Irish Media Coverage of COVID-19 Evidence-Based Research Reports From one National Agency

Background: How research findings are presented through domestic news can influence behaviour and risk perceptions, particularly during emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Monitoring media communications to track misinformation and find information gaps is an important component of emergency risk communication. Therefore, this study investigated the traditional media coverage of nine selected COVID-19 evidence-based research reports and associated press releases published during the initial phases of the pandemic (April to July 2020) by one national agency. Methods: NVivo was used for summative content analysis. ‘Key messages’ from each research report were proposed and 488 broadcast, print, and online media sources were coded at the phrase level. Manifest content was coded and counted to locate patterns in the data (what and how many) while latent content was analysed to further investigate these patterns (why and how). This included the coding of the presence of political and public health actors in coverage. Results: Coverage largely did not misrepresent the results of the reports, however, selective reporting and the variability in the use of quotes from governmental and public health stakeholders changed and contextualised results in different manners than perhaps originally intended in the press release. Reports received varying levels of media attention. Coverage focused on more ‘human-interest’ stories (e.g., spread of COVID-19 by children and excess mortality) as opposed to more technical reports (e.g., focusing on viral load, antibodies, testing, etc.). Conclusion: Our findings provide a case-study of European media coverage of evidence reports produced by a national agency. Results highlighted several strengths and weaknesses of current communication efforts.

A need for emotional, personal and professional support: Operation room nurses’ experience participating in organ procurement surgical procedures. A qualitative study

Participating in organ procurement procedures cause emotional stress and risk of long-lasting health problems. These experiences are rarely discussed in plenary, and research specifically aimed at operating room nurses is limited. The aim of this study was to describe how operating room nurses experience participating in organ procurement surgical procedures. A qualitative, descriptive and exploratory design was chosen. The sample consisted of 14 operating room nurses, recruited from The National Transplant Centre, Norway. Data collection was conducted using individual, in-depth interviews. Qualitative inductive manifest content analysis was used. The study is reported according to QUOREC. Four main categories constitute the findings: operating room nurses have experienced emotional and personal impact; they try to handle these emotions using coping strategies; the experiences have promoted professional development; the importance of colleagues, including an open unit culture, is emphasized. Other studies support these findings regarding the impact this surgical procedure has on operating room nurses. This study also emphasizes their need for personal and professional support. Both individual and structural actions are suggested to generate this kind of support. The study may provide a deeper understanding of how participating in the organ procurement process affects those who are involved, and how to facilitate support to them as leader.

Analyzing smart cities' reporting: do they report “smart”?

PurposeThis study examines the reporting practices of a sample of awarded smart cities that report in English by analyzing the financial and non-financial reports published in their websites.Design/methodology/approachThe study performs a manifest content analysis on the financial and non-financial reports published by a sample of awarded – by various networks and organizations – smart cities. Integrated Popular Reporting that builds on Integrated Reporting, Popular Reporting and ICT advancements is used as the reference paradigm to analyze the content and the characteristics of these reports.FindingsThe results indicate that smart cities' reports are mainly developed conventionally and do not embed technological advancements. However, there are several smart cities that adopt a reporting paradigm where the five capitals of Integrated Reporting, over and above the financial one, are discussed.Originality/valueSystematizing the way the existing reports of smart cities are developed provides evidence whether smart cities adopt reporting means that are consistent with their character, as well as, the specific areas they should focus to achieve that. Toward this end, collaborations between citizens and smart city councils, in the philosophy of co-production and co-creation of public value, could prove helpful in the development of useful reports.

Justifying the news: The role of evidence in daily reporting

Reliance on evidence is highly desired in disciplines such as science and law. However, the extent to which daily reporters use it to corroborate or refute sources’ say-so is disputed. To explore how evidence is built into stories in ways that are not entirely obvious from the manifest content, we studied the involvement of evidence in a sample of stories, published by leading print and online Israeli news outlets, using reconstruction interviews with the reporters who authored them. Findings indicate that reliance on evidence is an established news reporting routine found in 42 percent of the items. It is used significantly more often under epistemically-challenging circumstances (conflicts over facts, risky publications and unscheduled events) that attract extra reporting efforts (more sources per item, more verifications and longer reporting hours). To systematize reliance on evidence – as other disciplines strive to – news reporting must move further in their evidentiary genealogy, developing a unified system of guidelines on how all types of evidence should be admitted, evaluated and implemented.

