The Multi-Faceted Experience of Empathy in Intellectual Disability Settings: An IPA Study

This research thesis explored the concept of empathy. The specific purpose was to further understand the idea of empathy in relation to the experience of male support workers who provide residential care to adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) and challenging behaviour. The thesis aimed to provide some insights into how support workers develop and extract meaning from their experiences of relationships with clients and the impact of this on their own self-care, namely, self-compassion. Since personal accounts of experience were required, a qualitative methodology was employed, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith, 2004). This methodology was selected as it allows for the exploration and interpretation of idiographic lived experience and meaning making. 8 experienced support workers were interviewed using a semi structured interview. Four superordinate themes emerged from the data. These included: 1. Making sense of the others inner world; 2. Processes that enhance empathic practice; 3. Tensions and conflicts, and 4. Management of distressing feelings. Differing accounts of interpreting the needs of clients were identified which helped participants understand, make sense of their interpersonal experience and participate in their role. These included utilising academic knowledge and senses, particularly sight and hearing, which were seemingly complemented by a level of reflective practice. Additionally, to make sense of the experience of a client, they appeared to put themselves in their position, suggesting a form of empathy. Participants appeared to engage in a process of reflection on their relationships with clients, which helped them think about what they had learned about the person’s needs, moreover, this process enabled them to identify some of their own responses and feelings. However, participants seemed to struggle to recognise the occurrence or impact of distressing emotional experience and to express their feelings, possibly in response to a deep sense of responsibility and fear of transferring emotional distress to others. This dilemma of holding two potentially conflicting views of experience seemed to inhibit self-compassion. Although not specifically testing theories of empathy, from the overall findings, it could be suggested that empathy may be a dynamic, transient process that is influenced by reflexivity, values and context. The context in which participants discussed their practice, and situated within their accounts, suggested a sense of confusion and uncertainty. Consequently, it is suggested this impacted on how participants understood and related to clients, and to themselves. There were some specific implications for Counselling Psychology practice, mostly concerning training and supervision. These included recommendations for staff training and supervision, systemic organisational intervention, policy development, recommendations for revisions to models of specialist care frameworks and clinical training.

Programa de intervención para mejorar conocimientos y actitudes sobre la tuberculosis y captar sintomáticos respiratorios. Area 1 de Salud del Cañar. 2007

Con el objetivo de aplicar un programa de capacitación personal para mejorar conocimientos y prácticas sobre el control de la tuberculosis y mejorar la captación de sintomáticos respiratorios. Materiales y métodos: con un diseño cuasi experimental se incluyeron 63 profesionales sanitarios: 33 médicos, 17 odontólogos, 11 enfermeras y 2 obstetrices, distribuidos en 29 unidades operativas; 2 Centros de Salud, 16 subcentros de Salud y 12 puestos de Salud, pertenecientes al Ministerio de Salud Pública. Se aplicó un tes de 20 preguntas para evaluar conocimientos y prácticas antes de la intervención y otro de igual numero para medir el efecto de la intervención después de cumplir el programa de capacitación. Resultados: antes de la intervención, el promedio de respuestas correctas fue de 35,8 ± 4,3 (entre 23 y 56). El incremento de conocimientos fue significativo (p= 0,0001). La captación de sintomáticos respiratorios se incrementó en un 17% en los dos trimestres posteriores a la capacitación, RR 7,8 (IC95% 1,8-32,9) P=0,0003. En cuarto trimestre descendió a los valores pre intervención. Implicaciones: un programa de capacitación permanente sobre control de la Tuberculosis es una estrategia válida para mejorar los conocimientos y las prácticas sanitarias tendientes a incrementar la captación de sintomáticos respiratorios como la mejor medida para detectar la enfermedad

Attachment Style, Therapeutic Alliance and Recovery in forensic mental health: the A-STAR study and clinical research portfolio

