How and why do South Asians attend GUM clinics? Evidence from contrasting GUM clinics across England

Background: Improving access to sexual healthcare is a priority in the UK, especially for ethnic minorities. Though South Asians in the UK report low levels of sexual ill health, few data exist regarding their use of genitourinary medicine (GUM) services. Objectives: To describe reasons for attendance at GUM clinics among individuals of South Asian origin relative to patients of other ethnicities. Methods: 4600 new attendees (5% South Asian; n=226) at seven sociodemographically and geographically contrasting GUM clinics across England completed a questionnaire between October 2004 and March 2005, which were linked to routine clinical data. Results: South Asians were more likely than other groups to be signposted to the GUM clinic by another health service-for example, in women 14% versus 8% respectively (p=0.005) reported doing so from a family planning clinic. These women also reported that they would be less likely to go to the clinic if their symptoms resolved spontaneously compared with other women (51% vs 31%, p=0.024). However, relative to other clinic attendees, no differences in the proportions of South Asians who had acute STI(s) diagnosed at clinic were noted. Furthermore, South Asian men were more likely to report as their reason for attendance that they wanted an HIV test (23.4% vs 14.8%, p=0.005). Conclusion: Despite having similar STI care needs to attendees from other ethnic groups, South Asians, especially women, may be reluctant to seek care from GUM clinics, especially if their symptoms resolve. Sexual health services need to develop locally-delivered and culturally-appropriate initiatives to improve care pathways

The use of information technology in the community : an evaluation.

This research describes the evaluation of SPRITE (Sheffield Peoples' Resource for Information Technology), an innovative project fundet by the European Social Fund and Sheffield City Council Department of Employment and Economic Development. The aim of the project is to make I.T. resources accessible to unwaged people in their local community centres. SPRITE was evaluated during the first two years of the project's implementation. The evaluation was set in an action research framework and evaluation findings were regularly fed back into the project. Therefore the emphasis of the research was on understanding the processes by which the project developed, as well as describing and analysing project outcomes. A variety of qualitative data collection techniques were used and the analysis and interpretation of this data is presented in a series of in-depth case studies. The thesis provides: 1. An overall evaluation of the project, focusing on six research questions. These include an analysis of the impact that involvement with SPRITE had on unwaged individuals, and the impact on the community centres where the project was based. 2. An assessment of the extent to which the psychological literature can provide insights into the issues that the project raises, for example, the application of the organisational psychology literature to community organisations. 3. A review of action research as a technique in the light of the results of the evaluation of SPRITE. ~. Practical recommendations for those involved with the implementation of, or the evaluation of, similar community projects. The results of the evaluation are discussed in terms of these four areas. The conclusions note that SPRITE was successful in making I.T. resources accessible to unwaged people in Sheffield, and that the tools of organisational analysis can be useful to organisations within the community sector. A model of action research which focuses on the different characteristics of feedback at various stages of an evaluation is provided. Additionally a list of recommendations aimed at service providers within the voluntary or community sector is produced

The implementation of chlamydia screening: a cross-sectional study in the south east of England

Background England's National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) provides opportunistic testing for under 25 year-olds in healthcare and non-healthcare settings. The authors aimed to explore relationships between coverage and positivity in relation to demographic characteristics or setting, in order to inform efficient and sustainable implementation of the NCSP. Methods The authors analysed mapped NCSP testing data from the South East region of England between April 2006 and March 2007 inclusive to population characteristics. Coverage was estimated by sex, demographic characteristics and service characteristics, and variation in positivity by setting and population group. Results Coverage in females was lower in the least deprived areas compared with the most deprived areas (OR 0.48; 95% CI 0.45 to 0.50). Testing rates were lower in 20 1324-year-olds compared with 15 1319-year-olds (OR 0.69; 95% CI 0.67 to 0.72 for females and OR 0.67; 95% CI 0.64 to 0.71 for males), but positivity was higher in older males. Females were tested most often in healthcare services, which also identified the most positives. The greatest proportions of male tests were in university (27%) and military (19%) settings which only identified a total of 11% and 13% of total male positives respectively. More chlamydia-positive males were identified through healthcare services despite fewer numbers of tests. Conclusions Testing of males focused on institutional settings where there is a low yield of positives, and limited capacity for expansion. By contrast, the testing of females, especially in urban environments, was mainly through established healthcare services. Future strategies should prioritise increasing male testing in healthcare settings

