The Unseen Life of Tom Hill

The office that Dr. Thomas Hill works in is large, complete with a wood paneled desk, wall-to-wall bookshelf and conference table. Iowa State University’s vice president of student affairs uses all this space, bouncing back and forth from desk to conference table—whichever is the least covered in stacks of paper at the time. His day is filled with meetings and phone calls, whether it’s a meeting to advise a group of graduate students working on a project or taking a call from an old Olympic teammate who’s looking to get one of his athletes a scholarship

Revealing the hidden performances of social work practice:The ethnographic process of gaining access, getting into place and impression management.

Whilst the empirical process of research highlights substantive findings, understanding the methodological approach in which access is gained and sustained on field sites is also an integral part of the data. Gaining access in ethnographic studies, in particular, is a complex task which requires researchers to continually negotiate systems and processes in order that they may reflect on the socially embedded practices of their chosen fields. However once the researchers are accepted, the ethnographer then has to be aware of the effect their presence has on the field and that access is continual process of negotiation and contestation. Based on a longitudinal study which conducted a 15-month ethnography in two social work organizations, this article will explore the dilemmas various members of a research team experienced when trying to blend into the different sites. And then, once having achieved their desired position, the challenges they encountered when they realized their presence was affecting the performances of their participants. We conclude by discussing the importance of reflexivity, power and ethics. Ethnographic research may be a more natural way for researchers to collect data but it is also a method which positions researchers in situations where they can easily influence encounters and, in effect, become part of the findings as well

Ethical and Anti-Oppressive Metadata: A Collaboration Between Catalogers and Archivists at George Mason University Libraries

Systems of library and archival resource description have historically reinforced the societal power structures of white supremacy, patriarchy, and cis-heteronormativity. Following the framework of critical librarianship and acknowledging our positionality as predominately white departments, George Mason University Libraries’ Metadata Services (MS) and Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) have been engaging in a variety of projects of reparative resource description. To discuss points of collaboration between the two departments, the Task Force for Ethical and Anti-Oppressive Metadata (TEAM) was formed, consisting of staff and faculty members from both groups who work with resource description. Although the departments have a history of collaboration, TEAM has provided us an opportunity to work together in a holistic way, giving us a space for learning, exchanging ideas, and sharing insights and resources. The particular focus of this group has been the identification of existing harmful and biased language in resource description and the exploration and installment of alternatives. In this Field Report we demonstrate how MS and SCRC have been collaboratively engaging in reparative description within the university libraries, discuss our theoretical framework, approach its impact outside of the library, and share examples of ongoing projects. This report provides a model for collaborative work that addresses and interrupts the perpetuation of harm in resource description

“Isn’t it funny the children that are further away we don’t think about as much?”: Using GPS to explore the Mobilities and Geographies of Social Work and Child Protection Practice

Social work is an inherently mobile and spatial profession; child protection social workers travel to meet families in diverse contexts, such as families' homes, schools, court and many more. However, rising bureaucracy, managerialism and workloads are all combining to push social workers to complete increasing volumes of work outside their working hours (Broadhurst et al., 2009, 2010; Unison, 2017). Such concerns lead to the perception that social workers are increasingly immobilised, finding themselves desk-bound and required to spend much of their working day navigating time-consuming computer systems. This immobilisation of social workers has considerable implications, restricting professionals' abilities to undertake the face-to-face work required to build relationships with families. However, until now, the actual movements of social workers, and how (lack of) movement affects ability to practice, remain unknown. In this paper we report on innovative research methods using GPS [Global Positioning System] devices that can trace social workers' mobilities and explore the use of office space, home working and visits to families in two English social work departments. This article presents unique findings that reveal how mobile working is shaping social care practitioner wellbeing and practice

Safety culture: the Nottingham Veterinary Safety Culture Survey (NVSCS)

