'Paperwork': Its implications for community mental health nurses' practice

This study aims to examine the real life documentary practices of community mental health nurses to enable a better understanding of the impact of paperwork on their nursing practice.The work on the research proposal was supported by the Community Psychiatric Nurses' Association. Data colleaction and analysis was supported through the University of Chester's small research grant scheme

The Special Need of the Local Church

All around this world are individuals with special needs who are seeking to find a place where they truly belong: “According to a 2010 U.S. Census study, 56.7 million Americans, or about one in five U.S. residents have a disability” (Lee 40). With such a statistic, an individual with special needs is bound to be found in almost every church across the U.S. In her book Leading a Special Needs Ministry, Amy Fenton Lee states, “Congregations with a regular attendance from eighty to eight thousand are both impacted, as children with neurological and physical disabilities seek inclusion” (36). Many churches realize the presence of those with special needs but place them off to the side, failing to provide an environment where they may thrive: “Children with disabilities too often find that the church doesn’t truly welcome or truly value them. There simply isn’t a place for these children when kids scamper off to Sunday school classes on Sunday morning” (“The Need for Special Needs Ministries”). Without the acceptance and care they need, some families of those with special needs are left with no choice but to stay at home on Sundays. This may seem outrageous to some, but it is many times the sad reality for those with special needs and their families. Many individuals fail to remember that those with special needs are also created in the image of God and deserve to be included in the dynamic of the local church as much as anyone else. Local churches should establish ministries in order to provide children, youth, and adults with special needs the means to receive the gospel, Deacon 2 discipleship, and a sense of community in an environment unique to their situations and behaviors

Introduction : themed section on care, values and the future of welfare

The papers in the themed section emerge from the work of the ESRC Research Group on Care, Values and the Future of Welfare (CAVA), based at the University of Leeds. CAVA was funded from 1999 to undertake a five-year programme of research into changes in parenting and partnering in Britain and their implications for future social policies. At the heart of CAVA's research is an investigation into the values that people attach to their parenting and partnering activities. We are interested in ‘what matters’ to people in their family lives and personal relationships, especially as they undergo change. This question lay at the centre of our core empirical projects, all of which were based on in-depth qualitative research. (An account of our methodology may be found in the Appendix to this Introduction). The projects focused on different aspects of change: motherhood, care and employment; kin relationships after divorce; care and commitments in transnational families; practices of care and intimacy amongst those who live without a co-resident partner; and collective values of care and support in self-help groups, voluntary organisations and trade unions. Each of these projects is represented in the following collection

The notion of growth: A research agenda for SMEs and entrepreneurs

Academics within the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) sector have been working towards identifying the factors that are impediments to the growth and development of SMEs around the world. This article attempts to understand the ‘notion of growth’ as experienced by SMEs in Wales and East India (particularly West Bengal), by exploring the narratives of entrepreneurs within those regions (see images 1 and 2 below). Our research is primarily qualitative in nature and is based on a semi-structured interview approach in Wales, and on narrative inquiry in India. We believe that such a methodology is critical in understanding the notion of growth, and our method involved interviewing established entrepreneurs in order to ascertain their multiple perspectives on growth. We assert the importance in Government policy formulation of understanding and using the language of growth as defined by the ‘context’ of the entrepreneurs. Our research approach: briefly, our research involved the collection and interpretation of both qualitative and quantitative data. In Wales, we worked with six gender-balanced focus groups, each consisting of eight business-owners who represent a range of MSMEs across the regions. Group discussions were augmented by in-depth 1:1 interviews. We also conducted a comprehensive, questionnaire-based pan-Wales telephone survey. In West Bengal, we engaged in a narrative inquiry, derived from 1:1 conversations and field notes, with a group of eight male entrepreneurs. Requests for confidentiality were a particular issue here. We selected the West Bengal Chamber of Commerce and CREDAI – (the Bengal branch of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India), as well as other forums that we mention throughout this article, according to their relevance to thematic analysis of the data we collected. If you would like a more detailed account of our sampling and research methods, please feel free to contact Nihar Amoncar.N/

