Precarious lives, precarious care:Young men's caring practices in three coastal towns in England

A decade of austerity and cuts to local services have had severe impacts on coastal towns in England, resulting in high levels of inequality and precarious employment prospects for many residents, including young men growing up in working class families. Forms of care typically provided by the family and the state are are becoming unavailable, and access to secure employment has become difficult, especially for men with few educational qualifications, skills or work experience in places where work in seasonal. In this article we explore the effects of austerity and precariousness on the daily lives of 30 young men living in coastal towns, focusing on the ways they have come to care for each other. We build on feminist efforts to ‘trouble’ care, highlighting unexpected caring practices, as well as the conflicts that shape barriers to care and the ways care itself may play out in careless ways, shaped by the austere contexts of its enactment. We pay attention to the significance of place and the everyday spaces in which care is practiced, as well as the ways in which friendship networks are paradoxically both caring and careless

Identifying the needs of critical and acute cardiac care nurses within the first two years of practice in Egypt using a nominal group technique

Nursing in Egypt faces many challenges and working conditions in health care settings are generally poor. Little is known about the needs of new nurses transitioning in Egypt. The literature focuses on the first year of practice and only a small body of research has explored the transition needs within acute care speciality settings. This paper reports on the important professional needs of new graduate nurses working in an acute cardiac setting in Egypt during the first two years of practice and differences between their perceived most important needs. The total population participated and two group interviews were conducted (n = 5; n = 6) using the nominal group technique. Needs were identified and prioritised using both rankings and ratings to attain consensus. Content analysis was conducted to produce themes and enable cross-group comparison. Rating scores were standardised for comparison within and between groups. Both groups ranked and rated items as important: 1) education, training and continued professional development; 2) professional standards; 3) supportive clinical practice environment; 4) manageable work patterns, and 5) organisational structure. It is important that health care organisations are responsive to these needs to ensure support strategies reflect the priorities of new nurses transitioning in acute care hospitals within Egypt

Les espaces de la masculinité

Cet article examine les liens entre la montée des emplois de service et la construction sociale de la masculinité. Au travers de deux types d’emploi de statut fort différent, il s’agit de montrer comment des caractéristiques traditionnellement associées au féminin font maintenant partie intégrante des attitudes et de la présentation de soi attendues d’employés masculins. On verra également que les inégalités restent fortes quant à la possibilité d’assurer une fonction traditionnellement masculine, subvenir aux besoins d’une famille.In this paper, following sorne brief introductory comments about current directions in British feminist geography, I examine the interconnections between economie restructuring, the rise of service sector occupations and the social construction of masculinity. Through case studies of different forms of service work ­ high and low status - I show how embodied performances that emphasise what are tradftionally seen as characteristics of femininity are now a key part of many of the service occupations undertaken by men. Although both high status and low status occupations demand new torms of workplace performances from male employees, significant inequalities between these types of work remain. Young working class men, for whom the type of manufacturing work thal their fathers might have entered has now disappeared, find ft increasingly difficult to gain access to the sort of work that will enable them to establish independent living and adopt the traditional breadwinner role

From Grunwick to Gate Gourmet: South Asian Women’s industrial activism and the role of trade unions

Through a focus on two examples of industrial militancy by South Asian women workers in the UK that took place thirty years apart – the Grunwick and Gate Gourmet disputes - this article explores the effectiveness of the trade union movement in representing minority ethnic women workers. We examine these two disputes in the context of the changing nature of the labour market and the significant shift in industrial relations legislation between the 1970s and the 2000s. We reflect on what these two disputes indicate about the extent to which the British trade union movement has changed to reflect the priorities and experience of migrant women workers in the UK over the last four decades

The impact of pair programming on student performance, perception and persistence

This study examined the effectiveness of pair programming in four lecture sections of a large introductory programming course. We were particularly interested in assessing how the use of pair programming affects student performance and decisions to pursue computer science related majors. We found that students who used pair programming produced better programs, were more confident in their solutions, and enjoyed completing the assignments more than students who programmed alone. Moreover, pairing students were significantly more likely than non-pairing students to complete the course, and consequently to pass it. Among those who completed the course, pairers performed as well on the final exam as non-pairers, were significantly more likely to be registered as computer science related majors one year later, and to have taken subsequent programming courses. Our findings suggest that not only does pairing not compromise students ’ learning, but that it may enhance the quality of their programs and encourage them to pursue computer science degrees. 1

Feminist geography in the UK: the dialectics of women-gender-feminism-intersectionality and praxis

Feminist praxis has always been about both the individual and the collective; one of the revolutionary and utopian promises of feminism is that of being, bringing, and working together. This piece provides a brief account of some of the significant scholarship and collective activities within British feminist geography over the last twenty five years, with a particular focus on the work of the Women and Geography Study Group/Gender and Feminist Geographies Research Group. We underscore the importance of intersectional approaches to scholarship and praxis in UK feminist geographies in this period, and in going forward, as well as signalling some of the dialectical opportunities and tensions arising from this approach

Health-related quality of life in people with aphasia: Implications for fluency disorders quality of life research

Abstract It is increasingly important that clinicians address the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of adults with communication disorders in clinical practice. The overall aim of this paper is to draw conclusion about the suitability of the Short Form 36 Health Survey for the communication disorders of aphasia and stuttering. This study reports on the impact of post-stroke aphasia on 30 Australian older adults’ HRQOL. It also comments on the capacity of the SF-36 to measure HRQOL in this population, specifically whether it is sensitive to the three known determinants of post-stroke HRQOL – emotional, physical and social functioning. Comparisons with other data are made to assist interpretation of the SF-36 subscale scores: with 75 older adults with no history of neurological conditions; and with data from the 1995 National Health Survey data. The main findings are: (1) adults with post-stroke aphasia have similar HRQOL to their peers on six subscales, but significantly lower Role emotional and Mental health HRQOL; (2) a substantial number of aphasic adults reported depressive mood; and (3) aphasic adults with depressive mood have significantly worse HRQOL on six subscales than aphasic adults without depressive mood, but similar Role emotional and Body pain HRQOL. In conclusion, stroke and aphasia have minimal impact on older adults’ HRQOL as measured by the SF-36, which conflicts with an established evidence base of the negative consequences of aphasia on life. Thus, the SF-36 is not advisable for use with aphasic adults. Implications of these findings for aphasia and stuttering are discussed. Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (a) describe the impact of aphasia and depressive mood on quality of life; (b) compare the impact of aphasia on the quality of life of adults to adults who do not have aphasia; (c) describe the similarities and differences between quality of life of adults with aphasia and adults who stutter; and (d) describe the strengths and limitations of the SF-36 as a measure of quality of life in adults who stutter versus adults with aphasia