Social Equality: On what it means to be equals

The first collected volume on social and relational equality.
Addresses a gap in the literature - while many philosophers have pointed to the importance of social equality, it requires much more theoretical development, which this volume aims to provide.
Offers a unique answer to the debate about whether or not equality is valuable.
Features a foreword by eminent political theorist David Miller
Includes new contributions by some of the most well-known contemporary moral and political philosophers, such as Samuel Scheffler and Jonathan Wolff.
Is equality valuable? This question dominates many discussions of social justice, which tend to center on whether certain forms of distributive equality are valuable, such as the equal distribution of primary social goods. But these discussions often neglect what is known as social or relational equality. Social equality suggests that equality is foremost about relationships and interactions between people, rather than being primarily about distribution.

A number of philosophers have written about the significance of social equality, and it has also played an important role in real-life egalitarian movements, such as feminism and civil rights movements. However, as it has been relatively neglected in comparison to the debates about distributive equality, it requires much more theoretical attention. This volume brings together a collection of ten original essays which present new analyses of social and relational equality in philosophy and political theory. The essays analyze the nature of social equality, as well as its relationship to justice and politics.

Readership: The book is primarily aimed at professionals in the field - philosophers (especially in moral, social and political philosophy) and political theorists. It is also aimed at the academic library market. Moreover, the book should be of interest to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students attending courses on theories of equality and/or social justice.

Graduate Attitudes towards Vocational Training

Introduction: Vocational training (VT) is a mandatory requirement for all UK dental graduates prior to entering NHS practice. The VT period provides structured, supervised experience supported by study days and interaction with peers. It is not compulsory for Irish dental graduates working in either Ireland or the UK to undertake VT but yet a proportion voluntarily do so each year.

Objectives: This study was designed to explore the choices made by Irish dental graduates. It aimed to record any benefits of VT and its impact upon future career choices.

Method: A self-completion questionnaire was developed and piloted before being circulated electronically to recent dental graduates from University College Cork. After collecting demographic information respondents were asked to indicate if they pursued vocational training on graduation, give their perception of their post-graduation experience, describe their current work profile and detail any formal postgraduate studies.

Results: 35% of respondents opted to undertake VT and 79% did so in the UK. Those who completed VT regarded it as a very positive experience with benefits including: working in a positive learning environment, help on demand and interaction with peers. Of those who chose VT, 49% have pursued some form of further formal postgraduate study as compared to 40% of those who did not. All of the respondents who completed VT indicated they would recommend it to current Irish graduates. The majority of those who took up an associate position immediately after graduation reported that this was beneficial but up to three quarters would recommend current graduates undertake VT and 45% would now chose to do so themselves.

Conclusions: Increasing numbers of Irish graduates are moving to the UK to undertake VT and they find it a beneficial experience. In addition, those who undertook VT were more likely to undertake formal postgraduate study.

Belfast Soundwalks

The Belfast Soundwalks project, led by Professor Pedro Rebelo and co-ordinated by Dr Sarah Bass (Sonic Arts Research Centre) in collaboration with Belfast City Council (BCC), aims to use sonic art to engage the public through the development of a locative mobile phone app. Targeting both tourists and citizens of the city, this project aims to sonically enhance the experience of a number of areas of the city, including destinations that may not traditionally be accessed as attractions by visitors and/or disregarded or undervalued by local residents. The project will bring together a number of sonic artists/composers who will create approximately ten soundwalks around the city, while liaising with BCC to distribute the resulting app to the public in line with their tourism and cultural strategy. The project is centred on the development of smart phone apps which provide unique listening experiences associated with key places in the city. The user’s location in the city is tracked through GPS which triggers sound materials ranging from speech to environmental sound and abstract imagined sound worlds. Additionally, local community groups will be consulted in order to evaluate and reflect upon the effectiveness of the soundwalks.

The project builds on the success of the Literary Belfast app and aims to further strengthen links between Queen’s University Belfast and Belfast City Council through facilitating the dissemination of an art form not widely experienced by the general public. Through the newly created Institute for Collaborative Research in the Humanities, directed by Professor John Thompson we are articulating this project with Queen’s consortium partners, Newcastle University and Durham University.

