26729 research outputs found
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COMPEERS: a cluster randomised feasibility study of contingency management and peer support to promote attendance, increase treatment engagement and improve outcomes for people with dual diagnoses of psychosis and drug/alcohol problems. Study protocol with commentary
No full textDual diagnoses of psychosis and drug or alcohol problems (DDp) are prevalent, high-cost presentations, reliably associated with poorer outcomes and greater difficulty engaging with mental health services compared to either condition alone or other mental health problems. Engagement difficulties restrict access to recommended care that could improve outcomes, and thus are a priority treatment target. Contingency management (financial incentives for positive health behaviours, CM), peer support, and text messaging each improve engagement for psychosis or drug/alcohol problems. Despite the high potential to improve engagement and thus clinical and economic outcomes in DDp, their combined impact remains unevaluated in this poorly treated and hard-to-reach population. We plan a confirmatory trial to test, for the first time, the impact on engagement in DDp of adding CM to usual care alongside text message reminders and peer support. Methodological innovation is required to ensure adequate rates of recruitment, retention, and outcome completion; as well as standardised delivery of interventions, particularly CM, which will be delivered by peer support workers, and will target attendance, to improve engagement in recommended treatments. We comment here on the protocol for CoMPEERS (ISRCTN90137206), a study to test the feasibility of progressing this novel design to a full trial
Textual semiotics
No full textThis article presents textual semiotics. It briefly introduces textual semiotics’ roots in Aristotle’s Poetics then, more recently, in the work of structuralist and formalist theorists such as Propp. A key development in the mid-twentieth century, the ‘invention’ of the text by Barthes and Lotman, is discussed, along with comments on the role of narratology and textual semiotics’ democratization of the focus of analysis. The article also discusses some criticisms of textual semiotics, particularly the problem of code. Toward the end, it focuses on an example of Greimassian text analysis which demonstrates textual semiotics’ concern with readership
Verhandlungsmanagement als organisationale Kompetenz in der öffentlichen Verwaltung. Empirische Untersuchung der deutschen Ministerialverwaltung
No full textNegotiations represent a fundamental aspect of ministerial work in Germany. However, there is a paucity of research concerning systematic support mechanisms that take into account the specific organisational and contextual characteristics of public administration. This thesis addresses this gap by conceptualising negotiation management as an organisational capability in the public sector and tailoring it to the specific context of German ministerial administration.
Building on a comprehensive review of extant literature, the study develops a theoretical framework and applies a mixed-methods design to investigate support measures for negotiations in German government authorities. Semi-structured expert interviews with eleven senior officials from federal and state ministries were examined through qualitative content analysis and complemented by a nationwide online survey (n = 555) capturing the state of negotiation support. This combination provides both descriptive evidence on the prevalence of support measures and deeper insights into the mechanisms of organisational negotiation management in the public sector.
Findings indicate that negotiations are primarily driven by individual behaviour, whereas structural resources and institutionalised frameworks are underdeveloped. Concurrently, there is a pronounced demand for organisational support. The qualitative analysis identifies context-sensitive measures across five levels: individual, process-related, knowledge-based, structural, and strategic. The results highlight the necessity of adapting measures to the specific conditions of public sector organisations—such as the heterogeneity of ministerial negotiations and political sensitivity—which limit the transferability of standardised tools and prescriptive approaches.
The dissertation contributes to the advancement of the field by transferring and adapting concepts from business and management literature, in which negotiation management has been examined predominantly in private-sector contexts, to the environment of public administration. In addition, it offers an evidence-based and practice-oriented component model to systematically institutionalise negotiation capability across the organisation
Integrationsmanagement im interkulturellen Kontext: Handlungsempfehlungen für die betriebliche Integration von IT-Fachkräften aus der Ukraine, Russland und Belarus im Kontext des „Psychologischen Vertrags“ und des Fachkräftemangels
No full textThis dissertation examines the integration management of IT specialists from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus into the German labor market. The investigation is operationalized on the basis of a case study of a major German bank. The necessity to recruit, integrate and retain highly qualified IT specialists from Eastern Europe successfully is elaborated in the context of long-term demographic developments, but also current geopolitical events such as the war in Ukraine and the migration dynamics associated with it.
