Fiddling for Outcomes: Traditional Music, Social Capital, and Arts Policy in Northern Ireland

Arts development policies increasingly tie funding to the potential of arts organisations to effectively deliver an array of extra-artistic social outcomes. This paper reports on the difficulties of this work in Northern Ireland, where the arts sector, and in particular the so-called 'traditional arts', have been drawn into a politically ambiguous discourse centered on the concepts of 'mutual understanding' and, more recently, 'social capital.' The paper traces the recent history of these policies and the difficulties in evaluating the social outcomes of arts programs. The use of the term 'social capital' in the work of Putnam and Bourdieu is considered. The paper argues, through a rereading of Bourdieu's articulation of the 'forms' of capital and Eagleton's 'ideology of the aesthetic,' the concept of social capital can be released from its current neoliberal trappings by imagining a reconnection of the concepts of 'capital' and 'the aesthetic.'

The Cost of Sustainability Capital and the Creation of Sustainable Value by Companies

We develop and apply a valuation methodology to calculate the cost of sustainability capital, and, eventually, sustainable value creation of companies. Sustainable development posits that decisions must take into account all forms of capital rather than just economic capital. We develop a methodology that allows calculation of the costs that are associated with the use of different forms of capital. Our methodology borrows the idea from financial economics that the return on capital has to cover the cost of capital. Capital costs are determined as opportunity costs, that is, the forgone returns that would have been created by alternative investments. We apply and extend the logic of opportunity costs to the valuation not only of economic capital but also of other forms of capital. This allows (a) integrated analysis of use of different forms of capital based on a value-based aggregation of different forms of capital, (b) determination of the opportunity cost of a bundle of different forms of capital used in a company, called cost of sustainability capital, (c) calculation of sustainability efficiency of companies, and (d) calculation of sustainable value creation, that is, the value above the cost of sustainability capital. By expanding the well-established logic of the valuation of economic capital in financial markets to cover other forms of capital, we provide a methodology that allows determination of the most efficient allocation of sustainability capital for sustainable value creation in companies. We demonstrate the practicability of the methodology by the valuation of the sustainability performance of British Petroleum (BP).

Psychological problems in children with cerebral palsy: A cross-sectional European study

Objectives: To describe psychological symptoms in 8–12-year-old children with cerebral palsy; to investigate predictors of these symptoms and their impact on the child and family.

Design: A cross-sectional multi-centre survey.

Participants: Eight hundred and eighteen children with cerebral palsy, aged 8–12 years, identified from population-based registers of cerebral palsy in eight European regions and from multiple sources in one further region.

Main outcome measures: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)P4-16 and the Total Difficulties Score (TDS) dichotomised into normal/borderline (TDS = 16) versus abnormal (TDS > 16).

Statistical analysis: Multilevel, multivariable logistic regression to relate the presence of psychological symptoms to child and family characteristics.

Results: About a quarter of the children had TDS > 16 indicating significant psychological symptoms, most commonly in the domain Peer Problems. Better gross motor function, poorer intellect, more pain, having a disabled or ill sibling and living in a town were independently associated with TDS > 16. The risk of TDS > 16 was odds ratio (OR) = .2 (95% CI: .1 to .3) comparing children with the most and least severe functional limitations; OR = 3.2 (95%CI: 2.1 to 4.8) comparing children with IQ < 70 and others; OR = 2.7 (95% CI: 1.5 to 4.6) comparing children in severe pain and others; OR = 2.7 (95% CI:1.6 to 4.6) comparing children with another disabled sibling or OR = 1.8 (95%CI: 1.2 to 2.8) no siblings and others; OR = 1.8 (95% CI: 1.1 to 2.8) comparing children resident in a town and others. Among parents who reported their child to have psychological problems, 95% said they had lasted over a year, 37% said they distressed their child and 42% said they burdened the family at least ‘quite a lot’.

Conclusions: A significant proportion of children with cerebral palsy have psychological symptoms or social impairment sufficiently severe to warrant referral to specialist services. Care must be taken in the assessment and management of children with cerebral palsy to ensure psychological problems are not overlooked and potentially preventable risk factors like pain are treated effectively. The validity of the SDQ for children with severe disability warrants further assessment.

Psychological processes underlying nurses' handwashing behaviour

Aim/Background Psychological models of behaviour change have been found to be useful in predicting health-related behaviour in patients but have rarely been used in relation to the health behaviour of staff. This study explored the association between a range of psychological variables and self-reported handwashing in a sample of nurses who work in a large general hospital. Method A questionnaire-based cross-sectional, correlational study was used. Questionnaires examining demographics, self-efficacy, perceived importance of handwashing, perception of risk, occupational stress and training related to handwashing were administered to an opportunity sample (n = 76) of nurses drawn from an acute hospital. ANOVAs, correlation and regression analyses were performed to determine significant covariates of handwashing behaviour. Findings There was a weak relationship between demographic variables and self-reported handwashing. The degree to which employees perceived their workplace to assist handwashing and perceived importance of handwashing were related to self-reported handwashing. Accordingly further covariates of these variables were sought. Training received and occupational stress both covaried with nurses’ perceptions of the degree to which their workplace assisted handwashing. Nurses’ beliefs regarding the transmission of infections covaried with perceived importance of handwashing. Conclusion Occupational stress was observed to reduce the perception of having a supportive employer: organisations need to facilitate handwashing and protect staff from factors that have a detrimental impact, such as work-related stress. Nurses’ perceived importance of the potential for poor handwashing practice to contribute to the transmission of infections should be highlighted in interventions.