Stuck in the land of disability? The intersection of learning difficulties,class, gender and religion

This article discusses the discrepancy between formal rights to full social inclusion and the lived experiences of young adults with learning difficulties. It draws on inclusive life history research in Iceland and employs intersectional theory to study the social participation of young adults with learning difficulties. In an attempt to understand the complex political, economic and ideological forces that hinder the actualisation of their formal rights the intersection of disability, class, gender and religion in the production and reproduction of existing social hierarchies is examined. The article demonstrates how the research collaborators resisted their devalued social construction and attempted to create and affirm themselves as competent social actors.     

Theorizing accommodation in supportive home care for older people

This paper examines the issue of what thinking is necessary in order to advance a notion of accommodation in the organization and provision of supportive home care for older people. Accommodation in this context is understood as responsiveness to the singularity of older adults, and we consider how this idea might be used to support opportunities for (independent) living for elders as they age and become frailer. To elaborate the question we draw on examples from our empirical work – ethnographic studies of home care practice undertaken in Canada and Iceland – and consider these examples in light of critical philosophical and social theory, particularly Agamben's (1993) work, The Coming Community. This is a relevant frame through which to consider the potential for the accommodation of the unique needs of older adults in home care because it helps us to problematize the systems through which care is accomplished and the current, dominant terms of relations between individuals and collectives. We argue that giving substance to a notion of accommodation contributes an important dimension to aligned ideas, such as patient-centeredness in care, by working to shift the intentionality of these practices. That is, accommodation, as an orientation to care practices, contests the organizational impulse to carry on in the usual way.     

Viewpoint: model selection uncertainty,pre‐specification,and model averaging

Scientific progress in all empirical sciences relies on selecting models and performing inferences from selected models. Standard statistical properties (e.g., repeated sampling coverage probability of confidence intervals) cannot be guaranteed after a model selection. This viewpoint reviews this dilemma, puts the role that pre‐specification can play into perspective and illustrates model averaging as a way to relax the problem of model selection uncertainty. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Night work and symptoms of anxiety and depression among nurses: A longitudinal study

Over the last few decades, night work has been found to be associated with negative somatic consequences; however, there is less knowledge about its impact on mental health. In a sample of 633 Norwegian nurses, we investigated by means of latent growth curve modelling whether different work schedules predicted differences in baseline values of anxiety and depressive symptoms, and trajectories of these over a two-year span. All participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale as part of a larger survey conducted during the winters of 2009, 2010 and 2011. The results revealed that night workers and nurses who changed from day work to night work during the study period did not differ from day workers either in terms of baseline symptoms of anxiety or depression, or in terms of trajectories of these symptoms. However, nurses who changed from night work to day work reported a significant decrease in symptoms of both anxiety and depression over time compared to day workers. Furthermore, supporting previous work, languidity was related to higher anxiety and depression and hardiness to lower levels of those symptoms. Possible mechanisms underlying the results are discussed.     

Implementing human resource development best practices: Replication or re-creation?

Abstract

Firms increasingly introduce HRD ‘best practices’ developed somewhere else, but results often fall short of expectations. Much of existing theory fails to guide the implementation of HRD best practices because it does not recognize how introduced practices interact with existing practices in the firm. In this paper, we contrast the dominant perspective ‘Implementation as Replication’ with a perspective of ‘Implementation as Re-creation’. Through four stages of the implementation process, we identify and discuss how these contrasting perspectives yield different implications for how firms go about introducing HRD best practices. First, when firms take up a practice, is this a process of adoption or translation? Second, is it assumed that new knowledge can be implanted directly and lead to new behaviour, or is active experimentation a necessary precondition to gain new knowledge? Third, are deviations from the intended plan considered errors to be corrected or sources for learning? Fourth, are introduced best practices treated in isolation or as integral parts of the firm's management system? We argue that implementation efforts guided by the re-creation perspective increase the prospects of HRD best practices succeeding as a useful tool in the receiving firm.     

Global Software Development: Commitment,Trust and Cultural Sensitivity in Strategic Partnerships

Much research has studied off-shore outsourcing from a Western client perspective. This article tries to shed light on what an Indian vendor perceives as important to manage large and complex strategic partnerships in IT outsourcing, and in particular how mutually profitable, long-term relationships with European clients are created and maintained, both at company and project levels. We investigate this issue through qualitative interviews with various vendor representatives in offshore and on-site teams in a top tier multinational company of Indian origin.In the analysis of interview accounts of close collaboration processes in two large and complex projects, where off-shoring of software development is moved to a strategic level, we found that the vendor was able to establish a strategic partnership through long-term engagement with the field of banking and insurance as well as through conscious relationship management with the clients. Three major themes describe important aspects of the strategic partnerships: 1) senior management commitment and employee identification with the projects, 2) mutual trust and transparency, and 3) cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity. The article draws attention to the important collaborative work done by people who are able to span boundaries in the complex organizational set-up of global IT development projects.     

Exposure assessment in different occupational groups at a hospital using Quick Exposure Check (QEC) - a pilot study

In order to test the feasibility and sensitivity of the ergonomic exposure assessment tool Quick Exposure Check (QEC), a pilot-study was conducted. The aim was to test QEC in different occupational groups to compare the exposure in the most common work task with the exposure in the work task perceived as the most strenuous for the neck/shoulder region, and to test intra-observer reliability. One experienced ergonomist observed 23 workers. The mean observation time was 45 minutes, waiting time and time for complementary questions included. The exposure scores varied between the different occupational groups as well as between workers within the occupational groups. Eighteen workers rated their most common work task as also being the most strenuous for the neck/shoulder region. For the remaining five workers, the mean exposure score were higher both for the neck and shoulder/arm in the most common work task. Intra-observer reliability shows agreement in 86% of the exposure interactions in the neck and in 71% in the shoulder/arm. QEC seems to fulfill the expectations of being a quick, sensible and practical exposure assessment tool that covers physical risk factors in the neck, upper extremities and low back.     

The state and use of municipal tree inventories in Swedish municipalities – results from a national survey

Urban trees are an essential component of urban ecosystems, and management of this resource constitutes an essential element of urban open space management. However, municipal tree inventories in Sweden and elsewhere have received limited attention. It is unknown how common municipal tree inventories are in Sweden, factors governing whether a municipality has an inventory and what the inventories are used for. This study therefore sought to: Create an overview of the state of Swedish municipal tree inventories and determine how municipality size, green space budget and management organisation affect the presence and scope of municipal tree inventories. The research questions examined were: What is the current state of Swedish municipal tree inventories? and what affects the status of these municipal tree inventories? A survey with questions related to strategic and operational perspectives of municipal tree inventories, e.g. how they are conducted and used, together with questions relating to budget and potential use of consultants, was sent to all 290 Swedish municipalities. The response rate was 55.5%. The main findings were that municipality size affects whether a municipality has an urban tree inventory and that the municipal organisation form affects how inventories are used. The existence of an inventory also increased the probability of the municipality having a tree management plan. Based on these results we recommend further research related to strategic management perspectives of tree inventories.     

From Drama Text to Stage Text: Transitions of Text Understanding in a Student Theatre Production

Exploring how text understanding evolves through interaction in a drama-text-based student theatre production, the present study takes its theoretical point of departure in sociocultural and dialogical approaches to meaning making and creativity. Video data from a Swedish upper secondary school allowed us to follow transitions of text understanding in the artistic shaping of characters from drama text to stage text. We analyze a special kind of communicative side project: short, recurrent student-initiated role-plays, embedded in teacher-led activities. The joint text understanding that was established in these side projects proved productive in the emergent shaping of the stage text.