scholarly journals Prisoners’ participation and involvement in prison life: Examining the possibilities and boundaries

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 466-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorien Brosens

Prisoners’ participation and involvement in prison life are becoming important topics featuring on European political agendas. To investigate the different types of prisoner participation and involvement in one prison in Belgium, the experiences of prisoners and professionals, and the processes that enhance or limit prisoners’ participation, 11 focus groups have been conducted with prisoners ( N = 36) and professionals ( N = 42). A thematic analysis of this data identifies that various formal and informal participation initiatives exist, but several barriers between prisoners, prison staff and prison management impede (structural) participation. Implementing and increasing the participation and involvement of prisoners requires organizational and cultural changes. The article concludes by discussing practical issues raised by the study, as well as some limitations.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jena Buchan ◽  
Bonnie Clough ◽  
Jonathan Munro ◽  
Tatjana Ewais ◽  
Jaime Wallis ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The consequences of burnout for tertiary students across the health professions are well documented and include higher rates of mental health challenges, suicide, alcoholism, and relationship problems. As a key stakeholder in University-offered wellbeing services and support, it is desirable for students to hold a central role in development of such resources, particularly given effectiveness relies on student uptake. Hence there is a compelling need to develop a student-driven approach to promote wellbeing in the tertiary setting at individual, curricula, and systems levels. OBJECTIVE Based on this need, an online student-focused platform was developed using a bottom-up approach to support participant-driven enhancement of wellbeing and resilience to counteract burnout. This study reports on the development of the initial online “Student Bundle”, providing a foundation to inform the design of more locally based approaches to improve wellness and prevent burnout. METHODS Students and academic and professional staff from Griffith University Health groups were invited to participate in a series of focus groups. Sessions sought to collect information on desired structure, resources and overall content of the Student Bundle, with a thematic analysis undertaken to identify emerging themes. RESULTS Focus groups were conducted separately with staff (n=17) and students (n=7). Six main themes in relation to the development of the bundle emerged: Communication/Engagement; Accessibility/Flexibility; Professional practice; Community; Awareness; and Opportunity for personal growth. Stakeholders emphasized a bundle should be engaging and proactive to address wellbeing issues, incorporate aspects linked to professional identity and foster community, connectedness and self-awareness, providing an opportunity for growth. CONCLUSIONS Our research has revealed significant needs in relation to how an online student-focused wellbeing bundle could be delivered and what it could provide. Findings from this study will be used to guide further development and implementation of a multimodal, interactive student wellbeing bundle.


2021 ◽  
pp. 204946372110260
Author(s):  
Daniel Whibley ◽  
Kevin Stelfox ◽  
Alasdair L Henry ◽  
Nicole KY Tang ◽  
Anna L Kratz

Objective: Suboptimal sleep and physical activity are common among people living with osteoarthritis (OA) and simultaneous improvements in both may have a beneficial impact on pain. This study aimed to gather perspectives of people living with OA on important aspects to incorporate in a hybrid sleep and physical activity improvement intervention for OA pain management. Design: Qualitative study using two rounds of two focus groups. Setting and participants: Focus groups were conducted with adults living with OA-related chronic pain and sleep disturbances. Eighteen people attended focus groups in January 2020 and, of these, 16 attended subsequent focus groups in February 2020. Methods: Discussion at the first round of focus groups informed generation of prototype intervention materials that were shared, discussed and refined at the second round of focus groups. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes and sub-themes from the data. Results: Three themes, each with three sub-themes, were identified: facilitators of engagement with the intervention (sub-themes: motivational language, accountability and education); barriers to engagement (sub-themes: suboptimal interaction with healthcare practitioners, recording behaviour as burdensome/disruptive and uncertainty about technique) and characteristics of a physical activity intervention component (sub-themes: tailored, sustainable and supported). Conclusion: We have identified important aspects to incorporate into the design and delivery of a hybrid sleep and physical activity improvement intervention for OA pain management. Insights will be incorporated into intervention materials and protocols, with feasibility and acceptability assessed in a future study.


2021 ◽  
pp. 101269022110054
Author(s):  
Nicola Hague ◽  
Graeme Law

The world of football arguably brings together and unites people in support of their teams and countries, while inspiring young children and adolescents to dream of a professional career. Existing research in the field has sought to begin to understand what professional footballers experience on their journey through the game. However, much of this UK-based research has focused on first team players and their professional experiences, including transitions from youth team to first team and to retirement. This study, therefore, aimed to examine players during their youth academy scholarship at one English Championship club. This study focused on the transitional experiences of youth players from school to the academy and their resulting embodying of a footballer’s identity. Twelve semi-structured interviews with players aged 17–19, were conducted and then analysed by thematic analysis using figurational sociology concepts. Three different types of transition were identified. Among other reasons, early specialisation in football was a prevalent factor that partly influenced the way the players experienced their transition. The transition into the academy coincided with the transition from youth to adulthood that was arguably anything but linear as players managed the dominant sub-cultures present in the club.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. e043759
Author(s):  
Claire Barber ◽  
Diane Lacaille ◽  
Marc Hall ◽  
Victoria Bohm ◽  
Linda C Li ◽  
...  

