Public perspectives of social prescribing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koser Khan ◽  
Fiona Ward ◽  
Emma Halliday ◽  
Vivien Holt
Keyword(s):  
Service User ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Service Planning ◽  
North West ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Prescribing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Public Perspectives ◽  
The Uk ◽  
User Perspectives

ABSTRACT Background There is a strong national drive within the UK government and National Health Service for social prescribing. Previous research studies have mainly focused on service user perspectives and evaluating their experiences. There is limited evidence on how the general public perceive and understand what social prescribing is and how these views could influence service planning and delivery. This paper seeks to understand perceptions of social prescribing within the wider community. Methods Semi-structured focus groups were conducted with 37 members of the public in four areas in north-west England. We explored public awareness and understanding of social prescribing. Results Limited knowledge of the term social prescribing was found amongst participants as well as limited involvement in community discussions of the topic. Concerns were raised about the short-term nature of activities and the need for adequate resourcing to support continuity of service provision. The social prescribing link worker was considered to be important in supporting engagement with services and it was preferred this role was undertaken by people with local knowledge. Conclusions The findings provide evidence of public perspectives on social prescribing and highlight how wider community perceptions can supplement service user feedback to support social prescribing service planning, commissioning and delivery.

The 2016 Police and Crime Commissioner elections

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Public Awareness ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Government

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the 2016 elections for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and to compare them with those that took place in 2012. It seeks to evaluate the background of the candidates who stood for office in 2016, the policies that they put forward, the results of the contests and the implications of the 2016 experience for future PCC elections. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based around several key themes – the profile of candidates who stood for election, preparations conducted prior to the contests taking place, the election campaign and issues raised during the contests, the results and the profile of elected candidates. The paper is based upon documentary research, making particular use of primary source material. Findings The research establishes that affiliation to a political party became the main route for successful candidates in 2016 and that local issues related to low-level criminality will dominate the future policing agenda. It establishes that although turnout was higher than in 2012, it remains low and that further consideration needs to be devoted to initiatives to address this for future PCC election contests. Research limitations/implications The research focusses on the 2016 elections and identifies a number of key issues that emerged during the campaign affecting the conduct of the contests which have a bearing on future PCC elections. It treats these elections as a bespoke topic and does not seek to place them within the broader context of the development of the office of PCC. Practical implications The research suggests that in order to boost voter participation in future PCC election contests, PCCs need to consider further means to advertise the importance of the role they perform and that the government should play a larger financial role in funding publicity for these elections and consider changing the method of election. Social implications The rationale for introducing PCCs was to empower the public in each police force area. However, issues that include the enhanced importance of political affiliation as a criteria for election in 2016 and the social unrepresentative nature of those who stood for election and those who secured election to this office in these contests coupled with shortcomings related to public awareness of both the role of PCCs and the timing of election contests threaten to undermine this objective. Originality/value The extensive use of primary source material ensures that the subject matter is original and its interpretation is informed by an academic perspective.

Transitioning towards low carbon solidarity economies?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter North
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Social Enterprise ◽  
Social Economy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The Public ◽  
Diverse Economies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Global North ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Socially Excluded

Building on the diverse economies perspective of JK Gibson-Graham, this chapter discusses how conceptions of just and sustainable economies in the context of the Anthropocene can be generated and, more importantly, performed through social and solidarity economies in the global North. It reviews concepts of the SSE in the global North, and discusses the extent that the UK social economy sector has been tamed and neoliberalised as more antagonistic conceptions of co-operative and grassroots economies created by green and socialist activists in the 1970s and 1980s have been transformed into neoliberal conceptions of social enterprise, with an inbuilt assumption that the private sector is more effective than the public. It discusses how in conditions of austerity social enterprise can legitimate the abandonment of socially excluded communities, and that to counter this, the social economy sector in the UK should develop more antagonistic perspectives, learning from Latin Americans. Finally, it discusses the contribution of Transition Initiatives in rekindling conceptions of grassroots sustainable economies.

Institutions as Fields of Action

2018 ◽  
pp. 25-42
Author(s):  
Albert W. Dzur
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Junctures ◽  
The Social

Institutions shape how citizens think about the social problems they handle, repelling public awareness and involvement by performing tasks in ways that neutralize the citizen’s role. Democratic professionals seek to change this dynamic by building access points and infusing citizen agency at critical junctures throughout major public institutions. The kind of citizen–professional collaborations democratic professionals aim to foster directly address the kinds of counter-democratic tendencies that reinforce callousness and make social problems difficult to handle. The motivations of democratic professionals can be understood through the theory of participatory democracy, which draws attention to the hazards representative governments create by thinking and acting for citizens. Participatory democrats acknowledge the difficulties of fostering civic agency in modernity and attempt to theorize how citizens can occupy a more active role in contemporary political culture and take up a civic responsibility for the public goods and social harms produced by their institutions.

