Gambling and problem gambling among clients,and staff attitudes,in an alcohol and drug problems treatment service in the English Midlands

A self-completion questionnaire containing items about recent gambling and problem gambling used in the British Gambling Prevalence Survey (BGPS) was completed by 274 clients of alcohol and drug problems services in the English West Midlands. Compared to BGPS data, matched to the client sample for age and sex, clients were significantly more likely in the previous 12 months to have engaged in forms of gambling carrying a high risk of problems, to have engaged in four or more separate forms of gambling, and to have scores on a brief form of the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) indicating problem gambling. A self-completion scale on attitudes towards working with problem gamblers, with good psychometric properties according to present data, was completed by 91 members of staff of the same services. With the exception of a sub-scale measuring perceived adequacy of knowledge and skills for working with problem gamblers, staff expressed moderately positive attitudes. It is concluded that British substance misuse services are appropriate locations for the development of services for problem gambling.     

BAYESIAN HYPER‐LASSOS WITH NON‐CONVEX PENALIZATION

The Lasso has sparked interest in the use of penalization of the log‐likelihood for variable selection, as well as for shrinkage. We are particularly interested in the more‐variables‐than‐observations case of characteristic importance for modern data. The Bayesian interpretation of the Lasso as the maximum a posteriori estimate of the regression coefficients, which have been given independent, double exponential prior distributions, is adopted. Generalizing this prior provides a family of hyper‐Lasso penalty functions, which includes the quasi‐Cauchy distribution of Johnstone and Silverman as a special case. The properties of this approach, including the oracle property, are explored, and an EM algorithm for inference in regression problems is described. The posterior is multi‐modal, and we suggest a strategy of using a set of perfectly fitting random starting values to explore modes in different regions of the parameter space. Simulations show that our procedure provides significant improvements on a range of established procedures, and we provide an example from chemometrics.     

Changing Leadership and Gender in Public Sector Organizations

The aim of this paper is to examine the ways in which leadership at middle management level in the public realm is gendered. This is attempted largely through a consideration of academic literature, supported by some empirical findings from a research investigation into higher education and social work in Sweden and England and a review of literature that reveals varying types of leadership characterized as masculinist. Taking the position that context shapes social relationships and subject positions, and provides opportunities as well as constraints, we consider leadership in the public sector under the sway of new public management, framed by neo‐liberalism and the valorization of competition, self‐interested instrumentality, uncertainty and risk, operationalized in public sector organizations through performative regimes. It is argued that while some women and men are willing participants in the new regimes, others are antagonistic or ambivalent, finding themselves mired in neo‐bureaucratic processes of surveillance and control, often stuck in occupational cul‐de‐sacs. It is contended that neo‐liberalism and new public management are associated with masculinist forms of rationality that elevate individual winners and losers and divert attention from collective issues of gender. Rather than focus on gendered styles of leadership it is suggested that it is more important to look at their gendered performance and effects.     

The Two Embedded Research Functions of Heuristic Case Practice

Abstract

In social work's formative years, practice, education, training, research and theory building were an integrated whole within the field. However, when educational responsibilities moved to tertiary institutions, research and theory building was also claimed as a primary responsibility by these bodies. Since then, the function of research has been seen from the perspective of tertiary institutions as the post hoc evaluation of intervention effectiveness. The present paper proposes that two distinct types of research remain seamlessly embedded within everyday case practice, namely Interventive research and Modelling research. Interventive research is the information gathering and synthesising process creating a theory of one that guides each intervention. Modelling research is the reflective linking of interventions over a class of cases to build practice wisdom and guide future interventions in similar cases. Such research is not free from experimental control, as has been assumed in the past, but has a number of embedded bias controls that protect the integrity of practice interventions by giving greater reliability and validity than assumed previously.     

Exploring the relationship between gambling,debt and financial management in Britain

The issue of how and why gamblers end up in debt has received comparatively little attention in the literature. Data from the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) revealed that although problem gamblers were more likely than non-problem gamblers to have forms of financial debt, just under two-thirds of problem gamblers (62%) reported having no debt. Using a qualitative approach, this study aimed to explore the issue from the perspective of gamblers themselves through interviews with 27 purposively sampled gamblers drawn from participants who took part in the APMS and the British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2010. Analysis, using the Framework method, suggested the existence of four kinds of gamblers categorized by their approach to gambling spending and their approach to their general spending: ‘controlled gamblers’, ‘uncontrolled gamblers’, ‘uncontrolled spenders’ and ‘chaotic spenders’. Also proposed on the basis of these data is an ecological model which aims to capture the different levels of personal and environmental factors that influenced people's financial decisions, including cognitive factors, control and compulsion, normative spending, resource and financial management, and the credit environment. The implications for practice are also discussed.     

The characteristics and management of elder abuse: evidence and lessons from a UK case study

Despite older people representing a significant majority of victims of abuse in the UK and Europe, evidence about its characteristics and management is limited. This article reports on an analysis of adult protection referrals for older people over an eight year period in two English local authorities. It extends understanding of the characteristics of elder abuse and identifies lessons for its effective management. Findings suggest that older people are at particular risk of multiple and physical abuse. Those living alone are especially vulnerable to financial abuse and those living in a care home to multiple abuse. The most common sites of abuse were the person's own home or a care home. Just two fifths of abuse referrals were confirmed, with the vast majority involving multi-agency consultation and most resulting in ongoing monitoring. Findings also suggest that risk is a product of the intersection of dependency and setting and that information about user and carer need—especially the nature of disability—could enhance the quality of adult protection data and safeguarding responses. The study underscores the need for adult protection legislation and of committing professional resources to the prevention, identification, assessment and management of elder abuse across Europe.     

Inter‐organizational Cooperation and Environmental Change: Moderating Effects between Flexibility and Innovation Performance

The paper investigates the moderator effect of inter‐organizational cooperation in the relationship between workplace flexibility and innovation performance. This research question is important because innovation is dependent on the strategic integration of technological knowledge, requiring organizations to acquire new capabilities rapidly or to ensure the presence of knowledge that may be beyond existing internal capabilities. Inter‐organizational cooperation constitutes a relevant mechanism for a firm to increase its knowledge base concerning new products and processes. High‐cooperation firms may have more opportunities to take advantage of flexibility for innovation performance because it facilitates the access and dispersion of knowledge within the firm. We test the research hypotheses in a sample of manufacturing and service firms. The results contribute to the literature on flexibility and innovation because they demonstrate that inter‐organizational cooperation moderates the relationship between flexibility and innovation performance. We discuss the implications of these results for future research and managerial practice.