Why women choose at-home abortion via teleconsultation in France: drivers of telemedicine abortion during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectivesIn an attempt to understand the demand and main drivers of telemedicine abortion, we analysed the requests that Women on Web (WoW), an online telemedicine abortion service operating worldwide, received from France throughout 2020.MethodsWe conducted a parallel, convergent, mixed-methods study among 809 consultations received from France at WoW between 1 January and 31 December 2020. We performed a cross-sectional study of data obtained from the WoW consultation survey and a manifest content analysis of anonymised email correspondence of 140 women consulting with the WoW helpdesk from France.FindingsWe found that women encounter macro-level, individual-level and provider-level constraints while trying to access abortion in France. The preferences and needs over secrecy (n=356, 46.2%), privacy (n=295, 38.3%) and comfort (n=269, 34.9%) are among the most frequent reasons for women from France to choose telemedicine abortion through WoW. The COVID-19 pandemic seems to be an important driver for resorting to telemedicine (n=236, 30.6%). The lockdowns had a significant impact on the number of consultations received at WoW from France, increasing from 60 in March to 128 in April during the first lockdown and from 54 in October to 80 in November during the second lockdown.ConclusionsThe demand for at-home medical abortion via teleconsultation increased in France during the lockdowns. However, drivers of telemedicine abortion are multidimensional and go beyond the conditions unique to the pandemic.

Identifying Challenges and Solutions in Cultural Heritage Adaptive Reuse through the Historic Urban Landscape Approach in Amsterdam

Cultural heritage drives and enables sustainable urban development. The adaptive reuse of cultural heritage creates values while prolonging the lifespan of heritage. Similarly, circular economy creates value while extending the useful life of materials and elements through their reuse. Existing studies on adaptive reuse challenges seldom focus on cultural heritage properties, and they are often identified through the engagement of a limited variety of stakeholders, as compared to the actors normally involved in adaptive reuse. Filling this gap, this paper provides a preliminary baseline of challenges faced by the city of Amsterdam from the perspective of various involved stakeholders, and suggests solutions to address them. The participants represented the public, private, knowledge, and third sectors. The methods used were the following: for data collection, a multidisciplinary workshop using the steps of the Historic Urban Landscape approach as an assessment framework applied to multiple scales on adaptive reuse, and for data analysis, manifest content analysis. The results expanded the range of challenges and solutions reported by previous literature on the adaptive reuse of cultural heritage in content and scale by identifying 61 themes—e.g., knowledge and civic engagement. Tools and stakeholders were also identified. These findings provide a reference for future practice, policymaking, and decision-making, facilitating the adaptive reuse of cultural heritage to capitalize on its potential for sustainable development and circular economy.

‘We must have a new VIPS meeting soon!’ Barriers and facilitators for implementing the VIPS practice model in primary health care

Introduction Person-centred care is a philosophy of care rather than a method ready for implementation and utilisation in daily work. Internationally, few methods for the implementation of person-centred care have been widely adopted in clinical and care practice. In Norway, the VIPS practice model is a commonly used model for person-centred care implementation. Method Qualitative manifest content analysis was used. Managers and leaders in the municipalities, care institutions and domestic nursing care services were eligible for inclusion if their workplace had implemented the VIPS practice model and conducted the consensus meeting regularly for a minimum of 12 months. Seventeen respondents were included. Individual interviews were conducted either via FaceTime, Skype or telephone. Results Three global categories emerged describing the implementation process: (1) factors that impact the decision made at municipal level to implement person-centred care; (2) requirements for a good start at unit level and (3) factors that help to support the new routines in the unit. The categories were entwined; the results of one affected the results of the others. The informants from both domestic nursing care and institutions described the same factors as important for the implementation of the VIPS practice model. Conclusion To implement person-centred care by use of the VIPS practice model, the frontline staff need sufficient information about the rationale for implementing the model. The management’s vision and ethos of person-centred care must be followed by time set aside for staff training and regularly scheduled VIPS practice model consensus meetings. Head nurses are key to getting the new routines established and maintained and should be supported by the management.

