Strength in Numbers: Findings from a National Survey of Groupwork and Irish Social Work Practice

This article presents findings from a national survey of social workers in Ireland in which information was gathered on social work practice with groups. This article sets out the background to the survey, a review of relevant literature, the methodologies employed to conduct the national survey, and a selective set of findings from the research. The analysis reveals that groupwork is used across all practice fields in Ireland and is more widely used than previously recognised.

Advertising and Organization's Green Behavior

Following the development of marketing theory concerning the policies in general, promotional policy has known an impressive development. Today, the practice fields professionals operating with relatively sophisticated notions and concepts, which are fine-tuned and pragmatic in terms of results. For example, it is significant that concepts such as rating and market share have already entered into ordinary language, including being properly understood by consumers covered. Annually large amounts of money for advertising are spent; almost all large companies allocate non-negligible amounts for such purposes. The launch of new brands is accompanied by consistent advertising and promotional campaigns conducted on multiple levels to cater to potential consumers with tangible and intangible components associated with the various products, services, or brands.

pARTiCI[TY]pate?!

Over the past decades, ‘participation’ has evolved as a key concept in a multitude of practice fields and discursive arenas, ranging from diverse political and economic contexts, through academic research, education and social work, urban planning and design, to arts institutions and artistic projects. While participation originally is a political concept and practice, it has long set out as a ‘travelling concept’ (Bal 2002). This special issue focuses on its travels between three fields of practice: the city, the arts and qualitative empirical research. Each of these practice fields over the past decades has yielded distinct understandings, objectives and methods in respect to participations, yet they also increasingly intersect, overlap and fuse with each other within specific practice contexts. What is more, many of the individual actors engaging in these initiatives on behalf of the city – from temporary projects to long-term collaborations – are not situated in one practice field only. Along with Jana König and Elisabeth Scheffel we understand them as ‘double agents’ (König and Scheffel 2013: 272–3) or even ‘multiple agents’, with simultaneous entanglements and commitments in more than one practice field.

Preceptorship in the perspective of comprehensive care: conversations with nurses

The aim of this study was to understand preceptorship in nursing practice fields and its association with comprehensive care. This study was based on qualitative field research conducted in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, from April to June 2012. A total of 20 preceptors were interviewed in the practice fields of three higher education institutions at three public state hospitals and one basic health unit. Thematic analysis enabled apprehension of the theme 'preceptorship in the perspective of comprehensive care', and the empirical categories: (dis)articulation in teaching-service: distancing from academic institutions; welcoming students in the practice field. On the field, routine teaches: articulation in teaching-service from the preceptor's perspective. Results showed that teaching-service integration is at risk in light of biologicism and the gap between teaching institutions and health services, but that it is a way of constructing the necessary changes to consolidate the National Health Service.