24 research outputs found
Visualizing Mississippi Histories: Two Short Films
Get PDFRaisin\u27 Cotton / Emma Knowles Lytle (1941), introduction by Andy HarperHomeplace / Michael Ford (1975
Evaluating changes to emergency and urgent healthcare in England
No full textThe work presented here is for the degree of PhD by publication. I have selected seven papers for consideration, published in high quality academic journals between 2002 and 2011. I am the lead author on four papers and joint author on three. These papers derive from projects undertaken during my fifteen year research career at the School for Health and Related Research (ScHARR), University of Sheffield.
Whilst the services I evaluated varied in scope, my research forms a coherent body of work informing the evidence base on policy driven initiatives implemented within emergency and urgent care. I have contributed to the evidence base around three key aspects of evaluation: acceptability (patient, carer, and workforce), effectiveness, and equity with respect to three of the most significant recent changes within emergency and urgent healthcare in England: telephone delivered healthcare, new roles within
the workforce and, extended access and patient choice. Specifically, I have identified:
• Telephone delivered healthcare did not significantly change demand for
services: patient reported data suggested that NHS Direct was ineffective in
reducing demand for other health services across the whole system of
emergency and urgent care.
• Inequity in the use of new telephone triage services: those from poorer
socioeconomic groups or with communication difficulties were less likely to
have used NHS Direct than other groups.
• Problems with acceptability within a newly established workforce: although the
majority of NHS Direct nurses were satisfied with this new way of working, a
minority of staff found the work to be monotonous, posing a challenge to the
retention of staff.
• Clinical effectiveness of new roles within the workforce: a community based
service utilising paramedics with extended skills demonstrated that paramedics
can be trained to safely assess and treat older people with minor conditions
which in turn led to a reduction in the need for attendance at an emergency
department.
• Patient and carer acceptability of new roles within the workforce: whilst minor
acute health episodes do impact on patients and carers, initiatives such as
utilising paramedics with extended skills in the community have a positive
impact on the lives of these groups. Indeed, both groups reported high levels
of satisfaction, and carers reported needing to provide less input with physical
caring activities as a result of this new role being implemented.
• Where patients choose to seek care and their satisfaction with this care during
an emergency and urgent care episode: the majority of patients use multiple
services on their care pathway, a daytime GP as their access point to
emergency and urgent care, and are satisfied with their overall care during an
episode.
My work has demonstrated both the strengths and limitations of the policy related initiatives which I have evaluated. In particular my evidence regarding NHS Direct
indicated some limitations regarding this telephone based service. Policymakers must take note of this given their plans for the national roll out of the non-emergency
healthcare telephone service ‘NHS 111’, and if the telephone is considered as the medium for a single point of access to emergency and urgent care in the future. In
contrast, the evidence that I have provided regarding paramedics with extended skills was overwhelmingly positive. Policymakers should support, and commissioners should explore, this model of service delivery when considering how to utilise emergency care practitioners within a locality. As policymakers continue to move forward with a vision for integrated emergency and urgent care healthcare attention must be directed towards the potential impact this has on users of the emergency and urgent care
system
Getting up close and textual: an interpretive study of feedback practice and social relations in doctoral supervision
Get PDFThe privatised interactions between doctoral student and supervisor as they jointly work on the text are the subject of my thesis. To investigate this important yet neglected aspect of supervision, I use data obtained from interviews with seven doctoral supervisory pairs in the social sciences, arts, and humanities in an Australian university. My methodology comprises a series of close-ups to explore feedback relations within supervision and the ways in which meanings are played out for both supervisors and students. The interpretive approach draws upon Foucaultian theory, critical discourse analysis, and (post)critical theory traditions. Accordingly, the power asymmetries between supervisor and student are seen as productive - in the sense of creatively fertile - and not merely synonymous with prohibition or disempowerment. Within five interpretive chapters, I engage with the productive and problematic aspects of supervisory relations, making visible how supervisory feedback assists in the formation of students' scholarly identities. My analysis examines how the pressures to ensure the production of timely and disciplined thesis texts are impacting on feedback relations. It also examines various ambiguities and tensions such as those embedded in the supervisor's position as 'pastor' and 'critic', between asymmetrical and relational power, between the promotion of authorship/autonomy on the one hand, and the preservation of the canon on the other. My discussion highlights the ways