; mediating difficult relationships between family members and professionals; and overcoming barriers to having difficult and emotive conversations.
Research limitations/implications
The absence of outcome assessments limits the findings to observational data and self-reported experiences from the authors.
Practical implications
FI can be safely and effectively used within forensic settings, facilitated by practitioners competent in working with trauma and complexity, as an integrated component of the therapeutic treatment.
Originality/value
There are recognised barriers to the provision of FI within forensic settings, with limited research regarding the application of such therapies with forensic patients and their families. This paper adds to the small pool of knowledge regarding useful applications of FI in such settings.
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Granting ‘sanctuary’ in the United States to those fleeing poverty and violence is rooted in a deep history of hospitality and compassion. As we are witnessing a rise in…
Abstract
Granting ‘sanctuary’ in the United States to those fleeing poverty and violence is rooted in a deep history of hospitality and compassion. As we are witnessing a rise in xenophobia accompanied by policies of exclusion, we also see a rising number of ‘sanctuary jurisdictions’ limiting their cooperation with immigration authorities that many communities consider are using extremely harsh and punitive measures to detain and deport irregular migrants. As this chapter will demonstrate, there has been a dramatic increase through ‘immigration federalism’ of the number of these jurisdictions in cities, states and municipalities since the first practices of ‘sanctuary’ in the 1980s as result of the waves of forced migration due to the civil wars in Central America. The author also proposes that those entities granting ‘sanctuary’ to irregular migrants should also apply practices of ‘compassionate migration’ as described in the chapter to expand their protections further and include them in their communities.