Comunicação intercultural para estudantes de gestão no ensino superior em Portugal – um estudo de caso

Comunicação apresentada em Colóquio A Comunicação entre Culturas - Grupo SIETAR Portugal, AlmadaEste paper apresenta reflexões de um estudo piloto que tenta responder à questão: Quais são as perspectivas interculturais, conhecimentos e competências que devemos ensinar aos estudantes de gestão do Ensino Superior de forma a promover, com sucesso, a comunicação internacional a nível empresarial? Este estudo exploratório tem seguido o desempenho de estudantes da Escola Superior de Ciências Empresariais que participam em jogos de gestão internacional, cujo objectivo é promover as relações interculturais entre estudantes de diferentes países que trabalham conjuntamente em equipas internacionais para resolver problemas, negociar preços e desenvolver e implementar estratégias de negócio num ambiente de simulação empresarial. Esta simulação realiza-se anualmente envolvendo equipas internacionais, com estudantes oriundos da China, Rússia, EUA, Finlândia, Alemanha e Portugal. O jogo realiza-se, rotativamente, em cada um destes países. Este paper apresenta algumas reflexões e pistas para futura investigação acerca do ensino e comunicação intercultural para estudantes de gestão no Ensino Superior em Portugal

Developing a Program Community of Practice for Leadership Development

This article outlines how a community of practice can be designed within management education for effective leadership development. Through a qualitative study of a cohort of 25 owner-managers of small businesses, we explore how a program community of practice (PCoP) acts as a pedagogical device for focusing on the development of leadership practice. Drawn from ‘grounded theory’ analysis, we outline a pedagogic heuristic of a PCoP built upon on an emergent rather than a didactic curriculum, shaped by the PCoP members’ own experiences and practices of managing their businesses. Our contribution is to illustrate the significant value of applying communities of practice theory to pedagogic designs in order to advance the development of leadership practice in small businesses. We critically examine this contribution with regard to the scope that designing a PCoP can bring to leadership development and the challenges for educators designing and facilitating an emergent curriculum

Increased risk of HIV and other drug-related harms associated with injecting in public places: national bio-behavioural survey of people who inject drugs

Background: Whilst injecting drugs in public places is considered a proxy for high risk behaviour among people who inject drugs (PWID), studies quantifying its relationship with multiple drug-related harms are lacking and none have examined this in the context of an ongoing HIV outbreak (located in Glasgow, Scotland). We aimed to: 1) estimate the prevalence of public injecting in Scotland and associated risk factors; and 2) estimate the association between public injecting and HIV, current HCV, overdose, and skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI). Methods: Cross-sectional, bio-behavioural survey (including dried blood spot testing to determine HIV and HCV infection) of 1469 current PWID (injected in last 6 months) recruited by independent interviewers from 139 harm reduction services across Scotland during 2017–18. Primary outcomes were: injecting in a public place (yes/no); HIV infection; current HCV infection; self-reported overdose in the last year (yes/no) and SSTI the last year (yes/no). Multi-variable logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with public injecting and to estimate the association between public injecting and drug-related harms (HIV, current HCV, overdose and SSTI). Results: Prevalence of public injecting was 16% overall in Scotland and 47% in Glasgow city centre. Factors associated with increased odds of public injecting were: recruitment in Glasgow city centre (aOR=5.45, 95% CI 3.48–8.54, p<0.001), homelessness (aOR=3.68, 95% CI 2.61–5.19, p<0.001), high alcohol consumption (aOR=2.42, 95% CI 1.69–3.44, p<0.001), high injection frequency (≥4 per day) (aOR=3.16, 95% CI 1.93–5.18, p<0.001) and cocaine injecting (aOR=1.46, 95% CI 1.00 to 2.13, p = 0.046). Odds were lower for those receiving opiate substitution therapy (OST) (aOR=0.37, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.56, p<0.001) and older age (per year increase) (aOR=0.97, 95% CI 0.95 to 0.99, p = 0.013). Public injecting was associated with an increased risk of HIV infection (aOR=2.11, 95% CI 1.13–3.92, p = 0.019), current HCV infection (aOR=1.49, 95% CI 1.01–2.19, p = 0.043), overdose (aOR=1.59, 95% CI 1.27–2.01, p<0.001) and SSTI (aOR=1.42, 95% CI 1.17–1.73, p<0.001). Conclusions: These findings highlight the need to address the additional harms observed among people who inject in public places and provide evidence to inform proposals in the UK and elsewhere to introduce facilities that offer safer drug consumption environments

A pragmatic harm reduction approach to manage a large outbreak of wound botulism in people who inject drugs, Scotland 2015

Abstract Background People who inject drugs (PWID) are at an increased risk of wound botulism, a potentially fatal acute paralytic illness. During the first 6 months of 2015, a large outbreak of wound botulism was confirmed among PWID in Scotland, which resulted in the largest outbreak in Europe to date. Methods A multidisciplinary Incident Management Team (IMT) was convened to conduct an outbreak investigation, which consisted of enhanced surveillance of cases in order to characterise risk factors and identify potential sources of infection. Results Between the 24th of December 2014 and the 30th of May 2015, a total of 40 cases were reported across six regions in Scotland. The majority of the cases were male, over 30 and residents in Glasgow. All epidemiological evidence suggested a contaminated batch of heroin or cutting agent as the source of the outbreak. There are significant challenges associated with managing an outbreak among PWID, given their vulnerability and complex addiction needs. Thus, a pragmatic harm reduction approach was adopted which focused on reducing the risk of infection for those who continued to inject and limited consequences for those who got infected. Conclusions The management of this outbreak highlighted the importance and need for pragmatic harm reduction interventions which support the addiction needs of PWID during an outbreak of spore-forming bacteria. Given the scale of this outbreak, the experimental learning gained during this and similar outbreaks involving spore-forming bacteria in the UK was collated into national guidance to improve the management and investigation of future outbreaks among PWID

Perfunctory or purposeful? Reflecting on 20 years of justice social worker registration in Scotland

In Scotland the role of the ‘probation officer’ must be undertaken by qualified social workers, called justice social workers. Here ‘social worker’ is a protected title and all social workers are required to register with the national regulatory body, the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). The principal aim of social work registration in Scotland is to protect the public. Registration requires that all social workers meet and maintain set standards of conduct and practice which, it is proposed, strengthens professionalism and promotes confidence in the sector. In this article, we map Scotland's journey to professional registration of justice social workers, the opportunities and challenges registration criteria presents for the workforce, and possible tensions between core aims of public protection, strengthening the workforce and public confidence. We highlight the lessons learnt from the two decades of professional registration in Scotland.</p