Navigating employment retention with a chronic health condition: a meta-ethnography of the employment experiences of people with musculoskeletal disorders in the UK.

Purpose: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are associated with high rates of work disability in the UK. This review synthesised qualitative evidence concerning the employment experiences of people with MSDs to explore the factors shaping their employment trajectories post-onset and the resources they draw on to remain in work. Material and methods: Systematic database searches identified 16 qualitative studies of the employment consequences of having a chronic MSD in the UK. Meta-ethnographic methods were utilised to synthesise this body of evidence. This included a translation of concepts across studies to produce a line of argument synthesis. Results: The lack of certainty associated with often fluctuating and invisible MSD symptoms leads to employees struggling to maintain a stable work identity. Work retention is aided by having: a clear diagnosis, occupational tasks commensurate with altered abilities, and employers and colleagues who understand the nature of the condition. The ability to negotiate and implement workplace adjustments aids work retention but is dependent upon having good quality employee-employer relationships and the degree of autonomy available to the employee. Conclusion: Individuals with MSDs must draw on a range of personal, social, organisational and institutional resources to remain in or return to work post-onset

Everyone should be able to choose how they get around : How Topeka, Kansas, passed a complete streets resolution

BACKGROUND: Regular physical activity can help prevent chronic diseases, yet only half of US adults meet national physical activity guidelines. One barrier to physical activity is a lack of safe places to be active, such as bike paths and sidewalks. Complete Streets, streets designed to enable safe access for all users, can help provide safe places for activity. COMMUNITY CONTEXT: This community case study presents results from interviews with residents and policymakers of Topeka, Kansas, who played an integral role in the passage of a Complete Streets resolution in 2009. It describes community engagement processes used to include stakeholders, assess existing roads and sidewalks, and communicate with the public and decision-makers. METHODS: Key informant interviews were conducted with city council members and members of Heartland Healthy Neighborhoods in Topeka to learn how they introduced a Complete Streets resolution and the steps they took to ensure its successful passage in the City Council. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by using focused-coding qualitative analysis. OUTCOME: Results included lessons learned from the process of passing the Complete Streets resolution and advice from participants for other communities interested in creating Complete Streets in their communities. INTERPRETATION: Lessons learned can apply to other communities pursuing Complete Streets. Examples include clearly defining Complete Streets; educating the public, advocates, and decision-makers about Complete Streets and how this program enhances a community; building a strong and diverse network of supporters; and using stories and examples from other communities with Complete Streets to build a convincing case

Deprofessionalization, Proletarianization, and Social Welfare Work

In this paper we explore the personnel transformations which have occurred in social welfare work. Specifically, we examine the tensions between the dynamics of professionalization and deprofessionalization and how these trends have impacted upon those who work in the social welfare enterprise. Another concern of the paper is the effect of the proletarianization of social welfare work in the face of increasing efforts of some to create professional standards and to solidify the position of professionals in agencies. These struggles are examined in terms of their ability to affect the likelihood of both worker unionization and worker-client political coalitions

Exchange Rules in the Mediation of Social Welfare Work

This article demonstrates the utility of the concept of exchange rules for understanding welfare worker agency in the mediation of workplace ideologies and behaviors. The exchange rules of complementarity, reciprocity, and beneficence are applied to the issues of service worker burnout, worker-client interactions, and labor issues to illustrate their conceptual and practical power. This analysis from an interactionist perspective complements the macro-level observations of the fundamental contradictions within the social welfare enterprise. It also suggests avenues for the mediation and alleviation of certain workplace dilemmas

Helping chronically ill or disabled people into work: what can we learn from international comparative analyses?

This project has added to knowledge in five main areas: It has mapped the range and types of policies and interventions that have been implemented in Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the UK that may influence employment chances for chronically ill and disabled people. By doing so it has added to understanding about what has actually been tried in each country and what might be considered in others. It has refined a typology of the focussed interventions that have been identified, based on the underlying programme logic of the intervention, which aids strategic thinking about national efforts to help chronically ill and disabled people into work. It has produced systematic reviews of the impact of the focussed interventions on the employment chances of chronically ill and disabled people and demonstrated the use of the typology in helping to interpret the results of the evaluations. The project’s empirical analyses of individual-level data have identified how chronically ill people from different socio-economic groups have fared in the labour markets of the five countries over the past two decades. It has then tested these findings against hypotheses about the impact of macro-level labour market policies on chronically ill people to provide insights into the influence of the policy context. The project has contributed to methodological development in evidence synthesis and the evaluation of natural policy experiments. By studying a small number of countries in great depth, we gained greater understanding of the policies and interventions that have been tried in these countries to help chronically ill and disabled people into work, against the backdrop of the wider labour market and macro-economic trends in those countries. We then integrated evidence from the wider policy context into the findings of systematic reviews of effectiveness of interventions, to advance interpretation of the natural policy experiments that have been implemented in these countries

