Search

The study examines how context influences team work within the public-service professional bureaucracy, particularly the effects of an interaction between macro-institutional and local-organizational context on the micro-negation of team work. Findings highlight the challenges of reconfiguring professional structures through team work and offer some hope for possibilities for change within certain local conditions.

Several case studies are conducted to explain the impact of the different macro-level factors, like the relational and social identity on the role transition of people. The analyses reveal that the identity plays an extremely significant role at the collective level.

Population attributable risk (PAR) estimates have been used in suicide research to evaluate the impact of psychosocial and socioeconomic risk factors, including affective disorders, traumatic life events, and unemployment. A parallel concept of preventive fraction (PF), allowing for estimation of the impact of protective factors and effectiveness of preventive interventions, is practically unknown in suicidology. The study authors discuss the application of both concepts to suicide research and prevention, and review literature on the subject. Despite several methodological and conceptual limitations, both PAR and PF ate valuable instruments to inform development and evaluation of suicide prevention programs.

INTRODUCTION Across the economically developed world over the last 10-15 years, governments have pursued increasingly interlaced strategies aimed at reforming public-service provision. Transformative efforts to 'Reinvent Government' (Osborne and Gaebler [...]

A study revealing the superiority of group therapy to routine care in preventing the recurrence of self-harming behavior among adolescents is unsuccessfully replicated. The study's findings contradicted those of the original study.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.01.006 Byline: Graham P. Martin (a), Graeme Currie (a), Rachael Finn (b) Abstract: Efforts to 'modernize' the clinical workforce of the English National Health Service have sought to reconfigure the responsibilities of professional groups in pursuit of more effective, joined-up service provision. Such efforts have met resistance from professions eager to protect their jurisdictions, deploying legitimacy claims familiar from the insights of the sociology of professions. Yet to date few studies of professional boundaries have grounded these insights in the specific context of policy challenges to the inter- and intra-professional division of labour, in relation to the medical profession and other health-related occupations. In this paper we address this gap by considering the experience of newly instituted general practitioners with a special interest (GPSIs) in genetics, introduced to improve genetics knowledge and practice in primary care. Using qualitative data from four comparative case studies, we discuss how an established intra-professional division of labour within medicine -- between clinical geneticists and general practitioners -- was opened, negotiated and reclosed in these sites. We discuss the contrasting attitudes towards the nature of genetics knowledge and its application of GPSIs and geneticists, and how these were used to advance conflicting visions of what the nascent GPSI role should involve. In particular, we show how the claims to knowledge of geneticists and GPSIs interacted with wider policy pressures to produce a rather more conservative redistribution of power and responsibility across the intra-professional boundary than the rhetoric of modernization might suggest. Author Affiliation: (a) CLAHRC NDL, University of Nottigham, Sir Colin Campbell Building, Triumph Road, Nottinghan NG7 2TU, UK (b) York Management School, University of York, Heslington, York Y010 5DD, UK

Public participation in health-service management is an increasingly prominent policy internationally. Frequently, though, academic studies have found it marginalized by health professionals who, keen to retain control over decision-making, undermine the legitimacy of involved members of the public, in particular by questioning their representativeness. This paper examines this negotiation of representative legitimacy between staff and involved users by drawing on a qualitative study of service-user involvement in pilot cancer-genetics services recently introduced in England, using interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis. In contrast to the findings of much of the literature, health professionals identified some degree of representative legitimacy in the contributions made by users. However, the ways in which staff and users constructed representativeness diverged significantly. Where staff valued the identities of users as biomedical and lay subjects, users themselves described the legitimacy of their contribution in more expansive terms of knowledge and citizenship. My analysis seeks to show how disputes over representativeness relate not just to a struggle for power according to contrasting group interests, but also to a substantive divergence in understanding of the nature of representativeness in the context of state-orchestrated efforts to increase public participation. This divergence might suggest problems with the enactment of such aspirations in practice: alternatively, however, contestation of representative legitimacy might be understood as reflecting ambiguities in policy-level objectives for participation, which secure implementation by accommodating the divergent constructions of those charged with putting initiatives into practice. Keywords: Public participation Legitimacy Representativeness Lay knowledge England Cancer genetics UK Health systems NHS

