Social Workers Can e-Learn: Evaluation of a Pilot Post-Qualifying e-Learning Course in Research Methods and Critical Appraisal Skills for Social Workers

Social workers are increasingly encouraged to become research minded and integrate research findings into their practice. However, there is a paucity of high-quality accessible training for social workers in research methods and critical appraisal skills. We developed an e-learning version of an MSc degree module to widen access to this kind of training and this paper presents the findings of an evaluation of a pilot of this e-learning course. To test the effectiveness of the e-learning environment in delivering research methods and critical appraisal skills training to social workers in comparison with a classroom group, we adopted a mixed methods approach which comprised concept mapping exercises, semi-structured interviews and evaluation questionnaires administered to the e-learners (n = 3) and a classroom comparison group (n = 12). Our analysis of the students' concept maps revealed no conspicuous differences in the quality of student knowledge changes that were a consequence of the mode of teaching delivery. The e-learners met the learning outcomes of the module to the same extent as the classroom group and were highly satisfied with the mode of delivery. Although this was a small pilot, it provided tentative evidence that social workers can use e-learning to develop evidence-based practice skills.     

Second‐order Accurate Confidence Regions Based on Members of the Generalized Power Divergence Family

Recently, a technique based on pseudo‐observations has been proposed to tackle the so‐called convex hull problem for the empirical likelihood statistic. The resulting adjusted empirical likelihood also achieves the high‐order precision of the Bartlett correction. Nevertheless, the technique induces an upper bound on the resulting statistic that may lead, in certain circumstances, to worthless confidence regions equal to the whole parameter space. In this paper, we show that suitable pseudo‐observations can be deployed to make each element of the generalized power divergence family Bartlett‐correctable and released from the convex hull problem. Our approach is conceived to achieve this goal by means of two distinct sets of pseudo‐observations with different tasks. An important effect of our formulation is to provide a solution that permits to overcome the problem of the upper bound. The proposal, which effectiveness is confirmed by simulation results, gives back attractiveness to a broad class of statistics that potentially contains good alternatives to the empirical likelihood.     

Lessons learned from Toulouse and Buncefield disasters: from risk analysis failures to the identification of atypical scenarios through a better knowledge management

The recent occurrence of severe major accidents has brought to light flaws and limitations of hazard identification (HAZID) processes performed for safety reports, as in the accidents at Toulouse (France) and Buncefield (UK), where the accident scenarios that occurred were not captured by HAZID techniques. This study focuses on this type of atypical accident scenario deviating from normal expectations. The main purpose is to analyze the examples of atypical accidents mentioned and to attempt to identify them through the application of a well-known methodology such as the bow-tie analysis. To these aims, the concept of atypical event is accurately defined. Early warnings, causes, consequences, and occurrence mechanisms of the specific events are widely studied and general failures of risk assessment, management, and governance isolated. These activities contribute to outline a set of targeted recommendations, addressing transversal common deficiencies and also demonstrating how a better management of knowledge from the study of past events can support future risk assessment processes in the identification of atypical accident scenarios. Thus, a new methodology is not suggested; rather, a specific approach coordinating a more effective use of experience and available information is described, to suggest that lessons to be learned from past accidents can be effectively translated into actions of prevention.     

Measuring Citizen Satisfaction with Aspects of Public Services from a Local Authority and Determining Their Importance: A Case Study

The measurement of service quality is a theme of great importance to service providers, particularly public agencies. Over the years their role has been changing by providing more and more high quality services, away from basic ones. In this paper the service quality of a local government is analyzed through the measurement of customer satisfaction. The analysis, based on a questionnaire survey, identified and classified the most essential factors that make up the customer satisfaction with the services provided by the Demographic Department of Gioia del Colle, a town in southern Italy.

Commissioned analysis of surgical performance using routine data: lessons from the Bristol inquiry

The public inquiry into paediatric cardiac surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary commissioned the authors to design and conduct analyses of routine data sources to compare surgical outcomes between centres. Such analyses are necessarily complex in this context but were further hampered by the inherent inconsistencies and mediocre quality of the various sources of data. Three levels of analysis of increasing sophistication were carried out. The reasonable consistency of the results arising from different sources of data, together with a number of sensitivity analyses, led us to conclude that there had been excess mortality in Bristol in open heart operations on children under 1 year of age. We consider criticisms of our analysis and discuss the role of statisticians in this inquiry and their contribution to the final report of the inquiry. The potential statistical role in future programmes for monitoring clinical performance is highlighted.     

