Spurred by the ageing transition, many governments have made wide-ranging reforms, dramatically changing Europe's pensions landscape. Nevertheless there remain concerns about future costs, while unease about adequacy is growing. This study develops a comprehensive framework to assess pension system sustainability. It captures the effects of reforms on the ability of systems to alleviate poverty and maintain living standards, while setting out how reforms change future costs and relative entitlements for different generations. This framework differs from others, which just look at generosity at the point of retirement, as it uses pension wealth - the value of all transfers during retirement. This captures the impact of both longevity and changes in the value of pensions during retirement. Moreover, rather than focusing only on average earners with full careers, this framework examines individuals at different wage levels, taking account of actual labour market participation. The countries analysed cover 70% of the EU's population and include examples of all system types. Our estimates indicate that while reforms have decreased generosity significantly, in most, but not all, countries the poverty alleviation function remains strong, particularly where minimum pensions have improved. However, moves to link benefits to contributions have made some systems less progressive, raising adequacy concerns for women and those on low incomes. The consumption smoothing function of state pensions has declined noticeably, suggesting the need for longer working lives or additional private saving for individuals to maintain pre-reform living standards. Despite the reforms, the size of entitlements of future generations should remain similar to that of current generations, in most cases, as the effect of lower annual benefits should be offset by longer retirement. Though reforms have helped address the financial challenge faced by pension systems, in many countries pressures remain strong and further reforms are likely.

Theories of exchange-rate determination have generated a vast theoretical and empirical literature. This thesis adds to that body of literature by asking three questions. (i) How do policymakers respond to exchange-rate misalignment? (ii) How does misalignment affect the decisions of financial-market participants? (iii) What do exchange-rate dynamics reveal about the choices of investors in the face of currency risk? These three questions are tackled with studies that offer broad and tractable conclusions and contribute to furthering the current field of research.

This thesis explores the influence of organizational workplace cultures on the lived experience of work-life balance for individual employees. It focuses on the experiences of a specific professional group called occupational therapists and samples these in two workplace organizations in the public sector; one healthcare and one social services setting. In-depth interviews were used to gather participants’ accounts. Findings suggested that the social services setting had more temporal flexibility, and a more supportive culture of work-life balance than healthcare, but that both organizations utilised power and performance to the advantage of organizational outcomes. Individual employees had little autonomy, control and choice over work-life balance and both organizations created and maintained a state of work-life imbalance as opposed to work-life balance for their staff. Both organizations used the individual occupational therapist’s time and energy as a human resource in the workplace, irrespective of the subsequent impacts on the individual’s personal and family well-being. There was a notable absence from participation in the community and wider social and natural environments in all accounts shared. This study posits that having time and energy for such activities in daily life would enhance well-being at multiple levels of significance and create a more balanced, sustainable and resilient model of work-life balance. Findings suggest that work-life balance is a co-produced phenomenon, with complex interconnected relationships and argues that viewing work-life balance as a whole rather than in its parts is necessary if we are to achieve an egalitarian model of work-life balance, valuing individual well-being and resilience and sustainability of human time and energy over organizational success. This study proposes that organizations need to adapt their cultures to develop a more egalitarian and employee-centred approach to work-life balance but identifies that cultural change at organizational levels alone would not be effective in challenging work-life imbalance.

The dominant theories in the sociological literature identify religion with propositional belief in the transcendent and belonging to and attendance at religious services. This understanding of religion replicates a past Protestant model that fails to account for contemporary religious forms, including Protestant forms. Drawing on Georg Simmel, one of the fathers of sociology, the thesis makes a theoretical contribution by reinterpreting and systematising Simmel’s notions of religiosity as a sensitivity, and of belief as trust, to enhance the understanding of contemporary individual religious identity. The use of these notions and of Simmel’s nuanced perspective on individuality enables the development of a theoretical framework for the understanding of authenticity. The study focuses on individual religiosity, which has been largely neglected by the literature. The most influential theories that have paid attention to the role of the individual – rational choice theory and spirituality studies – have centred on individual self authority and neglected to conceptualise the self. Accordingly, the thesis provides a relational account of the self, on which to ground authenticity as a process of identity formation. The narratives and practices, which emerged from the empirical research, have revealed the construction of Christianity through the prism of authenticity, as a distinctive and ‘truer’ way of living. This construction of authentic Christianity testifies to a shift from doctrinal adherence to a more pluralistic discourse by emphasising an overarching ethics of compassion over exclusive claims to truth. Thus, pluralism offers Christian evangelicals the platform to articulate the particularistic tradition of Christianity, whilst retaining a claim to – what they understand to be – universal truth.

