Search

The present paper explores psychological processes that underpin the success of community change in the context of urban regeneration schemes. We adopt a social identity approach to develop an understanding of the ways in which social identity dynamics may impact upon peoples' experiences of regeneration, and what influence these identity processes have on the creation of new communities. Qualitative interviews, using thematic analysis as an analytic technique, were conducted with community members (n = 14) in a recently (2001–2011) regenerated area in the South‐West of England. Three overarching themes were identified: Patterns of identification, willingness to engage, and the notion of regeneration as an event. The research overall highlights the central role of group‐based identity in understanding the processes of regeneration and how this is experienced by different community members. Findings are discussed in relation to the impact regeneration schemes have on community members' sense of collective self, unity, and engagement. The research highlights the pivotal role of social identity processes in delivering successful and sustainable strategies of urban regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated nurses' experiences of hospital‐acquired pressure injury (PI) prevention in acute care services to better understand how PI prevention may be optimised. We used the Theoretical Domains Framework to systematically identify barriers and enablers to evidence‐based preventive practices as required by the International Guideline. This study was one element of a complex capacity building project on PI surveillance and prevention within the acute health service partners of Monash Partners Academic Health Science Centre, an accredited academic health partnership located in Melbourne, Australia. We adopted a qualitative descriptive design. We interviewed 32 nurses that provided care in intensive care units, general wards and COVID wards of four acute care services. Nurses were recruited from four large acute care services (three public, one private) located in Melbourne. Most of them worked with patients who were at high risk of hospital‐acquired PI on a daily basis. Interview transcripts were coded and analysed using thematic analysis guided by the Theoretical Domains Framework. The domains referred to most frequently by all participants included: Knowledge, Skills, Social/Professional Role and Identity, Beliefs about Capabilities, and Environmental Context and Resources. The key barriers discussed by nurses included gaps in nurses' knowledge and skills related to identification and staging of PI, heavy nursing workload and inadequate staffing levels, stigma and self‐blame related to PI identification, and exacerbating impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Main facilitators discussed were training programmes, nursing audits and feedback, and teamwork. Participants suggested improvements including accessible and tailored training, visual reminders, and addressing heavy workloads and emotional barriers nurses face. Investing in tailored training initiatives to improve nurses' knowledge and organisational changes to address low level staffing and heavy workloads are urgently needed to support nurses in delivering optimal care and preventing hospital‐acquired PI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This paper examines staff views about legitimacy of different roles for community representatives sitting on health service committees as part of a formal Community Participation Program (CPP) in an Area Health Service (AHS) in Australia. Design A cross-sectional survey using a self-completed questionnaire by staff on committees with community representation in the AHS in 2008. Setting The study site has a population of approximately 1.4 million and covers 6000 km2. The population is ethnically and socio-economically diverse. Results There are generally positive staff attitudes at this AHS for community participation as part of the CPP with positive impacts identified, including on service delivery and the conduct of health service meetings. Most saw community representatives having legitimate roles in representing the community, improving communication between the health service and the community and providing constructive feedback. However, staff expectations about the community's role on committees do not match the reality they say they observe and less than half the staff thought the community and health service agree on the role of community representatives. Conclusions As well as reviewing and enhancing training and support for representatives and staff as part of the CPP, there is a need to question staff expectations about community members who sit on health service committees and whether these expectations are shared by other key stakeholders, most notably the community representatives themselves. These expectations have implications for the CPP and for similar programs designed to engage community members on committees and working groups with health professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary • This study is about the life stories of six older people with Down’s syndrome who spent some part of their childhoods in institutionalised settings. • They have interesting and moving stories to tell about their lives. They talked about their childhood and current lives, their likes and dislikes, their strengths and difficulties and their hopes and dreams. They also spoke about the important people in their lives. • The participants did not talk about themselves as being ‘old’, ‘disabled’ or as having ‘Down’s syndrome’. They talked about themselves in other ways, such as being ‘normal’, being a ‘man’ or a ‘beautiful lady’. • The researcher learnt about herself whilst doing this study. She learned about the value of taking time to listen to people and she reflected on her own life story. This paper is a narrative analysis of the accounts of six older people with Down’s syndrome who spent part of their childhood in institutional environments. The study aimed to find out how the participants talked about themselves. Different types of narrative analysis were used, including those of Murray ( Qualitative psychology: a practical guide to research methods, London, UK, Sage, 2003), Gergen & Gergen ( Hist Social