Prisoners and their children: An innovative model of ‘whole family’ support

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Clancy ◽  
Mike Maguire

The article reports key findings from an evaluation of ‘Invisible Walls Wales’ (IWW), a multi-agency ‘through the gate’ project in HMP Parc, South Wales, based on an innovative model of ‘whole family’ support for prisoners, their children and partners. It provides an overview of previous research on the impact of parental imprisonment on children and families, including financial hardship, emotional stress and risks of ‘intergenerational offending’. It outlines the core elements of the IWW model and the substantial infrastructure of family support facilities in the prison on which it was built. It summarises outcomes of the project for fathers, partners and children, and gives examples of how IWW’s ‘whole family’ approach is influencing policy and practice elsewhere. Reoffending rates are not yet available, but are anticipated to be low. However, the key strength of the project, it is argued, lies in its emphasis on the ‘whole family’ as the main beneficiary, rather than focusing narrowly on rehabilitation of the father.

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 72-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Bullock ◽  
Roy Parker

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to chart the history of personal social services for children and families in the UK and examine the factors that have influenced it. Special attention is given to changing perceptions of rights, the impact of scandals and the contribution of child development research. Design/methodology/approach Analysis of historical documents and research reports using four methods: a timeline of milestones, demarcation of distinct developmental periods, trends in policy and practice and comparisons of children’s needs and experiences at different times. Findings The evolution of services has not been linear. In policy, there have been reform and retrenchment, amalgamation and differentiation. Practice has been shaped by the emergence of new problems and the disappearance of old ones as well as by legislation, extreme events, research and finance, all occurring in specific political, moral and economic contexts. Originality/value An analysis of developments in children’s services in their political, economic, moral and research contexts.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Blessing Prince Nwanganga ◽  
Success Anaba

Governance matters are arguably at the core of international development. This paper addresses the role theory, policy and practice play in shaping matters of governance as it concerns business development in Nigeria. The paper is organised in three parts, In the first part, the theories on the governance and development nexus are outlined. In the second, the role of governance and its relevance to business development is discussed; here, the concepts, principles and framework for enhanced governance in business are brought to the fore, selected reviews by scholars and practitioners and numerous current key issues are highlighted. In the third part, the impact of governance in business practice is examined. Reviews and current issue related to the impact of governance in business development are also discussed. Besides, lessons are drawn from the review of contributions from selected scholars. The conclusion of this paper is threefold: first, it is a fallacy that there is a preeminent system of governance that is universally applicable for business development; second, the relevant theories on the subject have a remarkably limited role to play in sculpting policy and practice; and, third, perhaps the single most important problem in policies and practices on governance for development is the failure to temper interventions to the contextual dynamics found in each developing country setting.


2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. S. Larsen

The objectives and the core elements of the European Course Credit Transfer System (ECTS) are briefly described. ECTS is a tool to manage student mobility as it facilitates transparency, academic recognition, and commitment of the student and involved institutions. The impact on student mobility and teaching after implementation of ECTS at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) is reported. The ratio of guest students attending advanced environmental engineering courses at DTU increased from 7 percent of class to almost 50 percent over a three-year period. The number of DTU students studying abroad was also affected by the implementation of ECTS in combination with DTU's additional internationalisation activities. In 1998 DTU achieved balance between the inflow and outflow of students.


