A situational model development in hospitality retailing : the case of Irish pubs

Although importance of situational influences on consumer behaviour has been recognised for some time, little research has been conducted into their effects on hospitality retailing. Over the past decade the Irish theme pub sector has enjoyed extensive growth, which recent studies attribute to the situational components inherent within the environment. This study identities and evaluates the situational components that influence consumers within Irish theme pubs and gauges impact of each of the dimensions of an established situational model on customer behaviour using gender and age cohorts. A three phase, mixed method research design was used and respondents were selected from six Irish theme pubs in Melbourne. The study found that both physical and social situational components have a significant influence in attracting, serving and satisfying the needs of consumers.

Layered fragment architecture for situational methodology engineering

Many organizations make use of information system development methodologies to guide their staff in developing computerised information systems. This thesis contributes to methodology engineering research by introducing a number of important innovations in methodology fragment architectures.

Building equity in chronic disease management in Thailand : a whole-system provincial trial of systematic, pro-active chronic illness care

Thailand has a history of implementing innovative and proactive policies to address the health needs of its population. Since 1962 Thailand has implemented initiatives that led to it having a health system characterized by a primary care focus, decentralization and mechanisms to maximize equity and universal access to basic care at the local level. Thai health structures initially evolved to meet challenges including infectious and developmental diseases and later HIV. Early in the 21st century chronic illness rapidly became the greatest cause of morbidity and mortality and the question has arisen how Thailand can adapt its strong health system to deal with the new epidemics. This article describes an effort to reorient provincial health services to meet the needs of the increasing number of people with diabetes and heart disease. It describes measures taken to build on the equity-promoting elements of the Thai health system. The project included; a situational analysis, development and implementation of a chronic disease self-management intervention implemented by nurses and alignment of provincial health services. The self-management intervention is currently being evaluated within a clustered randomized control trial. The evaluation has been developed to fit with the focus on equity in relation to both selection criteria and the outcomes that are being assessed.

Measurement of stable changes of self-management skills after rehabilitation: a latent state-trait analysis of the Health Education Impact Questionnaire (heiQ™)

To assess stable effects of self-management programs, measurement instruments should primarily capture the attributes of interest, for example, the self-management skills of the measured persons. However, measurements of psychological constructs are always influenced by both aspects of the situation (states) and aspects of the person (traits). This study tests whether the Health Education Impact Questionnaire (heiQ™), an instrument assessing a wide range of proximal outcomes of self-management programs, is primarily influenced by person factors instead of situational factors. Furthermore, measurement invariance over time, changes in traits and predictors of change for each heiQ™ scale were examined.

Towards a resilience management framework for complex enterprise systems upgrade implementation

The lack of knowledge of how resilience management supports enterprise system (ES) projects accounts for the failure of firms to leverage their investments in costly ES implementations. Using a structured-pragmatic- situational (SPS) case study research approach, this paper reports on an investigation into the resilience management of a large utility company as it implemented an ES upgrade. Drawing on the literature and on the case study findings, we developed a process-based resilience management framework that involves three strategies (developing situation awareness, demystifying threats, and executing restoration plans) and four organisational capabilities that transform resilience management concepts into practices. We identified the crucial phases of ES upgrade implementation and developed indicators for how different strategies and capabilities of resilience management can assist managers at different stages of an ES upgrade. This research advances the state of existing knowledge by providing specific and verifiable propositions for attaining a state of resilience, the knowledge being grounded in the empirical reality of a case study. Moreover, the framework offers ES practitioners a roadmap to better identify appropriate responses and levels of preparedness.

Assessment of acute burn management in 32 low- and middle-income countries

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether acute burn management (ABM) is available at health facilities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). METHOD: The study used the World Health Organization situational analysis tool (SAT) which is designed to assess emergency and essential surgical care and includes data points relevant to the acute management of burns. The SAT was available for 1413 health facilities in 59 countries. RESULTS: A majority (1036, 77.5 %) of the health facilities are able to perform ABM. The main reasons for the referral of ABM are lack of skills (53.4 %) and non-functioning equipment (52.2 %). Considering health centres and district/rural/community hospitals that referred due to lack of supplies/drugs and/or non-functioning equipment, almost half of the facilities were not able to provide continuous and consistent access to the equipment required either for resuscitation or to perform burn wound debridement. Out of the facilities that performed ABM, 379 (36.6 %) are capable of carrying out skin grafts and contracture release, which is indicative of their ability to manage full thickness burns. However the magnitude of full thickness burns managed was limited in half of these facilities, as they did not have access to a blood bank. CONCLUSION: The initial management of acute burns is generally available in LMICs, however it is constrained by the inability to perform resuscitation (19 %) and/or burn wound debridement (10 %). For more severe burns, an inability to perform skin grafting or contracture release limits definitive management of full thickness burns, whilst lack of availability to blood further compromises the treatment of major burns.