Linking integration management and migration research has gained in importance given the war in Ukraine, because the large wave of migration caused by it – especially of highly qualified people – is creating new opportunities in the recruitment of skilled workers but also carries major challenges with it.
The work addresses a research gap by systematically capturing and analyzing the perspectives, expectations and experiences of Eastern European IT specialists. The study is informed by an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, consisting of migration and integration theories, leadership and motivation theories, the psychological contract as well as cross-cultural models, such as the GLOBE project. Its focus is on the interplay between individual value orientations, organizational structures, leadership behavior, and, in addition, social conditions such as bureaucratic processes and state regulations. Important trends such as outsourcing are considered in relation to migration and their significance for migration and integration is determined.
The study is based on a qualitative-empirical case study approach with guideline-based individual and group interviews with IT professionals, managers and experts. This multi-perspectival analysis provides a differentiated picture of the factors that promote or hinder the integration process, including onboarding measures, leadership style, workplace culture and diversity aspects.
The theoretical contribution of the dissertation lies in the combination of economic, sociological and organizational psychological perspectives in the investigation of the target group of IT specialists. The empirical findings are used to derive practical recommendations for companies, managers and public institutions that are intended to help improve the integration and retention of international IT specialists. Overall, the study aims at strengthening both the company's success and the engagement of this target group in the company, while at the same time helping to solve the problem of the shortage of skilled workers in the German IT sector
‘Why don't we just build it in a square hole?’: Developing a multi-component drug outreach service for young people aged 16-25 in England
Full text linkBackground: In England, the rise in young people/adults’ drug use coincides with a decline in specialist outreach and support services. Current substance use provision particularly neglects young adults. This paper traces the origins of the multi-component ‘1625 Outreach’ model and how it was developed and refined by utilizing community engagement and co-production approaches.
Methods: The co-produced, qualitative research design included observations of outreach practitioners in different settings, focus groups with professionals and young people/adults, and semi-structured interviews with key informants.
Results: The multi-component model was found to be agile, innovative and responsive to local drug trends. This was facilitated by community partnerships and inter-agency collaboration and the involvement of young people in service development and delivery. Co-designed prevention messages on social media were effective in reaching a wide audience. It was important that the educator was viewed as relatable, trustworthy and knowledgeable, with honest harm reduction messages. Participants preferred strengths-based harm reduction discussions, allowing for exploration of the complexities of drug use.
Conclusion: The study highlights the importance of developing credible, strengths-based harm reduction messages co-designed by young people. A coherent multi-component delivery approach with stakeholder engagement can facilitate agile responses to the changing needs of local young people/adults
Small tourism entrepreneurs, heritage authenticity and tourism gentrification: a critical engagement with more-than-representational theory
No full textThe ongoing economic uncertainties have a significant impact on how heritage is experienced. In the context of tourism gentrification, small tourism entrepreneurs (STEs) are often criticised for (over)commodification of the past, thereby altering perceptions of heritage authenticity. This study adopts Waterton’s (2014) more-than representational
approach, suggesting authenticity is relational,
contextual and negotiable through embodied everyday heritage
experiences. Drawing on focus groups with thirty interviews and participant observation, this study identifies two central challenges faced by STEs: (1) the loss of consistency and cohesion in the meaning making of heritage and (2) the insufficient integration of local everyday practices in performing heritage. These challenges demonstrate the need to negotiate power relations and to perform heritage authenticity within a gentrified context where cultural meaning, economic survival and place-making interplay. The conclusion offers recommendations for tourism development and historic place marketing, with a practical emphasis on the importance of supporting STEs as active agents in negotiating meaning-making and performing heritage authenticity as everyday entrepreneurial practices
A novel approach to improving squat jump performance: the pre-loaded squat jumps