Author(s):  
Helen Hodges ◽  
Kevin Fahey

BackgroundYoung people who have offended were, until recently, assessed using the Core ASSET Profile – a tool which determined their likelihood of reoffending based on their criminal history and practitioner scores across 12 domains. The repeated assessments provide a set of data for each individual which can be used to model how their risk of further offending varies over time. Having conducted an initial proof of concept study, this work explores the potential of extending the range of ‘risk’ and ‘protective’ factors using anonymised linked data held within the SAIL Databank. Main AimThe feasibility study is designed to establish the potential for using administrative data to develop a more sensitive assessment tool for use in the youth justice system. Specifically, the study explores the impact of being care experienced and of subsequent system contact in elevating the risk of further offending. ApproachA series of Bayesian hierarchical models will be generated which mimic the features of the Core ASSET Profile under the Scaled Approach. These include a range of time-varying and non-time varying variables matched to the individual, drawn from education, health and social services datasets as well as their court and offending records. ResultsThe anticipated findings will advance our understanding of how the likelihood of further offending varies over time for different groups, and how further system contact increases the risk. This will enable the complexity of young people’s real lives to be explored, and hence appropriate and timely interventions to be developed. ConclusionModelling under a Bayesian framework affords the opportunity to generate robust analysis based on smaller datasets. Findings have significant implications for policy and practice, particularly in the context of assessment processes across the justice system and social welfare.


Author(s):  
Philippe Le Prestre

The Anthropocene presents formidable governance challenges, not only in terms of the large uncertainties that surround the impact of humans on the biosphere, but also because it is occurring at a time of profound transformations in international politics. This article builds on the recent literature on complex systems and international environmental politics and identifies some of the core elements of thinking about governance in the Anthropocene. After a brief reminder of the characteristics of a complex system and the challenges that this poses to some of the existing doxa, it proceeds with a discussion of key elements of the system, of aspects of its operation, and of the goals that one should pursue in terms of system dynamics. Approaching the governance of the Anthropocene as a complex system allows us to shape much of current research in IR into a coherent whole, as well as identify the contours of a global international governance system of the environment that takes advantage of the dynamics of the system rather than courting failure by attempting to simplify it.


Author(s):  
MARINA KHARATYAN ◽  
LUSIK VARDANYAN

MARINA KHARATYAN, LUSIK VARDANYAN - CONDITIONALS AT THE CROSSROADS OF CONVERGENT AND DIVERGENT THINKING The present research is an attempt to emphasize the current necessity in EFL teaching to reevaluate and reconsider the content of grammar on the discourse level through the core elements of critical and creative thinking. We do not seek to give a resourceful explanation to the concept and theory of critical and creative thinking; our foremost concern is to show how the knowledge of these two types of thinking can be linked to and identified in Grammar instruction. Driven by the pursuit of the 21st century learning goals and requirements and the urgent necessity of developing students’ higher order thinking skills, we seek to explore the impact of these two types of thinking on the quality of students’ academic performance in grammar classes through identifying the reciprocal link between grammar and critical-creative thinking. We also seek to evaluate students’ grammatical competence through determining the extent to which they acquire and master the core elements of grammar through the core elements of critical and creative thinking. We are free of the bias to regard Grammar as a sentence-level phenomenon as this kind of view is incompatible with the notion of competency-based instruction. Through introducing an integrated approach, we propose teaching Grammar in a variety of contexts with the intent of exposing not only morphological and syntactical peculiarities of a certain grammatical phenomenon but also its sociopragmatic aspects. What we should call in mind from the outset is that creative thinking is divergent and critical thinking is convergent. Divergent (creative thinking) focuses on a multitude of choices and solutions since it opens up the mind guiding it through different directions and possibilities; convergent (critical thinking) involves exact information and data, analysis and one possible solution to the problem.


2020 ◽  
pp. 641-684
Author(s):  
Marios Costa ◽  
Steve Peers

This chapter examines the core elements of competition law in the European Union (EU). It provides a number of examples of the types of agreements covered by EU competition law and shows the dangers which may arise when independent undertakings come together to coordinate their activities to distort competition. The chapter reviews the impact of anti-competitive agreements on the internal market and focuses on the abuse of market power and controls over concentrations. Overall, the chapter discusses the provisions and enforcement of Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s422-s422
Author(s):  
Karl Madaras-Kelly ◽  
Christopher Hostler ◽  
Mary Townsend ◽  
Emily Potter ◽  
Emily Spivak ◽  
...  

