Is CSR the panacea for SMEs? A study of socially responsible SMEs during economic crisis

There is increasing research attention as to how SMEs might realize corporate social responsibility opportunities. Most studies focus on the pursuance of responsible business strategies that result in favourable business outcomes. This study investigates SMEs who actively participate in CSR activities in a south-eastern European country during the economic crisis of the Eurozone. Data collected reveals that stakeholder salience and proximity moderate the relationship between CSR and financial performance. The context of this study is important as it addresses the paucity of research carried out in countries during economic crisis and sheds light on the positive aspects of CSR practices adopted during crisis.     

Funding Strategies for Population Researchers: Perspectives from the National Institutes of Health

The purpose of this article is to briefly describe the application and funding process at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We target our discussion to demographic and population science at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD), but the general strategies are applicable to social and behavioral scientists for all NIH funding opportunities.     

By all appearances: thoughts on colonialism,visuality and racial neoliberalism

ABSTRACT

In a Montreal neighbourhood in the fall of 2013, a community mural celebrating ‘diversity, adversity and solidarity’ was vandalized: the image of a Black woman was spray-painted white. In this paper, I take the events and discourses surrounding this incident and my personal responses to them as a starting point for examining the racialized politics of visual representation. Using critical race-class analysis informed by contemporary theories of Black visuality, I consider dynamics of Black invisibility and visibility in Canada and consider the role visual texts play in reinforcing, reproducing, and resisting racialized social relations. I argue for caution regarding politics of representation, and consider Black and Indigenous art practices for the creative forms of resistance to colonial-capitalist ideology and visual logics they offer.     

Curved versus straight scissors to avoid 3rd and 4th degree perineal tears: A randomised feasibility study

BackgroundSevere perineal tears sustained during childbirth cause significant distress and morbidity amongst women. The objective of this study was to compare the use of straight scissors for cutting an episiotomy with the use of curved scissors, which are designed to curve away from the anal sphincter.MethodsWe used a single-centre, randomised feasibility trial. The intervention was the use of curved scissors. Women were recruited during a prenatal visit and randomised in the delivery suite, when it became clear that an episiotomy was required. The feasibility outcomes were the proportion of women able to be recruited, randomised and followed up. We also calculated the incidence of obstetric anal sphincter injury when either straight or curved scissors were used to cut an episiotomy. Other outcomes assessed were pain, length of hospital stay, perineal infection and perineal dehiscence.ResultsOf the 155 patients recruited in the prenatal period, only 20 (12.9%) were eventually randomised at birth. The main reasons for the high loss were that women either did not have a vaginal delivery (38, 24.5%), or they did not need an episiotomy (72, 46.5%). Rates of obstetric anal sphincter injury and other outcomes were similar between groups.DiscussionAnal sphincter injury during childbirth remains an important problem. Although the use of curved scissors provides a theoretical solution, we found that the high attrition rate made feasibility of conducting a suitably powered, randomised trial using the current design untenable. Alternative strategies have been suggested to make any future study more viable.     

Addressing potential prior‐data conflict when using informative priors in proof‐of‐concept studies

Bayesian methods are increasingly used in proof‐of‐concept studies. An important benefit of these methods is the potential to use informative priors, thereby reducing sample size. This is particularly relevant for treatment arms where there is a substantial amount of historical information such as placebo and active comparators. One issue with using an informative prior is the possibility of a mismatch between the informative prior and the observed data, referred to as prior‐data conflict. We focus on two methods for dealing with this: a testing approach and a mixture prior approach. The testing approach assesses prior‐data conflict by comparing the observed data to the prior predictive distribution and resorting to a non‐informative prior if prior‐data conflict is declared. The mixture prior approach uses a prior with a precise and diffuse component. We assess these approaches for the normal case via simulation and show they have some attractive features as compared with the standard one‐component informative prior. For example, when the discrepancy between the prior and the data is sufficiently marked, and intuitively, one feels less certain about the results, both the testing and mixture approaches typically yield wider posterior‐credible intervals than when there is no discrepancy. In contrast, when there is no discrepancy, the results of these approaches are typically similar to the standard approach. Whilst for any specific study, the operating characteristics of any selected approach should be assessed and agreed at the design stage; we believe these two approaches are each worthy of consideration. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Time to listen: strategies to improve hospital-based postnatal care

BACKGROUND: In Australia and internationally, women report high levels of dissatisfaction with hospital-based postnatal care. AIM: To design and implement strategies to improve hospital-based postnatal care at a Sydney metropolitan hospital. METHOD: This was an Action Research study. In Phase One, midwives considered the literature and participated in group discussions and interviews to determine their perceptions of postnatal care and the factors that facilitate or hinder the provision of quality care. In Phase Two, midwives participated in 12 working group meetings to design strategies to improve care. RESULTS: Several important principles of postnatal care were described, including building a relationship with women, meeting their individual needs, being flexible in approach and providing continuity of care. 'Listening to women', 'being there,' and 'normalising experiences and expectations' were believed to be critical to achieving these principles. A key strategy 'One to One Time' was designed to provide women with an uninterrupted period of time each day with a midwife who was available to listen to their needs and concerns and discuss issues related to their health and that of their baby. CONCLUSION: Midwives designed and implemented strategies that they believed would improve in-hospital postnatal care.     

Maternal Lifetime Trauma Exposure,Prenatal Cortisol,and Infant Negative Affectivity

Little research has examined the impact of maternal lifetime trauma exposure on infant temperament. We examined associations between maternal trauma history and infant negative affectivity and modification by prenatal cortisol exposure in a sociodemographically diverse sample of mother–infant dyads. During pregnancy, mothers completed measures of lifetime trauma exposure and current stressors. Third‐trimester cortisol output was assessed from maternal hair. When infants were 6 months old, mothers completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire‐Revised. In analyses that controlled for infant sex and maternal age, education, race/ethnicity, and stress during pregnancy, greater maternal trauma exposure was associated with increased infant distress to limitations and sadness. Higher and lower prenatal cortisol exposure modified the magnitude and direction of association between maternal trauma history and infant rate of recovery from arousal. The association between maternal trauma history and infant distress to limitations was somewhat stronger among infants exposed to higher levels of prenatal cortisol. The analyses suggested that maternal lifetime trauma exposure is associated with several domains of infant negative affectivity independently of maternal stress exposures during pregnancy and that some of these associations may be modified by prenatal cortisol exposure. The findings have implications for understanding the intergenerational impact of trauma exposure on child developmental outcomes.     

Bridging Rhetoric and Practice: New Perspectives on Barriers to Gendered Change

ABSTRACT

This article presents a new methodology, Gender Knowledge Contestation Analysis, and uses it to examine the processes under way when transformative gender equality policies, such as gender mainstreaming are implemented. Drawing on data gathered in the European Commission, the findings show the processes linking high-level rhetorical policy statements, strategic policies, and daily working practices. This analysis enables exploration of the mechanisms through which indifference to and nonawareness of gendered policy problems are collectively constituted and methods through which they can be challenged. Findings thus deepen our understanding of barriers to the implementation of gender mainstreaming and the steps required for its effective implementation.