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Reporting the cost-of-living crisis: A framing analysis of victims of, and solutions to, the crisis as reported in UK national newspapers 2022-23
No full textThis paper analyses 1,055 UK national newspaper articles on the cost-of-living crisis published in 18 months between February 2022 and August 2023. This study utilizes framing analysis to examine the reporting of the crisis, with a specific focus on the presentation of those identified as victims of the crisis. The paper also discusses how the news media report individual and macroeconomic solutions to the crisis. The study finds that market rationalism and individualist explanations dominate news coverage of a structural macroeconomic crisis. This study finds an apparent deviation from traditional reporting of poverty in that the news media presents the cost-of-living crisis as universal. As such, the ‘othering’ of people living in poverty is less evident here than in similar studies. The study finds that the framing devices used to communicate the crisis often seek to minimize the impact of inequality, which is at the heart of the current crisis
Chemistry teachers’ perspectives and understanding in integrating sustainability into teaching: the case of Chile
Full text linkSustainability issues are a problem in Chile because of the policies of the present and previous governments. Chile has a neo-liberal model for development and many ecological problems, which involve social and environmental injustices and an overvalue of economic growth for development. Building on the three pillars model of sustainability of interconnections among the environment, society and economy, this research aims to find out how Chilean chemistry teachers understand sustainability and its integration into teaching chemistry. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with ten teachers and an attempt to highlight teachers’ voices about what is possible to do and the impacts of connecting chemistry education and sustainability in the context of a country with a free-market approach to development, such as Chile. Findings indicate that teachers focus on using resources and environmental protection when explaining sustainability and do not relate it to political and economic implications. Teachers confirmed that sustainability integration into education promotes paramount values for living in society and foundational skills for citizenship education, such as critical thinking skills. Nevertheless, teachers focused only on personal actions and attitudes toward sustainability
Investigating sustainability in work after participating in a welfare-to-work initiative using a 2-year cohort study of Work Programme participants in Scotland
Full text linkObjectives: This study investigated sustainability and multimorbidity alongside barriers to employment including health and policy to demonstrate intersectional impact on return-to-work success within a UK welfare-to-work programme. Design: Cohort study design: The study calculated the proportion of time spent employed after experiencing a job start and the proportion retaining work over 6 months. Employment/unemployment periods were calculated, sequence-index plots were produced and visualisations were explored by benefit type and age. Setting: This study used confidential access to deidentified data from unemployed Work Programme clients operated by Ingeus on behalf of the UK Government in Scotland between 1 April 2013 and 31 July 2014. Participants: 13 318 unemployed clients aged 18–64 years were randomly allocated to a Work Programme provider and monitored over 2 years. Results: This study has two distinct groupings. ‘Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)’ corresponding to those with work-limiting disability in receipt of related state financial support, and ‘Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)’ corresponding to unemployment claimants. Despite fewer and later job starts for ESA clients, those that gained employment spend relatively more subsequent time in employment when compared with individuals without work-limiting conditions (ESA clients under 50, 0.73; ESA clients over 50, 0.79; JSA clients under 50, 0.67 and JSA clients over 50, 0.68). Proportion in permanent jobs was higher among ESA than JSA clients (JSA under 50, 92%; JSA over 50, 92%; ESA under 50, 95% and ESA over 50, 97%). Conclusion: The research demonstrated that returning to paid employment after a reliance on welfare benefits is challenging for people aged over 50 and those with disability. The study found that although fewer older ESA claimants entered employment, they typically remained in employment more than JSA clients who did not leave the Work Programme early. This indicates the importance of identifying risk factors for job loss in ageing workers and the development of interventions for extension of working lives
Out of sight, out of mind: how pescetarians manage dissonance by creating distance
Full text linkFor many, there exists a cognitive inconsistency between the practice of eating non-human animals and the belief that animals are morally relevant. This juxtaposition has fittingly been described as the ‘meat paradox’. However, what can be said about the decision to eat only the flesh of fish? The present research seeks to understand what attitudes lead pescetarians to remove terrestrial animals from their plate but still include aquatic animals such as fish. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with self-identifying pescetarians and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three themes are presented which can be understood by reference to the construal-level theory of psychological distance. Fish were perceived as distant on multiple dimensions which resulted in speciesist (the idea that some species are more important and morally relevant than others) attitudes toward marine animals’ capabilities and the justification of pescetarianism as a compromise between debates of feasibility and ethical desirabilit
Digital group archives in residential childcare: an investigation into memory responsibility
Full text linkThis paper discusses phase two of the ARCH project (Archiving Residential Children’s Homes) and in particular, the development of a co-designed ‘digital archive’ that stores every day, shared events and experiences for care experienced young people who live in residential children’s homes. We present research with young people living in residential care, care workers and care experienced adults about the types of everyday information or records they would like to be able to store, share and access in the future. There was a desire for the digital archive to have a different feel and purpose to content recorded in individual case files, with easy access to the archive, deemed to be important. There were mixed views about the representation of events and experiences and whether these should contain mainly ‘light-hearted’ events and experiences. Our research gives an insight into memory keeping practices within a residential children’s home and invites questions about whose responsibility it is for gathering, filtering and treasuring childhood experiences
How might Hospital at Home enable a greener and healthier future? Check for updates
Full text linkTraditional healthcare delivery models face mounting pressure from rising costs, increasing demand, and a growing environmental footprint. Hospital at Home (HaH) has been proposed as a potential solution, offering care at home through in-person, virtual, or hybrid approaches. Despite focus on expanding HaH provision and capacity, research has primarily explored patient care outcomes, patient satisfaction economic costs with a key gap in its environmental impact. By reducing this evidence gap, HaH may be better placed as a positive enabler in delivering healthier planet and population. This article explores the environmental opportunities and challenges associated with HaH compared to traditional hospital care and reinforces the case for further research to comprehensively quantify the environmental impact including any co-benefits. Our aim for this article is to spark conversation, and begin to help prioritise future research and analysis
Assessing Decision Fatigue in General Practitioners’ Prescribing Decisions Using the Australian BEACH Data Set
Full text linkBackground General practitioners (GPs) make numerous care decisions throughout their workdays. Extended periods of decision making can result in decision fatigue, a gradual shift toward decisions that are less cognitively effortful. This study examines whether observed patterns in GPs’ prescribing decisions are consistent with the decision fatigue phenomenon. We hypothesized that the likelihood of prescribing frequently overprescribed medications (antibiotics, benzodiazepines, opioids; less effortful to prescribe) will increase and the likelihood of prescribing frequently underprescribed medications (statins, osteoporosis medications; more effortful to prescribe) will decrease over the workday. Methods This study used nationally representative primary care data on GP-patient encounters from the Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health program from Australia. The association between prescribing decisions and order of patient encounters over a GP’s workday was assessed with generalized linear mixed models accounting for clustering and adjusting for patient, provider, and encounter characteristics. Results Among 262,456 encounters recorded by 2,909 GPs, the odds of prescribing antibiotics significantly increased by 8.7% with 15 additional patient encounters (odds ratio [OR] = 1.087; confidence interval [CI] = 1.059–1.116). The odds of prescribing decreased significantly with 15 additional patient encounters by 6.3% for benzodiazepines (OR = 0.937; CI = 0.893–0.983), 21.9% for statins (OR = 0.791; CI = 0.753–0.831), and 25.0% for osteoporosis medications (OR = 0.750; CI = 0.690–0.814). No significant effects were observed for opioids. All findings were replicated in confirmatory analyses except the effect of benzodiazepines. Conclusions GPs were increasingly likely to prescribe antibiotics and were less likely to prescribe statins and osteoporosis medications as the workday wore on, which was consistent with decision fatigue. There was no convincing evidence of decision fatigue effects in the prescribing of opioids or benzodiazepines. These findings establish decision fatigue as a promising target for optimizing prescribing behavior
Multi-pollutant removal dynamics by aquatic plants in monoculture or mixed communities