Background: Research suggests that forensic mental health services and staff can play an important role in the recognition and intervention with attachment-related behaviours to promote engagement and recovery. There is a lack of literature exploring whether the attachment needs of forensic service-users are recognised and, associations between attachment style and factors predictive of recovery. Aims: This study aimed to examine the extent to which service-users and keyworkers agree about service-users’ attachment and to identify whether attachment was associated with service attachment, working alliance, ward climate and recovery. Methods: Twenty-two service-users from low and medium secure forensic services, completed questionnaire measures of their attachment style, service attachment, working alliance, ward climate and experiences of recovery. Nineteen keyworkers completed measures of the service-users attachment style and working alliance. Results: There was strong agreement between service-users and staff for attachment anxiety (ICC=0.71) but poor agreement for attachment avoidance (ICC=0.39). Service attachment was associated with more positive perceptions of staff support (r=0.49) and avoidant attachment was associated with lower ratings of recovery (r=-0.51). Correlations between attachment style and service attachment, working alliance and ward climate were small and non-significant. Conclusions: A focus on staff training to support recognition of the nature and impact of avoidant attachment styles is indicated. The findings suggest that interventions to enhance staff - service-user relationships may be important for service attachment and indeed promotion of a recovery focused orientation amongst service-users high in avoidant attachment may improve wellbeing and outcomes.

Desenvolvimento do turismo em Cabo Verde a partir da abertura política (1990) à actualidade

O turismo é um fenómeno que ganhou terreno nas últimas décadas. A sua transversalidade fez com que se alastrasse a diversas áreas, contribuindo para o desenvolvimento de muitos países. Depois da Europa e América exploradas, voltou-se para Ásia e África, à descoberta do diferente. No início dos anos 90 deu-se uma viragem na política, muitos países em África abriram-se às eleições partidárias, pondo o fim ao partido único. Cabo Verde, a partir de 1990, conjuntamente com a abertura política abriu-se às cooperações, às privatizações e aos investimentos estrangeiros, e oportunamente, o sector turístico. Foi ganhando importância, ao ponto de os governos assumirem o fenómeno como um dos motores do desenvolvimento e de combate à pobreza. A presente dissertação pretende descrever o desenvolvimento do sector a partir de 1990 à actualidade, verificar a adequação das estratégias à realidade do país. Percebe-se a necessidade de planear o turismo, envolver mais a comunidade, desenvolver um turismo competitivo e sustentável, apostando na formação dos profissionais e na segurança. Fica explícito que a articulação dos sectores públicos e privados constitui a chave para o sucesso do turismo no arquipélago. ABSTRACT; Tourism is a phenomenon that won the ground in the last century. Its transversally makes it spread in several areas, helping to the development of many countries. After explorations of Europe and America, it returns to Asia and Africa to discover the different. In the beginning of years 90 gave a political change, many countries in Africa opened supporter elections, putting stop to unique party from 1990, Cape Verde, together with opening party opened to cooperation, privatizations and foreign investments and later on touristic sector. It won the importance that mode the government assume the phenomenon as one of the motor of development and fight against poverty. The present dissertation pretends to describe the sector development from 1990 till now, check suitable strategies to the reality of the country. We can see the need to plan tourism, develop our community, and develop a competitive and sustainable tourism by investing in staff training and safety. It is explicit that the articulation of public and private sectors is the key to the success of tourism in the archipelago.

Gestão compartilhada de P&D em petróleo:a interação entre a Petrobrás e a Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte

This work addresses the relationship between University-Firm aims to understand the model of shared management of R&D in petroleum of Petrobras with UFRN. This is a case study which sought to investigate whether the model of cooperation established by the two institutions brings innovation to generate technical-scientific knowledge and contribute to the coordination with other actors in the promotion of technological innovation. In addition to desk research the necessary data for analysis were obtained by sending questionnaires to the coordinators of projects in R&D at the company and university. Also, interviews were conducted with subjects who participated in the study since its inception to the present day. This case study were analysed through the Resource-Based View and Interorganizational Networks theory. The sample data also stands that: searches were aligned to the strategic planning and that 29% of R&D projects have been successful on the scope of the proposed objectives (of which 11% were incorporated into business processes); which was produced technical and scientific knowledge caracterized by hundreds of national and international publications; thesis, dissertations, eleven patents, and radical and incremental innovations; the partnership has also brought benefits to the academic processes induced by the improved infrastructure UFRN and changing the "attitude" of the university (currently with national prominence in research and staff training for the oil sector). As for the model, the technical point of view, although it has some problems, it follows that it is appropriate. From the viewpoint of the management model is criticized for containing an excess of bureaucracy. From the standpoint of strategic allocation of resources from the legal framework needs to be reassessed, because it is focused only on the college level and it is understood that should also reach the high school given the new reality of the oil sector in Brazil. For this it is desirable to add the local government to this partnership. The set of information leads to the conclusion that the model is identified and named as a innovation of organizational arrangement here known as Shared Management of R&D in petroleum of Petrobras with UFRN. It is said that the shared management model it is possible to exist, which is a simple and effective way to manage partnerships between firms and Science and Technology Institutions. It was created by contingencies arising from regulatory stand points and resource dependence. The partnership is the result of a process of Convergence, Construction and Evaluation supported by the tripod Simplicity, Systematization and Continuity, important factors for its consolidation. In practice an organizational arrangement was built to manage innovative university-industry partnership that is defined by a dyadic relationship on two levels (institutional and technical, therefore governance is hybrid), by measuring the quarterly meetings of systematic and standardized financial contribution proportional to the advancement of research. These details have led to the establishment of a point of interaction between the scientific and technological-business dimension, demystifying they are two worlds apart

Report of the training in database and spatial analysis for Marine Protected Areas staff in Indonesia's BOBLME region, Medan, Indonesia, 30 June-4 July, 2015

Training included: Geographic Information System (GIS)concept and software; Global Positioning System (GPS); Ecological Gap Analysis and Marine Protected Area (MPA) design using Marine Reserve Design using Spatially Explicit Annealing (MARXAN); and cartography.

Systematic assessment of the training needs of health library staff

Urquhart, C., Spink, S., Thomas, R. & Durbin, J. (2005). Systematic assessment of the training needs of health library staff. Library and Information Research, 29(93), 35-42. Sponsorship: National Library for Health (NLH)

Training needs analysis of healthcare library staff, undertaken for South Yorkshire Workforce Development Confederation

Urquhart, C., Durbin, J. & Spink, S. (2004). Training needs analysis of healthcare library staff, undertaken for South Yorkshire Workforce Development Confederation. Aberystwyth: Department of Information Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth. Sponsorship: South Yorkshire WDC (NHS)

Assessing training and professional development needs of library staff. Report for National Library of Health

Urquhart, C., Spink, S. & Thomas, R., Assessing training and professional development needs of library staff. Report for National Library of Health. (2005). Aberystwyth: Department of Information Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth Sponsorship: National Library for Health (NHS Information Authority)

Training teachers for further and technical education 1950-1982: staff perceptions of changing demands and policies

This paper aims to create a picture of aspects of the working lives of some trainers of technical and further education teachers in a specialist teacher training college in Bolton, Lancashire, from the 1950s to the 1980's. There is little reference to technical teacher training in the literature on teacher training in the second half of the twentieth century. With this gap in mind, this paper sets out to record some memories and impressions of staff involved during these years. Using data from a series of semi-structured interviews, the discussion centres upon their perceptions of their work: of their students, the working environment, the curriculum and their relationships with the technical colleges for whom they were training teachers. The paper has three sections. It begins with a brief discussion of the issues arising from the choice of research methods. The second section contextualises the study and traces the history of Bolton Technical Teachers' Training College from its establishment through to its merger with the Institute of Technology in 1982. This is followed by the presentation and discussion of the interview data.

Implementing training packages in a TAFE institute: perceptions and concerns of staff

The advent of training packages is a further change to the vocational education and training sector and is currently being implemented by teaching professionals. This paper outlines the findings of a project involving teachers in a TAFE institution as they begin the process of implementing the cross-industry Laboratory Operations Training Package into their teaching centre. The impetus for the research was the recognition that the change brought about by the new initiative would present a challenge for the teachers and a further change to their role in vocational education and training (VET). The research was qualitative in the form of a case study. Findings demonstrated that the implementation required a significant change in the philosophy of educational practice within the centre and that the implementation process was causing the teachers anxiety and confusion.