A critical discourse analysis of the media coverage of the migration crisis in Poland: The Polish Catholic Church's perception of the 'migration crisis'

This paper discusses the Polish Catholic Church’s perception of the recent European migration crisis by examining its discursive practices through the lens of critical discourse analysis. We focus on two of the official communication channels of the Church: the website of the Polish Episcopate Conference (PEC) and the weekly magazine ekai.pl, published by the PEC-owned Catholic Information Agency (CIA). We demonstrate that despite the official appeal of the Polish Episcopate for Christian hospitality, views of bishops participating in the public debate on the migration crisis are not unanimous, but polarised. These internal divisions on the issue parallel the ambivalent stance of the Polish Church on Poland’s place in the European Union. The negative attitude of the majority of Poles to migrants, resulting in the refusal to participate in the European relocation programme, is sanctioned not only by the ruling political party but also by some representatives of religious authorities

The Virgin Mary in the narratives of contemporary Catholic and Muslim mothers in Poland

In this paper, we demonstrate how the figure of the Virgin Mary functions as an important element of the lived religion of contemporary Catholic and Muslim mothers in Poland. Based on the analysis of in-depth interviews and observational data we argue that the figure of Mary is recognized as a religious ideal and a role model by mothers identifying with both religions. We trace similarities and differences between Catholic and Muslim mothers in their reflexive engagement with ideas, symbols, and prescriptions attached to Mary and discuss how they reinvent the figure and ascribe it with personalised meanings: embrace some of the traditional attributes of Mary, challenge, and contest others, and construct new meanings firmly embedded in their daily life mothering experiences.In this paper, we demonstrate how the figure of the Virgin Mary functions as an important element of the lived religion of contemporary Catholic and Muslim mothers in Poland. Based on the analysis of in-depth interviews and observational data we argue that the figure of Mary is recognized as a religious ideal and a role model by mothers identifying with both religions. We trace similarities and differences between Catholic and Muslim mothers in their reflexive engagement with ideas, symbols, and prescriptions attached to Mary and discuss how they reinvent the figure and ascribe it with personalised meanings: embrace some of the traditional attributes of Mary, challenge, and contest others, and construct new meanings firmly embedded in their daily life mothering experiences

What works? Toward a new classification system for mental health supported accommodation services : the Simple Taxonomy for Supported Accommodation (STAX-SA)

Inconsistent terminology and variation in service models have made synthesis of the supported accommodation literature challenging. To overcome this, we developed a brief, categorical taxonomy that aimed to capture the defining features of different supported accommodation models: the simple taxonomy for supported accommodation (STAX-SA). Data from a previous review of existing classification systems were used to develop the taxonomy structure. After initial testing and amendments, the STAX-SA and an existing taxonomy were applied to 132 supported accommodation service descriptions drawn from two systematic reviews and their performance compared. To assess external validity, the STAX-SA was distributed to a sample of supported accommodation managers in England and they were asked to use it to classify their services. The final version of the STAX-SA comprised of five supported accommodation "types", based on four domains; Staffing location; Level of support; Emphasis on move-on; and Physical setting. The STAX-SA accurately categorized 71.1% (n = 94) of service descriptions, outperforming the comparison tool, and was not affected by publication date or research design. The STAX-SA effectively discriminated between ‘real world’ service models in England and 53.2% (n = 17) of service managers indicated that the taxonomy was "Very effective" or "Extremely effective" in capturing key characteristics of their service. The STAX-SA is an effective tool for classifying supported accommodation models and represents a promising approach to synthesizing the extant effectiveness literature. The authors recommend the development of reporting guidelines for future supported accommodation publications to facilitate comparison between models

Development and psychometric properties of the client's assessment of treatment scale for supported accommodation (CAT-SA)

This paper presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grants for Applied Research scheme (RP-PG-0610-10097)

Adaptation of the Quality Indicator for Rehabilitative Care (QuIRC) for use in mental health supported accommodation services (QuIRC-SA).

BACKGROUND: No standardised tools for assessing the quality of specialist mental health supported accommodation services exist. To address this, we adapted the Quality Indicator for Rehabilitative care-QuIRC-that was originally developed to assess the quality of longer term inpatient and community based mental health facilities. The QuIRC, which is completed by the service manager and gives ratings of seven domains of care, has good psychometric properties. METHODS: Focus groups with staff of the three main types of supported accommodation in the UK (residential care, supported housing and floating outreach services) were carried out to identify potential amendments to the QuIRC. Additional advice was gained from consultation with three expert panels, two of which comprised service users with lived experience of mental health and supported accommodation services. The amended QuIRC (QuIRC-SA) was piloted with a manager of each of the three service types. Item response variance, inter-rater reliability and internal consistency were assessed in a random sample of 52 services. Factorial structure and discriminant validity were assessed in a larger random sample of 87 services. RESULTS: The QuIRC-SA comprised 143 items of which only 18 items showed a narrow range of response and five items had poor inter-rater reliability. The tool showed good discriminant validity, with supported housing services generally scoring higher than the other two types of supported accommodation on most domains. Exploratory factor analysis showed that the QuIRC-SA items loaded onto the domains to which they had been allocated. CONCLUSIONS: The QuIRC-SA is the first standardised tool for quality assessment of specialist mental health supported accommodation services. Its psychometric properties mean that it has potential for use in research as well as audit and quality improvement programmes. A web based application is being developed to make it more accessible which will produce a printable report for the service manager about the performance of their service, comparison data for similar services and suggestions on how to improve service quality

"I discovered I love to pray alone too" : pluralist Muslim women’s approaches to practicing Islam during and after Ramadan 2020

Public health guidelines implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic have changed the way many people practice religion. In the realm of Islam, practices from the margins-attending online mosques and prayer groups, or praying alone-suddenly became commonplace. This paper addresses the question : What religious processes have become more evident among pluralist Muslim women during the pandemic? Based on 34 open-ended online surveys completed by pluralist Muslim women living chiefly in the USA and the UK, our analysis evidences the existence of four narratives that reflect fluctuations in the intensity and type of religious practice. The first and most prominent narrative in our dataset conveys enthusiastic embrace of social-distanced practices; the second describes a profound sense of aberration impossible to overcome in spiritual ways. The third highlights that for some Muslims, the pandemic brought no changes, as they continued to be isolated from their communities. The fourth is focused on an affirmation of a "remote" sociality experienced online. While some respondents acknowledge the increased individuation in their religious practice, they also find fulfilment in collective, if transformed, sociality. The changes in social interaction have led to a re-evaluation of salient aspects of their religious identity or, alternatively, highlighted longstanding modalities of exclusion

The personal position repertoire method and focus group discussion

The advancement of the Dialogiacal Self Theory (DST) in the last two decades has been stimulated by vigorous developments in DST-based research methods recognizing dialogicality as a salient characteristic of the self. This chapter will present the combination of the Personal Position Repertoire (PPR), a method for studying the content and organization of the self, conceived as a dynamic multiplicity of I-positions, with a focus group. This integrated method gives insight into the construction and negotiation of meaning in the dialogue with others and sheds some light on interpersonal processes shaping the content and structure of the self. The chapter is divided into four parts focusing on: (a) the theoretical basis of the PPR method in Dialogical Self Theory, (b) description of the method, including an overview of different possible ways to analyse personal repertoires, (c) two case studies illustrating the application of the PPR method in combination with a focus group discussion, and (d) conclusions discussing the advantages and limitations of the integrated PPR Focus Group method (PPR-FG)