Developing transferable management skills through Action Learning

There has been increasing criticism of the relevance of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) in developing skills and competencies. Action learning, devised to address problem-solving in the workplace, offers a potential response to such criticism. This paper offers an insight into one university’s attempt to integrate action learning into the curriculum. Sixty-five part-time students were questioned at two points in their final year about their action learning experience and the enhancement of relevant skills and competencies. Results showed a mixed picture. Strong confirmation of the importance of selected skills and competencies contrasted with weaker agreement about the extent to which these were developed by action learning. There was, nonetheless, a firm belief in the positive impact on the learning process. The paper concludes that action learning is not a panacea but has an important role in a repertoire of educational approaches to develop relevant skills and competencies

The diffusion of IP telephony and vendors' commercialisation strategies

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in the Journal of Information Technology. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available at the link below.The Internet telephony (IP telephony) has been presented as a technology that can replace existing fixed-line services and disrupt the telecommunications industry by offering new low-priced services. This study investigates the diffusion of IP telephony in Denmark by focusing on vendors’ commercialisation strategies. The theory of disruptive innovation is introduced to investigate vendors’ perceptions about IP telephony and explore their strategies that affect the diffusion process in the residential market. The analysis is based on interview data collected from the key market players. The study's findings suggest that IP telephony is treated as a sustaining innovation that goes beyond the typical voice transmission and enables provision of advanced services such as video telephony

Prescribing for personality disorder: qualitative study of interviews with general and forensic consultant psychiatrists.

Aims and method To explore experiences of psychiatrists considering medication for patients with personality disorder by analysis of transcribed, semi-structured interviews with consultants. Results Themes show important relational processes in which not prescribing is expected to be experienced as uncaring rejection, and psychiatrists felt helpless and inadequate as doctors when unable to relieve symptoms by prescribing. Discontinuity in doctor-patient relationships compounds these problems. Clinical implications Problems arise from: (a) the psychopathology creating powerful relational effects in consultation; (b) the lack of effective treatments, both actual and secondary to under-resourcing and neglect of non-pharmaceutical interventions; and (c) the professionally constructed role of psychiatrists prioritising healing and cure through provision of technological interventions for specific diagnoses. There is a need for more treatments and services for patients with personality disorder; more support and training for psychiatrists in the relational complexities of prescribing; and a rethink of the trend for psychiatrists to be seen primarily as prescribers

‘The own’ and ‘the wise’ as social support for older people living with HIV in the United Kingdom

As the HIV population ages, how the ageing and HIV experiences intersect to shape the lives of older people living with HIV (PLWH) becomes an increasingly pressing question. This multi-method study investigated social support, mental health and quality of life among 100 older PLWH in the United Kingdom. Drawing on data from three focus groups and 74 life-history interviews with older (aged 50+) White men who have sex with men (MSM), and Black African and White heterosexual men and women, living with HIV, we explore participants’ distinctions between, evaluations of and access to sources of social support. Participants distinguished between support from the HIV-negative (Goffman's ‘the own’) and experientially based support from other PLWH (Goffman's ‘the wise’), and viewed the former, while valuable, as needing to be supplemented by the latter. Furthermore, access to experientially based support varied across participant groups, whose communities had different histories with HIV/AIDS and thus different degrees of knowledge about HIV and avenues for connecting to other PLWH. Thus, social support among older PLWH cannot be neatly divided into ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ domains, or fully appreciated by applying traditional social support measures, including, in the context of health conditions, ‘peer support’ created through formal service organisations. Rather, older PLWH's own distinctions and evaluations better illuminate the complexities of social support in the context of ageing with HIV

Video summarisation: A conceptual framework and survey of the state of the art

This is the post-print (final draft post-refereeing) version of the article. Copyright @ 2007 Elsevier Inc.Video summaries provide condensed and succinct representations of the content of a video stream through a combination of still images, video segments, graphical representations and textual descriptors. This paper presents a conceptual framework for video summarisation derived from the research literature and used as a means for surveying the research literature. The framework distinguishes between video summarisation techniques (the methods used to process content from a source video stream to achieve a summarisation of that stream) and video summaries (outputs of video summarisation techniques). Video summarisation techniques are considered within three broad categories: internal (analyse information sourced directly from the video stream), external (analyse information not sourced directly from the video stream) and hybrid (analyse a combination of internal and external information). Video summaries are considered as a function of the type of content they are derived from (object, event, perception or feature based) and the functionality offered to the user for their consumption (interactive or static, personalised or generic). It is argued that video summarisation would benefit from greater incorporation of external information, particularly user based information that is unobtrusively sourced, in order to overcome longstanding challenges such as the semantic gap and providing video summaries that have greater relevance to individual users