Rights of Foreign Workers and the Politics of Migration in South-East and East Asia

The issue of cross‐border migration in South‐East and East Asia is linked to the integration of regional, if not global, labour markets. The types of labour that are currently in demand have changed substantially since the 1990s in terms of (1) overall magnitude, (2) gender composition, and (3) increased diversification. This paper, however, focuses upon those workers classified as unskilled as they constitute numerically the largest and most vulnerable group. The challenges to provide adequate protection from, and prevention of, exploitative and abusive practices that seriously minimize the socio‐economic benefits for these workers are linked to migration policies and the issue of rights in the origin and destination countries. This paper's objective is to provide a broad outline of the emerging trends and issues revolving around contemporary cross‐border labour migration and the politics of migrants' rights in South‐East and East Asia, illustrated by the difficulties experienced with the ratification of the 1990 United Nations Convention on the Rights of All Migrants and their Families (ICMR). The data this paper is based upon were collected for a report commissioned by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) with fieldwork carried out in seven countries located in the Asia Pacific region. It is argued that ratification of the ICMR is obstructed by politics and by a lack of political will. A rights‐based approach to the protection of migrant labour is thus related to a number of macro and micro level issues, revolving around development and practices of “good governance” in addition to interstate relations. This means that the promotion of migrants' rights requires a holistic approach addressing national and transnational issues in an era of increasing mobility across borders.     

Modelling Job-Search Duration from the Italian Labour Force Data

ABSTRACT: Micro (and possibly panel) data from the Labour Force Surveys are a valuable source for analysing the labour supply behaviour. Among the information collected by the quarterly Italian Labour Force Survey conducted by ISTAT (the Italian national statistical agency), there are data on the duration of job-search. From a single survey, one can only know the duration of search up to the time of the interview. Nonetheless, by appropriately exploiting the longitudinal structure of the survey (the sample scheme is a rotated one, with a 50|X% overlapping of the sample units in two subsequent quarters) it is possible to measure, although imperfectly, some completed spells of job-search. In this paper, we try to model the duration of job-search for a sample of young unemployed. Considerable attention is devoted to the measure of duration of search, and to the evaluation of its accuracy. A one state proportional hazard model is specified and estimated, accounting also for unobserved heterogeneity. The model is estimated on a sample of young (15 to 29 years old) unemployed in January 1986 reinterviewed in April, in an Italian region (Lombardy). The major finding is a fairly clear evidence, both for males and females, of negative duration dependence, even after accounting for the unobserved heterogeneity that turns out to affect the female population.     

Always doing your best? Effort and performance in dynamic settings

Theory and Decision - Achieving an ambitious goal frequently requires succeeding in a sequence of intermediate tasks, some being critical for the final outcome, and others not. However, individuals...     

A unique collaboration of female medical providers within the United States Armed Forces: rehabilitation of a marine with post-concussive vestibulopathy

Uncle Sam's loyal nieces have come a long way from the days of World War I. The development of occupational and physical therapy was heavily influenced by an early relationship with medical specialists during the First World War. This relationship can be considered largely responsible for the eventual acceptance (by the Armed Forces) of women working in this area. Over the past decade active duty women have seen many changes in opportunities to serve and are now stationed aboard aircraft carriers, performing roles previously considered for male personnel. We report a case study of the medical care provided by both military and civilian women working for the United States Armed Forces. Initial assessment was conducted in a battalion aid station of a United States Marine Corp base and the subject was then referred to a military medical center with highly technical vestibular assessment and rehabilitation services. The subject's case represents a unique collaboration of women therapists, enabling a Marines' access to timely and accurate assessment, treatment and ultimately, successful return to active duty. This case study is one of many examples of the acceptance and successful integration of women as providers of medical care within the Military's medical framework.