Search

This paper considers the impact of gendered norms on decision‐making for wildfire preparation and response at the household level. Focusing on Australia, it provides a theoretical thematic analysis of data acquired in 107 interviews with residents of nine different localities. It builds on existing research on gender and disaster, as well as on decision‐making and wildfires, and analyses the narratives that centre on ‘split’ households plans (where a male partner plans to stay and a female partner plans to evacuate) and disagreements within heterosexual couples as to an appropriate wildfire safety plan. The study finds that gender inequality and differences in gendered expectations are likely to create difficult conditions for negotiation between members of a heterosexual couple when there is disagreement over a plan and that this may contribute to risky decision‐making practices and outcomes. The paper reiterates, therefore, the importance of taking into account the social construction of gender in wildfire research and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To date, patient involvement in the development of clinical research work has been limited. In 2011, the Telescot research team commenced work on a feasibility trial to investigate home telemonitoring of blood pressure for people who have experienced stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA). The team decided to involve patients in the development of the research. Objectives: To improve research design through patient involvement. Method of patient involvement: A modified form of the ‘Scrutiny Panel’ approach was used to involve people who had stroke in the research project. Results: The Patient Panel supported the research in three key ways: it informed patient communication; it presented patient perspectives on the applicability and usability of the intervention; and it guided the development of the qualitative study. Discussion: The initiative was considered a positive experience for all. However, challenges were identified in terms of the time and cost implications of undertaking patient involvement. Implication for research practice: Importance is attached to adequate project planning and development, partnership working with community ‐ based organizations and the necessity for clear role delineation between patients and professionals to enable effective collaborative working. Conclusions: The Telescot Patient Panel was beneficial in supporting the development of the feasibility trial. The Panel approach was considered transferable to other clinical research contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Good blood pressure (BP) control reduces the risk of recurrence of stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA). Although there is strong evidence that BP telemonitoring helps achieve good control, none of the major trials have considered the effectiveness in stroke/TIA survivors. We therefore conducted a feasibility study for a trial of BP telemonitoring for stroke/TIA survivors with uncontrolled BP in primary care. Method: Phase 1 was a pilot trial involving 55 patients stratified by stroke/TIA randomised 3:1 to BP telemonitoring for 6 months or usual care. Phase 2 was a qualitative evaluation and comprised semi-structured interviews with 16 trial participants who received telemonitoring and 3 focus groups with 23 members of stroke support groups and 7 carers. Results: Overall, 125 patients (60 stroke patients, 65 TIA patients) were approached and 55 (44%) patients were randomised including 27 stroke patients and 28 TIA patients. Fifty-two participants (95%) attended the 6-month follow-up appointment, but one declined the second daytime ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) measurement resulting in a 93% completion rate for ABPM - the proposed primary outcome measure for a full trial. Adherence to telemonitoring was good; of the 40 participants who were telemonitoring, 38 continued to provide readings throughout the 6 months. There was a mean reduction of 10.1 mmHg in systolic ABPM in the telemonitoring group compared with 3.8 mmHg in the control group, which suggested the potential for a substantial effect from telemonitoring. Our qualitative analysis found that many stroke patients were concerned about their BP and telemonitoring increased their engagement, was easy, convenient and reassuring. Conclusions: A full-scale trial is feasible, likely to recruit well and have good rates of compliance and follow-up. Trial Registration: ISRCTN61528726 15/12/2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keynesianism, Monetarism, and the Crisis of the State is perhaps Simon's greatest intellectual and political contribution. This article sets the book in the context of his teaching at Warwick and the development of his thought through Marx, Marginalism and Modern Sociology to the publication of Keynesianism. Building on his analysis of the ideological dimensions of classical political economy, Simon set himself the ambitious task of grasping the coherence and complexity of the relationship between economics, politics and ideology in the crisis-ridden development of capitalism. In so doing, he developed a work of immense significance fusing conceptual and empirical analysis to produce a devastating critique of social democracy, neoliberalism and reformism. Although read widely within Conference of Socialist Economists circles, Keynesianism has not achieved the recognition it clearly deserves. Post-Keynesianism, Simon extended his analysis to worker organisation in Russia and beyond. His theoretical and empirical work on capitalism in all its forms offers a unique and enduring contribution to everyone interested in socialism and the limits of reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives To understand the views of patients and professionals on the acceptability and perceived usefulness of telemonitoring in the management of chronic heart failure in the context of day-to-day care provision. Background There is an increasing interest in the potential for telemonitoring to support the home-based management of patients with chronic heart failure. However, little is known about the views of patients and professionals on the use of telemonitoring in this context. A chronic heart failure telemonitoring service was set-up by NHS Lothian, Scotland, to evaluate the intervention. Design A qualitative design was adopted to explore the views of patients and professionals participating in the service. Methods Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 18 patients (61% male, mean age 75 years) and five professionals participating at different time points in this new service. Interviews were audio recorded, coded and thematically analysed using the Framework approach. Results Five main themes were identified: 'information, support and reassurance'; 'compliance and dependence'; 'changes and challenges'; 'determining the criteria for patient applicability to telemonitoring'; and 'continuity of care'. Conclusion Patients and professionals considered telemonitoring useful in the management of chronic heart failure, although with some caveats. Telemonitoring was popular with patients because they felt reassurance arising from what was perceived as continuous practitioner surveillance. Professionals expressed concern regarding perceived patient dependence on practitioner support. Increased workload was also a concern. Both groups acknowledged the need for improved technology and changes to service provision in order to better meet the intended objectives of the service. Relevance to clinical practice Although popular with patients, professionals emphasised