Full text linkThe present study aimed to explore the acute effects of a novel preloading strategy on squat jump (SJ) kinetic and kinematic from 0 to 50% body mass. Twenty-one male college athletes (mean ± SD: age = 23.29 ± 3.15 yrs, body mass = 75.50 ± 6.20 kg, height = 178.07 ± 6.45 cm and body fat percentage = 13.71 ± 5.45%) completed three different jump tasks across two testing sessions: SJ, preloading SJ (10 - 50% body mass) and countermovement jump (CMJ). Applying preloading before SJ resulted in significant, trivial to small increases in jump height (F(5,15) = 3.76 , P = 0.01, η² = 0.16). However, there was no significant effect of preloading on peak power, peak force and peak velocity. The maximum peak power (5128.28 ± 459.38 W vs. 5047.97 ± 447.67 W, P = 0.04; g = 0.17) and maximum peak force (1810.72 ± 150.35 N vs. 1775.50 ± 155.54 N, P = 0.03; g = 0.25) were at the load of 20% body mass, which was significantly higher than SJ. The jump height, peak force and peak velocity in the 10 - 50% body mass preloading SJ tests were not significantly different from those in the CMJ. Preloading before a SJ results in meaningful improvements in jump performance, particularly in peak power. Athletes in sports requiring high jump performance can use preloading SJ strategies to enhance lower limb explosive power and jump height
Dynamic belonging – how student belonging changes over time for first-generation students
No full textWhilst students’ sense of belonging (SoB) – an important concept in relation to student success – is accepted as changing over time, most existing research investigates this concept as a static phenomenon, using single, snapshot measurements. This mixed-method study utilises a longitudinal approach to measure students’ sense of belonging at multiple points throughout the first year of undergraduate study. 101 students from two English universities completed questionnaires and online diaries as part of a larger study on student success and SoB. Linear mixed models and data visualisation analyses show that overall students’ sense of belonging declines over the first year of study. This has implications for institutions in how they plan their approaches to support students with their sense of belonging, including challenges for potential ‘frontloading’ of welcome interventions near the start of the first term. The analyses also found that first-generation students had significantly lower SoB than their non-first-generation counterparts, but only later in the first year of study. Coding matrix queries were then utilised based on students’ detailed responses to online diaries to help interpret and contextualise the quantitative findings. These subsequent analyses found that fragile relationships with peers on the course, cultural barriers, and a lower propensity to talk about finances or feel that they mattered to staff were more common among first-generation students. Overall, this article furthers understanding of the dynamic nature of belonging and how it is experienced differently by first-generation students, with insights into what may be causing these divergent experiences over time
Effect of hybrid working models in the Swiss financial industry
Full text linkThis empirical research explores the consequences of shifting from traditional work to hybrid working in the Swiss financial industry and its impact on employee engagement as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers and their team members of four different Swiss financial services companies. The interviews took place between January and April 2023. A thematic analysis was adopted to review the interview transcripts.
The findings reveal that hybrid working models have influenced employee engagement, highlighting two major shifts: growing significance of social engagement and personal satisfaction.
This paper offers new insights into the effect of the transition from traditional office-based work to hybrid working models on employee engagement in the Swiss financial industry. It contributes to the literature by extending Kahn’s framework of employee engagement. The results may help practitioners better understand employee expectations and respond to them by balancing autonomy with opportunities for social interaction
The impact of internal marketing on knowledge sharing capability
No full textDespite the growing interest of policymakers and scholars to better understand the impact of internal marketing capabilities on social capital and knowledge sharing capability, little is known about how the specific antecedents of knowledge sharing capability can explain variations in performance from a migrant science, technology, engineering and mathematics professionals’ (STEM) perception. What are the influences of trust and absorptive capacity in the relationships between internal marketing capabilities, social capital, and entrepreneurial orientation with knowledge sharing capability in multinational corporations? The study is based on a sample of 438 migrant STEM-professionals among MNCs from multi-industries such as higher education, engineering, telecoms, technology and information systems, automotive, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, and provides evidence of a significant gap. This paper shows that growing immigrant diversity and internal marketing capabilities impact on entrepreneurial orientation and social capital. Entrepreneurial orientation and social capital influence knowledge sharing capability. Also, knowledge sharing has a direct impact on capability performance. Based upon the research findings, this paper offers policy implications which policymakers can adopt that place particular emphasis on the determinant role of absorptive capacity in improving knowledge sharing capabilities by employees and firms to improve the organization’s performance