supervisors, notwithstanding their authority, attempt to mediate the power disparity through mechanisms such as standing back, withholding and filtering feedback, or using the invitational strategies of 'under offering' which downplay the disciplinary nature of their work. I also reflect on what makes acceptance or resistance more or less likely and what promotes/hinders the transition to and reliance on students' own expertise. Overall, the interpretations I offer suggest that the exercise of power is never straightforward, is opaque and ambiguous and susceptible to misunderstanding and unpredictability. My research thus reveals a picture of social relations that is less orderly and transparent than assumed in the institutional literature and associated guidelines. In particular, the research qualifies the current institutional faith that PhD research/writing is a transparent process, within which supervisors can be trained in the 'skills' for providing effective feedback so students can work at an efficient pace and produce predictable results
Chronic constipation in adults: contemporary perspectives and clinical challenges. 1: Epidemiology, diagnosis, clinical associations, pathophysiology and investigation
No full textBACKGROUND: Chronic constipation is a prevalent disorder that affects patients' quality of life and consumes resources in healthcare systems worldwide. In clinical practice, it is still considered a challenge as clinicians frequently are unsure as to which treatments to use and when. Over a decade ago, a Neurogastroenterology & Motility journal supplement devoted to the investigation and management of constipation was published (2009; 21 (Suppl.2)). This included seven articles, disseminating all themes covered during a preceding 2-day meeting held in London, entitled “Current perspectives in chronic constipation: a scientific and clinical symposium.” In October 2018, the 3rd London Masterclass, entitled “Contemporary management of constipation” was held, again over 2 days. All faculty members were invited to author two new review articles, which represent a collective synthesis of talks presented and discussions held during this meeting. PURPOSE: This article represents the first of these reviews, addressing epidemiology, diagnosis, clinical associations, pathophysiology, and investigation. Clearly, not all aspects of the condition can be covered in adequate detail; hence, there is a focus on particular “hot topics” and themes that are of contemporary interest. The second review addresses management of chronic constipation, covering behavioral, conservative, medical, and surgical therapies.</p
The life and works of Osbert of Clare
No full textOsbert of Clare was an English monastic writer, whose works extended from
the mid-1120s to the mid-1150s. His Latin hagiography reflects a deep admiration for
Anglo-Saxon saints and spirituality, while his letters provide a personal perspective
on his turbulent career. As prior of Westminster Abbey, Osbert of Clare worked to
strengthen the rights and prestige of his monastery. His production of forged or
altered charters makes him one of England's most prolific medieval forgers. At times
his passion for reform put him at odds with his abbots, and he was sent into exile
under both Abbot Herbert (1121-c.1136) and Abbot Gervase (1138-c.1157). Also
Osbert, as one of the first proponents of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, wrote
about the feast, worked to legitimize its celebration, and provided us with the only
significant narration of its introduction to England.
This thesis is divided into two sections. The first section is principally
historical and the second is principally literary. In the first section, I provide an
overview of Osbert of Clare's career and examine in greater detail two of his most
significant undertaking: his promotion of Westminster Abbey and his attempted
canonization of Edward the Confessor. In the second section, I give a philological
study of Osbert Latin style and examine themes that nm throughout his writings, such
as virginity, exile and kingship. Osbert's promotion of the feast of the Immaculate
Conception is included in the second section of the thesis because of its ties to the
themes of virginity and femininity within his writings. There are also two appendices:
the first is a survey of the extant manuscripts of Osbert's writings, and the second is
an edition of Osbert's unpublished Life of St Ethelbert from Gotha,
Forschungsbibliothek MS Memb. i. 8l
Learning in captivity: dissecting principles of normalization, openness, and responsibility for adult learners
No full textPrison education is a timely topic considering today’s global focus on digital rehabilitation and the recent return of public funding for higher education for persons incarcerated in the United States (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2023; UNICRI, 2024). Yet, important questions remain about how persons deprived of liberty (PDL) navigate learning in carceral settings, and the value of learning for their lives inside and in preparation for release. This qualitative exploratory and descriptive case study took place inside three correctional facilities in Austria from June 2022 to May 2023. A total of 46 semi-structured interviews were conducted, encompassing 16 prison personnel (teachers, social workers, pedagogues, and correctional officers) and 30 PDLs. The following three research questions were addressed from data sources including interviews, informal observations, and document reviews: 1) What value do prison staff and learners ascribe to learning? 2) How does the prison environment impact learning? 