Formal and informal translation and interpretation for immigrants and asylum seekers

As of 2011 there were over 50,000 migrants, who speak a language other than English or Irish at home, residing in Northern Ireland. Many of these individuals do not possess adequate levels of English language proficiency in order to access services. Research funded by the Northern Ireland Inclusion and Diversity Service was conducted to determine the home-school connections of culturally and linguistically diverse families in Northern Ireland. It revealed that there are a wide variety of ways that translation and interpretation services are offered for families not fluent in English within the school settings. Drawing upon the findings from the research in Northern Ireland, this presentation provides an overview of the types of translation and interpretation taking place in Northern Ireland; the advantages and disadvantages of each; and recommendations for agencies utilizing both formal and informal translation and interpretation. The presentation also includes references to work in this area in other contexts, as well as specific guidelines for agencies using both formal and informal translation and interpretation. These guidelines help ensure that the translations are conducted in a professional manner for all agencies providing services.

Use of an employment advisory service by cancer survivors

Employment issues for cancer survivors (CS) were investigated fromthe perspective of Northern Ireland government general employmentadvisors. An e-survey was designed and developed based on the resultsof a scoping search of journal articles, previously validatedquestionnaires and relevant related surveys; discussions of draftversions of the e-survey and method with lead representatives ofstakeholder organizations; and a pilot study with seven prospectiverespondents. The e-survey and subsequent reminder to employmentadvisors were distributed internally by the government employmentadvisory agency. The e-survey was completed by 78/156 (50%) advisors,the majority of whom (74%) received a request for advicein the last year from at least one CS. Most CS used the employmentservice less than 1 year (52%) or 1 year or more after treatment(32%). Fatigue was the most commonly reported barrier to returningto work (10%) and staying in work (14%), and a supportiveemployer was the top facilitating factor in returning to (21%) andcontinuing in (27%), employment. Although most advisors had apositive attitude about a CS’s capacity to return to work, half wereuncertain about how best to advise cancer survivors.

Vocational Rehabilitation in Early Psychosis: Cluster Randomised Trial

Background Individual placement and support (IPS) is effective in helping patients return to work but is poorly implemented because of clinical ambivalence and fears of relapse. Aims To assess whether a motivational intervention (motivational interviewing) directed at clinical staff to address ambivalence about employment improved patients’ occupational outcomes. Method Two of four early intervention teams that already provided IPS were randomised to receive motivational interviewing training for clinicians, focused on attitudinal barriers to employment. The trial was registered with the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Register (ISRCTN71943786). Results Of 300 eligible participants, 159 consented to the research. Occupational outcomes were obtained for 134 patients (85%) at 12-month follow-up. More patients in the intervention teams than in the IPS-only teams achieved employment by 12 months (29/68 v. 12/66). A random effects logistic regression accounting for clustering by care coordinator, and adjusted for participants’ gender, ethnicity, educational and employment history and clinical status scores, confirmed superiority of the intervention (odds ratio = 4.3, 95% CI 1.5-16.6). Conclusions Employment outcomes were enhanced by addressing clinicians’ ambivalence about their patients returning to work.

Using Social Worlds Theory to Explore Influences on Community Nurses’ Experiences of Providing Out of Hours Paediatric Palliative Care

Abstract Background: Paediatric oncology palliative care in the community is rare and nationally there is a lack of standardisation of out of hours nursing service provision. Objectives: This paper seeks to explore influences on the experiences of paediatric nurses providing out of hours palliative care within the family home to children with cancer. The study used social worlds theory to aid identification and demonstration of the findings. Methods: Twelve community-based palliative cases were purposively selected from children with cancer treated at one regional centre. Tape-recorded interviews were undertaken with 54 health professionals (general practitioners, community nurses and allied health professionals) involved in providing their palliative care and five facilitated case discussions completed. Data analysis followed a grounded theory approach; chronological comparative data analysis identifying generated themes. Social worlds theory was used as a framework to examine the data. Results: Nurses’ experiences are shaped by their social world and those of the nursing team,child and family and the inter-professional team providing the care. The lack of a formalised service, sub-optimal inter-professional working and impact of social worlds influence the experience of the nurse. Conclusions: Social worlds theory provided a new perspective in understanding these experiences based within a paediatric palliative care setting, knowledge that can be used to inform service provision.

