Evaluating Lifeworld as an emancipatory methodology

Disability research is conducted within a highly politicised 'hotbed' of competing paradigms and principles. New researchers, who want to work within the social model, are soon faced with complex and challenging methodological and philosophical dilemmas. The social model advocates research agendas that are focused on the emancipation and empowerment of disabled people but, in reality, these are rarely achieved. To be successful researchers need to engage with innovative and creative methodologies and to share their experiences of these within environments that welcome challenge and debate. This paper focuses on Lifeworld and assesses its value as a tool for emancipatory research. Using examples from a study with parents, whose children were in the process of being labelled as having autism, the paper illustrates how the principles that 'underpin' the methodology offered a supportive framework for a novice researcher.     

Social Networks and Extraparliamentary Politics

This article reviews the main literature dealing with the relationship between social networks and various forms of extraparliamentary politics. The purpose of the article is to introduce this exciting field of research in an accessible manner.     

Family group conferences: context,process and ways forward

This is the first part of a two‐part review of the literature, policy and practice relating to family group conferences (FGCs). This first paper explores the background, the global policy context, the theoretical foundations and the process of undertaking FGCs. The literature is extensive in relation to these elements of FGCs, unlike the limited literature relating to outcomes, which is examined in the second part of this review. In the subsequent review, we examine the issue of outcomes, research findings and explore future challenges in implementing FGCs.     

Introducing EHRs to a rural practice

Discover how to successfully build a case for bringing electronic health records to a rural community health network.     

What's in a service?

The measurement of ‘service’ in children's services is highly varied. We do not know in a meaningful sense what services children and families get. This paper sets out why it is important to measure services well. It outlines the dimensions of ‘service’, how they have been measured in research, policy and practice contexts, and the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches. It then explores implications for the field and identifies potential applications of a more nuanced and consistent approach to measuring services.     

GLOBALIZATION, NATIONAL CULTURES AND CULTURAL CITIZENSHIP

The article develops an argument in respect of the media of mass communication, globalization processes and what I call cultural citizenship. In the first instance, I argue that in the British and European contexts that national cultures remain more powerful constructions than many postcolonial and postmodern critics seem aware. Secondly, in respect of cultural citizenship, I argue for a three layered component in respect of: (1) the emergence of cultural cosmopolitanism; (2) the specific application of rights and duties to both the television and film industries and; (3) the importance of the concept of civil society. The aim is to thread together a concern for globalizing processes and an attempt to outline a theory of cultural citizenship in respect of the development of systems of communication.     

Trust in Risk Regulation: Cause or Consequence of the Acceptability of GM Food?

Although there is ample empirical evidence that trust in risk regulation is strongly related to the perception and acceptability of risk, it is less clear what the direction of this relationship is. This article explores the nature of the relationship, using three separate data sets on perceptions of genetically modified (GM) food among the British public. The article has two discrete but closely interrelated objectives. First, it compares two models of trust. More specifically, it investigates whether trust is the cause (causal chain account) or the consequence (associationist view) of the acceptability of GM food. Second, this study explores whether the affect heuristic can be applied to a wider number of risk-relevant concepts than just perceived risk and benefit. The results suggest that, rather than a determinant, trust is an expression or indicator of the acceptability of GM food. In addition, and as predicted, "affect" accounts for a large portion of the variance between perceived risk, perceived benefit, trust in risk regulation, and acceptability. Overall, the results support the associationist view that specific risk judgments are driven by more general evaluative judgments The implications of these results for risk communication and policy are discussed.     

The Use of Mental Models in Chemical Risk Protection: Developing a Generic Workplace Methodology

We adopted a comparative approach to evaluate and extend a generic methodology to analyze the different sets of beliefs held about chemical hazards in the workplace. Our study mapped existing knowledge structures about the risks associated with the use of perchloroethylene and rosin-based solder flux in differing workplaces. "Influence diagrams" were used to represent beliefs held by chemical experts; "user models" were developed from data elicited from open-ended interviews with the workplace users of the chemicals. The juxtaposition of expert and user understandings of chemical risks enabled us to identify knowledge gaps and misunderstandings and to reinforce appropriate sets of safety beliefs and behavior relevant to chemical risk communications. By designing safety information to be more relevant to the workplace context of users, we believe that employers and employees may gain improved knowledge about chemical hazards in the workplace, such that better chemical risk management, self-protection, and informed decision making develop over time.