The wicked problem of prison education : what are the perceptions of two key stakeholder groups on the impact of tame and wicked approaches to prison education?

Today’s prison system in England and Wales has been developed as one solution to the issue of how society should deal with offenders, and part of this approach is to provide an education service that contributes towards the rehabilitation of offenders by helping them to gain qualifications that can lead to employment. For almost two hundred years the role of prison education has been based on the perceived purposes of prisons, which have dictated how offenders have been treated and what role prison education has to play in this treatment. At present three sets of policies, further education, prison education and penal policy, are used by government to determine the role of prison education and deal with the issues it presents. This thesis uses the concept of ‘wicked’ problems to investigate what two key stakeholder groups, prison educators and their managers, believe are the key issues in prison education and the impact of the policy approaches that are used to deal with them. The concepts of wicked and tame problems are derived from Rittel and Webber’s analysis of the rational planning approaches that were being applied in the 1960s to complex social policy issues such as housing and health. From this Rittel and Webber proposed that there were ten criteria that could be used to characterise an issue as ‘wicked’. These ten criteria underpin the questions used to answer the main research question for the thesis: 'What are the perceptions of two key stakeholder groups on the impact of tame and wicked approaches to prison education?' The research was founded in an interpretivist-constructivist philosophy and adopted a qualitative approach in the form of in-depth interviews with 12 participants, consisting of three managers and nine educators, all based in one prison setting in the north of England.From the analysis of the interviews it was concluded that both the educators and the managers acknowledged the complexities of the system within which they worked and some of the issues that arose from this situation. They also believed that policy makers and the prison system adopted tame approaches to deal with these issues and, whether consciously or unconsciously, replicated some of these in their own approach prison education. There were some areas of agreement between the views of the educators and their managers on the key issues in prison education, how they may be addressed and if they could be solved. However, there was not a sufficient level of consensus to be able to formulate an agreement on which issues were the most pressing, or to devise an approach to deal with them, a situation which in itself confirmed that prison education was a wicked problem. This thesis therefore suggests that the first step in attempting to address the problem of prison education is for stakeholders to better appreciate its wicked nature, for only then can further steps be taken towards building a shared understanding of the issues through the involvement of all stakeholders. It has to be accepted by all stakeholders, including government and policy makers, that there may be ways of improving the situation by addressing some of the issues, but there is no 'right' answer to the wicked problem of prison education that will solve all of the issues 'once-and-for-all'

Psychological Health, Maternal Attachment and Attachment Style in Breast and Formula Feeding Mothers: A Preliminary Study.

This study examined psychological health, maternal attachment, and attachment style in an Australian sample of breast and formula feeding mothers. Thirty-six breast feeding and twenty-four formula feeding women with a child between four and six months of age were recruited through community health centres and snowball sampling. Participation involved a thirty-minute interview and completion of relevant questionnaires. Contrary to expectations, no differences were found between breast and formula feeding mothers in terms of their psychological health and maternal attachment. Results suggest that secure attachment styles are related to greater psychological health and that they predict the likelihood of a mother changing feeding method. The results of this study challenge widely held assumptions concerning the importance of breast feeding for maternal wellbeing and attachment with infants, and support the literature suggesting attachment styles play an important role in affect regulation and the adjustment to new motherhood

The Impact of Political Annexation on Urban Primacy: A natural experiment on Mexico City testing the institutional origins of primacy

Institutional theories of urban primacy suggest centralized urbanization can be decentralized through political reform. Despite this potential, rectifying primacy and its attendant inefficiencies attracts sporadic interest. Perhaps this is because the disruption of primacy is rarely observed, rendering the potential of decentralization a nebulous concept. Missing cities are a defining feature of primacy yet rarely figure in empirical cost-benefit analyses. To explore this dimension, we examine the history of urbanization in a large country renowned for primacy before and after it was invaded and divided into two countries. In the invaded part of the country, we observe the disruption of primacy following the transformation of political institutions, highlighting the importance of addressing institutions in the redress of urban primacy

The Impact of Political Annexation on Urban Primacy: A natural experiment on Mexico City testing the institutional origins of primacy

Institutional theories of urban primacy suggest centralized urbanization can be decentralized through political reform. Despite this potential, rectifying primacy and its attendant inefficiencies attracts sporadic interest. Perhaps this is because the disruption of primacy is rarely observed, rendering the potential of decentralization a nebulous concept. Missing cities are a defining feature of primacy yet rarely figure in empirical cost-benefit analyses. To explore this dimension, we examine the history of urbanization in a large country renowned for primacy before and after it was invaded and divided into two countries. In the invaded part of the country, we observe the disruption of primacy following the transformation of political institutions, highlighting the importance of addressing institutions in the redress of urban primacy

How do we build sustainable e-learning tools to meet the needs of engineering educators?

