Best of the old alongside the new: training for part-time youth workers

Set against the dearth of published research into the effectiveness of youth leadership training programmes, the present study describes how a comprehensive evaluation model was utilised to evaluate one such programme in Northern Ireland over a 3-year period. The training welds together a traditional curriculum approach and a competence-based methodology to provide an integrated experience for the part-time youth worker participants (n = 128). Self-completion questionnaires and follow-up interviews with a random sample of these youth workers and their supervisors were used to collect data. Outcomes suggest that the synthesis of these two training strategies is not only effective in meeting the learning needs of youth workers, but also leads to identifiable improvements in the range and quality of youth work programmes available to young people

Preparing for the future:Challenges and opportunities for management and leadership skills

The development of effective leaders is essential for all healthcare professions and increasingly is becoming a key focus for the UK dental profession. There is comparatively little research about dental leadership in a UK context and the paper below should begin to help to redress the balance and to highlight areas for future consideration.
The aim of the study was to explore dental leaders’ perceptions of the current position of leadership in the dental profession and used a qualitative key informant study to do this. Three broad emergent themes are described and discussed - characteristics and behaviours of dental leaders; challenges for dental leaders; education and training for dental leadership. The findings show that whilst recognising that a lack of focus on leadership skills has caused problems in the past, current dental leaders are prepared to lead the profession forward. They view education at all levels as vital to this process and education for leadership at undergraduate level is perceived as an important way forward.

Agency or Dependency?: The Mixed Peppers Theatre Arts Training Project for young people with disabilities

This article provides a reflection on my past practice as Creative Director of The Mixed Peppers Theatre Arts Training Programme. Drawing upon discourses of Disability Studies it considers how this ostensibly emancipatory project that sought to provide access to theatre activity for young people with physical disabilities living in Northern Ireland was flawed, and was eventually disbanded, partly due to a failure on the part of its non-disabled leadership to address imbalances of power in its relationship with its young disabled constituency. The article is framed within a survey of recent debates that focus upon the historical lack of a sustained, indigenous, disability-led theatre activity in Northern Ireland and the recent efforts by non-disabled professional arts practitioners to establish such activity in the region. It offers, as an exemplar to current discussion, an analysis of how the choice and agency of the young members of The Mixed Peppers were compromised by the well-meaning but potentially oppressive practices of its leadership. It questions whether the project was unduly influenced by parental desire to see their disabled children `normalized' in a high-profile theatrical production. Finally, it considers how The Mixed Peppers' institutional situation, as a project controlled and administered by a disability charity, was implicated in the premature demise of the initiative.

Evaluation of extended training for general practice in Northern Ireland: qualitative study.

Objective To evaluate participants' perceptions of the impact on them of an additional six months' training beyond the standard 12 month general practice vocational training scheme. Design Qualitative study using focus groups. Setting General practice vocational training in Northern Ireland. Participants 13 general practitioner registrars, six of whom participated in the additional six months' training, and four trainers involved in the additional six months' training. Main outcome measures: Participants' views about their experiences in 18 month and 12 month courses. Results Participants reported that the 12 month course was generally positive but was too pressurised and focused on examinations, and also that it had a negative impact on self care. The nature of the learning and assessment was reported to have left participants feeling averse to further continuing education and lacking in confidence. In contrast, the extended six month component was reported to have restimulated learning by focusing more on patient care and promoting self directed learning. It developed confidence, promoted teamwork, and gave experience of two practice contexts, and was reported as valuable by both ex-registrars and trainers. However, both the 12 and 18 month courses left participants feeling underprepared for practice management and self care. Conclusions 12 months' training in general practice does not provide doctors with the necessary competencies and confidence to enter independent practice. The extended period was reported to promote greater professional development, critical evaluation skills, and orientation to lifelong learning but does not fill all the gaps.

Habit reversal training as a treatment for refractory OCD - A case study

Nearly 4 million American men and women from all geographic, ethnic, or economic backgrounds are diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). While a combination of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and psycho-pharmaca seems successful for 50% to 60% of patients, for intractable cases the typical recommendation is more medication or more CBT, however there is little evidence that the intensified treatment regimen is successful. In this paper, habit reversal training, including awareness training, competing/other response training, self-monitoring, social support, and generalisation, was implemented with a long-term treatment-refractory OCD patient. Treatment gains and long-term maintenance indicate the potential of habit reversal procedures with these patients.

Can childhood neglect be prevented through parenting skills training?

Child neglect continues to be the most prevalent form of child maltreatment, yet it has received less specific research attention than other forms of maltreatment (Zuravin, 1999). It is only in recent years that neglect has been seen as a phenomenon that needs to be conceptualised separately to other forms of abuse (Gershater- Molko et al., 2002). Although the term ‘neglect’ is used generally when children do not receive minimal physical and/or emotional care, there is no single agreed definition; one possible reason for this is the lack of consensus about minimally adequate standards of childcare either within professional groups or existing research (Rose and Meezan, 1996; Stone, 1998).