A RITUALIZAÇÃO DO RURAL CONTEMPORÂNEO: NOTAS SOBRE CHOUPANA DO GAVIÃO

A multifuncionalidade do rural aborda a ampliação das funções sociais, ambientais, patrimoniais e alimentares através das funções simbólicas atribuídas ao rural, deixando-o de ser entendido apenas como produtor de bens agrícolas. Diante disso, este estudo tem como objetivo analisar os novos sentidos construídos através da ritualização do rural contemporâneo, tendo como área de estudo circunscrita à região do Alto Uruguai gaúcho e campo empírico a Choupana do Gavião. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de cunho antropológico, fundamentada na etnografia, que teve como ferramentas a observação participante, entrevistas em profundidade e questionários. Desta forma, se compreende que o meio rural, na pós-modernidade se transforma, deixa de ser um espaço meramente agrícola e passa a ser um espaço de multifuncionalidades, que se orientam em grande medida pela ritualização do espaço rural, apresentando múltiplos interesses onde circulam as novas construções do rural contemporâneo, exercendo funções sociais, ambientais e patrimoniais que podem ser acessadas através de bens simbólicos, como a religiosidade e espiritualidade. Ou seja, rural é mais que um espaço de produção de alimento para o corpo físico, ele é um espaço que nutre as relações dos seres humanos, espiritualidade e a natureza

POLÍTICAS EDUCACIONAIS E DE SEGURANÇA: DISPUTAS EM TORNO DA GARANTIA DO DIREITO À EDUCAÇÃO NAS PRISÕES

No debate acerca da garantia de acesso à Educação de Jovens e Adultos (EJA), por parte dos sujeitos inseridos nos espaços de privação e restrição de liberdade (EPRL) se constatam conquistas no cenário político nacional. Compreender as contradições e desafios que impedem de assegurar o direito à educação no sistema prisional brasileiro exige aprofundar estudos no campo das políticas públicas educacionais e de segurança, promovendo articulações às dinâmicas sociais das prisões, no contexto reformador neoliberal; em paralelo ao que se tem denominado contemporaneamente como Estado penal e o fenômeno do hiper encarceramento. Análises de documentos da UNESCO revelam os marcos regulatórios – desde o final da primeira metade do século XX – e disputas em torno da EJA como um direito. Ficou evidente o alinhamento entre as políticas para a EJA em prisões no Brasil e a agenda globalmente estruturada na área, assim como elementos que fragilizam a garantia do direito à educação

POLÍTICAS EDUCACIONAIS E DE SEGURANÇA: DISPUTAS EM TORNO DA GARANTIA DO DIREITO À EDUCAÇÃO NAS PRISÕES

No debate acerca da garantia de acesso à Educação de Jovens e Adultos (EJA), por parte dos sujeitos inseridos nos espaços de privação e restrição de liberdade (EPRL) se constatam conquistas no cenário político nacional. Compreender as contradições e desafios que impedem de assegurar o direito à educação no sistema prisional brasileiro exige aprofundar estudos no campo das políticas públicas educacionais e de segurança, promovendo articulações às dinâmicas sociais das prisões, no contexto reformador neoliberal; em paralelo ao que se tem denominado contemporaneamente como Estado penal e o fenômeno do hiper encarceramento. Análises de documentos da UNESCO revelam os marcos regulatórios – desde o final da primeira metade do século XX – e disputas em torno da EJA como um direito. Ficou evidente o alinhamento entre as políticas para a EJA em prisões no Brasil e a agenda globalmente estruturada na área, assim como elementos que fragilizam a garantia do direito à educação

A Implementação do Piso Salarial Profissional Nacional em Minas Gerais: entre o dito, o feito e o escrito

This article addresses the implementation process of the National Professional Wage Floor in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil through two movements. The first one was to extinguish the rights of workers of the state network of Minas Gerais, and the second, the extension of these rights, in the normative scope, but with limited fiscal and political resources. The text uses the evidences of the legislative process and the organization of the workers, by means of the trade union activity, to address the ongoing dispute that leads to the implementation of the national floor professional wage in Minas Gerais.Este artigo aborda o processo de implementação do Piso Salarial Profissional Nacional no estado de Minas Gerais por meio de dois movimentos. O primeiro, de extinção dos direitos dos trabalhadores da Rede Estadual de Minas Gerais e, o segundo movimento, de ampliação desses direitos, no âmbito normativo, mas com restrições fiscais e recursos políticos limitados. O texto utiliza as evidências do processo legislativo e da organização dos trabalhadores, por meio da atividade sindical, para abordar a disputa, ainda em curso, que enseja a implementação do piso nacional em Minas Gerais

Disentangling protostellar evolutionary stages in clustered environments using Spitzer-IRS spectra and comprehensive SED modeling

When studying the evolutionary stages of protostars that form in clusters, the role of any intracluster medium cannot be neglected. High foreground extinction can lead to situations where young stellar objects (YSOs) appear to be in earlier evolutionary stages than they actually are, particularly when using simple criteria like spectral indices. To address this issue, we have assembled detailed SED characterizations of a sample of 56 Spitzer-identified candidate YSOs in the clusters NGC 2264 and IC 348. For these, we use spectra obtained with the Infrared Spectrograph onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope and ancillary multi-wavelength photometry. The primary aim is twofold: 1) to discuss the role of spectral features, particularly those due to ices and silicates, in determining a YSO's evolutionary stage, and 2) to perform comprehensive modeling of spectral energy distributions (SEDs) enhanced by the IRS data. The SEDs consist of ancillary optical-to-submillimeter multi-wavelength data as well as an accurate description of the 9.7 micron silicate feature and of the mid-infrared continuum derived from line-free parts of the IRS spectra. We find that using this approach, we can distinguish genuine protostars in the cluster from T Tauri stars masquerading as protostars due to external foreground extinction. Our results underline the importance of photometric data in the far-infrared/submillimeter wavelength range, at sufficiently high angular resolution to more accurately classify cluster members. Such observations are becoming possible now with the advent of the Herschel Space Observatory.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap