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1 – 10 of over 3000Thomas Richardson, Monica Sood, Jack Large and Tayla McCloud
Financial difficulties are associated with poor student mental health, although the 2012 tuition fees increase for British students had little impact on student mental health in…
Abstract
Purpose
Financial difficulties are associated with poor student mental health, although the 2012 tuition fees increase for British students had little impact on student mental health in the first two years at university. This study aims to examine the mental health of British graduates before and after this fees increase to determine the impact on mental health several years after graduation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted an online cohort study with 327 British students who started university before and after the 2012 fees increase. Participants completed measures of current economic hardship and symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, general mental health and suicidality. Multiple regression was used to examine the impact of cohort (pre- and post-2012 fees increase), tuition fees amount and economic hardship on mental health.
Findings
Greater economic hardship was positively correlated with all mental health variables. Starting university after the fees increased and/or paying greater fees was associated with increased depression, anxiety, stress and suicidality, with little impact on general mental health. When economic hardship was covaried, the strength of cohort effects reduced but remained significant.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to show that the 2012 tuition fees increase for British students increased depression, anxiety, stress and suicidality in graduates many years after graduation, owing to additional financial strain.
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Thomas Richardson, Mma Yeebo, Megan Jansen, Peter Elliott and Ron Roberts
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether financial variables impact psychosis risk over time in students.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether financial variables impact psychosis risk over time in students.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 408 first-year British undergraduate students completed measures assessing psychosis risk and finances at three time points.
Findings
Greater financial difficulties increased psychosis risk cross sectionally both in terms of symptoms and distress. Other financial variables such as student loan amount were not significant. In longitudinal analysis financial difficulties increase psychotic symptoms and distress over time, but there was no impact of psychotic symptoms on later financial difficulties.
Research limitations/implications
The study used a relatively small and heavily female sample. Future research is needed to confirm the findings.
Practical implications
Whilst amount of debt does not appear to impact psychotic symptoms in students, greater financial difficulties appear to increase the risk of psychosis over time. Professionals working with students should be aware of this potential link.
Originality/value
This is the first time a longitudinal study has examined the effect of finances on psychosis symptoms.
Megan Jansen, Chloe Chapman, Thomas Richardson, Peter Elliott and Ron Roberts
Previous studies in the field have highlighted a bidirectional link between mental health and physical health. Students may be at a higher risk of both mental and physical health…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous studies in the field have highlighted a bidirectional link between mental health and physical health. Students may be at a higher risk of both mental and physical health problems because of unhealthy lifestyle behaviours and the commencement of university occurring at the same mean age of onset for many psychiatric disorders. This study aims to examine how physical health variables influence changes in mental health symptoms, and vice versa, over time, in a sample of British undergraduate students.
Design/methodology/approach
A longitudinal design over a one-year time period. A national sample of 430 British undergraduate students completed measures of mental health and physical health online at up to four time-points across their first two years of university.
Findings
General physical health and energy and fatigue predicted more severe depression, anxiety, stress and poorer general mental health over time. Depression and stress predicted poorer physical functioning over time. Greater anxiety predicted poorer general health and more severe pain over time. General mental health was not predictive of general physical health. Overall, poor general physical health appears to exacerbate mental health symptoms in students to a greater extent than mental health problems lead to a deterioration in physical health.
Originality/value
This study adds a longitudinal design to a field that is usually cross-sectional, as well as a lack of consideration of how this relationship may differ within student samples. Early interventions should integrate physical and mental well-being rather than focus on any single health-related behaviour.
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Thomas Richardson, Peter Elliott and Ron Roberts
Previous cross-sectional research has examined the effect of loneliness on mental health. The purpose of this paper is to examine longitudinal relationships in students.
Abstract
Purpose
Previous cross-sectional research has examined the effect of loneliness on mental health. The purpose of this paper is to examine longitudinal relationships in students.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 454 British undergraduate students completed measures of loneliness and mental health at four time points.
Findings
After controlling for demographics and baseline mental health, greater loneliness predicted greater anxiety, stress, depression and general mental health over time. There was no evidence that mental health problems increased loneliness over time. There was no relationship with alcohol problems. Baseline loneliness predicted greater eating disorder risk at follow-up and vice versa.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited by a relatively small and heavily female sample.
Practical implications
Social and psychological interventions to reduce loneliness in university settings may improve mental health.
Social implications
Universities should consider organising social activities to mitigate feelings of loneliness in students.
Originality/value
This study adds to the literature as a longitudinal analysis showing that loneliness exacerbates poor mental health over time. This also adds to the literature for students specifically, and suggests a possible bi-directional relationship between eating disorders and loneliness for the first time.