“The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funds world-class, independent researchers in a wide range of subjects: ancient history, modern dance, archaeology, digital content, philosophy, English literature, design, the creative and performing arts, and much more. This financial year the AHRC will spend approximately £98m to fund research and postgraduate training in collaboration with a number of partners. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK. For further information on the AHRC, please go to: www.ahrc.ac.uk”.

Recovery of Sleep or Recovery of Self? A Grounded Theory Study of Residents’ Decision Making Regarding How to Spend Their Nonclinical Postcall Time

Purpose: As resident work hours policies evolve, residents’ off-duty time remains poorly understood. Despite assumptions about how residents should be using their postcall, off-duty time, there is little research on how residents actually use this time and the reasoning underpinning their activities. This study sought to understand residents’ nonclinical postcall activities when they leave the hospital, their decision-making processes, and their perspectives on the relationship between these activities and their well-being or recovery.

Method: The study took place at a Liaison Committee on Medical Education–accredited Canadian medical school from 2012 to 2014. The authors recruited a purposive and convenience sample of postgraduate year 1–5 residents from six surgical and nonsurgical specialties at three hospitals affiliated with the medical school. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, semistructured interviews were conducted, audio-taped, transcribed, anonymized, and combined with field notes. The authors analyzed interview transcripts using constant comparative analysis and performed post hoc member checking.

Results: Twenty-four residents participated. Residents characterized their predominant approach to postcall decision making as one of making trade-offs between multiple, competing, seemingly incompatible, but equally valuable, activities. Participants exhibited two different trade-off orientations: being oriented toward maintaining a normal life or toward mitigating fatigue.

Conclusions: The authors’ findings on residents’ trade-off orientations suggest a dual recovery model with postcall trade-offs motivated by the recovery of sleep or of self. This model challenges the dominant viewpoint in the current duty hours literature and suggests that the duty hours discussion must be broadened to include other recovery processes.

Beyond work-hour restrictions: a qualitative study of residents' subjective workload

INTRODUCTION: Following the introduction of work-hour restrictions, residents' workload has become an important theme in postgraduate training. The efficacy of restrictions on workload, however, remains controversial, as most research has only examined objective workload. The purpose of this study was to explore the less clearly understood component of subjective workload and, in particular, the factors that influenced residents' subjective workload.

METHOD: This study was conducted in Japan at three community teaching hospitals. We recruited a convenience sample of 31 junior residents in seven focus groups at the three sites. Audio-recorded and transcribed data were read iteratively and analyzed thematically, identifying, analyzing and reporting themes within the data and developing an interpretive synthesis of the topic.

RESULTS: Seven factors influenced residents' subjective workload: (1) interaction within the professional community, (2) feedback from patients, (3) being in control, (4) professional development, (5) private life, (6) interest and (7) protected free time.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that residents who have good interaction with colleagues and patients, are competent enough to control their work, experience personal development through working, have greater interest in their work, and have fulfilling private lives will have the least subjective workload.

An examination of student and provider perceptions of voluntary sector social work placements in Northern Ireland

Practice based learning in Northern Ireland is a core element of social work education and comprising 50% of the degree programme for undergraduate and postgraduate students. This article presents evidence about the perceptions of practice learning from voluntary sector/non-government organisation (NGO) placement providers and final year social work students on social work degree programmes in Northern Ireland in 2011. It draws on data from 121 respondents from189 final year students and focus group interviews with voluntary sector providers offering 16% (85) of the total placements available to students. The agencies who participated in the research study provide a total of 55 PLOs to social work students, and are therefore fairly representative in terms of voluntary sector (NGO) provision. The article locates these data in the context of practice learning pedagogy and the changes introduced by the Regional Strategy for Practice Learning Provision in Northern Ireland 2010–2015. Several themes emerged including; induction, support and guidance, practice educator/student relationship, professional identity and confidence in risk assessment and decision-making. Social work educators, placement providers and employers must be cognisant of newly qualified social workers’ needs in terms of consolidating knowledge within the formative stages of their professional development.