ObjectivesTo obtain stakeholder perspectives to inform the development and implementation of a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) healthcare quality measurement framework.DesignQualitative study using thematic analysis of focus groups and interviews.SettingArthritis stakeholders from across Canada including healthcare providers, persons living with RA, clinic managers and policy leaders were recruited for the focus groups and interviews.ParticipantsFifty-four stakeholders from nine provinces.InterventionsQualitative researchers led each focus group/interview using a semistructured guide; the digitally recorded data were transcribed verbatim. Two teams of two coders independently analysed the transcripts using thematic analysis.ResultsPerspectives on the use of different types of measurement frameworks in healthcare were obtained. In particular, stakeholders advocated for the use of existing healthcare frameworks over frameworks developed in the business world and adapted for healthcare. Persons living with RA were less familiar with specific measurement frameworks, however, they had used existing online public forums for rating their experience and quality of healthcare provided. They viewed a standardised framework as potentially useful for assisting with monitoring the care provided to them individually. Nine guiding principles for framework development and 13 measurement themes were identified. Perceived barriers identified included access to data and concerns about how measures in the framework were developed and used. Effective approaches to framework implementation included having sound knowledge translation strategies and involving stakeholders throughout the measurement development and reporting process. Clinical models of care and health policies conducive to outcome measurement were highlighted as drivers of successful measurement initiatives.ConclusionThese important perspectives will be used to inform a healthcare quality measurement framework for RA.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Aura Goldman ◽  
Misia Gervis

Though sexism has been recognized as problematic in sport, its impact on female sport psychologists in the United Kingdom has not yet been investigated. The purpose of this research was to explore the impact of sexism and its influence on practice. Four semistructured focus groups were conducted, comprising 11 sport psychologists who worked in the United Kingdom. Thematic analysis revealed four general themes: the environment, privileging masculinity, acts of sexism, and the feminine. Participants’ discourse suggests that female sport psychologists are impacted by sexism in their workplaces. Gendered power differentials, coupled with the low status of sport psychology within sport, exacerbated the challenges faced by female sport psychologists. This study contributes to making up for the dearth of research on the impact of sexism on sport psychologists. Suggestions are made with regard to implications for practice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosenda Murillo ◽  
Mariana Vazquez ◽  
Isabel Leal ◽  
Daphne Hernandez ◽  
Qian Lu ◽  
...  

Objective: The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify perceptions and barriers to physical activity in childhood and adulthood among Latina adults. Methods: We conducted 3 focus groups, 2 dyadic interviews, and an individual interview using semi-structured interview guides with 23 Latina women aged 21-35. A thematic analysis approach employing inductive and deductive coding was utilized to code, categorize, and summarize data into themes. Results: The themes that emerged focused on: (1) physical activity is enjoyable; (2) family influenced physical activity; (3) different lifestyle in the US influenced physical activity; (4) physical activity is important for health; and (5) responsibilities (eg, work, caregiving) as barriers to physical activity in adulthood. Conclusions: Perceptions and barriers to physical activity experienced in both childhood and adulthood should be considered in the promotion of physical activity among Latinas.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Peacock ◽  
Gregory Tate ◽  
Rebecca Hoyle

This article explores how academics in different disciplines articulate the role creativity plays in their work. Instead of attempting to test a pre-existing theoretical model of creativity, 32 qualitative interviews and 4 focus groups were conducted in which 7 academics working in diverse fields were encouraged to explore creativity in their own terms and discuss the extent to which it was relevant in their disciplines. Thematic analysis of their data generated a number of themes; those presented here describe the relationship between creativity and disciplinarity. Participants in different fields shared a tendency to characterise creative work as drawing on ideas and practices commonly utilised in their particular discipline but also requiring methods and styles of thinking falling outside those norms. Creative work in academic disciplines, therefore, may require both a fluency in one’s own disciplinary ways of working and the capacity to transcend those conventions when required. Practitioners in different disciplines placed different degrees of emphasis on these two elements and drew upon different language when describing the relationship between them. This paper uses these points of comparison to investigate how ideas about creative working interact with and sometimes transcend disciplinary contexts.


2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annalaura Nocentini ◽  
Juan Calmaestra ◽  
Anja Schultze-Krumbholz ◽  
Herbert Scheithauer ◽  
Rosario Ortega ◽  
...  

AbstractThis study aims to examine students' perception of the term used to label cyberbullying, the perception of different forms and behaviours (written, verbal, visual, exclusion and impersonation) and the perception of the criteria used for its definition (imbalance of power, intention, repetition, anonymity and publicity) in three different European countries: Italy, Spain and Germany. Seventy adolescents took part in nine focus groups, using the same interview guide across countries. Thematic analysis focused on three main themes related to: (1) the term used to label cyberbullying, (2) the different behaviours representing cyberbullying, (3) the three traditional criteria of intentionality, imbalance of power and repetition and the two new criteria of anonymity and publicity. Results showed that the best word to label cyberbullying is ‘cyber-mobbing’ (in Germany), ‘virtual’ or ‘cyber-bullying’ (in Italy), and ‘harassment’ or ‘harassment via Internet or mobile phone’ (in Spain). Impersonation cannot be considered wholly as cyberbullying behaviour. In order to define a cyberbullying act, adolescents need to know whether the action was done intentionally to harm the victim, the effect on the victim and the repetition of the action (this latter criterion evaluated simultaneously with the publicity). Information about the anonymity and publicity contributes to better understand the nature and the severity of the act, the potential effects on the victim and the intentionality.


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