The process of telepractice implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic: a narrative inquiry of preschool speech-language pathologists and assistants from one center in Canada

Background Many professional services were pressed to adopt telepractice in response to the global coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. The need to adopt a new service delivery approach quickly created different implementation challenges. This study explored the lived experiences of frontline clinicians who successfully transitioned their in-person speech-language therapy services to telepractice through an implementation science lens. Methods The study was conducted in partnership with one publicly funded program in Ontario, Canada that offers services to preschoolers with speech, language and communication disorders. Sixteen frontline speech-language pathologists and assistants at this organization shared their lived experience transitioning to telepractice during the pandemic during videoconference interviews. A narrative inquiry approach was used to analyze interview transcripts to identify the processes (or steps) this program took to implement telepractice and to understand the facilitators and barriers to telepractice implementation during the pandemic. Results The following six stages were identified from clinicians’ narratives: abrupt lockdown; weeks of uncertainty; telepractice emerged as an option; preparation for telepractice; telepractice trials; and finally, full implementation of telepractice. The stages of events offered significant insights into how government public health measures influenced clinicians’ decisions and their processes of adopting telepractice. In terms of barriers, clinicians reported a lack of knowledge, skills and experience with telepractice and a lack of technological support. The organization’s learning climate and team approach to transitioning services were identified as the main facilitator of implementation. Conclusions Findings suggest a need for better coordination of public health measures and professional services, which would have eased clinicians’ stress and facilitated an earlier transition to telepractice. Fostering an organization’s learning climate may improve organization’s resilience in response to emergency situations.

Media reporting on public procurement: an analysis of UK press coverage, 1985–2018

Purpose The media is an important actor in public procurement, but research on its role is limited. This paper aims to investigate how the media has engaged with public procurement, using UK newspapers as a case example. Design/methodology/approach The method consisted of searching Nexis database for news articles on public procurement; automatic extraction of article attributes such as length, section, authorship; and manually coding each article for its theme and industry context. This produced quantitative indicators about the extent and focus of press coverage on public procurement. Findings Press coverage of public procurement increased between 1985 and 2018. The focus of coverage has been on governance failure and socio-economic policy. Governance failure, which includes corruption, cronyism and supplier malpractice, is associated with construction, outsourcing and professional services sectors. Socio-economic policy, which includes supporting small suppliers and favouring domestic industry, is associated with manufacturing, defence and agriculture. Research limitations/implications The analysis included UK media only. While the trends observed on the extent and focus of public procurement news coverage likely reflect the situation in other countries, international comparative research is still required. Practical implications Government officials should be more proactive in countering the “negativity bias” in news coverage of public procurement by showcasing projects where value-for-money has been achieved, services have been successfully delivered and social value has been realised. Social implications The media accentuates the negatives of public procurement and omits positive developments. The end-result is a selective and, at times, self-serving media narrative that is likely to engender cynicism towards public procurement. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on media coverage of public procurement. It highlights that while there are similarities between media and academic treatment of public procurement, particularly in relation to its socio-economic side, the media emphasises governance failings and negative developments to a greater extent.

Hybrid working can help recruit and retain talent, upskill leaders and boost team working, suggests a case study from an international professional services firm

Purpose This paper sets out the three-year people strategy at the core of a traditional professional services firm’s ambitious plans to transform into a progressive, agile and fast-growing business. The lynchpin of its acquisitions-led and people-centred cultural transformation programme is Project Zander, a pioneering hybrid working experience in its Jersey office that can be adapted to different geographic locations as the business expands. Design/methodology/approach Individual-level information gathered from the firm. Findings Nesting a hybrid working model within a clearly articulated people strategy aligned with corporate values appears to be setting the business well on the way to achieving its ambitions. Key is the ability of leaders to plan ahead for the future, mapping out a three-year journey with important milestones along the way. Although it is still early days, the business is already seeing a positive impact on collaboration, team working, staff recruitment and retention, leadership development, empowerment and creativity, employee engagement, and rebuilding the confidence of young people, many of whom have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 lockdowns. Originality/value The strategy has an innovative hybrid working approach as its cornerstone

Family carer needs in advanced disease: systematic review of reviews

BackgroundFamily carers are vital in the management and delivery of home-based palliative care. Decision-makers need to know what the most commonly expressed unmet needs of family carers are to target available support services.AimTo identify the most commonly expressed needs of family carers of people with an advanced disease, assess the quality of current evidence, and set an agenda for future research and clinical practice.DesignA systematic review of reviews, prospectively registered on PROSPERO. Study quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist for systematic reviews and research syntheses.Data sourcesMEDLINE, Embase, Emcare, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Informit and Cochrane Library were searched for reviews about the needs of carers looking after patients with advanced disease from 2010 to 2020.ResultsFindings from 21 reviews identified emotional support, disease-specific knowledge, carer role responsibilities, self-care and general practical support as the most commonly expressed needs expressed by family carers. Additionally, access to professional services, formal education opportunities and communication with health professionals were identified as caregivers’ preferred ways of having these needs met. Extraction of carer-specific needs was challenging at times as results were often combined with patient results in reviews.ConclusionPractical difficulties exist in effectively resourcing services to meet the needs of family carers. Information regarding the most commonly expressed needs shared by caregivers and their preferred delivery source can provide an opportunity to focus available support services to achieve the highest possible impact for carers of patients with advanced disease.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42018088678.