Psychol, Hillsdale, NJ, Erlbaum, 1984) and Labov & Waletsky ( Essays on the verbal and visual arts, Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1967). All of the participants spoke about their childhood, current and future lives. Most participants were able to reflect upon their strengths, limitations and hopes. The analysis highlighted the commonalities across the accounts: loss, abuse, health, significant others, transition, resilience and identity. Significantly, none of the participants identified themselves as having ‘Down’s syndrome’ or a ‘learning disability,’ nor did they identify with being ‘older’. Instead, individuals identified themselves in relation to gender and social roles. The accounts varied in terms of their form, structure, coherence and reflexive capacity. Clinical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social identity approach (SIA) research shows that community members often work together to support survivors of collective victimization and rectify social injustices. However, complexities arise when community members have been involved in perpetrating these injustices. While many communities are unaware of their role in fostering victimization, others actively deny their role and responsibility to restore justice. We explore these processes by investigating experiences of community violence and collective justice‐seeking among Albanian survivors of dictatorial crimes. Survivors (N = 27) were interviewed, and data were analysed using theoretical thematic analysis guided by the SIA. The analysis reveals the diverse ways communities can become harmful 'Social Curses'. First, communities in their various forms became effective perpetrators of fear and control (e.g., exclusion and/or withholding ingroup privileges) during the dictatorship because of the close relationship between communities and their members. Second, communities caused harm by refusing to accept responsibility for the crimes, and by undermining attempts at collective action to address injustices. This lack of collective accountability also fosters survivors' feelings of exclusion and undermines their hope for systematic change. Implications for SIA processes relating to health/wellbeing (both Social Cure and Curse) are discussed. We also discuss implications for understanding collective action and victimhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine Australian Aboriginal Elders' (Elders) views on their contributions to and their potential to contribute to the well‐being of their community. Design: Participatory action research methodology was employed. Data collection methods included yarning interviews and group circle discussions. Data were thematically analysed. Setting: The project was undertaken in collaboration with Elders from a discrete Aboriginal community in rural/remote Tasmania, an island state in southern Australia. Participants: Twelve Aboriginal community Elders. Intervention: N/A. Main outcome measures: N/A. Results: Elders were promoting cultural well‐being through interconnected themes of mentoring, cultural healing and seeking balance between health services and the community's cultural foundation. Cultural values, identity, community cohesion and connections to country were further embedded in these themes. Conclusion: The study findings draw attention to the age‐old wisdom of Aboriginal Elders, who actively promote cultural well‐being as a main determinant of community health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Increased self‐management is a suggested solution to the burden on health‐care services of long‐term conditions (LTCs). This requires effective sharing of knowledge between health‐care professionals and patients, and is an underexplored area. Objective: To understand how patients and health‐care professionals (HCPs) share and utilize knowledge in the social context of health‐care interactions within long‐term condition management. Methods: Thematic analysis of 93 hours of observations of health‐care interactions and 33 semi‐structured interviews involving patients, carers and HCPs. Results: 3 themes were identified: normative social roles, differing professional roles and the value of knowledge. Knowledge sharing was a complex process heavily influenced by social and cultural norms within the health‐care context. Not all knowledge was easily shared within routine health‐care interactions. Discussion: The social context in which health‐care is practised influences what knowledge is shared and how this is achieved. It favours sharing of clinical knowledge from HCPs to patients and disadvantages patients in their ability to share their unique knowledge based on lived experience of illness. The opportunities for patients to be supported in their knowledge, skills and confidence within routine health‐care interactions are limited. Conclusion: Both patients and HCPs need support to recognize the characteristics of the social context of health care and their understandings of their roles within this in order for them to move beyond accepted behaviours to develop more effective partnership working. Patient or Public Contribution: Patients were involved in initial design of the study, particularly ethics of ethnographic observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Ireland, displaced people experience segregation, discrimination, and disempowering regulations within the Direct Provision system. Community solidarity initiatives (CSI) aim to address the segregation and discrimination displaced people face through collaborative contact with residents/nationals of Ireland. However, asymmetric power relations mean that residents/nationals and displaced people are likely to experience intergroup contact differently, which has implications for identity negotiation. We investigated how displaced people and residents/nationals negotiated their identities and oriented to social representations in talk about their experiences of a CSI in the West of Ireland. We interviewed 17 displaced people and residents/nationals and conducted a thematic analysis, informed by Social Identity Approach and Social Representations Theory. Then, we applied a discursive approach to understand how participants constructed social identities and social representations. Our analysis produced two main themes: 'Identity negotiation strategies in talk about