Higher Education - Border or Boundary? Can Theatre in Education Help Promote a University Education?

With the expansion and increased availability of Higher Education the progression to study for an undergraduate degree has been viewed as a simple stepping stone with examination success a straight - forward border pass. Changes in the funding of degree courses has established a series of more challenging boundaries to entry which demand a rigorous assessment of the benefits of Higher Education. The Widening Participation Unit at The University of Worcester has sought to ease this border crossing for pupils whose parents have not been to university. Their experience from previous projects was that school pupils more easily relate to undergraduate students whose experience of Higher Education is recent and relevant. With this in mind they commissioned the Drama and Performance Department to create a Theatre in Education programme that introduced an awareness of post sixteen options and future choices to challenge Higher Education stereotypes. As a result of this collaboration Why Bother? was created, directed by myself and devised and researched with four students who were studying drama. Their own experiences were used to inform the character development and dealt with worrying as a mature student about integration into full – time education, loss of income after working, the pressures of emotional commitments to partners and being away from home. The programme toured to two thousand year 9 – 11 pupils in Worcestershire and Herefordshire schools in January and May 2011. Devising and touring Why Bother provided students with an opportunity to work as a professional paid TIE team that it is not possible for them to do as part of their undergraduate degree course. My initial research looks at the effectiveness and limitations of this project based on pupil questionnaires and the experiences of the team which are explored within the broader context of TIE and its potential for affecting attitudinal change. This has given rise to a number of questions that need consideration in the development of a new TIE programme aimed at raising the awareness of sixth form students who are about to make the decision whether to apply to university or not. Collaboration with university students in exploring the value of an education that they have subscribed to raises issues of bias and whether their powers of persuasion actually prevent pupils from making their own individual decision. The ethics of promoting a “free” university education seem much less complex than the decision required now which involves balancing the real value against the high financial cost suggested in the working title of Is it Worth it? This paper will present my first attempts to develop research methods and methodologies that will enable me to evaluate the success of this and future TIE.

Influence of the perception of discrimination on women's work motivation

Nowadays, despite anti-discrimination policies, women suffer frequently from a lack of consideration from their male colleagues, altering their well-being and motivation to work. More precisely, perceived personal or groupal discrimination, could have a distinct influence on work motivation. Previous studies showed that the impact on women varies in function of the type of perceived discrimination (Bourguignon et al. 2006). Based on the self-categorization and the social identity theory, work motivation is differently structured as if employees categorized themselves as individuals or as part of a group. As a result, a different impact from personal and group discrimination on work motivation is expected. Moreover, it has been proved that typical men behavior is heavily associated with competence compared to women behavior (Marchand, Saint-Charles & Corbeil, 2007). Therefore, it is hypothesized that women with more masculine traits will suffer from less perceived discrimination, and work motivation. An online survey was created in order to collect data over work motivation, perceived personal and group discrimination. The respondents were also questioned on typical men and women behavior to determine their gender-conformity. To test our hypotheses, data were collected from 57 women stemming from the labour force, aged from 21 to 63 years old. Results indicate that perceived personal discrimination was negatively related to work motivation and that perceived group discrimination was negatively correlated with masculine behavior. Thereby, our study enhances the importance of work environment, and especially discrimination, on work motivation. This research also corroborates the self-categorization and the social identity theory framework to study these issues.