Safety culture is a vital concept in human healthcare because of its influence on staff behaviours in relation to patient safety. Understanding safety culture is essential to ensure the acceptance and sustainability of changes, such as the introduction of safe surgery checklists. While widely studied and assessed in human medicine, there is no tool for its assessment in veterinary medicine. This paper therefore presents initial data on such an assessment: the Nottingham Veterinary Safety Culture Survey (NVSCS). 350 pilot surveys were distributed to practising vets and nurses. The survey was also available online. 229 surveys were returned (65 per cent response rate) and 183 completed online, resulting in 412 surveys for analysis. Four domains were identified: (1) organisational safety systems and behaviours, (2) staff perceptions of management, (3) risk perceptions and (4) teamwork and communication. Initial indications of the reliability and the validity of the final survey are presented. Although early in development, the resulting 29-item NVSCS is presented as a tool for measuring safety culture in veterinary practices with implications for benchmarking, safety culture assessment and teamwork training

Supervision in child protection: A space and place for reflection or an excruciating marathon of compliance?

Supervision is promoted as an essential element of effective professional practice in social work. Its benefits include promoting reflective social work and assisting with the management of the emotions generated in challenging practice. This article reports on the observations of supervision in a 15-month ethnographic study of social work teams on two very different sites in England, one using hot-desking the other a small team design. Our findings show how supervision is constituted by temporal, spatial and relational elements and that some current organisational designs do not create the ideal environment for reflective supervision to flourish. Far from providing an opportunity for containment of challenging emotions, supervision was sometimes a source of stress. It was experienced as reflective and containing where managers were accessible and space was made for thinking in a context of openness that encouraged regular deep conversations about current work. By experiencing the atmospheres of supervisory encounters and organisational cultures, this study has enabled us to produce new insights into the embodied nature of supervision as it is lived

A Lifestyle Medicine Clinic in a Community Pharmacy Setting

Chronic diseases continue to be a significant burden to the health care system. Pharmacists have been able to show that drug therapy for patients with chronic diseases can be improved through medication therapy management (MTM) services but have yet to become significantly involved in implementing lifestyle modification programs to further control and prevent chronic conditions. A novel and innovative lifestyle medicine program was started by pharmacists in a community pharmacy in 2008 to more comprehensively prevent and manage chronic conditions. The lifestyle medicine program consists of designing seven personalized programs for patients to address physical activity, nutrition, alcohol consumption, weight control, stress management, sleep success, and tobacco cessation (if needed). The lifestyle medicine program complements existing MTM services for patients with hypertension, dyslipidemia, and/or diabetes. This program is innovative because pharmacists have developed and implemented a method to combine lifestyle medicine with MTM services to not only manage chronic conditions, but prevent the progression of those conditions and others. Several innovative tools have also been developed to enhance the effectiveness of a lifestyle medicine program. This manuscript describes the program's pharmacy setting, pharmacy personnel, participants and program details as well as the tools used to integrate a lifestyle medicine program with MTM services. Type: Clinical Experienc

A Lifestyle Medicine Clinic in a Community Pharmacy Setting

Chronic diseases continue to be a significant burden to the health care system. Pharmacists have been able to show that drug therapy for patients with chronic diseases can be improved through medication therapy management (MTM) services but have yet to become significantly involved in implementing lifestyle modification programs to further control and prevent chronic conditions. A novel and innovative lifestyle medicine program was started by pharmacists in a community pharmacy in 2008 to more comprehensively prevent and manage chronic conditions. The lifestyle medicine program consists of designing seven personalized programs for patients to address physical activity, nutrition, alcohol consumption, weight control, stress management, sleep success, and tobacco cessation (if needed). The lifestyle medicine program complements existing MTM services for patients with hypertension, dyslipidemia, and/or diabetes. This program is innovative because pharmacists have developed and implemented a method to combine lifestyle medicine with MTM services to not only manage chronic conditions, but prevent the progression of those conditions and others. Several innovative tools have also been developed to enhance the effectiveness of a lifestyle medicine program. This manuscript describes the program's pharmacy setting, pharmacy personnel, participants and program details as well as the tools used to integrate a lifestyle medicine program with MTM services. Type: Clinical Experienc