Full text linkMuch of our knowledge about the phytoremediation potential of floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) comes from studies focusing on the removal of single pollutants, often by a single plant species. Here, we quantify the potential of FTWs planted with varying proportions of the emergent monocots Typha latifolia, Glyceria maxima, and Phragmites australis to simultaneously remove a suite of eleven nutrient/metalloid pollutants. Pollutants most readily removed from water included total inorganic nitrogen (TIN), K and Mn, whilst P, Zn and Cu showed a moderate removal efficiency, and Mg, Ca, Na, Cr, and Fe were poorly removed. Root length within a FTW was correlated with lower concentrations of Ca, Mg, K, P, and Zn remaining in the water, whilst plant uptake and tissue sequestration was more important for reducing concentrations of Mn, TIN, P, and Fe. The effect of community composition over time was greatest for the removal of Zn, with FTWs containing T. latifolia having the strongest effect; community type was less important for the removal of TIN, Mg, K, and Na. Plant tissue sequestration was important for reducing concentrations of Mn, TIN, P and Fe in the water, with median uptake values all greater than 12.5%. Importantly, the removal of some pollutants (e.g., Cu) increased with retention time. Therefore, depending on the management objective, FTWs generally perform better where and when residence times are longer e.g., in ponds or streams under low flow, and assembling FTW communities with varying traits and associated removal mechanisms can allow several pollutants to be remediated at once
Challenges of achieving digital transformation in manufacturing firms: the case of predictive maintenance and spare part inventory management Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management
Full text linkPurpose Predictive maintenance (PdM) has attracted increasing attention in recent years owing to the emergence of advanced condition-monitoring technologies and data analytics tools. However, the application of PdM in spare parts inventory management across the Supply Chain (SC) has not been sufficiently investigated and its Digital Transformation (DT) requirements have not been adequately researched. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the organisational readiness for the use of integrated spare parts inventory management together with PdM systems across the SC. Design/methodology/approach A series of semi-structured interviews were designed and took place across organisations in various industries to address the pre-defined research aim. In total, 15 interviewees were recruited through purposive sampling, including managers and technicians in various organisations from different industries. Findings The findings reveal that while maintenance planning and optimisation has been the subject of extensive research for decades, manufacturers are still encountering barriers in adopting and implementing digital innovations. The experts also highlighted the need for an integrated Information System (IS) enabling data sharing across the organisation since lack of integration has a vital impact on the overall business and operations performance as well as the successful DT of the enterprise. In addition, they report that the necessary and relevant data for implementing PdM is not captured or stored in their organisations. Originality The present study emphasises the technical, organisational, and environmental (TOE) dimensions that can affect such DT, and sheds light on the enablers and inhibitors that organisations face in their efforts to be technologically ready to embrace the digital integration of PdM with spare part inventory management. It is recommended that a clear shift in management mindset and organisational culture is necessary for companies to realise the benefits of PdM and the DT that will result from its implementation
Acceptability of identification and management of perinatal anxiety: a qualitative interview study with postnatal women
Full text linkBackground: Anxiety in pregnancy and postpartum is highly prevalent but under-recognized and few women receive adequate support or treatment. Identification and management of perinatal anxiety must be acceptable to women in the perinatal period to ensure that women receive appropriate care when needed. We aimed to understand the acceptability to women of how anxiety was identified and managed by healthcare professionals. Method: We conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 60 women across England and Scotland approximately 10 months after birth. Women were sampled from an existing systematically recruited cohort of 2,243 women who recorded mental health throughout pregnancy and after birth. All women met criteria for further assessment of their mental health by a healthcare professional. We analyzed the data using a theoretical framework of acceptability of healthcare interventions. Results: Interview data fitted the seven constructs within the theoretical framework of acceptability. Women valued support before professional treatment but were poorly informed about available services. Services which treated women as individuals, which were accessible and in which there was continuity of healthcare professional were endorsed. Experience of poor maternity services increased anxiety and seeing multiple midwives dissuaded women from engaging in conversations about mental health. Having a trusted relationship with a healthcare professional facilitated conversation about and disclosure of mental health problems. Conclusion: Women's experiences would be improved if given the opportunity to form a trusting relationship with a healthcare provider. Interventions offering support before professional treatment may be valued and suitable for some women. Clear information about support services and treatment options available for perinatal mental health problems should be given. Physiological aspects of maternity care impacts women's mental health and trust in services needs to be restored. Findings can be used to inform clinical guidelines and A and Ayers S (2024) Acceptability of identification and management of perinatal anxiety: a qualitative interview study with postnatal women
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