intergroup contact' and 'Understanding and orienting to intergroup boundaries'. We found that residents/nationals and displaced people negotiated their identities to maintain positive identification in relation to negative social representations about their groups. Participants also oriented to shared group representations in their talk , which has implications for the development of political solidarity between residents/nationals and displaced people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaders figure significantly in radicalization processes that can ultimately lead to terrorism. This article attempts to explain radicalization as a process of interaction between leaders and their followers. We argue that the process of radicalization includes five stages: pre-radicalization, self-identification, indoctrination, commitment, and jihad ideologization. In the case of the Bali bombers, the process was strengthened by external environmental conditions that enabled leaders to gain broad support from the community. In our analysis we rely on a combination of interviews with convicted terrorists and previously unexamined documentary evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The long-term well-being of children with language impairment is an area of increasing interest to families, educators and employers as language impairment is often life-long. Furthermore, language impairment and psychiatric difficulty are known to overlap in both populations originally diagnosed as having language impairment and those receiving mental health services. However, there are currently little data available about the wider quality of life for people with language impairment, especially from the perspective of the young people themselves. There is a dearth of information about community-based activities provided for the support and leisure of this population. The Afasic Youth Project meets once a week and is one of only a handful of such groups across the United Kingdom. Methods & Procedures: This study reports the experiences and views of 19 young people aged 13-23 years attending a leisure provision for young people with primary communication needs. The views of 20 parents were also gained. Interviews with young people and parents were based on items used in the Manchester Language Study in which a large group of young people with a history of language difficulties ( n= 130) and typically developing 16-year-olds ( n= 109) expressed their views on a range of quality of life measures. This allows a context against which to evaluate the responses of the young people in the study. An additional section of the interview was designed to address the young people's views on the Afasic Youth Project specifically. Outcomes & Results: Social patterns of the young people were very similar to those reported by the Manchester Language Study indicating that they are a group relatively representative of the language impairment population. A number of positive themes emerged in relation to the club, which included freedom to be true to self, and meeting similar individuals. Interestingly, parents expressed some similar themes, but also had additional thoughts about the group, including the need to meet other parents in similar situations and the belief that the group was aiding social development. Conclusions & Implications: The analysis suggests that community-based social and leisure provision is an important 'missing' service for young people with language impairment, providing an alternative to school-based activities and support older teenagers beyond compulsory education. There is a pressing need to investigate the potential role of such facilities given that recent research into language impairment has clearly shown associations with long-term and wide-ranging social and emotional risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Exploring the concept of living successfully with aphasia challenges researchers and clinicians to identify positive rather than negative adaptive processes and factors that may inform clinical interventions and other community-based services for people with aphasia. Previous research on this topic has focused on the perspectives of individuals with aphasia, and identified a number of core components of living successfully with aphasia, including doing things, meaningful relationships, striving for a positive way of living, and communication. As service providers, speech-language pathologists may also contribute valuable insights regarding components of living successfully with aphasia and factors influencing individuals' abilities to achieve this goal. Aims: This research aimed to explore speech-language pathologists' perspectives about the meaning of living successfully with aphasia, and factors they perceive to influence individuals' abilities to live successfully with aphasia. Methods & Procedures: Twenty-five speech-language pathologists from around Australia participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews on the topic of living successfully with aphasia. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis to identify themes of relevance. Outcomes & Results: Through the analysis of speech-language pathologist participant transcripts, the following themes emerged as components of living successfully with aphasia: participation and community engagement; communication; meaningful relationships; autonomy or independence; acceptance and embracement of aphasia; self-esteem; happiness; and purpose or meaningfulness. A wide variety of factors were perceived to influence individuals' abilities to live successfully with aphasia. These included support, acceptance, and understanding; personal factors; and speech-language pathology services. Conclusions & Implications: Further research is required to extend findings by investigating how speech-language pathologists address identified themes in clinical practice. To improve service provision, continued reflection by speech-language pathologists on how services provided align with client's values and priorities is a necessity. A commitment by speech-language pathologists to work in partnership with people with aphasia and their families and friends to achieve successful living with aphasia is one way to translate this research into practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]