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Tom McLean, Tom McGovern, Richard Slack and Malcolm McLean
This paper aims to explore the development of the accountability ideals and practices of Quaker industrialists during the period 1840–1914.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the development of the accountability ideals and practices of Quaker industrialists during the period 1840–1914.
Design/methodology/approach
The research employs a case study approach and draws on the extensive archives of Quaker industrialists in the Richardson family networks, British Parliamentary Papers and the Religious Society of Friends together with relevant contemporary and current literature.
Findings
Friends shed their position as Enemies of the State and obtained status and accountabilities undifferentiated from those of non-Quakers. The reciprocal influences of an increasingly complex business environment and radical changes in religious beliefs and practices combined to shift accountabilities from the Quaker Meeting House to newly established legal accountability mechanisms. Static Quaker organisation structures and accountability processes were ineffective in a rapidly changing world. Decision-making was susceptible to the domination of the large Richardson family networks in the Newcastle Meeting House. This research found no evidence of Quaker corporate social accountability through action in the Richardson family networks and it questions the validity of this concept. The motivations underlying Quakers’ personal philanthropy and social activism were multiple and complex, extending far beyond accountabilities driven by religious belief.
Originality/value
This research has originality and value as a study of continuity and change in Quaker accountability regimes during a period that encompassed fundamental changes in Quakerism and its orthopraxy, and their business, social and political environments.
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Timo Böhm and Henning Hillmann
Why, despite clear economic incentives, did eighteenth-century slave traders fail to defend their business interests against the abolition campaign? We focus on the outport of…
Abstract
Why, despite clear economic incentives, did eighteenth-century slave traders fail to defend their business interests against the abolition campaign? We focus on the outport of Bristol as a case in point. Our main argument is that slave traders lacked an organizational basis to translate their economic interests into political influence. Supporting evidence from merchant networks over the 1698–1807 period shows that the Society of Merchant Venturers offered such an organizational site for collective political action. Members of this chartered company controlled much of Bristol’s seaborne commerce and held chief elective offices in the municipal government. However, the Society evolved into an organization that represented the interests of a closed elite. High barriers to entry prevented the slave traders from using the Society as a vehicle for political mobilization. Social cohesion among slave traders outside the chartered company hinged on centrally positioned brokers. Yet the broker positions were held by the few merchants who became members of the Society, and who eventually ceased their engagement in slave trading. The result was a fragmented network that undermined the slave traders’ concerted efforts to mobilize against the political pressure of the abolitionist movement.
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There are many advantages to be gained from the use of water, rather than toluene, or other typical solvents used in the application of epoxide resin paint systems, as the…
Abstract
There are many advantages to be gained from the use of water, rather than toluene, or other typical solvents used in the application of epoxide resin paint systems, as the comparison in table 1 shows:
Thomas Swan & Co Ltd have for many years offered a range of water dispersible epoxide curing agents. These products are better known as the Casamid 360 range — water soluble…
Abstract
Thomas Swan & Co Ltd have for many years offered a range of water dispersible epoxide curing agents. These products are better known as the Casamid 360 range — water soluble modified polyamide curing agents, consisting of the following range:
Susan P. McGrath, Emily Wells, Krystal M. McGovern, Irina Perreard, Kathleen Stewart, Dennis McGrath and George Blike
Although it is widely acknowledged that health care delivery systems are complex adaptive systems, there are gaps in understanding the application of systems engineering…
Abstract
Although it is widely acknowledged that health care delivery systems are complex adaptive systems, there are gaps in understanding the application of systems engineering approaches to systems analysis and redesign in the health care domain. Commonly employed methods, such as statistical analysis of risk factors and outcomes, are simply not adequate to robustly characterize all system requirements and facilitate reliable design of complex care delivery systems. This is especially apparent in institutional-level systems, such as patient safety programs that must mitigate the risk of infections and other complications that can occur in virtually any setting providing direct and indirect patient care. The case example presented here illustrates the application of various system engineering methods to identify requirements and intervention candidates for a critical patient safety problem known as failure to rescue. Detailed descriptions of the analysis methods and their application are presented along with specific analysis artifacts related to the failure to rescue case study. Given the prevalence of complex systems in health care, this practical and effective approach provides an important example of how systems engineering methods can effectively address the shortcomings in current health care analysis and design, where complex systems are increasingly prevalent.
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The soft systems approach developed by Professor Peter Checkland and colleagues during more than 25 years is introduced here as a means of enquiry into organizational problems…
Abstract
The soft systems approach developed by Professor Peter Checkland and colleagues during more than 25 years is introduced here as a means of enquiry into organizational problems. Recursive and engineering participation, the methodology’s philosophy of trial‐and‐error learning, proposes logical models of viewpoints thought likely to clarify complex issues. Like earlier scientific approaches to problem solving, the models should be subjected to tough criticism, though any model is never an attempt to imitate part of the world (in scientific style) but merely to organize quality discussion.
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