Toward a dynamic capabilities’ diffusion model for international business headway of SMEs: evidence from the metallurgic and metal-mechanic (MMI) sectors

Purpose This paper aims to explore the characteristics of capability exchange within internationalizing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of the Portuguese metallurgic and metal-mechanic sectors. Design/methodology/approach Multiple case research instrumentalizes a (manifest) content analysis based upon qualitative data gathered from the interviewing of the strategic apex of four multinational enterprises, codified in the light of the well-known Weber protocol. Findings The results uncover the existence of a multi-diffusional approach with a bi-directional regime of transferability, where reciprocal transference is non-simultaneous. Operational rigidities are asserted to be stifling the diffusion of capabilities across subsidiaries and hindering higher economies of learning. Research limitations/implications The current paradigm of international capabilization of the sector requires substantial enhancements in its design for the benefit of the firm’s international competitiveness, growth and wealth. Originality/value Organizational capabilities are a determinant of competitiveness. Hitherto, the phenomena of (capabilities) mobility and transferability are still acknowledged as a clear gap. This study opens, therefore, avenues on international capabilization in relation to the modeling and testing of global dynamic capabilities and its replicability across industries.

The Excentric Film Project of Gotot Prakosa

This article outlines the film practice of Gotot Prakosa (1955–2015), which he called film pinggiran (film of the edges, excentric film), and its relationships with the hegemony exerted by the Indonesian New Order government in the 1970s and 1980s. By examining Gotot’s film works and extensive reflections on film-making, this article elucidates the dual characteristic of film pinggiran as a spatial and theoretical principle that orientates an excentric drive in the production and circulation of film. The article suggests that the film practice realized both an analysis of, and contradiction to, New Order mass media infrastructures and superstructures, thus engendering an ideological strike on the reproduction of the hegemony of the New Order. Film pinggiran thus does not necessarily ‘push the boundary’ further away; instead, it makes the edge the manifest content itself.

POETICS OF DESIRE IN D.H. LAWRENCE’S SHORTER FICTION

Desire is a specific subject of research in many areas, including literary studies and text analysis. The representation of desire in fiction is an inseparable part of the sub-genre of psychological prose; its interpretation by readers and scholars requires an interdisciplinary approach and relies on psychoanalytic theories and terminology for elucidation. Shorter psychological fiction – novellas and short stories – depend on the authors’ mastery of language use, while the formal textual length is limited. Therefore, the study of desire encoded in a short fictional piece is both difficult due to laconism and suggestiveness, and fruitful as a revelation of most subtle nuances of human nature through the examination of artistic discourse. D.H. Lawrence’s novellas and short stories articulate desire as the unconscious wish to obtain the object of love. It is the merit of the writer’s art to employ various artistic means that may serve as the manifest content. Interpreting imagery and symbolism, bodily consciousness and characters’ “syncopated” dialogues, opens up such aspects of a textual embodiment of desire as its elusiveness, impossibility to verbalize and often its “forbidden” nature. Instead, the Ragachewskaya Marina writer resorts to heavy suggestiveness, gaps and silences to be filled with the reader’s intuitive or professional knowledge, meaning-charged adjectives, metaphors and analytical intrusions. Examples from a selection of D.H. Lawrence’s short fictional works reveal defense mechanisms that balance the fulfilment of desire. The mastery of D.H. Lawrence’s shorter fiction rests on the skill to reveal the unnamable, to show the inner conflict working through desire fulfilment, to bring to consciousness the shame, guilt and pleasure irrespective of moral judgment.