Woman-centred care

Changes over the past decade have emphasised the individual service user and their relationship with the health service. Within the maternity services this has been interpreted as woman-centred care a result of key initiatives; the Winterton Report (House of Commons, 1992. Maternity Services. Second Report of the Health Committee (Winterton Report), Vol. 1. HMSO, London) and Changing Childbirth (DoH, 1993a, Changing childbirth: reports of the expert maternity group parts 1 & 2. HMSO, London). Changing Childbirth outlined key principles of the maternity services and the need for the woman (and her partner, if she wishes) to be the focus of care. The key principles are choice, continuity and control. High quality care depends on the recognition of individuals as having unique needs which continues to be reflected within contemporary policy documents (DoH, 1997, The new NHS: modern and dependable. HMSO, London). This paper presents findings related to the provision of woman-centred care from a national research and development study. The study design incorporated (i): a national survey which was undertaken with midwives, midwife supervisors and doctors; and (ii): in-depth case studies in which information was obtained through interviews with midwives, midwife supervisors, educators, managers, doctors and mothers. Midwives, at all levels, are involved in changing maternity service provision and adapting to new systems of care which aim to increase continuity of care and carer for the woman. The researchers sought to understand how woman-centred care was interpreted and experienced in practice. The findings have been used to identify the continuing educational needs of midwives, and to develop an open learning educational package to meet identified need. The curriculum was designed to enhance the move towards the provision of a more integrated woman-centred service.

The Great War on the small screen: Representing the First World War in contemporary Britain

In Britain since the 1960s television has been the most influential medium of popular culture. Television is also the site where the Western Front of popular culture clashes with the Western Front of history. This book examines the ways in which those involved in the production of historical documentaries for this most influential media have struggled to communicate the stories of the First World War to British audiences. Documents in the BBC Written Archives Centre at Caversham, Berkshire, the Imperial War Museum, and the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives all inform the analysis. Interviews and correspondence with television producers, scriptwriters and production crew, as well as two First World War veterans who appeared in several recent documentaries provide new insights for the reader. Emma Hanna takes the reader behind the scenes of the making of the most influential documentaries from the landmark epic series The Great War (BBC, 1964) up to more recent controversial productions such as The Trench (BBC, 2002) and Not Forgotten: The Men Who Wouldn't Fight (BBC, 2008). By examining the production, broadcast and reception of a number of British television documentaries this book examines the difficult relationship between the war's history and its popular memory.

Optionality in L2 grammars: the acquisition of SV/VS contrast in Spanish

This study examines the L2 acquisition of word order variation in Spanish by three groups of L1 English learners in an instructed setting. The three groups represent learners at three different L2 proficiencies: beginners, intermediate and advanced. The aim of the study is to analyse the acquisition of word order variation in a situation where the target input is highly ambiguous, since two apparent optional forms exist in the target grammar, in order to examine how the optionality is disambiguated by learners from the earlier stages of learning to the more advanced. Our results support the hypothesis that an account based on a discourse-pragmatics deficit cannot satisfactorily explain learners’ non-targetlike representations in the contexts analysed in our study.

Hypertension - a contemporary approach to nursing care

The incidence of hypertension is increasing as the number of patients with obesity and diabetes mellitus increases. Hypertension results when the peripheral vascular resistance is increased, the blood viscosity is elevated and/or the flow of blood through the main arteries is impeded. Chronic hypertension results in enlarged heart, myocardial damage and lung and renal abnormalities. While some causative factors such as obesity can be controlled, others for example genetics are more difficult to treat because often there is more than one factor involved. This paper explores how essential and secondary factors contribute to the incidence of hypertension and the physiological changes resulting from raised blood pressure. It proposes that although traditional treatment has some success, nurse-led clinics are having better success not only in controlling raised blood pressure but also in reducing cardiac, pulmonary and renal morbidity. It is more cost-effective, staff is more productive and clients are more compliant with treatment.

'Marginal gothic': mediating the monstrous in British romanticism

In this paper I look at texts from the Romantic Period which strategically employ elements of the Gothic genre in what I describe as a `marginal` relationship with the Gothic canon. My intention is both to explore the way the boundaries of the genre might be extended, and to cast fresh light on some of the texts discussed, specifically in relation to the ways in which the `monstrous` is perceived and portrayed as villainy. In the first half of the paper, using Burke’s Philosophical Enquiry on the Sublime and the Beautiful as a starting point, I consider Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, Godwin’s Caleb Williams, Radcliffe’s The Italian, and Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell as all in various ways examples of `marginal Gothic` that present evil doing as monstrous aberrations, also noting the contemporary reception of Beckford’s Vathek, praised in 1786 for its `accuracy and credibility`. In addition, I suggest that Wordsworth’s `Tintern Abbey` and Book VI of The Prelude provide evidence of marginal, but significant, Gothic influence that references Radcliffe’s and Burke’s explorations of a terror of the unknown. In the second half of the paper I focus on Scott’s Guy Mannering, or The Astrologer (1815) as an important example of a `marginal` Gothic novel. Scott’s reference to Vathek at a key point in his plot suggests that he had read Beckford’s novel as entirely `Gothic`. This discussion incorporates a comparison between Mannering’s youthful enthusiasm for astrological divination, and themes to be found in Shelley’s Frankenstein, notably with respect to the nature of Victor Frankenstein’s response to `old` and `new` science and medicine, and to the creation and control of Gothic monstrosity. In these and in other instances, it will be argued that the `marginal Gothic` of Scott’s novel may be read as a precursor to Shelley’s work. [From the Author]

Hide and seek with rebels: tracing contemporary queer art in cracks and rips

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