Internet search query analysis can be used to demonstrate the rapidly increasing public awareness of palliative care in the USA

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah McLean ◽  
Paul Lennon ◽  
Paul Glare
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Search Term ◽  
Internet Search ◽  
Search Query ◽  
Health Seeking ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Related ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk

BackgroundA lack of public awareness of palliative care (PC) has been identified as one of the main barriers to appropriate PC access. Internet search query analysis is a novel methodology, which has been effectively used in surveillance of infectious diseases, and can be used to monitor public awareness of health-related topics.ObjectivesWe aimed to demonstrate the utility of internet search query analysis to evaluate changes in public awareness of PC in the USA between 2005 and 2015.MethodsGoogle Trends provides a referenced score for the popularity of a search term, for defined regions over defined time periods. The popularity of the search term ‘palliative care’ was measured monthly between 1/1/2005 and 31/12/2015 in the USA and in the UK.ResultsResults were analysed using independent t-tests and joinpoint analysis. The mean monthly popularity of the search term increased between 2008–2009 (p<0.001), 2011–2012 (p<0.001), 2013–2014 (p=0.004) and 2014–2015 (p=0.002) in the USA. Joinpoint analysis was used to evaluate the monthly percentage change (MPC) in the popularity of the search term. In the USA, the MPC increase was 0.6%/month (p<0.05); in the UK the MPC of 0.05% was non-significant.DiscussionAlthough internet search query surveillance is a novel methodology, it is freely accessible and has significant potential to monitor health-seeking behaviour among the public. PC is rapidly growing in the USA, and the rapidly increasing public awareness of PC as demonstrated in this study, in comparison with the UK, where PC is relatively well established is encouraging in increasingly ensuring appropriate PC access for all.

scholarly journals More paternalism in the regulation of consumer financial investments? Private sector duties and public goods analysis

Legal Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Iris H-Y Chiu
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Consumer Credit ◽  
Financial Health ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Point Of Sale ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Financial Investments ◽  
Retail Investors ◽  
The Uk

Abstract Paternalistic forms of regulation for the retail investment market have been gradual and restrained, even though significant gaps exist between investors’ needs and market-based provision. As ordinary citizens reckon with a variety of savings needs and become financial citizens responsible for their own financial welfare provision, financial health is not merely an issue of individual fortunes but a social need. Adverse financial welfare consequences can at scale become a social issue, as is reflected in the social demands and critique entailing from the collapse of London and Capital Finance in the UK. The need for more regulatory paternalism goes beyond preventing mis-selling, and the outworking of welfare beyond point-of-sale remains relatively unconsidered. Post-sale welfare is, however, increasingly recognised for consumer credit and is slower to catch on in relation to savings needs and investments. This paper advocates that the regulator should not remain ambivalent about the need for more paternalistic interventions. Paternalistic protection is not only about shifting more burdens to the industry but also about the provision of public goods where there are standardised baseline needs for retail investors. This paper unpacks the roles of both the public and private sectors in addressing retail investors’ financial welfare needs.

scholarly journals The Corporate Social Responsibility in Lidl’s Communication Campaigns in Croatia and the UK

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Topic ◽  
Ralph Tench
Keyword(s):  
Management Strategy ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Communication Management ◽  
The Public ◽  
Csr Communication ◽  
The Social ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Communication Campaigns ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Corporate Social

The purpose of the paper was to investigate whether Lidl uses CSR communication in their Advertising and Communication Campaigns in two different business contexts, and if so, how. The paper built upon existing analyses of CSR Communication by analysing Lidl’s websites in both countries, and went step forward and analysed TV adverts of the company in both countries as well. The analysis discovered importance of the social context in using CSR to promote business, as well as a different communication management strategy where Lidl does not communicate with UK public as extensively as with the Croatian public due to different views on the CSR communication. An in-depth analysis of TV adverts of Lidl in Croatia and the UK using their YouTube channel with all promoted TV adverts, as well as official websites of Lidl in both countries was conducted. The findings were analysed using the qualitative method of thematic, contextual analysis. The findings reveal that CSR is used as an argument to foster sales and consumer trust in Croatia but not in the UK. The communication management strategy is different in two countries due to different views of the public about CSR Communication, and Lidl's Communication strategy is designed accordingly.

scholarly journals The European Parliament Elections 2014

2014 ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
A. Avilova ◽  
A. Gutnick ◽  
Y. Kvashnin ◽  
V. Olenchenko ◽  
N. Toganova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Uk ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

