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This study explores the experiences of workplace ill-treatment of academic staff in the Irish Higher Education sector, with a focus on organizational response to experienced or witnessed workplace bullying and/or incivility. Workplace bullying is a significant problem, affecting approximately 15% of the workforce, with considerable variation by sector. Educational workplaces typically display prevalence rates that exceed average workplace bullying rates. The negative impacts on health and well-being are well documented and evidence is also emerging to show that organizational responses are less than optimal. The data collected comprise 11 qualitative in-depth interviews with academic staff in three of Ireland's seven Universities. Applying a phenomenological analysis approach, data revealed that participants' experiences were overwhelmingly negative in respect of organizational response, despite the fact that each University had an anti-bullying policy. This is explored and discussed in the context of failure to address the complex power relations, which are particularly relevant in professional organizations, intensified by current changes in the higher educational sector. Study limitations include the small number of Universities and small sample size, thus limiting generalizability.

Introduction: Research focused on workforce issues and the working conditions of occupational therapists in Ireland is limited. The aim of this study was to characterise quality of working life and well-being in Irish occupational therapists. Method: A cross-sectional, electronic survey of occupational therapists working in Ireland was conducted. The questionnaire included measures of quality of working life, well-being, workload, organisational constraints and turnover intentions. Results: A total of 157 occupational therapists completed the survey. Quality of work life and well-being scores were lower than available norms. Organisational constraints and workload predicted lower quality of working life, F (7,119) = 13.669, p < 0.0005, while organisational constraints was the only significant predictor of well-being, F (10,123) = 3.698, p < 0.0005. Lower quality of working life predicted turnover intention, F (1,139) = 63.004. p < 0.0005. Conclusion: Results indicate that organisational constraints and workload are significant predictors of lower quality of working life. Lower quality of working life is also related to turnover intention. Quality of working life studies such as this can provide a form of problem diagnosis, in highlighting organisational factors that impede quality of working life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Efforts to identify core competencies within health promotion and health education have been on-going for a number of years. These efforts include work carried out by the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) in drawing up a draft list of 11 core competencies which were incorporated into the practice module on the Masters (MA) in Health Promotion at National University of Ireland (NUI), Galway for the academic year 2008-2009. A reflective portfolio was introduced to allow students to reflect on their learning while on the programme. The aim of this article is to explore the usefulness of this competency-based reflective portfolio for student learning on the course. Methods: A qualitative study design was utilized. Content analysis of 18 student portfolios was undertaken addressing the 11 competencies of: professionalism; values/ethics; needs assessment; planning; implementation; evaluation; communication; policy/strategy; organization/management; collaborative working and technology. Results: The use of the portfolio promoted high levels of reflection across the "entire" course rather than within the practice module only. It reinforced student learning across modules and identified further training needs for students. Aspects of the course which were of particular value to students were also identified and included the work placement component and "real life experiences" of practitioners in the field of health promotion. The importance of dedicated skills workshops, such as strategy development, was also identified. Conclusion: The competency-based reflective portfolio is a very useful tool which draws together theoretical and experiential learning. It provides students with an opportunity to bring together the course as a whole and to integrate material across modules and tasks.

The authors examine the experiences of public sector workers in Ireland who had either been ill-treated or who worked to prevent ill-treatment and bullying in their organization. The authors demonstrate the limitations of providing a policy in the absence of understanding the need for implementation, and the need to understand how organizational culture is relevant to both the enactment and the amelioration of ill-treatment in the workplace. Training managers to be proactive and to be mindful of the need to ensure accountability is important, as well as communicating what is unacceptable in terms of behaviour and management style. ABSTRACT This paper explores the experiences of workers in a public sector organization in respect of workplace ill-treatment. The paper is based on 11 interviews which were part of the Irish Workplace Behaviour Study (2018). Workplace ill-treatment, and in particular workplace bullying, has been found to be more prevalent in public sector workplaces. Irish public sector workplaces have taken the brunt of severe austerity measures imposed by successive governments as part of the country's fiscal retrenchment policies between 2008 and 2016. The findings reported in this paper support Salin's (2003) model of 'Enabling, motivating, and precipitating structures', and are considered in the light of psychological contract breach in the context of New Public Management (NPM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the perceptions of illness causation and health inequalities of Travellers, an ethnic minority group who experience considerable social and health disadvantages in Ireland. In order to allow for subjective meanings to emerge, a qualitative methodology with purposive sampling was employed. Participants in the study were invited to respond to a vignette in a focus group setting. Forty-one Traveller women were recruited to the focus groups through community projects or adult education initiatives. The study not only illustrates the complexity of lay perceptions of ill-health and health inequalities, but raises important questions about the prevalence of depression and of domestic violence in the Travelling community. These Traveller women were very willing to discuss the structural factors that contributed to their health status, attributing ill-health to social and environmental factors, such as accommodation, hardship and discrimination. Further, they broadly rejected behavioural explanations of the heart disease described in the vignette. Traveller women's understandings of health and the factors that determine it are deeply embedded in the social context of their lives and their ethnic identity. These findings are discussed in the context of social identity and ethnicity, and contribute to theoretical debates about the role of that identity in recognising inequality. The study revealed that Traveller women see many shortcomings in health service provision. They need service provision to be culturally sensitive and responsive to their needs. Keywords: Health inequalities: Lay perceptions; Irish travellers; Ireland; Women