Intersectional identities and career progression in retail: The experiences of minority‐ethnic women

Contributing to scholarship on diversity and inclusion (D&I) and careers within UK retailing, this paper documents the lived experiences of minority-ethnic women working in retail. Given the extensive research on both the career obstacles faced by women in a highly feminized sector and the disadvantages experienced by minority-ethnic workers in the UK labor market more broadly, consideration of social identity categories beyond gender and their impact on retailing careers in the existing literature is limited. Here we use intersectionality theory to explain how individual-level identity categories, such as gender, ethnicity and religion, intersect with wider organisational practices, which disadvantage the career progression of minority-ethnic women in UK retail. In a service-driven sector dependent upon consumers, we conclude that there is a need to consider intersectional identity experiences and power relations within the customer-employee relationship, as this disproportionately affects minority-ethnic women and the realization of their career goals in retail

Automatically Generating Conversational Behaviors in Animated Agents

In the creation of synthetic computer characters, the creators shouldn\u27t have to create or control every move of their life like human agents: for example, during the progress of a search or planning system, responding to knowledge based queries, or portraying autonomous agents during real-time virtual environment simulations. For these automated characters we must generate behavior on the basis of rules abstracted from the study of human behavior

The face of the firm: the impact of employer branding on diversity

Drawing upon an employer branding lens to help explore and inform our understanding of the marketing of workforce diversity, here we argue that diversity is understood and used in an aesthetic and commercialized way, rather than with a focus upon the inclusion of disadvantaged groups. Our analysis of the marketing and diversity practices of four small and medium-sized law firms demonstrates a continued access-and-legitimacy approach to diversity: that a desire for successful employer branding still supersedes organizational commitment to equal opportunities and diversity management in practice. We argue that this commercialized approach leads to several contradictions, which in turn reproduce the market-based perspective of diversity, relegating employees primarily to the aesthetics of race and gender and the affiliated skills and resources. In theorizing the processes by which diversity is undermined and functions solely to enhance business image and increase organizational performance, we highlight how an employer branding lens enables us to identify and understand contradictions between diversity policy and practice in a different way, by linking aesthetics with the marketing of the brand

Resolving couples' work-family conflicts: The complexity of decision making and the introduction of a new framework

The goal of this study is to develop a theoretical framework in order to illuminate the cues involved in real life work-family conflict resolution within dual-earner couples. We draw on episodic and longitudinal data from qualitative diaries kept for a one-month period by both members of 24 dual-earner couples (48 participants) with child dependants, as well as from introductory and subsequent in-depth qualitative interviews with the couples, both together and apart. Two distinct types of work-family decision making: a) anchoring decisions and b) daily decisions were revealed, each of which were differentially impacted by enabling and constraining cues, considerations of fairness and equity, and beliefs, values and preferences. The findings suggest that the decision-making process engaged in by couples in incidents of work-family conflict does not progress in a logical sequence, but instead involves numerous complex negotiations and interactions. A decision-making framework encapsulating these findings is reported, highlighting the cues considered when making both types of work-family conflict decisions, and the relationships between them.Full Tex

Providing, Performing and Protecting: The Importance of Work Identities in Negotiating Conflicting Work-Family Ideals as a Single Mother

Open access articleThe aims of this paper are twofold. First, we aim to expand understanding of work–family experiences beyond the prevalent emphasis on traditional couple-headed families within organization and management literatures by focusing on the experiences of employed single mothers. Second, we aim to gain insight into how work and family meanings may be negotiated in the context of heightened conflicting ideals and demands. Drawing on rich qualitative data from in-depth interviews and diaries, our findings make three important contributions to the existing work–family literature. First, we show that conflicting work and family ideals are not only exacerbated for single mothers, but viable narrative strategies with which to negotiate this conflict are also restricted. Second, we highlight how narratives constructed around the meaning of work are key to single mothers’ negotiation of conflicting work and family ideals and identify three work narratives drawn upon by single mothers focused on providing, performing and protecting. Finally, we demonstrate how shifts between single mothers’ work narratives are particularly influenced by progression opportunities and a supportive work environment. We conclude by making suggestions for future work–family researc