Fiji is an island nation in the South Pacific, which whilst enjoying swaying palms, coral seas and a relaxed life style, also experiences many of the problems of Third World…
Margaret‐Anne Lawlor and Andrea Prothero
The aim of this article is to explore children's understanding of television advertising intent.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this article is to explore children's understanding of television advertising intent.
Design/methodology/approach
A different perspective on advertising intent is offered in this paper, as evidenced in an interpretive study of Irish children, aged between seven and nine years. A qualitative approach was employed, involving a series of focus group discussions and in‐depth interviews with 52 children.
Findings
The findings indicate that the participating children view advertising as serving interests including, but not limited to, the advertiser. The existence of other interested parties is suggested by the children, namely the agendas of viewers and television channels. The authors assert that these children view advertising as being larger and more complex than the advertiser's perspective, which has been the traditional focus in the extant research.
Originality/value
Adopting an advertising literacy perspective, the authors seek to explore children's “reading” and understanding of advertising. Advertising literacy is an approach to understanding advertising that has not received substantial attention in the child‐advertising literature. The literature to date has tended to focus on the following question – do children understand the persuasive intent of advertising? This question is suggestive of a “yes/no” answer. In contrast, the authors view the concept of understanding as being more complex and multi‐faceted, and accordingly, seek to develop this concept by way of a classification that suggests four different levels of understanding that children may exhibit towards advertising
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Helen Payne and Susan D.M. Brooks
The purpose of this paper is to summarise practice-based evidence from an analysis of outcomes from a county-wide pilot study of a specialised primary care clinic employing an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to summarise practice-based evidence from an analysis of outcomes from a county-wide pilot study of a specialised primary care clinic employing an original approach for patients with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). Conditions with persistent bodily symptoms for which tests and scans come back negative are termed MUS. Patients are generic, high health-utilising and for most there is no effective current treatment pathway. The solution is a proven service based on proof of concept, cost-effectiveness and market research studies together with practice-based evidence from early adopters. The research was transferred from a university into a real-world primary care clinical service which has been delivering in two clinical commissioning groups in a large county in England.
Design/methodology/approach
Clinical data calculated as reliable change from the various clinics were aggregated as practice-based evidence pre- and post-intervention via standardised measurements on anxiety, depression, symptom distress, functioning/activity, and wellbeing. It is not a research paper.
Findings
At post-course the following percentages of people report reliable improvement when compared to pre-course: reductions in symptom distress 63 per cent (39/62), anxiety 42 per cent (13/31) and depression 35 per cent (11/31); increases in activity levels 58 per cent (18/31) and wellbeing 55 per cent (17/31) and 70 per cent felt that they had enough help to go forward resulting in the self-management of their symptoms which decreases the need to visit the GP or hospital.
Research limitations/implications
Without a full clinical trial the outcomes must be interpreted with caution. There may be a possible Hawthorne or observer effect.
Practical implications
Despite the small numbers who received this intervention, preliminary observations suggest it might offer a feasible alternative for many patients with MUS who reject, or try and find unsatisfying, cognitive behaviour therapy.
Social implications
Many patients suffering MUS feel isolated and that they are the only one for whom their doctor cannot find an organic cause for their condition. The facilitated group has a beneficial effect on this problem, for example they feel a sense of belonging and sharing of their story.
Originality/value
The BodyMind Approach is an original intervention mirroring the new wave of research in neuroscience and philosophy which prides embodiment perspectives over solely cognitive ones preferred in the “talking” therapies. There is a sea change in thinking about processes and models for supporting people with mental ill-health where the need to include the lived body experience is paramount to transformation.
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While some libraries have done their best over the years to inform the public as to what they are doing and can do as regards helping readers, others seem to move along without…
Abstract
While some libraries have done their best over the years to inform the public as to what they are doing and can do as regards helping readers, others seem to move along without making any special effort to publicise their facilities. In the old days modesty was a virtue, but now it is its own reward. Government departments, which used to shun the limelight, now employ public relations officers in large numbers, and professional bodies and big business houses constantly seek publicity. Times have changed, and the battle is to the strong; and it is unfortunately generally felt that the institution or service that does not speak for itself has little to speak about. It may frankly be said that if a service is in a position to enlarge its sphere of influence and esteem it should do so to the utmost of its endeavour. But it will be granted that if its publicity is not justified by performance, there will likely be an unhappy reaction.
Elspeth N. Tilley, Susan M. Fredricks and Andrea Hornett
This article aims to report the results of an international survey (USA and New Zealand) that tested relationship effects on ethical behaviour. The findings point to the impact of…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to report the results of an international survey (USA and New Zealand) that tested relationship effects on ethical behaviour. The findings point to the impact of perceived social bonds on ethical decision‐making. They also reinforce the cultural specificity of ethics. Both these findings confirm the importance of participatory, ground‐up, discussion‐based approaches to developing organisational ethical standards. The article discusses some implications of these findings for internal communicators involved with ethics programmes in organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
The research used an established scenario‐style survey to test respondents' ethical decision‐making behaviours under different circumstances.
Findings
This article discusses two results that will impact on internal communication approaches to stimulating ethical attitudes and behaviours: the positive influence on people making ethics‐related decisions of a perceived relationship with those affected by the decision, and cultural differences.
Research limitations/implications
The research is limited by the functionalist, hypothetical, descriptive survey design which identifies responses but not motivations, and findings are limited to the specific scenarios described. The results show the importance of future research to elaborate connections between perceived relationships, ethics, and culture.
