Elizabeth Lowe, Shabana Akhtar, Oliver Emmerson, Thomas Parkman and Edward Day
Less than 15 per cent of people starting opiate substitution treatment (OST) in England are employed, but few gain employment during treatment. Increasingly punitive approaches…
Abstract
Purpose
Less than 15 per cent of people starting opiate substitution treatment (OST) in England are employed, but few gain employment during treatment. Increasingly punitive approaches have been tried to encourage individuals with substance dependence into employment in the hope of facilitating recovery. It is not clear which factors are associated with the successful maintenance of employment whilst receiving OST, and whether this group can be said to be “in recovery”. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional study of the OST population in one English region was conducted between January and April 2017. Measures of physical health, employment patterns, drug use, mental health, recovery capital, and dependence severity were administered to 55 employed and 55 unemployed clients.
Findings
Those in employment had higher levels of “recovery capital”, better physical and mental health, fewer drug problems, and less severe dependence, despite reporting heroin use at a similar level. Three variables were significantly associated with employment: longest period of employment (OR=1.01, p=0.003); number of chronic medical conditions (OR=0.44, p=0.011); and number of days of psychological problems in the last month (OR=0.95, p=0.031).
Practical implications
These results suggest that abstinence may not be required in order to maintain stable employment when OST is in place. Different treatment strategies are required for clients receiving OST already in employment compared with those who are unemployed.
Originality/value
This is the first UK study to the author’s knowledge to focus on people receiving OST who are also in employment.
Details
Keywords
Thomas James Parkman and Charlie Lloyd
The purpose of this paper is to explore the theme of dependence on mutual aid identified in a previous paper. It is a theme which to date, has had very little empirical attention…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the theme of dependence on mutual aid identified in a previous paper. It is a theme which to date, has had very little empirical attention, especially in a UK context.
Design/methodology/approach
A phenomenological approach was adopted. Interviews with service users, mentors and professional staff involved with the Learning to Live Again project were undertaken over a ten-month period of data collection. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
Findings
It was found that service users with very little access to recovery capital or social support are at risk of developing a dependency on mutual aid. Dependence seemed to manifest itself in two different forms – those that over engaged with the project and those that under engaged with the project. Consequently, there were a cohort of service users identified that seemed to strike a balance with the project and their life outside the project that was “just right”. They were referred to as the “Goldilocks group”.
Originality/value
This paper explored a theme which has had very little attention paid to it. The theme of dependence on mutual aid will raise the awareness of such a threat, thus helping to identify those in treatment most at risk of developing dependency on mutual aid, thus detrimentally impacting on mental wellbeing.
Details
Keywords
An increasing literature points to the efficacy and importance of mutual aid groups for people recovering from substance dependency. However, there is a paucity of qualitative…
Abstract
Purpose
An increasing literature points to the efficacy and importance of mutual aid groups for people recovering from substance dependency. However, there is a paucity of qualitative evidence into the experiences and perceptions of service users attending UK-based mutual aid groups, and the implications they could have for recovery and mental wellbeing. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
A phenomenological approach was chosen to explore the experiences and perceptions of service users and mentors at a mutual aid group in Leeds. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with service users and mentors (ex-service users) involved with the project. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
Findings
This paper focuses on the influence of mutual aid attendance on mental wellbeing. It was found that attendance seemed to have positive influences on providing structure, reducing stress and boredom, “broadening the mind” and providing service users with a social network that supported their recovery and mental wellbeing. However, it was also found that for those that have little outside the project, dependency on the group could develop, resulting in negative consequences on mental wellbeing.
Originality/value
This paper provides an increased understanding of why mutual attendance has influences on mental wellbeing, as well as the implications such impacts have on recovery trajectories.
Details
Keywords
Erik A. Dalmasso, Jeffrey P. Bakken, T. Scott Estes and Quentin M. Wherfel
Technology has become a very important aspect of our sacred existence as humans. It has penetrated all sections of our society – it is now an enrichment tool for our economy…
Abstract
Technology has become a very important aspect of our sacred existence as humans. It has penetrated all sections of our society – it is now an enrichment tool for our economy, politics, education, and society. While these enrichments are naturally inclusive, this chapter focuses on the use of technology in enhancing the education of students, especially those with disabilities. Things that were once inaccessible are now accessible to students with disabilities through the use of technology. These students might have some atypical traits; however, they are humans who can learn and function in our society when provided with appropriate learning tools such as technology. With technology, these students' learning and social activities can be enhanced, modified, adapted, and adjusted so that they can maximize their fullest potential. This is the premise of this chapter; and it sets the stage for the other chapters.