Diabetes Distress: Understanding the Hidden Struggles of Living with Diabetes and Exploring Intervention Strategies

Diabetes Distress is a rational emotional response to the threat of a life-changing illness. Distinct from depression, it is rooted in the demands of diabetes management and is a product of psychological adjustment. Diabetes distress has been found to be significantly associated with HbA1c and self-care, which demonstrates its clinical use in treatment outcomes. Interpersonal factors such as perceived support and protectiveness of partners significantly contribute to elevated distress, suggesting that these are valued areas of focus for interventions. Pioneering large-scale research, DAWN2, gives voices to the families of those with diabetes and reaffirms the need to consider psychosocial factors in routine diabetes care. Structured diabetes education programmes are the most widely used in helping individuals cope with diabetes, but they fail to consider the psychological or interpersonal aspects of diabetes management. Psycho-educational approaches are found to be effective in reducing diabetes distress while also improving HbA1c. Certain limitations in the current literature are discussed, along with future directions. Of utmost importance is the need for health practitioners, irrespective of background, to demonstrate an understanding of diabetes distress and actively engage in discussion with individuals struggling to cope with diabetes; to normalize this and integrate it into routine diabetes practice.

Implications of aligning full registration of doctors with medical school graduation:a qualitative study of stakeholder perspectives

OBJECTIVES: The Shape of Training report recommended that full registration is aligned with medical school graduation. As part of a General Medical Council-funded study about the preparedness for practice of UK medical graduates, we explored UK stakeholders' views about this proposal using qualitative interviews (30 group and 87 individual interviews) and Framework Analysis.

SETTING: Four UK study sites, one in each country.Save

PARTICIPANTS: 185 individuals from eight stakeholder groups: (1) foundation year 1 (F1) doctors (n=34); (2) fully registered trainee doctors (n=33); (3) clinical educators (n=32); (4) undergraduate/postgraduate Deans, and Foundation Programme Directors (n=30); (5) other healthcare professionals (n=13); (6) employers (n=7); (7) policy and government (n=11); (8) patient and public representatives (n=25).

RESULTS: We identified four main themes: (1) The F1 year as a safety net: patients were protected by close trainee supervision and 'sign off' to prevent errors; trainees were provided with a safe environment for learning on the job; (2) Implications for undergraduate medical education: if the proposal was accepted, a 'radical review' of undergraduate curricula would be needed; undergraduate education might need to be longer; (3) Implications for F1 work practice: steps to protect healthcare team integration and ensure that F1 doctors stay within competency limits would be required; (4) Financial, structural and political implications: there would be cost implications for trainees; clarification of responsibilities between undergraduate and postgraduate medical education would be needed. Typically, each theme comprised arguments for and against the proposal.

CONCLUSIONS: A policy change to align the timing of full registration with graduation would require considerable planning and preliminary work. These findings will inform policymakers' decision-making. Regardless of the decision, medical students should take on greater responsibility for patient care as undergraduates, assessment methods in clinical practice and professionalism domains need development, and good practice in postgraduate supervision and support must be shared.

Current status of Gerodontology teaching in Europe: preliminary findings

Aim(s): The aim of this study was to explore the findings of a survey on the prevalence, contents and status of Gerodontology teaching amongst the European Dental Schools.
Materials and Methods: A first wave of emails, including an electronic questionnaire in English, and two weeks later a first reminder, were sent to the Deans or other contact persons in 185 dental schools in 40 European countries. The electronic questionnaire recorded the prevalence, contents and status of Gerodontology education at the undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education levels.
Results: The first wave of responses included 70 dental schools from 28 countries. Gerodontology was included in the undergraduate curricula of 77% of the respondents and was compulsory in 61% of them. It was taught as an independent course in 39% of the respondents. When embedded in other courses, these were mainly the Prosthodontics lectures. Clinical training in Gerodontology was on the curriculum of 56% of the respondents. Sixteen percent of the schools had a Gerodontology Division, and 43% an assigned Programme Director. Gerodontology was taught in the postgraduate programmes of 33% of the schools, again mostly embedded in Prosthodontic programmes. Continuing education courses in Gerodontology were offered by 34% of the responding schools.
Discussion and Conclusions: When interpreting the results of this still ongoing study, a "worst case scenario" has to be born in mind, where dental schools, who failed to participate in the survey, may not be teaching in Gerodontology. Under this perspective, a moderate prevalence of Gerodontology is recorded in the undergraduate curricula of European dental schools. At a postgraduate level, it is less frequently offered, and mainly embedded in the Prosthodontic programmes. European guidelines on the dental curriculum might help to increase awareness and introduce Gerodontology to undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education.