Intersectoral interagency partnerships to promote financial capability in older people

From the second quarter of 2008, the UK economy entered a period of economic decline. Older people are particularly vulnerable during these times. To promote ways in which older people can be better supported to maintain their financial well-being, this study explored the sources older people utilize to keep themselves financially informed. Interviews with older people (n = 28) showed that older people access trusted sources of information (e.g. healthcare professionals) rather than specialist financial information providers (e.g. financial advisors) which highlighted the need for interagency working between financial services in the private, public and voluntary sectors. An example of how such interagency partnerships might be achieved in practice is presented with some recommendations on directions for future research into interagency working that spans public, private and voluntary sectors

Effects of multi-stage dehumidified-air drying on the polyphenol content of Hydrocotyle bonariensis

Traditional drying methods involve high temperatures that degrade heat-sensitive compounds. Dehumidified-air drying, an alternative to traditional drying methods, is suitable for heat-sensitive compounds; however, it consumes a large amount of energy and is comparatively expensive. In this study, a multi-chamber dehumidified-air dryer was designed to dry Hydrocotyle bonariensis, and the retention of the polyphenol content of Hydrocotyle bonariensis under various drying conditions was examined. Multi-chamber dehumidified-air drying involves two chambers; each chamber was operated at temperatures of 30, 40, and 50°C with air volumetric flow rates of 30 and 50 L/min. The results indicated that the highest retention of total phenolic content and total flavonoid content, 24.67 mg of GAE/g dry weight (DW) and 2.204 mg of catechin/g DW, respectively, was obtained at 50°C with a 50 L/min air flow rate in the first drying chamber. Multi-stage dehumidified-air dryers have the potential to dry heat-sensitive products with reduced energy consumption

Narratives of therapeutic art-making in the context of marital breakdown: Older women reflect on a significant mid-life experience

This paper explores the narratives of three women aged 65-72 years. They reflected on an episode of therapeutic art-making in midlife, which addressed depression associated with marital crisis and breakdown. The narrative analysis focused upon on the ways in which participants narrated the events leading up to their participation in therapeutic art-making; the aspects of therapeutic art-making that continued to be given significance; the characters given primacy in the stories they told about their journey through therapy and marital breakdown; meanings, symbolic and otherwise, that participants ascribed to their artwork made during this turning point in their lives; and aspects of the narratives that conveyed present-day identities and artistic endeavors. The narratives revealed the complexity of the journey through marital breakdown and depression into health, and showed that therapeutic art-making could best be understood, not as a stand-alone experience, but as given meaning within the context of wider personal and social resources. Participants looked back on therapeutic art-making that occurred two decades earlier and still described this as a significant turning point in their personal development. Art as an adjunct to counselling/therapy was not only symbolically self-expressive but provided opportunity for decision-making, agency and a reformulated self-image

Addressing reoffending through addressing offender mental health: Exploring the viability of the Change Laboratory method as means of promoting social innovation in the delivery of integrated mental health care offenders in prison services.