The inner experience of spiritual and religious feelings is an integral part of the everyday lives of many individuals. For over 100 years the role of religion as a deterrent to suicidal behavior has been studied in various disciplines. We attempt to systematize the existing literature investigating the relationship between religion/spirituality and suicide in this paper. After an overview of the attitudes of the dominant religions (e.g., Catholicism, Islam, and Buddhism) toward suicide, the three main theories that have speculated regarding the link between religion and suicide are presented: 'integration theory' (Durkheim, 1897/1997), 'religious commitment theory' (Stack, 1983a; Stark, 1983), and 'network theory' (Pescosolido & Georgianna, 1989). Subsequent to this theoretical introduction, we report on studies on religion/spirituality keeping the suicidal path as a reference: from suicidal ideation to nonlethal suicidal behavior to lethal suicidal behavior. Studies presenting indications of religious beliefs as a possible risk factor for suicidal behavior are also presented. The last section reviews possible intervention strategies for suicidal patients and suicide survivors. Indications for future research, such as more studies on nonreligious forms of spirituality and the use of qualitative methodology to achieve a better and deeper understanding of the spiritual dimension of suicidal behavior and treatment, are offered.

A complexity reduction algorithm tailored for the H.264/AVC encoder is described. It aims to alleviate the computational burden imposed by Lagrangian rate distortion optimization in the inter-mode selection process. The proposed algorithm is described as a hierarchical structure comprising three levels. Each level targets different types of macroblocks according to the complexity of the search process. Early termination of mode selection is triggered at any of the levels to avoid a full cycle of Lagrangian examination. The algorithm is evaluated using a wide range of test sequences of different classes. The results demonstrate a reduction in encoding time of at least 40%, regardless of the class of sequence. Despite the reduction in computational complexity, picture quality is maintained at all bit rates. Index Terms--Fast algorithm, H.264/AVC standard, interframe, Lagrangian optimization, mode selection.

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2007.01027.x Byline: Graham P. Martin (1) Keywords: governmentality; public participation; representation; lay expertise; England Abstract: Abstract Public involvement in healthcare is a prominent policy in countries across the economically developed world. A growing body of academic literature has focused on public participation, often presenting dichotomies between good and bad practice: between initiatives that offer empowerment and those constrained by consumerism, or between those which rely for recruitment on self-selecting members of the public, and those including a more broad-based, statistically representative group. In this paper I discuss the apparent tensions between differing rationales for participation, relating recent discussions about the nature of representation in public involvement to parallel writings about the contribution of laypeople's expertise and experience. In the academic literature, there is, I suggest, a thin line between democratic justifications for involvement, suggesting a representative role for involved publics, and technocratic ideas about the potential 'expert' contributions of particular subgroups of the public. Analysing recent policy documents on participation in healthcare in England, I seek moreover to show how contemporary policy transcends both categories, demanding complex roles of involved publics which invoke various qualities seen as important in governing the interface between state and society. I relate this to social-theoretical perspectives on the relationship between governmental authority and citizens in late-modern society. Author Affiliation: (1)Institute for Science and Society, University of Nottingham Article note: Address for correspondence: Graham P. Martin, Institute for Science and Society, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, e-mail: graham.martin@nottingham.ac.uk

The relationship between American adolescents' participation in physical activity and severity of depressive symptoms is presented. The findings highlighted the gender variability in the psychological correlates of sporting participations.

Different scholars have expressed the same regret for the lack of research on ethnocultural differences in youth suicide behavior and the need to conduct more comparative studies, necessary to develop culturally responsive prevention and intervention strategies. The authors reviewed 82 publications on youth suicide that have considered, to different degrees, the ethnicity/culture of the population studied. Part 1 of this article explored youth suicide rates and methods (SLTB, this issue), while the present paper examines risk and precipitating factors and attitudes toward suicide in young people from a cross-cultural perspective.

The study of ethnocultural aspects of suicidal behaviour is, at the moment, still a neglected area. The relatively few studies available are mainly on adults; young people usually are not examined separately. The authors reviewed 82 publications on youth suicide that have addressed, to different degrees, the ethnicity/ culture of the population studied. Following a description of the main characteristics shared by these researches (e.g., predominance of studies on Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics; lack of qualitative methodology, etc.), the rates and methods of youth suicide, from a cross-cultural perspective are discussed.