Controlling tropical deforestation : an analysis of alternative policies

After discussing ownership issues related to tropical forests, theauthor develops a simple general equilibrium model to represent - at least in a stylized way - the salient aspects of the deforestation process. He uses the model to generate first- and second-best policy options for controlling deforestation and, later, to assess the environmental consequences of government policies often cited in the literature on deforestation. Property rights, though important for understanding the process of tropical deforestation, do not necessarily point to a simple or straightfoward fix for environmental problems, particularly in developing countries. The sheer size, communal nature of service flows, and pervasiveness of individual access to tropical forests make monitoring and enforcement costly in some situations and unimaginable in others. Redefining nominal rights in ways that appear to correct inefficiencies may yield gains in some cases, but an approach to environmental protection that leans heavily on this prescription seems aimed more at symptoms than at causes, says the author. Moreover, policy approaches based on the use of Pigovian taxes or marketable permit schemes may yield efficiency gains in some cases, but such approaches generally involve the same monitoring and enforcement problems that prevent the market from solving allocation problems. Simple, direct solutions to deforestation and other environmental problems are unavailable, but an ability to understand the environmental and welfare consequences of policies adopted for other reasons is useful - if only to help policymakers avoid mistakes that would otherwise go unrecognized. The model the author develops for this purpose is highly stylized and intended primarily to provide a systematic way of thinking about the environmental and welfare effects of government policy - for example, by considering patterns of substitution among inputs and outputs, in cases where an environmental resource to which people have free access is exploited. If the use of first-best policies is infeasible - whether because of monitoringcosts, transboundary effects, or other reasons - then it becomes important to have detailed knowledge of patterns of substitution and complementarity among ordinary inputs and environmental resources, and information on the use of various environmental resources in the production of specific goods and services. Knowledge of such factors can permit policymakers to pursue policy goals in situations where first-best instruments are unavailable.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Forestry,Markets and Market Access

Defining contextual advantage: exploring the contextual relation between effectuation and entrepreneurial marketing for creating new markets effectually

The paper explores the behaviour of the Entrepreneur and the Effectual use of available resources mainly social capital in new market creation. The study dwells on creating a unique ‘Context’ by leveraging these resources to increase the Entrepreneurial orientation of a firm. The paper further attempts to explore whether the Contextual link between Effectuation and Entrepreneurial Marketing helps develop a ‘Contextual Advantage’, which can be used as a mean of developing a unique business model which differentiates the firm in the market. The paper hence explores contemporary theories of Entrepreneurship and Marketing namely Entrepreneurial Marketing, Effectuation and Contextual Marketing by studying their inter-relation. The nature of these theories is under-explored according to the authors and requires further investigation to evolve the field of Marketing and Entrepreneurship.N/

Social policy and international interventions in South East Europe: conclusions

This book has brought together three fields of study; that concerned with the role of international actors and their influence on national polices; changes taking place to social policies in the context of globalisation, transnationalism and Europeanisation; and the political transformations taking place in South Eastern Europe. It has reported the results of empirical investigations into recent changes in social policy in the region and the ways in which transnational actors are influencing these changes. We divide this concluding chapter into three parts. The first part summarises the actual developments in social policy in the countries of the region and the several and diverse ways in which international actors have, to varying degrees, been influential. We then draw some analytical conclusions arguing how the case studies lead to changes in the ways social scientists should make sense of: the role of international actors engaged in transnational policy making including that of the EU; the role and nature of states in this “multi-level and multi-actor“ process; and the prospects for social policy and the diversity of welfare regimes. Finally we make suggestions about the kind of research that is needed to advance understanding in these inter-related areas

Ownership Risk, Investment, and the Use of Natural Resources

The effect of insecure ownership on ordinary investment and on the exploitation of natural resources is examined. Insecure ownership is characterized as a positive probability that a typical asset or its future return will be confiscated. For empirical analysis, the probability of confiscation is modeled as a function of observable political attributes of countries, principally the type of government regime in power (democratic versus non-democratic) and the prevalence of political violence or instability. A general index of ownership security is estimated from the political determinants of economy wide investment rates, and then introduced into models of petroleum and forest use. Ownership risk is found to have a significant, and quantitatively important effect. Empirically, increases in ownership risk are associated with reductions in forest cover and with slower rates of petroleum exploration. Contrary to conventional wisdom, greater ownership risk tends to slow rates of petroleum extraction, apparently because the extraction process is capital intensive.