Recidivism rates are a typical measure of the success of the criminal justice system. Effective collaboration is required between criminal justice services and mental health services to effectively achieve offender rehabilitation and reduce reoffending. Previous work on collaborative practice in the Norwegian prison systems (Hean et al., 2016) has concluded that more effective models of collaboration are required between the mental health and criminal justice services. It made the case for implementation of the Change Laboratory Method (CL) of interagency working and workforce transformation as a means of supporting interagency collaborative practice in this context. The CL has been used successfully and extensively by researchers internationally to transform interagency working practices in a wide range of countries (e.g., Finland, Brazil; New Zealand) and contexts (e.g. child protection, secondary health care and business) with an extensive list of products and work transformations arising from them (e.g. new adaptations of care pathways, new forms of service delivery) (Kerosuo & Engeström, 2003, Warmington et al., 2005, Tolviainen, 2007, Virkkunen et al., 2014). However, CLs as interventions are a new idea in Norwegian prison development, none as yet having been applied across organisational borders or specifically to the challenges facing collaboration between correctional and health and welfare services. It is essential therefore to explore first the feasibility of the such a possible intervention before implementation. The aim of this developmental project was therefore to conduct first the ethnographic phase of a CL intervention in a case study Norwegian prison, and identify issues that would benefit from future intervention, organizational development and learning. Second, the project explored the viability of the CL as a means of addressing these and improving collaboration between Correctional and Mental Health Services. The purpose of the first CL phase is for the interventionist team to describe the current situation of collaboration in the prison. The focus was to reveal challenges (theoretically described as contradictions) by seeing them as systemic causes of problems in collective activity instead of indications of individuals’ actions. Data from the first CL phase was gathered through interviews, observations and documentary data from an open department at the prison in Region West of the Norwegian Correctional Services. A cultural-historical activity theory approach guided the methods of data collection and analysis. This meant that the collaborative tools and voices of frontline workers, such as officers and mental health workers were brought to the fore. The analysis illustrated the complexity of the collaboration network in the prison, its variety of actors, and its challenges. This report presents the characteristics of current collaboration practices, examples of good practice as well as its challenges, and the complexity of the collaboration network between the mental health and prison services. These collaboration practices have developed with an aim to enhance the welfare of offenders and to reduce recidivism. However, the increasing needs of offender, of which loneliness and mental health were central, have come into play, which challenges the outputs of the services and collaboration between service providers. We report here three potential contradictions for future exploration by the prison that arose from the analysis. The first pertained to the challenges facing the BRIK assessment tool. BRIK is a tool used in the prison through which information on offender’s needs and resources are collected and evaluated by the officer and offender together. However, a lack of time to keep the content of BRIK regularly updated and ensuring the quality of its content ,is a challenge. In the report, we suggest that these challenges are connected to the fact that users of the tool (members of interagency meetings, offenders and officers) perceive the meaning and purpose of BRIK differently. For offenders, BRIK represents a tool to get more face-to-face time with the officer, which points to the inmate’s need of having more social contact. However, for the officer BRIK is one of their work tasks, a task required of them by Correctional Services authorities. For members of interagency meetings with health and other services, however, BRIK is a tool for understanding an offender’s motivation behind any specific request they might make of the meeting. This contradiction between different needs and meanings of purpose of BRIK challenges the effective use of the instrument. The second contradiction lay in observations that the prison officer`s purpose of work has changed over time but the development of tools to support their work has not kept up with these changing objectives. The third contradiction pertained to the suboptimal work organization, development, and flow of psychological knowledge in the prison. The purpose of this ethnographic phase of the CL presented in this report is not to fully elaborate these above contradictions collected by researchers as it essential to the model that these are articulated and understood by the prison, mental health and other prison based actors themselves when participating in future interventions. The contradictions raised by the ethnographic phase must be further revealed within this group of actors working together. Based on the potential contradictions raised in the ethnographic phase of the CL we now recommend a second phase of the CL in which our observations and findings of the collaborative network would be presented as mirror data to representatives of this network. This next phase would seek to open up new perspectives and motivate people in the prison to examine and develop their current practices further and collectively. During the process of CL, the organization would learn to solve their own contradictions and develop their activity. However, to ensure the implementation of this second phase ,careful negotiation, sensitivity and commitment of the researchers, prison management and frontline professionals involved, is required

Moving from atheoretical to theoretical approaches to interprofessional client-centred collaborative practice

In this chapter we revisit the importance of theory in the development of interprofessional client centred education and practice (IPCEP). We focus specifically on the theoretical underpinnings and development of a workshop model aimed at moving practitioners from atheoretical to theoretical collaborative practice

Will opposites attract? Similarities and differences in students' perceptions of the stereotype profiles of other health and social care professional groups

The extent to which health and social care (HSC) students hold stereotypical views of other HSC professional groups is of great potential importance to team working in health care. This paper explores students' perceptions of different HSC professional groups at the beginning of their university programmes. Findings are presented from an analysis of baseline data collected as part of the New Generation Project longitudinal cohort study which is assessing the impact of interprofessional education over time on a range of variables including stereotyping. Questionnaires were administered to a cohort of over 1200 students from 10 different HSC professional groups entering their first year of university. Stereotypes were measured using a tool adapted from Barnes et al. (2000) designed to elicit stereotype ratings on a range of nine characteristics. The findings confirm that students arrive at university with an established and consistent set of stereotypes about other health and social care professional groups. Stereotypical profiles were compiled for each professional group indicating the distinctive characteristics of the groups as well as the similarities and differences between groups. Midwives, social workers and nurses were rated most highly on interpersonal skills and on being a team player whilst doctors were rated most highly on academic ability. Doctors, midwives and social workers were perceived as having the strongest leadership role, whilst doctors were also rated most highly on decision making. All professions were rated highly on confidence and professional competence and, with the exception of social workers, on practical skills. A comparison of profiles for each professional group reveals that, for example, pharmacists and doctors were perceived as having very similar characteristics as were social workers, midwives and nurses. However, the profiles of nurses and doctors were perceived to be very different. The implications of these similarities and differences are discussed in terms of their potential impact on interprofessional interactions, role boundaries and team working

Non-Fermi-Liquid Scaling in Ce(Ru_{0.5}Rh_{0.5})_2Si_2

We study the temperature and field dependence of the magnetic and transport properties of the non-Fermi-liquid compound Ce(Ru_{1-x}Rh_x)_2Si_2 at x=0.5. For fields $\lesssim$0.1T the experimental results show signatures of the presence of Kondo-disorder, expected to be large at this concentration. For larger fields, however, magnetic and transport properties are controlled by the coupling of the conduction electrons to critical spin-fluctuations. The temperature dependence of the susceptibility as well as the scaling properties of the magnetoresistance are in very good agreement with the predictions of recent dynamical mean-field theories of Kondo alloys close to a spin-glass quantum critical point.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Improved discussion. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let