A growing body of literature in geography and other social sciences considers the role of place in the provision of healthcare with particular interests emerging around the role of the psychological, social and cultural aspects of place in care provision. As healthcare stretches increasingly beyond the traditional four walls of the hospital, so questions of the role of place in practices of care become ever more pertinent. In this paper, we examine the relationship between place and practice in the care and rehabilitation of older people across a range of settings, using qualitative material obtained from interviews and focus groups with nursing, care and rehabilitation staff working in hospitals, clients' homes and other sites in England. By analysing their testimony on the characteristics of different settings, the aspects of place which facilitate or inhibit rehabilitation and the ways in which place mediates and is mediated by social interaction, we consider how various dimensions of place relate to the power-inscribed relationships between service users, informal carers and professionals as they negotiate the goals of the rehabilitation process. We seek to demonstrate how the physical, psychological and social meanings of place and the social processes engendered by the rehabilitation encounter interact to produce landscapes that are more or less therapeutic, considering in particular the structuring role of state policy and formal healthcare provision in this dynamic. Keywords: Intermediate care; Older people; Therapeutic landscape; Rehabilitation; Community care; UK

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.04.001 Byline: Graham P. Martin (a), Susan A. Nancarrow (b), Hilda Parker (c), Kay Phelps (d), Emma L. Regen (d) Abstract: A growing body of literature in geography and other social sciences considers the role of place in the provision of healthcare with particular interests emerging around the role of the psychological, social and cultural aspects of place in care provision. As healthcare stretches increasingly beyond the traditional four walls of the hospital, so questions of the role of place in practices of care become ever more pertinent. In this paper, we examine the relationship between place and practice in the care and rehabilitation of older people across a range of settings, using qualitative material obtained from interviews and focus groups with nursing, care and rehabilitation staff working in hospitals, clients' homes and other sites in England. By analysing their testimony on the characteristics of different settings, the aspects of place which facilitate or inhibit rehabilitation and the ways in which place mediates and is mediated by social interaction, we consider how various dimensions of place relate to the power-inscribed relationships between service users, informal carers and professionals as they negotiate the goals of the rehabilitation process. We seek to demonstrate how the physical, psychological and social meanings of place and the social processes engendered by the rehabilitation encounter interact to produce landscapes that are more or less therapeutic, considering in particular the structuring role of state policy and formal healthcare provision in this dynamic. Author Affiliation: (a) Institute for the Study of Genetics, Biorisks and Society, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK (b) Trent Focus, Institute of General Practice and Primary Care, University of Sheffield, Community Sciences Centre, Northern General Hospital, Sheffield S5 7AU, UK (c) Division of Primary Care, School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, Graduate Medical School, Derby City General Hospital, Uttoxeter Road, Derby DE22 3DT, UK (d) Nuffield Community Care Studies Unit, Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, 22-28 Princess Road West, Leicester LE1 6TP, UK

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2005.02.012 Byline: Helen A. Bergen (a)(c), Graham Martin (a), Leigh Roeger (b), Stephen Allison (b) Abstract: To study longitudinal relationships between perception of academic performance (PAP) and alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use at age 13 and 15 years. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Psychiatry, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, Australia (b) Southern Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, SA, Australia (c) Centre for Suicide Research, University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, United Kingdom

Moves are currently under way to provide better, more rational and improved services for people with learning disabilities. This is clear from Valuing People (DoH 2001) and from various other [...]

Objective: A cross-sectional study of gender specific relationships between self-reported child sexual abuse and suicidality in a community sample of adolescents. Method: Students aged 14 years on average (N = 2,485) from 27 schools in South Australia completed a questionnaire including items on sexual abuse and suicidality, and measures of depression (Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale), hopelessness (Beck Hopelessness Scale), and family functioning (McMaster Family Assessment Device General Functioning Subscale). Data analysis included logistic regression. Results: In boys, self-report sexual abuse is strongly and independently associated with suicidal thoughts, plans, threats, deliberate self-injury, and suicide attempts, after controlling for current levels of depression, hopelessness, and family dysfunction. In girls, the relationship between sexual abuse and suicidality is mediated fully by depression, hopelessness, and family dysfunction. Girls who report current high distress about sexual abuse, however, have a threefold increased risk of suicidal thoughts and plans, compared to non-abused girls. Boys who report current high distress about sexual abuse have 10-fold increased risk for suicidal plans and threats, and 15-fold increased risk for suicide attempts, compared to non-abused boys. Fifty-five percent (n = 15) of sexually abused boys attempted suicide versus 29% (n = 17) girls. Conclusions: A history of sexual abuse should alert clinicians, professionals and carers in contact with adolescents, to greatly increased risks of suicidal behavior and attempts in boys, even in the absence of depression and hopelessness. Distress following sexual abuse, along with depression and hopelessness indicate increased risk of suicidal behavior in girls, as well as boys. Keywords: Child sexual abuse; Suicidality: Adolescents: Gender differences

Ian MacKillop's 'F.R. Leavis: A Life in Criticism' provides the biography of F.R. Leavis in extensive detail, basing it on primary sources. MacKillop focuses on the 'professional' part of his life. The description of Leavis's life shows MacKillop's mastery in tackling significant topics and events in a judicious manner, such as Leavis's assessment of Charles Dickens. The book fails to throw light upon Leavis's socio-cultural views that gave rise to a sociological critique of Bloomsbury. The influence of Mrs Leavis is the most significant factor omitted from MacKillop's account.