Details
Keywords
The author explores the variety of ways in which sports brands have risen to prominence and how the development of particular activities and relationships, with athletes, fans…
Abstract
The author explores the variety of ways in which sports brands have risen to prominence and how the development of particular activities and relationships, with athletes, fans, media and regulators, are designed to present them as authentic. This status is crucial given the cultural and emotional significance of sport alongside its ability to underpin forms of collective belonging. A range of examples, including Red Bull, Nike, Patagonia, Olympic skateboarding and Manchester United Football Club, are used to highlight these processes as well as the complexity of the contemporary social, cultural and political landscapes that such brands now operate in.
Maile O'Hara and Adeyinka M. Akinsulure‐Smith
The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the important and unique challenges that arise when using interpreters while conducting psychotherapy with forced migrants who…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the important and unique challenges that arise when using interpreters while conducting psychotherapy with forced migrants who have experienced a range of human rights abuse.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs a practice‐based evidence methodology that offers guidance to both clinicians and researchers.
Findings
Working with interpreters in the clinical setting is often a challenging and complex process for which mental health professionals are rarely prepared. This paper outlines key strategies to address these challenges and limitations.
Research limitations/implications
Empirically‐based research is lacking and is certainly warranted.
Practical implications
It is the responsibility of programs, training sites, supervisors, and institutions to help teach how to work with interpreters.
Originality/value
This paper addresses how to navigate the key issues that arise through the use of interpreters in a mental health setting with forced migrants, including: initiating a therapeutic relationship with an interpreter; common issues that arise around language; setting the therapeutic frame; and addressing boundaries; acknowledging the role of culture, transference, counter transference, and vicarious trauma; screening to assess competence; training to orient interpreters to clinical work with forced migrants; in vivo feedback; assessments; and an appropriate place to process their experience.
Details
Keywords
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, lawyers and judges used history for various purposes. Their works reflected the trends in historical treatments done by historians but…
Abstract
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, lawyers and judges used history for various purposes. Their works reflected the trends in historical treatments done by historians but was produced for instrumental ends. They drew upon history in their work of making the law and in shaping the profession. Lawyers and judges used history to justify existing law, to bolster calls for change in the law, to provide a defense against critique of the profession, or to provide a shining example for the profession to emulate. This long view of the use of law by the legal profession contextualizes the much-commented phenomena of law office history, which has proved a subject of a contention between the professions of law and history.
Details
Keywords
WHILE there is no doubt that the system of issuing books at “net” prices is of great benefit to booksellers, there is also no doubt that, unless care is taken, it is a serious…
Abstract
WHILE there is no doubt that the system of issuing books at “net” prices is of great benefit to booksellers, there is also no doubt that, unless care is taken, it is a serious drain upon a limited book‐purchasing income. A few years ago the position had become so serious that conferences were held with a view to securing the exemption of Public Libraries from the “net” price. The attempt, as was perhaps to be expected, failed. Since that time, the system has been growing until, at the present time, practically every non‐fictional book worth buying is issued at a “net price.”
Jeffrey Muldoon, Nicholous M. Deal, Douglass Smith and Geethalakshmi Shivanapura Lakshmikanth
The purpose of this article is to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Evolution of Management Thought (EMT), a critically acclaimed text in management and organizational studies…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Evolution of Management Thought (EMT), a critically acclaimed text in management and organizational studies for its value in historicizing the practice of management.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors asked Daniel Wren and Arthur Bedeian in their own words to their contribution. In addition, the authors offer commentary and critique of 16 leading management historians who share their reflections on the intellectual significance of Wren and Bedeian, and the punctuation of EMT as a canonical text in the field of management history.
Findings
The legacy of Wren and Bedeian can be felt across the academy of historical research on business and organizations. Their work has separately made significant contributions to management studies but together they have forged a fruitful partnership that has given rise to multiple generations of scholars and scholarship that continue to shape the field to this day.
Originality/value
The contribution of the authors in this article is to mark the significant milestone of EMT’s five-decade success by hearing from the authors themselves about their longstanding success as well as giving space to critique about the past, present and future of our collective historical scholarship shaped by Wren and Bedeian’s legacy.