the importance of case selection and adequate training and support, both for patients and themselves, in order to maximise the expected benefits of the service, particularly with regard to enabling self-management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To explore patient and professional views on self-management in the context of telemonitoring in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: Semi-structured interviews with patients with COPD and healthcare professionals participating in a randomized controlled trial of telemonitoring in Lothian, Scotland, explored experiences of using telemonitoring, and dynamics in patient–practitioner relationships. Transcribed data were analyzed using the Framework approach. Results: 38 patients (mean age 67.5 years) and 32 professionals provided 70 interviews. Patients considered that telemonitoring empowered self-management by enhancing their understanding of COPD and providing additional justification for their decisions to adjust treatment or seek professional advice. Professionals discussed telemonitoring as promoting compliance with medical advice and encouraged patients to exercise personal responsibility within clinical parameters, but expressed concerns about promoting the sick role and creating dependence on telemonitoring. Conclusion: Telemonitoring assisted many patients to embrace greater responsibility for their health but the model of service provision remained clinician-centered. A medical model of ‘compliant self-management’ may paradoxically have promoted dependence on professionals. Practice implications: Patients and professionals shared responsibility for meeting the central objective of prompt management of exacerbations of COPD. Care is needed, however, to minimize the risk in some patients, of telemonitoring increasing dependence on practitioner support. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The term 'community' has a long and contested lineage in social analysis and debate. This lineage, however, is not generally recognized in policy and public debates on community and bushfire in Australia. 'Community' is thought to be central to bushfire preparedness in Australia, especially in rural areas, but what 'community' actually means in this context is vague at best. There is an ever-present tension between the use of 'community' as a reference to locality, a 'sense of community' as experienced by residents, and the use of 'community' as a rhetorical tool by governments and state agencies. We argue that a rigorous analysis of the concept of 'community' is critical to an understanding of the processes involved in preparing for the challenges associated with disaster, in this case bushfires. These broader issues are supported by research (a series of surveys, interviews, and focus groups) carried out with residents living in (predominantly rural) bushfire-prone areas in the state of Victoria, Australia. Ultimately, we assert that social participation and social networks are likely to be the crucial aspects of community that play a central role in effective bushfire preparedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the relationship between trade unions and learning in the workplace, particularly in relation to the enhancement of worker employability profiles. With the restructuring and modernising of the European steel industry as its context, this paper argues that the organisational and structural features of a sector have a profound influence on the way workplace learning is organised. Equally, trade union organisation and approaches also shape the learning agenda. In the steel industry, trade unions have failed to address the significance of workplace learning, partly because of the ways that they approach this topic. In the context of traditional sectors, with relatively vulnerable workforces, the weakened state of union bargaining positions means that they have limited capacity to address workforce employability or workplace participation. The outcome is that trade union involvement in skill formation and workplace learning is marginal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lisbon process is aimed at laying the foundation for a dynamic, flexible and inclusive European Union (EU) economy. It is within this context, amid wider processes of restructuring and 'modernization', that traditional industries, such as steel, are engaged in transforming their skill base and creating a more diverse workforce. In this process, corporate management has a decisive role in reshaping the steel workforce, in the process exploiting the intersections between different aspects of policy. Our contention in this article is that EU policy prescriptions for transformation, aimed at fostering social cohesion and inclusion, are undone by corporate management strategies. In turn, national policy (on vocational education and training, for example) struggles to influence historically entrenched practices that operate at the sector level (such as on training and learning), which leaves some workers vulnerable to industry restructuring processes and at risk of social exclusion. Hence companies are able to restructure on their own terms, with workers' representatives seemingly unable to intervene in effective ways. The analysis that follows thus focuses on the tensions between national and supra-national policy making in the EU, and, within this context, sector policy and practice and the role of corporate management in shaping work and employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus in recent studies of workplace learning has been on 'communities of practice' and the ways that learning is shaped by such communities. In the process, there has been a downplaying of the importance of broader institutional arrangements, including the impact of organisational structures and management practice, as well as national systems of Vocational Education and Training. This paper draws attention to the importance of these organisational processes in structuring workplace learning. We argue that the institutional arrangements that define organisations are decisive in defining the parameters of workplace learning. In relation to traditional industries, such as steel, the opportunities for time-served workers employed in production areas to learn their work and enhance their expertise is characterised by a set of embedded and regressive practices. These practices hinder the adoption of new forms of working practices and leave many steelworkers vulnerable to the broader effects of industry restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, union membership declined massively, and many union leaderships lost their former eminence in the economic and political arenas. In an examination of recent developments in manufacturing and the restructured public sector, it is argued that unions face a set of problems, associated with economic restructuring, institutional reorganisation of the state sector and the uncertainties of internationalised economies. There has been a recomposition of power relations within the current political economy, so that even with diminished power and in more difficult circumstances, unions face new prospects and possibilities. The implications of these developments and the prospects for union renewal are reviewed with reference to the changing patterns of trade unionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents case studies on privatized industrial enterprises in Russia. Workers' control and the control of workers in the Soviet enterprise; Soviet enterprise in the transition to capitalism; Strategies under privatization; Pionerka, Bratchenko, LenKon and Plastmass companies.