The longitudinal relationships between perception of academic performance (PAP) and alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use at age of 13 and 15 are studied. Interventions to maintain or improve academic self-esteem in early adolescence might reduce risks for accelerating substance use in mid-adolescence.

The area of Notting Hill in west London has been subject to much media coverage in recent years, which, along with substantial gentrification, has given rise to an image of the area as the epitome of fashionable London. This study investigates the views of those marginal to gentrification and mediated representation on their feelings about the local area, its image and their changing neighbourhoods. Many participants in the research resented some of the more recent changes in Notting Hill and the area's representation in the media. However, in contrast to expectations, most of the more working-class respondents involved in the research did not articulate much emotional attachment to the area. They were more concerned with what might be termed the material aspects of life in Notting Hill: convenience, facilities, safety and so on. In contrast, the more middle-class respondents frequently spoke of their regret of the changes to the area, such as the loss of independent shops, and the reduction in diversity. Paradoxically, the loss of working-class landscapes seems a relatively middle-class worry. The symbolically important landscapes described by working-class respondents were related to more immediate, material issues, in which gentrification was only a relatively minor concern.

A longitudinal study is conducted on 2603, 2485 and 2246 school children in the age group of 13, 14 and 15 years respectively from different Australian schools to investigate the relationship of perceived academic performance, self-esteem and LOC with later suicidal behavior. The outcome indicates that perceived academic performance, self-esteem and the locus of control are very much related with the suicidal risk.

This study evaluated the video Youth Suicide: Recognising the Signs as a parent educational medium. Before and after viewing the video, parents (N = 112) of young people answered questionnaires measuring their (1) knowledge of suicidal signs, (2) responses to a young person showing suicidal signs, (3) attitude to suicide, and (4) intentionality toward suicidal people. After the video, parents' knowledge of suicidal signs, responses toward a suicidal person, and intention to help improved. Their attitude was more rejecting of suicide. Knowledge and intentionality predicted response to suicidal statements, but no relationships existed between attitude and the other variables. Implications for youth suicide education programs are discussed.

This paper reports two efficient quadtree-based algorithms for variable-size block matching (VSBM) motion estimation. The schemes allow the dimensions of blocks to adapt to local activity within the image, and the total number of blocks in any frame can be varied while still accurately representing true motion. This permits adaptive bit allocation between the representation of displacement and residual data, and also the variation of the overall bit-rate on a frame-by-frame basis. The first algorithm computes the optimal selection of variable-sized blocks to provide the best-achievable prediction error under the fixed number of blocks for a quadtree-based VSBM technique. The algorithm employs an efficient dynamic programming technique utilizing the special structure of a quadtree. Although this algorithm is computationally intensive, it does provide a yardstick by which the performance of other more practical VSBM techniques can be measured. The second algorithm adopts a heuristic way to select variable-sized square blocks. It relies more on local motion information than on global error optimization. Experiments suggest that the effective use of local information contributes to minimizing the overall error. The result is a more computationally efficient VSBM technique than the optimal algorithm, but with a comparable prediction error. Index Terms--Dynamic programming, motion estimations, quadtree, variable-size block matching, video compression.

The call by some taxonomists for doubling the list of bird species from 10,000 to 20,000 based on DNA genetics will pose problems for ornithologists in the understanding of birds, and will affect the status of birds in international wildlife conservation. The debate over the issue revolves around two species concepts, the biological species, and the phylogenetic species concept (PSC).

The binocular field of ostriches, whose eyes are the largest among all land vertebrates is very small. Visual control of bill position during highly accurate pecks are used by ostriches foraging for food, with the foraging behavior primarily determining binocular field properties. Other birds that differ in eye size and eye separation and in their ecology and phylogeny also exhibit similar narrow frontal binocular fields.

Author(s): Graham Martin [1] Sir Sandra Knapp, in her Concepts essay about conservation, 'Dynamic diversity' (Nature 422, 475), correctly and succinctly presents an analysis of a major conceptual problem facing [...]