MENTAL HEALTH ACCESS BACKGROUND AND FRAMEWORK FOR IMPROVEMENT IN THE DIGITAL ERA

Mental Health consists of a wide range of conditions affecting an individual’s behavior, mood, and thinking. A gap between providers and consumers exists due to the lack of resources available for online mental health access. Research shows limited information available for processing information and pursuing professional services to become healthy. The purpose of this literature review is to provide framework that contributes to Mental Health online access and improving digital therapy. Suggested approaches listed in addition to graphics that summarize the problem space and provide potential solutions.

Pflegekinderhilfe in der Sozialen Arbeit

Foster child support is an expanding field of work: In youth welfare offices and the foster child services of independent institutions, in guardianship, expert assessments and family courts, specialists have to deal with the key questions relating to foster child support. In addition, there are the people affected: foster children, parents and foster parents, siblings and other family members. This book provides a well-founded introduction to this subject area and links important practical issues to international research findings. It analyses current developments in this respect in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and illustrates the variety of forms of care relationships with case studies. In this way, the importance of professional services and the courses of action open to them become clear.

A Fuzzy System for Evaluating Human Resources in Project Management

The key lubricants for the necessary functioning of any organization are money, machines, time, and humans. Human resources is the most important ingredient among them. Most projects fail because of ineptitude of those who administer the project, notably in government projects. Alternatively, advertisement for expert positions suffers as a result of poor coverage, late responses, non-transparency, and subjective selection during recruitment process. This work proposes a fuzzy system for the evaluation of human resources for the management of projects in core areas where professional services are expedient for supervision. It exposes the level of experience on the job, core competencies, exposure, and knowledge scope. A prototype fuzzy system for evaluation of human resource for project management, consisting of a user friendly menu-driven interface, was developed for evaluating the suitability of professionals for different roles within a project team. At the end of the work, it is expected that governments, companies, and various donor agencies would find the system useful when embarking on projects for an optimal result.

Prevention and Rehabilitation of Behavioral Disorders

Behavioral disorders are progressively affecting all categories of pedagogues and educators and all strata of society with prevalently diverse manifestations and gaining the characteristics of an epidemic. It is especially important that future social pedagogues and other professionals contribute to solving socio-pathological problems. This chapter presents solutions and recommendations for behavioral problems detected amongst children and youths. Early uncovering and diagnosis of behavioral disorders is of outmost importance for prevention, rehabilitation, and elimination. The chapter examines the role of the family, the role of the school, and school professional services in the prevention and eradication of behavioral disorders. This chapter further explores the prevention measures to counteract and stop juvenile delinquency and to deal with effective rehabilitation early. This chapter will contribute to the acquisition of knowledge about current prevention programs, getting to know the etymology and measures of prevention, detection, and rehabilitation of the same.

Perceptions of Generation Y on Social Aspects Involving Sustainable Tourism in Romanian Destinations

Sustainable tourism destination management requires the simultaneous and multidirectional pursuit of interactions. One of these are tourists, which are structured differently, based on socioeconomic and psycho-formative criteria. Taking into account the general features of Generation Y, the study aims at analyzing their perception regarding social aspects demanded in sustainable tourism destinations in the case of Romania. The research is focuses on the survey method, which relies on a semi-structured questionnaire applied online in 2020. The answers were modeled, using data analysis tools or graphics functions in IBM-SPSS v.28. Study findings highlight the interesting social perceptions of Y tourists in Romania (RGY), with an emphasis on their desire for conflict-free destinations, to spend time with friends or family, but also to make carefully chosen friends. The perceptions regarding the acceptance of interactions with hosts varies by their socio-demographic characteristics, depending especially on the issues that require their active involvement. These reveal a predominantly interest on professional services, largely excluding creative activities for the acquisition of local traditions. In conclusion, RGY considers that their social inputs as neutral in the tourist areas. However, more attention should be focused on the management of tourism products, in order to come up with specific offers for a highly skilled, but stressed generation, as well as on finding ways able to boost through motivating solutions the young people's interest for social dimension of the sustainable tourism development.

An Interview with Dr. Shipeng Yu, Winner of ACM SIGKDD 2021 Service Award

Shipeng Yu, Ph.D. is the recipient of the 2021 ACM SIGKDD Service Award, which is the highest service award in the field of knowledge discovery and data mining. Conferred annually on one individual or group in recognition of outstanding professional services and contributions to the field of knowledge discovery and data mining, Dr. Yu was honored for his years of service and many accomplishments as general chair of KDD 2017 and currently as sponsorship director for SIGKDD. Dr. Yu is Director of AI Engineering, Head of the Growth AI team at LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network. He sat down with SIGKDD Explorations to discuss how he first got involved in the KDD conference in 2006, the benefits and drawbacks of virtual conferences, his work at LinkedIn, and KDD's place in the field of machine learning, data science and artificial intelligence.