Sure Start Children’s Centres deliver a wide range of services to families with young children. For over a decade an important aspect of Sure Start has been collaborative work involving diverse practitioners, professionals, agencies and organisations. The role of Children’s Centre Teacher (CCT) was established in 2005 with the aim of improving children’s social and cognitive development. This qualitative study examines the experiences of individual CCTs, paying attention to their descriptions of role, their professional identities and how they experience and understand collaborative working. The study uses two methods to collect data, iterative email interviews and personal interviews conducted on a one-to-one basis or in small groups. A total of 15 informants provided data through emails, interviews or both. In terms of role, the study finds that respondents report considerable differences between the centre-based role and that of a classroom teacher. Uncertainty, variability and change pervade their accounts. Despite this it is possible to identify key characteristics of the nature of CCT activity through CCTs’ comparisons of their new role and their previous work. In terms of identity, CCTs clearly position themselves as professionals and place themselves as senior members of the Children’s Centre team. However, identifying the CCT role as a unique profession, teaching specialism or discrete occupation is found to be problematic for a number of reasons. Informants endorse collaborative working, which they describe as part aspiration and part achievement, reporting a mixture of successes and barriers. Children’s Centre Teachers invoke two modes to describe the collaborative work they undertake, the first appears close to traditional models of interprofessional working, the second, which describes the majority of the work they undertake, casts CCTs as advisors and consultants to staff members they see as subordinate. The study also comments on how email interviews might be used in future research.

The research study aspired to ascertain what, if any key factors can be identified by the Senior Nurses in Wales to improve the quality and safety of the service delivered by the nursing service. Numerous reports with recommendations for improvement have been published following significant service failures in the nursing service. Despite these reports, failures continue. This thesis details the methodology and findings of a research study undertaken with Senior Nurses in Wales, to ascertain their views on what factors are needed to have a successful nursing service. It explores what needs to be in place in the nursing service to prevent failure and deliver high quality, safe care to patients. A mixed-method research approach was used which comprised three stages. Stage one analysed secondary qualitative data in the form of case study inquiry reports into service failures. The second stage comprised semi-structured elite interviews with nine Senior Nurses in Wales. The final stage, which was used to prioritise and validate the results from stage two, was a questionnaire sent to 65 Senior Nurses in Wales, with 41 returned. From the analysis of the above research, a Senior Nurses’ Framework covering 6 main themes and containing 35 key factors was developed, which if implemented could potentially lead to a successful nursing service. In addition the thesis explores why Senior Nurses find it difficult to implement such actions, their lack of empowerment and how it is important for their voices to be heard if failure is to be prevented in the future.

Objective: There is a growing body of research which demonstrates positive effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on a diverse range of psychological disorders (e.g. chronic pain, depression, psychosis). Several reviews suggest that ACT may benefit people struggling to adjust to life following a Traumatic Brain Injury; however there are no published treatment trials using ACT with this group. The present study examined the feasibility of an intervention trial of ACT for people with severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) treated in an inpatient rehabilitation centre. The findings informed recommendations made for the design and conduct of a larger study. Method: Mixed quantitative and qualitative methods were used including Focus Groups and questionnaire measures. Data were collected from patients and unit staff at multiple time points across three research sites. Focus Group data were analysed using thematic analysis in accord with best practice guidelines. Questionnaires and forms completed by the staff in order to establish application of inclusion/exclusion criteria and participant flow were analysed descriptively to get an indication of the acceptability of features of the study protocol. Results; Focus group findings indicated that due to cognitive deficits exhibited by participants, they perceived the ACT intervention as being too complex, and a number of amendments were suggested to support participants with cognitive deficits in future trials such as increasing repetition of key processes during intervention. Further suggestions were made in relation to future conduct of the study protocol such as revising the inclusion/exclusion criteria, family involvement in data collection, and provision of easy read materials to clients. Results indicated that participants had no issue with the randomisation design, there were no adverse events associated with the study protocol or intervention. Conclusions: Further piloting of the amended intervention protocol in line with recommendations made in this study is recommended prior to drawing any conclusion with regard the suitability and acceptable of ACT with people with a severe TBI in an inpatient facility. Further research should consider the amendments to the study protocol as recommended in this study.