There are a range of e-learning tools available to current engineering educators to assist in supporting teaching practice. Many of the tools developed previously have been transitory, only existing for the period in which they were funded or failed to be transferable, only adopted by the host institution. Funded e-learning tools are usually expected to have a sustainability plan to ensure ongoing support and adoption, past the life time of the funding, however in practice this is hard to deliver once funding has ended and staff have left. This paper will look at a number of issues which can affect transferability and sustainability including: why academics pilot such tools in the engineering discipline? what consideration is given to sustainability when adopting a new tool or system ? who are the key stakeholders for these resources and why? what factors can encourage a community of users to develop and stay engaged? how can the community of users assist with ongoing sustainability? Particular attention will be given to the experiences and the lessons learnt by the WebPA team in trying to build a community of users, both academic and support staff, around the tool in the search for a sustainable future. By examining the user groups which have developed around the open source WebPA tool the paper will highlight what does and does not work in developing a sustainable community within engineering academia

Cancer Informatics in the U.K.: The NCRI Informatics Initiative

The arrival of high-throughput technologies in cancer science and medicine has made the possibility for knowledge generation greater than ever before. However, this has brought with it real challenges as researchers struggle to analyse the avalanche of information available to them. A unique U.K.-based initiative has been established to promote data sharing in cancer science and medicine and to address the technical and cultural issues needed to support this

A pilot randomized controlled trial of time-intensive Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for postpartum OCD:effects on maternal symptoms, mother-infant interactions and attachment

There is increasing recognition that perinatal anxiety disorders are both common and potentially serious for mother and child. Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) can be triggered or exacerbated in the postpartum period, with mothers reporting significant effects on parenting tasks. However, there is little evidence concerning their effective treatment or the impact of successful treatment on parenting. A total of 34 mothers with OCD and a baby of 6 months old were randomized into either time-intensive cognitive–behaviour therapy (iCBT) or treatment as usual (TAU). iCBT took place after randomization at 6 months postpartum and was completed by 9 months. Maternal symptomatology, sensitivity in mother–infant interactions and parenting were assessed at baseline and reassessed at 12 months postpartum. At 12 months attachment was also assessed using Ainsworth's Strange Situation Procedure. A healthy control group of mothers and infants (n = 37) underwent the same assessments as a benchmark. iCBT was successful in ameliorating maternal symptoms of OCD (controlled effect size = 1.31–1.90). However, mother–infant interactions were unchanged by treatment and remained less sensitive in both OCD groups than a healthy control group. The distribution of attachment categories was similar across both clinical groups and healthy controls with approximately 72% classified as secure in each group. iCBT is an effective intervention for postpartum OCD. Sensitive parenting interactions are affected by the presence of postpartum OCD and this is not improved by successful treatment of OCD symptoms. However, the overall attachment bond appears to be unaffected. Longitudinal studies are needed to explore the impact of postpartum OCD as the child develops.<br/

Using the theoretical domains framework to inform strategies to support dietitians undertaking body composition assessments in routine clinical care

BACKGROUND: Malnutrition, sarcopenia and cachexia are clinical wasting syndromes characterised by muscle loss. Systematic monitoring by body composition assessment (BCA) is recommended for the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of the syndrome(s). This study investigated practices, competency, and attitudes of Australian dietitians regarding BCA, to inform a local implementation process. METHODS: Applying the Action cycle in the Knowledge to Action framework, surveys were distributed to the 26 dietitians of an 800-bed tertiary hospital. The survey assessed barriers and enablers to performing routine BCA in clinical care. Results were categorised using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) and suitable interventions mapped using the Behaviour Change Wheel. RESULTS: Twenty-two dietitians (84.6%) completed the survey. Barriers to BCA were identified in all TDF domains, particularly in Knowledge, Skills, Social/professional role and identity, Beliefs about capabilities, and Environmental context and resources. Enablers existed in domains of: Skills; Beliefs about consequences; Goals; Environmental context and resources; Social influences; Intentions; Optimism; Reinforcement. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that hospital dietitians experience individual, team, and organisational barriers to adopt BCAs in clinical practice. We were able to formulate targeted implementation strategies to overcome these barriers to assist BCA adoption into routine practice. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-021-06375-7