3) How, if so, was learning impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic? With the help of strategies of grounded theory analysis, research findings were situated within the tenets of andragogy (Knowles, 1990) and principles of normalization, openness, and responsibility (Rentzmann, 1996). The study captured a blurry distinction between education and vocational training, with “fully-fledged” apprenticeships approximating the principle of normalization and being highly regarded by PDLs and staff. For non-native speakers, learning German was a gateway to education and navigating life inside prison. Principles of responsibility and openness were found within technology- assisted learning programs, including university degrees, language classes, and external apprenticeship programs. The study discovered that various accommodations were made for students during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, including the extension of apprenticeship contracts, the use of internal teachers, and increased security measures to lessen the spread of the virus. Within the context of a total institution (Goffman, 1961), the study captured the intersections of institutional, cultural, and personal barriers to learning. Findings suggest the continuation of education specialists increased flexible learning support for self-directed learners, including university students and non-native learners.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
The workshop as the work: white anti-racism organising in 1960s, 70s, and 80s US social movements
Get PDFThis thesis explores the rise of anti-racism workshops developed by white activists in various United States social movements from the late 1960s through the mid-1980s. The shifting ideology of the black freedom movement in the late 1960s, from integration to Black Power, transformed white activists‘ place within racial justice struggles. While recent scholarship has begun to turn its attention towards whites‘ ongoing racial justice activities, one of the most radical and widespread of these efforts is consistently overlooked: anti-racism workshops. Increasingly prevalent from the late 1960s through to the diversity-trainings explosion of the 1990s, this thesis demonstrates that these workshops had their roots in the black freedom, women‘s liberation and gay liberation movements. White activists from these movements led these workshops in order to examine white racial domination and privilege within both leftist social movements and larger US society.
Analysing case studies from the black freedom, women‘s liberation and gay liberation/rights movements, this thesis explores the foundational assumptions of anti-racism workshops. It seeks to explain how and why these efforts sought to frame race and racism as issues of knowledge and consciousness and why such efforts constituted radical praxis. It is argued that early anti-racism workshops were pedagogical projects that sought to confront the racial ignorance that structured the lives of whites in the US, including progressives and their liberation movements. This thesis draws attention to the efficacy and power of these workshops in terms of their epistemological effects, in the transformations they brought about in whites‘ understanding, or awareness, of racial realities
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Author Correction: Study of 300,486 individuals identifies 148 independent genetic loci influencing general cognitive function
Get PDFChristina M. Lill, who contributed to analysis of data, was inadvertently omitted from the author list in the originally published version of this article. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the article
Author correction: Study of 300,486 individuals identifies 148 independent genetic loci influencing general cognitive function
Get PDFChristina M. Lill, who contributed to analysis of data, was inadvertently omitted from the author list in the originally published version of this article. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the article
Two eighteenth-century English adaptations of the Celestina : Celestina: or the Spanish bawd : a tragi-comedy; and the Bawd of Madrid.
No full textPhDThe introductory chapter discusses previous studies of Celestina
imitations and adaptations, and the position of early Celestinesque
works in Spanish literature. I then move further afield to investigate
the diffusion of the Celestina in the rest of Europe, especially in
England. Chapter II comments on the general influence of Spain on
English literature with particular reference to the two eighteenth-century
adaptations of the Celestina. Chapter III suggests some
implications of the simultaneous appearance of these two adaptations.
Chapters IV-VI are devoted to a closer examination of the dramatic
adaptation, A Tragi-Comedy; an investigation into its sources, and
the manner in which it remodels its original for the stages culminates
in a discussion of the adapters' identity. Chapters VII-IX deal with
The Bawd of Madrid; a biographical sketch of its author, Captain
Stevens, is followed by a discussion of which version of the Celestina
he used and of the sources for the description of Madrid in his first
chapter. Chapter IX looks at the way he reworks the Spanish Tragi-comedia
into a narrative account. I bring together in Chapter X
elements from both adaptations for purposes of comparison. The final
chapter shows the similarities between the fictional world of the
Celestina and the environment of early eighteenth-century London, and
I suggest why these English adaptations may have been particularly
apposite at this time