Comparative genomic approaches for investigating evolution in the microbial and viral populations of the rumen

The rumen is home to a diverse population of microorganisms encompassing all three domains of life: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya. Viruses have also been documented to be present in large numbers; however, little is currently known about their role in the dynamics of the rumen ecosystem. This research aimed to use a comparative genomics approach in order to assess the potential evolutionary mechanisms at work in the rumen environment. We proposed to do this by first assessing the diversity and potential for horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of multiple strains of the cellulolytic rumen bacterium, Ruminococcus flavefaciens, and then by conducting a survey of rumen viral metagenome (virome) and subsequent comparison of the virome and microbiome sequences to ascertain if there was genetic information shared between these populations. We hypothesize that the bacteriophages play an integral role in the community dynamics of the rumen, as well as driving the evolution of the rumen microbiome through HGT. In our analysis of the Ruminococcus flavefaciens genomes, there were several mobile elements and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) sequences detected, both of which indicate interactions with bacteriophages. The rumen virome sequences revealed a great deal of diversity in the viral populations. Additionally, the microbial and viral populations appeared to be closely associated; the dominant viral types were those that infect the dominant microbial phyla. The correlation between the distribution of taxa in the microbiome and virome sequences as well as the presence of CRISPR loci in the R. flavefaciens genomes, suggested that there is a “kill-the-winner” community dynamic between the viral and microbial populations in the rumen. Additionally, upon comparison of the rumen microbiome and rumen virome sequences, we found that there are many sequence similarities between these populations indicating a potential for phage-mediated HGT. These results suggest that the phages represent a gene pool in the rumen that could potentially contain genes that are important for adaptation and survival in the rumen environment, as well as serving as a molecular ‘fingerprint’ of the rumen ecosystem.

A importância das histórias no desenvolvimento das crianças

Relatório de estágio para a obtenção do grau de mestre em Ensino de pré-escolar e de 1º ciclo do ensino básico

The European Parliament and the Future of Comitology after Lisbon: Lessons to be drawn from the Regulatory Procedure with Scrutiny for Delegated Acts

The history of comitology – the system of implementation committees that control the Commission in the execution of delegated powers – has been characterised by institutional tensions. The crux of these tensions has often been the role of the European Parliament and its quest to be granted powers equal to those of the Council. Over time this tension has been resolved through a series of inter-institutional agreements and Comitology Decisions, essentially giving the Parliament incremental increases in power. This process came to a head with the 2006 Comitology reform and the introduction of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny (RPS). After just over three years of experience with the RPS procedure, and having revised the entire acquis communautaire, the Treaty of Lisbon made has made it redundant through the creation of Delegated Acts (Article 290 TFEU), which gives the Parliament equal rights of oversight. This article aims to evaluate the practical implications that Delegated Acts will entail for the Parliament, principally by using the four years of experience with the RPS to better understand the challenges ahead. This analysis will be of interest to those following the study of comitology, formal and informal interinstitutional relations, and also to practitioners who will have to work with Delegated Acts in the future.

French good practice guidelines for medical and occupational surveillance of the low back pain risk among workers exposed to manual handling of loads

International audience

Chronic low back pain, chronic disability at work, chronic management issues.

International audience

An epidemiological surveillance network of lumbar disc surgery to help prevention of and compensation for low back pain

International audience

Work-related discussions between French rheumatologists and their rheumatoid arthritis patients

International audience

Stress ocupacional e satisfação laboral no atendimento ao público

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Social e das Organizações.

Partnerships in teacher education - going beyond the rhetoric, with reference to the Norwegian context

Teacher education plays a central role in education and relates to various stakeholders of education. Currently, teacher education is not perceived as the sole responsibility of higher education institutions, and they are expected to work closely together with other partners. In this paper, the concept of ‘partnership’ is defined and mutual benefits and challenges in partnerships with disciplines and institutions beyond teacher education programs are briefly discussed. Issues related to partnerships with students are addressed, and the last part of the paper discusses the partnership between teacher education and the practice field with examples from Norway. Three models illustrating such partnerships are described. The central argument of the paper is that partnerships in teacher education need to go beyond rhetoric. (DIPF/Orig.)