Promoting Healthy Routes Back to Work? Boundary Spanning Health Professionals and Employability Programmes in Great Britain

Between 2003 and 2011, the Pathways to Work (PtW) initiative was established across Great Britain, as policymakers sought to address the ‘health‐related, personal and external barriers’ faced by people who were out of work and claiming incapacity benefits (IBs). In the first 18 districts that PtW was rolled‐out, the Public Employment Service (Jobcentre Plus) and National Health Service (NHS) organizations worked in partnership to deliver ‘condition management programmes’, which helped IB claimants to cope with health problems. Evaluation research has identified significant health benefits associated with these condition management programmes, but there has been less discussion of the role of frontline NHS professionals in ensuring that services worked effectively on the ground. This article deploys the concept of ‘boundary spanning’ to explore the role of NHS professionals within PtW. Drawing on more than 50 in‐depth interviews, the article concludes that these NHS staff played a key boundary spanning role in facilitating partnerships, based on an ability to engage with the values/practices of other partner organizations (especially Jobcentre Plus) and a willingness to challenge established professional boundaries and ways of working. The article notes that recent policy initiatives have abandoned the PtW partnership approach in favour of more familiar models of contracting out, and that NHS professionals have been excluded from the delivery of health/employability services. It is argued that these recent changes may negatively affect the quality and range of health‐related services available to people on IBs.     

Moments Determine the Tail of a Distribution (But Not Much Else)

How much information does a finite collection of moments carry about the underlying distribution? We revive an old bound, give a new, simple formula for its calculation, and demonstrate that although very little can be said about the central part of the distribution, the tail is much more sharply defined.     

No Fear,Just Relax and Play: Social Anxiety,Alcohol Expectancies,and Drinking Games Among College Students

Abstract

Objective: The authors examined the association between social anxiety and drinking game (DG) involvement as well as the moderating role of social anxiety–relevant alcohol outcome expectancies (AOE) in social anxiety and DG involvement among college students. Participants: Participants were 715 students (74.8% women, M _age = 19.46, SD = 1.22) from 8 US colleges. Methods: Data were collected via self-report survey from Fall 2005 to Spring 2007. Results: Tension Reduction and Liquid Courage AOE moderated the association between social anxiety and DG participation. Tension Reduction AOE and DG participation were positively related among those with high social anxiety, but were associated negatively for those with low social anxiety. Liquid Courage AOE were associated with increased DG participation for those with low social anxiety, but not for those with high social anxiety. Conclusions: Findings suggest that social anxiety acts as a protective or a risk factor for DG participation among college students, depending upon AOE.     

The magic of mundane objects: culture,identity and power in a country vets' practice

This article explores and extends the idea that material objects lie at the heart of many of our social, and specifically workplace, interactions. The site of exploration is an ethnography of a British farm animal veterinary surgery. Drawing upon traditional cultural studies approaches alongside contemporary sociological understandings about the place of materials in social life, the article analyses how objects function to track and structure the ways that people of different professional status experience work at a veterinary surgery. It is argued that the power of the veterinary elite in this setting is best understood by paying close attention to ‘mundane’ artefacts. The article argues that such objects, having almost no meaning on their own, can become potent cultural symbols if actors have the necessary social capital to ‘transform’ them. Here, Latimer's concept of ‘strong moves’ (2004) is extended to consider how the reinterpretation of objects might constitute a form of ‘cultural magic’. This article seeks to uncover some of the practical scenarios in which such ‘magical’ transformations play out and describes, through a series of tales from the field (Van Maanen, 1985), the ways in which vets control and regulate their interactions with those outside the professional elite.     

Multiple Partner Maternity Versus Multiple Partner Paternity: What Matters for Family Trajectories

In this analysis the ramifications of parents' multiple partner fertility for the trajectories of both married and unmarried stepfamilies are examined. Using a nationally representative sample of births to parents living in large cities, it was found that mother's children by prior partners are unrelated to subsequent relationship transitions within 5 years of a shared birth. However, men's other children are associated with an increase in the odds of dissolution among all couples and decrease the odds of marriage among the unmarried.     

Inter‐professional Learning to Prepare Medical and Social Work Students for Practice with Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Social workers and medical practitioners, particularly those in general practice, provide services for individuals who experience social exclusion. Access to medical, health and social care services has been identified as problematic for refugees and asylum seekers, reflecting their marginalised status within society. It is widely accepted that multi‐agency responses and working together are key requirements in improving access to services and promoting social inclusion; however, achieving this across professional and agency boundaries often remains challenging. Joint planning and training have been suggested as being important in improving communication, leading to more flexible and creative services.

This paper describes the genesis and implementation of a series of innovative inter‐professional workshops for medical and social work students, focussing specifically on marginalised groups. Learning and teaching input was developed by, and came from, service users and qualified medical, health and social work practitioners. The paper focuses particularly on the sessions relating to refugees and asylum seekers. The content and structure of the sessions are discussed and students' responses are reported. The implications for future inter‐professional learning and practice in relation to socially excluded groups are highlighted.     

Family Support and Empowerment: Post Autism Diagnosis Support Group for Parents

Receiving a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder often elicits strong emotional reactions from parents of the diagnosed child. Follow-up services and continued support for these families is a necessary component to help families adapt and meet their and their children's needs. This pilot study measured the effects of a six-session, co-facilitated, support group on the advocacy skills and self-efficacy of parents coping with a child's diagnosis. Statistically significant increases in the average mean scores for the three subscales of the Family Empowerment Scale were found. Implications for practice and research are discussed.