The article is devoted to the European Parliament elections held in May 2014. Their results are analyzed on two levels – national and pan-European. On the national one the authors provide case studies of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, Italy and Greece. The impact of economic crisis and later the severe public debt crisis in Eurozone countries on the EU Parliament elections is estimated. Another factor examined in the study is the public awareness of the EU’s institutions in everyday life. The authors point out the contradiction between the public opinion on these institutions and the ongoing process of further integration due to the crises in such fields as finances and government expenditures. The latest process is viewed by the experts as a positive one, but the lack of public understanding resulted in abstention, protest voting and the rise of right-wing and populist parties. The national case studies showed that the situation varied from country to country. In some of them the pan-European agenda has played a greater role, in others it influenced the elections, but in the end they were mainly a referendum on the national government performance. The case of the UK illustrated the first tendency, but partly also the second one: the elections not only put the question about the country’s role in the EU, but also reflected the citizens’ discontent in mainstream politics. France, Greece and partly Italy showed that the voters disapprove the EU politics, especially concerning such fields as immigration and economic and debt crisis. The Polish case demonstrates that the lack of information on the EU’s institutions can jeopardize the positions of centrist parties even in a very pro-European country. The election results in FRG confirm that the Germans are trying to identify their country’s role in the European institutions and find the right attitude toward its growing responsibility for the integration process.

scholarly journals Garden centre customer attitudes to pollinators and pollinator-friendly planting

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronica R. Wignall ◽  
Karin Alton ◽  
Francis L.W. Ratnieks
Keyword(s):  
Public Awareness ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Flowering Plant ◽  
The Public ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Personal Motivation ◽  
Public Garden ◽  
Pollinating Insects ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Customer Attitudes

Growing nectar- and pollen-rich flowering plant varieties in domestic gardens and other greenspace is an important pro-environmental behaviour that supports pollinating insects. Wildlife gardening is popular in the UK; however, public attitudes and behaviour relating to planting for pollinators are currently not well understood. We investigated these through questionnaires and interviews with customers in five garden centres in Sussex, southeast England, a relevant and useful consumer group representing horticulturally-engaged members of the public. Garden centre customers had strongly positive attitudes and were motivated to plant for bees and other pollinators: most (77%) grew pollinator-friendly varieties, while 64% would be more likely to buy a plant with a pollinator-friendly logo. Personal motivation to support pollinators was linked to a recent increase in personal and public awareness of their declines through (often negativistic) information from mass media sources. Practical implications of these findings in relation to the horticultural retail industry are discussed.

scholarly journals Life in acute mental health settings: experiences and perceptions of service users and nurses

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Rose ◽  
J. Evans ◽  
C. Laker ◽  
T. Wykes
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Service User ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Patient Interaction ◽  
Marginalised Groups ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mental Health Settings ◽  
The Uk

Background.Acute psychiatric provision in the UK today as well as globally has many critics including service users and nurses.Method.Four focus groups, each meeting twice, were held separately for service users and nurses. The analysis was not purely inductive but driven by concerns with the social position of marginalised groups – both patients and staff.Results.The main themes were nurse/patient interaction and coercion. Service users and nurses conceptualised these differently. Service users found nurses inaccessible and uncaring, whereas nurses also felt powerless because their working life was dominated by administration. Nurses saw coercive situations as a reasonable response to factors ‘internal’ to the patient whereas for service users they were driven to extreme behaviour by the environment of the ward and coercive interventions were unnecessary and heavy handed.Conclusion.This study sheds new light on living and working in acute mental health settings today by comparing the perceptions of service users and nurses and deploying service user and nurse researchers. The intention is to promote better practice by providing a window on the perceptions of both groups.

What is music therapy? A survey study of public awareness and perceptions of the profession

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Morgan ◽  
Jane Humphreys ◽  
Catherine Warner
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Music Therapists ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
The Public ◽  
Poor Understanding ◽  
Analyse Data ◽  
The Uk

Since emerging in the 1940s, the music therapy profession has grown to an estimated 15,000 qualified music therapists practising in 55 countries across a diverse range of contexts (e.g. Tsiris, 2015; WFMT, 2020). Yet music therapists feel the public have a poor understanding of the profession (e.g. Kern and Tague, 2017; Pearson, 2018); to date, however, there is no empirical evidence to support such claims. The current study sought to address this gap in the literature by conducting an online survey to explore public awareness and perceptions of music therapy. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyse data from 359 non-music therapists aged 18 or over, of whom 46% were from the UK, 18% from the US, and the rest from 37 other countries. Results revealed that participants appreciated the therapeutic value of music but lacked awareness and understanding of professional music therapy services—this paper argues that such poor understanding is likely to reduce people’s prospects of seeking the service. Therefore, governing bodies of the profession should focus their attention on improving public awareness of fundamental aspects of music therapy, and helping the public distinguish between the profession of music therapy and a therapeutic use of music.

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