The article focuses on the increasing popularity of Neo-Liberalism in Australia. On August 19, 996, thousands of trade unionists and others stormed the Australian Parliament protesting against the Coalition Government's Workplace Relations Bill. This outbreak of anger might be thought to herald a reaction to heightened attacks on the Australian working class. The Coalition Government comprised a traditional conservative alliance between the Liberal Party and the rural-based National Party. While the Liberal Party promised change, there is a continuity of the core neo-liberal economic agenda. The philosophy and practice of Australian "Laborism" was erected in the early years of the twentieth century upon a tripod of "White Australia," conciliation and arbitration, and strong tariff barriers. According to the authors, a new political force has recently arisen in Australian politics which challenges the bipartisan trade orthodoxy. The advent of an Australian managerial state was part of a more wide-ranging restructuring in which control over strategic state assets has been transferred from the public to the private sector.

The article presents information on the workers' movement in Russia. The program of perestroika initiated with the election of Mikhail Gorbachev, general secretary of the Communist Party of Russia, in 1985 was essentially a program which sought to restructure production relations from above, unleashing a factional struggle within the ruling stratum which increasingly centred on the transformation of class relations. As this factional struggle polarized, each party sought to secure the support of the working class. Gorbachev himself initiated the process of working class mobilization in 1987. In the first stages this involved the attempt to provide incentives for the transformation of production relations, and to open new channels for workers' self-determination, but still within the limits of the old system of enterprise and ministerial direction. The failure to make headway led Gorbachev to call for a more active response from the workers, to sweep away managerial and ministerial resistance to reform, in 1989.

This paper explores the place of gender in relation to labour and transition in regional development. A 'gendered lens' is applied to planning documents relating to the region of Gippsland, Australia. While previous research highlights the importance of accounting for gender in regional development, gendered analyses outside Europe are scarce. We argue that an apparent gender neutrality in planning documents in effect privileges masculinised elements of the economy. It means that current approaches to regional development, at best, reproduce the gendered status quo and, at worst, further re-entrench gender inequality in the region, with consequences for regional labour policy. Our findings have flow on effects for gender relations, and specifically for women, and economic policy in regions undergoing transition in Gippsland. We conclude that any regional policy that does not account for gendered realities and the lived experiences of women, ultimately fails the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Good blood pressure (BP) control reduces the risk of recurrence of stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA). Although there is strong evidence that BP telemonitoring helps achieve good control, none of the major trials have considered the effectiveness in stroke/TIA survivors. We therefore conducted a feasibility study for a trial of BP telemonitoring for stroke/TIA survivors with uncontrolled BP in primary care.Method: Phase 1 was a pilot trial involving 55 patients stratified by stroke/TIA randomised 3:1 to BP telemonitoring for 6 months or usual care. Phase 2 was a qualitative evaluation and comprised semi-structured interviews with 16 trial participants who received telemonitoring and 3 focus groups with 23 members of stroke support groups and 7 carers.Results: Overall, 125 patients (60 stroke patients, 65 TIA patients) were approached and 55 (44%) patients were randomised including 27 stroke patients and 28 TIA patients. Fifty-two participants (95%) attended the 6-month follow-up appointment, but one declined the second daytime ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) measurement resulting in a 93% completion rate for ABPM - the proposed primary outcome measure for a full trial. Adherence to telemonitoring was good; of the 40 participants who were telemonitoring, 38 continued to provide readings throughout the 6 months. There was a mean reduction of 10.1 mmHg in systolic ABPM in the telemonitoring group compared with 3.8 mmHg in the control group, which suggested the potential for a substantial effect from telemonitoring. Our qualitative analysis found that many stroke patients were concerned about their BP and telemonitoring increased their engagement, was easy, convenient and reassuring.Conclusions: A full-scale trial is feasible, likely to recruit well and have good rates of compliance and follow-up.Trial Registration: ISRCTN61528726 15/12/2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]