Decision-making regarding place of birth in high-risk pregnancy: a qualitative study

Introduction: Women consider factors including safety and the psychological impact of their chosen location when deciding whether to give birth in hospital or at home. The same is true for women with high-risk pregnancies who may plan homebirths against medical advice. This study investigated women’s decision-making during high-risk pregnancies. Half the participants were planning hospital births and half were planning homebirths. Methods: A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews set in a hospital maternity department in the UK. Twenty-six participants with high-risk pregnancies, at least 32 weeks pregnant. Results were analysed using systematic thematic analysis. Results: Three themes emerged: perceptions of birth at home and hospital; beliefs about how birth should be; and the decision process. Both groups were concerned about safety but they expressed different concerns. Women drew psychological comfort from their chosen birth location. Women planning homebirths displayed faith in the natural birth process and stressed the quality of the birth experience. Women planning hospital births believed the access to medical care outweighed their misgivings about the physical environment. Discussion: Although women from both groups expressed similar concerns about safety they reached different decisions about how these should be addressed regarding birth location. These differences may be related to beliefs about the birth process. Commitment to their decisions may have helped reduce cognitive stress

Attitudes to weight and weight management in the early teenage years : A qualitative study of parental perceptions and views

© 2014 The Authors. Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: As most young teenagers grow up in families, parents might be well situated to facilitate and support their weight management and thereby prevent or manage obesity prior to adulthood. Aim: This paper explores parents’ perceptions of, and views about, their teenage children’s weight and the factors that influence parents’ weight management strategies. Design, setting and participants: We conducted two qualitative studies in Scotland, UK, involving in-depth interviews with the parents of overweight/obese and ‘normal’ weight 13-15 year olds (n=69). Findings: Parents’ concerns about their own weight provided useful context for understanding their attitudes or actions with regards to their teenage child. Some parents described their teenager’s weight as being of concern to them, although puberty often introduced confusion about a child’s weight status. Genetic explanations were very often put forward as a way of making sense of teenage weight or body size. Frustration about advising teenagers about weight management was expressed and some parents worried about giving their growing child a ‘problem’ if they directly raised concerns about weight with them. Discussion: Parents’ views about their own weight as well as social and moral norms about labelling a teenager as overweight or as needing help with their weight could usefully inform patient-centred service development. Parent/teenage partnerships and supporting parents to create a healthy home in which teenagers can make healthier choices are suggestions for intervention development. Conclusion: The study highlights the importance of taking parents’ perceptions into account when developing family-based interventions to address teenage overweight and obesity.Peer reviewe

Together, yet still not equal? Sex integration in equestrian sport

Sex segregation is a core organising principle of most modern sports and is a key element in the marginalisation and subordination of girls and women in sport and beyond. In this article I explore the only Olympic-level sport which is not organised around sex segregation – equestrian sport – in order to consider the implications of sex integration for female participants. I draw on a study conducted on elite riders that found that although sex integration in equestrian sport does not lead to female participants being excluded from high-level competition, men continue to perform disproportionately well. This suggests that although sex integration may be an important step towards breaking down gender hierarchies in sport, without accompanying wider changes in gender norms and expectations, sex integration alone will not be enough to achieve greater gender equality in equestrian sport

Swimming for dementia: an exploratory qualitative study

Swimming is a non-weight bearing form of exercise that can be enjoyable and promote physical fitness. This qualitative study investigated a local group established as part of a national dementia swimming initiative. Semi-structured interviews with people with dementia (N=4), carers or companions (N=4) and the organisers and facilitators of the group (N=6) were analysed using thematic analysis. This revealed four main themes: (1) the pleasure of swimming and its benefits as a form of exercise and for building confidence and empowering participants; (2) the importance of insight and empathy in creating a safe and secure experience; (3) the impact of dementia; and (4) how participants valued being part of a group ‘all in the same boat’. ‘Dementia friendly swimming’ appears to be a valuable form of exercise but it requires considerable preparation and support to make it happen