Background: Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) are a key target to improve antibiotic use in the outpatient setting. The Core Elements of Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship provide a framework for improving antibiotic use, but data on safety and effectiveness of interventions to improve antibiotic use are limited. We report the impact of Core Elements implementation within Veterans’ Healthcare Administration clinics on antibiotic prescribing and patient outcomes. Methods: The intervention targeting treatment of uncomplicated ARIs (sinusitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis, and viral upper respiratory infections [URIs]) in emergency department and primary care settings was initiated within 10 sites between September 2017 and January 2018. The intervention was developed using the Core Elements and included local site champions, audit-and-feedback with peer comparison, and academic detailing. We evaluated the following outcomes: per-visit antibiotic prescribing rates overall and by diagnosis; appropriateness of treatment; 30-day ARI revisits; 30-day infectious complications (eg,, pneumonia,); 30-day adverse medication effects; 90-day Clostridium difficile infection (CDI); and 30-day hospitalizations. Multilevel logistic regression was used to calculate rate ratios (RR) with 95% CI for each outcome in the postintervention period (12 months) compared to the preintervention period (39–42 months). Results: There were 14,020 uncomplicated ARI visits before the intervention and 4,866 uncomplicated ARI visits after the intervention. The proportions of uncomplicated ARI visits with antibiotics prescribed were 59.17% before the intervention versus 44.34% after the intervention. A trend in reduced antibiotic prescribing for ARIs throughout the entire (before and after) observation period was evident (0.92; 95% CI, 0.90–0.94); however, a significant reduction in antibiotic prescribing after the intervention was identified (0.74; 95% CI, 0.59–0.93). Per-visit antibiotic prescribing rates decreased significantly for bronchitis and URI (0.54; 95% CI, 0.44–0.65), pharyngitis (0.76; 95% CI, 0.67–0.86), and sinusitis (0.92; 95% CI, 0.85–1.0). Appropriate therapy for pharyngitis increased (1.43; 95% CI, 1.21–1.68), but appropriate therapy for sinusitis remained unchanged (0.92; 95% CI, 0.85–1.0) after the intervention. Complications associated with antibiotic undertreatment were not different after the intervention: ARI-related revisit rates (1.01; 95% CI, 0.98–1.05) and infectious complications (1.01; 95% CI, 0.79–1.28). A potential benefit of improved antibiotic use included a reduction in visits for adverse medication effects (0.82; 95% CI, 0.72–0.94). Furthermore, 90-day CDI events were too sparse to model: preintervention incidence was 0.08% and postintervention incidence was 0.06%. Additionally, 30-day hospitalizations were significantly lower in the postintervention period (0.79; 95% CI, 0.72–0.87). Conclusions: Implementation of the Core Elements was safe and effective and was associated with reduced antibiotic prescribing rates for uncomplicated ARIs, improvements in diagnosis-specific appropriate therapy, visits for adverse antibiotic effects, and 30-day hospitalization rates. No adverse events were noted in ARI-related revisit rates or infectious complications. CDI rates were low and unchanged.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None


Author(s):  
Liz Gordon

Before 2009, little research had been undertaken in New Zealand on the situation of the children of prisoners. Agencies such as Pillars Inc, a charity supporting these children, looking to undertake evidencebased practice, were forced to rely on models imported from other countries, especially the United States. This is despite the fact that New Zealand has a high level of imprisonment, at 193 per 100,000, approximately one third higher than Australia. In response to this, Pillars sought and received funding for a two-year research study and interviewed 368 men and women in nine prisons, and 72 families of prisoners (with the families, at least one caregiver, and sometimes a child, interviewed). Reports were produced on the findings in 2009 and 2010, and in 2011 a further report considered the implications for research and practice. As well, a practice manual was produced, along with resource kits for teachers and GPs. A large number of seminars and report-back meetings were held with government agencies, and a report was commissioned by Te Puni Kokiri, the Ministry of Māori Development, on the Māori data, which constituted half of the overall data. Subsequently, a number of further opportunities for research and dialogue have emerged. This article reports the core findings of the study: that the children of prisoners are not doing well, and that social support and justice agencies, whilst often having good intentions, contribute to this through poor, absent or inappropriate practices. The article concludes with a discussion of the impact of this research programme on policy and practice in New Zealand.


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