Growing green?: co-creating an evidence-based model of SME engagement

Topic: This paper reports on our experiences in running a pilot ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) project that addresses the issue of ‘sustainable growth’ by engaging SME owners and managers in facilitated workshop discussions on this important, yet highly contested topic. If the UK and other countries are to meet their carbon reduction obligations, it is clear that SMEs will need to make significant, and in some cases radical changes, not only in terms of their day-to-day operational practices but also in their longer-term trajectories. However, policymakers face substantial obstacles in communicating with this audience, including: the scale and diversity of the SME population, competing priorities, competitive pressures and resource constraints. This project combines published research on SMEs, their growth processes and environmental behaviours, with specialist expertise in SME engagement and climate change communication. Aim: The multi-partner collaboration is designed to co-create new knowledge on environmentally sustainable growth in SMEs. Its primary aim is to help SMEs and intermediaries gain a better understanding of sustainable growth and its implications for their businesses. The team designed and trialled an innovative approach engagement, based on facilitated workshop discussions, creating an initial evidence base that will be coupled with a set of practical recommendations. The project builds on the academic and external partners’ complementary research insights into SMEs, organisational growth, climate change communication, energy use and associated policy-making. By incorporating the expertise of the practical insights of practitioners and intermediary organisations, the project seeks to initiate a vigorous knowledge exchange about the conceptualisation and practical application of sustainable growth. Methodology: Prior to engaging with SMEs, the team conducted a review of the literature on sustainable growth, which informed the engagement phase of the project. We also conducted a small survey of SME owners and managers and engaged in an informal consultation with stakeholders that informed the design and contents of the pilot workshops. Two half-day workshops were organised with SME owner and manager participants, facilitated by the communications specialists, Climate Outreach, and drawing on previous engagement projects with hard to reach groups. The workshops provided a forum for participants to engage in grounded, ‘peer to peer’ discussion about sustainable growth, expressed in their own terms and drawing on their own values and narratives. Audio recording of the workshops provided the basis for a thematic analysis, which has been combined with the other sources to construct this working paper. Contribution: The project is generating new insights into SME perspectives on sustainable growth that are grounded in relevant theory and evidence, coupled with practical tools that will be of value to practitioners and policymakers. The project team has also developed audio-visual resources, which will be used to raise awareness and help to provide the foundations for future engagement activity. The aim of the next phase of the project is to further refine this approach to engagement in the form of a more fully developed ‘toolkit’ and associated resources

Acting on job stress - do we have a context for action?

Psychosocial risk is possibly the single biggest cause of occupational ill-health inAustralia, causing up to 30% of cardiovascular disease in working men and up to 30% ofdepression in working women. While the number of studies on effective workplaceinterventions has increased significantly in recent years, there has been at best onlylimited analysis examining the context for these interventions. The literature provideslittle evidence with which to answer critical public policy questions. In order to determine how diverse stakeholders are responding to job stress, this studydirectly sought to characterise this context. Through interviews across industry and withkey stakeholders, this study provides a thorough and empirically grounded description ofcurrent Victorian practice, a critical support for developing a systems approach toworkplace stress. The interviews examined the views of Victorian stakeholders in thearea of job stress to investigate understanding of and receptivity to systems approaches and reviewed experiences in workplaces. The picture that emerges from the interview data is contrasting, but with common features across groups. Most parties understood stress as an individual health issue, even though the links to the wider workplace environment were recognised by many. The views of some interviewees imply moral judgements about acceptable stress, experienced by “good” people who deal with trauma and conflict in their work, and unacceptable stress, experienced by “bad” people who can’t cope with the ups and downs of working life. Even so, the need to deal with job stress is recognised by all

“Posing Off:” Performance and Body Language on the Jamaican Stage

My paper will explore reggae dancehall album covers and the seductive yet dismissive ways in which bodies pose for the camera while concurrently seeming to ignore it. What accounts for this intrigue with the camera as well as an apparent repulsion towards it? Within the arena of national beauty politics, how do we account for those Caribbean bodies that are positioned for the global camera

Moving Healthcare Professionals Programme:embedding the promotion of physical activity in healthcare curricula

The benefits of physical activity to health are widely extolled, particularly in relation to the prevention and management of disease. However, few undergraduate healthcare curricula make space to specifically teach physical activity promotion. The professional standards of accrediting bodies ensure that public health and health promotion are embedded in pre-registration degree programmes but there is no standardised approach to covering physical activity. The national Moving Healthcare Professionals Programme (MHPP) is designed to support UK healthcare professionals and educators to gain knowledge and skills that would enable physical activity to be included within routine care to facilitate better patient outcomes

Role of community pharmacists in the use of antipsychotics for behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD): A qualitative study

Objective This study aimed to use qualitative methodology to understand the current role of community pharmacists in limiting the use of antipsychotics prescribed inappropriately for behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. Design A qualitative study employing focus groups was conducted. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Setting 3 different geographical locations in the England. Participants Community pharmacists (n=22). Results The focus groups identified an array of factors and constraints, which affect the ability of community pharmacists to contribute to initiatives to limit the use of antipsychotics. 3 key themes were revealed: (1) politics and the medical hierarchy, which created communication barriers; (2) how resources and remit impact the effectiveness of community pharmacy; and (3) understanding the nature of the treatment of dementia. Conclusions Our findings suggest that an improvement in communication between community pharmacists and healthcare professionals, especially general practitioners (GPs) must occur in order for community pharmacists to assist in limiting the use of antipsychotics in people with dementia. Additionally, extra training in working with people with dementia is required. Thus, an intervention which involves appropriately trained pharmacists working in collaboration with GPs and other caregivers is required. Overall, within the current environment, community pharmacists question the extent to which they can contribute in helping to reduce the prescription of antipsychotics