Practical implications
The paper offers practitioners a research method, which they can use to stimulate personal and group reflection among staff about ethical decision‐making and the different factors that can influence ethical choices. In confirming a connection between perceived relationships and choosing more ethical behaviour towards others, the findings may also reinforce the importance of internal relationship building as an important aspect of organisational investment in ethics‐related outcomes such as fraud reduction and reputation management.
Originality/value
The research provides evidence for some connections that have not previously been explored in the organisational context, between perceived relationships and ethical outcomes. It also confirms the cultural diversity of ethics, but shows that enhancing perceived relationships may help bridge cultural differences on ethical norms.
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What is it about academia anyway? We profess to hate it, spend endless amounts of time complaining about it, and yet we in academia will do practically anything to stay. The pay…
Abstract
What is it about academia anyway? We profess to hate it, spend endless amounts of time complaining about it, and yet we in academia will do practically anything to stay. The pay may be low, job security elusive, and in the end, it's not the glamorous work we envisioned it would be. Yet, it still holds fascination and interest for us. This is an article about American academic fiction. By academic fiction, I mean novels whosemain characters are professors, college students, and those individuals associated with academia. These works reveal many truths about the higher education experience not readily available elsewhere. We learn about ourselves and the university community in which we work.
IN last month's Library World attention is drawn to the subject of literary history and its teaching by Mr. Sayers, who points out some weak points in the syllabus and examination…
Abstract
IN last month's Library World attention is drawn to the subject of literary history and its teaching by Mr. Sayers, who points out some weak points in the syllabus and examination scheme of the Library Association. His remarks recall the fact that this subject has always been a difficult and rather inflammable one to tackle, because wrapped up in it is that other exciting question of Language, which must be taken in connection with Literature when considered as a teaching subject. We understand that the Literary History syllabus of the L.A. is merely a compromise, which arose out of a tangle caused by the language difficulty. The draft scheme for the teaching of Literary History which was first submitted, provided for a very strict limitation of the subject to the great authors of all nations, according to a list which had been prepared. This scheme proposed to get over the language difficulty by allowing for all purposes the use of text‐books and translations in English, because it was felt to be utterly ridiculous to expect students to be equipped with first‐hand knowledge of Homer, Dante, Hafiz, Confucius, the Vedas, Moliére, Cervantes, Schiller, Virgil, Tolstoy, and other great authors. This proposal, which would have limited the requirements of the examination to a biographical and critical knowledge of about 300 or 400 of the greatest authors of all times, was rejected, and in its place was adopted the compromise to which Mr. Sayers and many others object. This compromise on the face of it, limits the examination to English Literature only, but, when more closely scanned, it will be found also to demand a most extraordinary knowledge of all kinds of foreign authors, in a form which has not yet been systematically recorded. Apart from this, the dimensions of an unlimited survey of English Literature are enormous, because there is no attempt at definition. All that can be gathered from the actual Examination Papers is that the examiners have largely confined themselves to the purely critical side of the subject. But students are not told that modern technical and scientific literature is excluded, nor is any indication given which will show that it is the “literature of power,” and not of “knowledge,” in which candidates are expected to be proficient. Now, it is perfectly well known to every reader that not 1 per cent. of the books published is literature at all. The output of printed matter all over the world consists mostly of Lamb's “books which are not books”—text‐books, ephemera, rubbish in general, and other nondescript essays in typographical art—which have no real place in a Literary History Syllabus. It was to get over this anomaly, and equip students with the knowledge mostly required in libraries—an acquaintance with “books which are not books”—that the original draft scheme for the Literary History syllabus imposed a limitation which should prove effective in confining the examination to pure literature, and relegating the literature of knowledge to the sections devoted to Bibliography and Book Selection. In the present Syllabus, as revised, this distribution actually takes place, but with an extraordinary degree of overlapping which makes it necessary for a candidate to pass thrice in Literary History! He must first pass in Section I. Literary History, which demands among many other things a “knowledge of the editions and forms in which the works of the authors have been published.” Good. No limitation here, and any examiner would, accordingly, be perfectly fair and within his rights in asking for bibliographical details of Cocker's Arithmetic or Buchan's Domestic Medicine. Again, in Section II., Elements of Practical Bibliography, we have a demand for knowledge of book selection, the best books and periodicals, and courses of reading. Here, once more, no limitation, and again an examiner could ask when the first edition in English of the “Arabian Nights” was published,or what is the best edition of Cædmon or the Koran. Finally, in Section V., Library History and Organization, the same requirements are set forth, without any limitation, and candidates are evidently expected to possess a full knowledge of all literature before they can obtain a certificate. All this is very confusing and absurd, and gives point to every complaint which has been uttered against this part of the scheme of examinations. After all, a dilletante, gossipy, pseudo‐critical acquaintance with literary history is of very‐little practical value, compared with exact bibliographical knowledge concerning great authors and their works. For this reason we think the Association should carefully revise its Syllabus, and adopt a better‐proportioned and more equitable distribution of the subject. Section I. certainly requires strict limitation within reasonable bounds, and it ought to be confined to a working knowledge of the chief authors of the world according to a carefully prepared list of names. This should demand knowledge of biographical and critical facts, plus enough of bibliographical detail regarding titles to satisfy an examiner. Failing this, a list of authors, periods, or subjects selected for study and examination should be issued every year before the examination; but a fixed limitation to begin with would, we think, be better.
This article discusses information sources and critical interpretations of Mary Shelley's life and her most important work, Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus. In addition to…
Abstract
This article discusses information sources and critical interpretations of Mary Shelley's life and her most important work, Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus. In addition to publishing history and information about revisions, translations, inclusion in collections, and references to possible sources of the story, it will evaluate some biographical material about Mary Shelley and her family, and their influence on her. Finally, various critical approaches, the growth of interest in both the writer and her work, and possible reasons for it will be noted.