Objectives: Three studies addressed the effectiveness of a preventative Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) training for university students and university employees. The studies aimed to explore whether changes in participants' psychological well-being would be mediated by the mechanisms of change theorized as central in ACT. Design and Method: The studies adopted an embedded mixed method, repeated-measures randomised controlled trial design. In the first study 65 participants recruited from a university student population were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: 1) a training day (6 hours) based on Acceptance 'and Commitment Therapy (ACT); 2) a waiting-list control group. The intervention was delivered to groups of participants. Participants in both conditions were required to complete outcome and mediation measures at baseline (Time 1), at one month (Time 2) and two months after the training (Time 3). At two months post, participants in the intervention group were also asked to provide written feedback reflecting on the impact of the training. The second and third studies utilised similar methodology. Specifically, in the second study, 71 participants were recruited from a university student population, and in the third study 68 participants were recruited from the university workforce. Assessments were completed at similar time points as in the first study. Results: The first study (students) resulted in significant between-group differences on mental health variables at one month benefiting the intervention group. The second study (students) indicated beneficial improvements in the intervention group's mental health at two months post intervention. There was some evidence of ACT-consistent mediation in these studies. The third study (employees) failed to identify significant improvements for participants in the ACT condition although participants in the waiting list group had evidenced deterioration of their mental health at one-month. Participants across studies described the experienced impact of the intervention and noted barriers of engaging with the training skills. Conclusions: Brief ACT preventative interventions could be of potential value as prophylactic approaches. The study identified a requirement of a longer intervention format to enhance engagement with training skills. The study outlines recommendations for improvements of future preventative ACT projects.

This thesis examines the reaction of monetary policy to income inequality and the effect of asset price changes and financial sector development on income inequality. The actions of monetary authorities in the U.S and elsewhere during the financial crisis period have had a major impact on financial markets. Given that financial asset prices respond quickly to new information about monetary policy shifts, the Fed’s low interest rate policy stance that started in August 2007 led to a significant increase in asset prices, particularly stock prices. Stock prices appreciation transfers wealth to those households who already own stocks; generally speaking, the wealthier American households. Consequently, it is important to examine empirically the dynamics of monetary policy, asset prices and financial development on income inequality. First, we examined the response of monetary policy to income inequality. We tried to provide empirical answers to the following questions; is there any evidence that monetary policy responds to income inequality? If there is evidence of such a response, what is the nature symmetric or asymmetric? Secondly, is there any significant relationship between changes in stock prices and income inequality? Thirdly, what are the implications of financial sector development on income inequality? This area of literature draws from monetary economics, financial economics and welfare economics disciplines, and has become increasingly important given the massive levels of income inequality that is witnessed around the world. Chapter 2 of this thesis looks at the reaction of monetary policy to income inequality using data from the U.S. We provided evidence of a positive and significant reaction of monetary policy to income inequality measured using the income share accruing to the top 1 percent income earners. We also found evidence of asymmetric reaction of monetary policy to the income of the top 1 percent between 1960 and 2009. In chapter 3 we focused on the role of asset prices on income inequality using data from the U.S. We found that stock market developments and income of the top 1 percent wage earners are well integrated with the direction of causality running from stock returns to top 1 percent income share. One of the practical policy implications of this finding is that monetary policy stance that is directed towards the propping up of asset prices will have a concomitant effect on the income of the top 1 percent income earners. Also in chapter 3 we used the Generalized Methods of Moment GMM to examine the reaction of inequality measured using the income share of the top 1 percent, the bottom 90 percent and the lowest fifth percent households to changes in asset prices. Our task here is to examine whether changes in both financial and nonfinancial assets affects everyone in the top and bottom of the income distribution the same way, or if there are remarkable differences on how these variables affect individuals within the top and bottom income percentiles. Our results detected widespread and subtle effects of asset prices on income at the selected percentiles of the income distribution. These findings hold practical implications for policy makers because the distribution of stocks and homes has important consequences on who benefits from asset prices appreciation and who is hurt by its depreciation. Finally in chapter 4 we analysed the distributional consequences of financial sector development on income inequality using a large unbalanced dataset of 91 countries, classified according to World Bank’s income categories. The results in almost all the models suggested that increasing access to credit for households will reduce income inequality. This finding is important in the light of the potential for using financial development as a policy tool to reduce the widening income inequality around the world.

Images comprising clusters of objects can induce aversion and certain symptoms of anxiety, fear and disgust (so-called “trypophobia”) in about 13% of the population. This thesis is an investigation of the stimulus and response characteristics of the condition. First, a symptom questionnaire (Trypophobia Questionnaire) was developed and validated based on reports of different categories of symptoms. The questionnaire demonstrated a single construct that predicted discomfort from trypophobic images, but not neutral or unpleasant images, and did not correlate with anxiety. Second, filtering images reduced the excess energy at mid-range spatial frequencies (previously associated with both trypophobic and uncomfortable images). Relative to unfiltered trypophobic images, the discomfort from filtered images experienced by observers with high TQ scores was less than that experienced with neutral images, and by observers with low TQ scores. Clusters of concave objects (holes) did not induce significantly more discomfort than clusters of convex objects (bumps), suggesting that trypophobia (previously referred to as “fear of holes”) involves clusters not of holes but of objects with particular spectral profile involving excess energy at mid-range spatial frequencies. These visual characteristics have been previously shown to induce discomfort and a strong cortical oxygenation. The same abnormal oxygenation occurred for trypophobic images, but only for individuals with high TQ scores. Three lines of evidence suggest that trypophobia is a response of disgust rather than fear: (1) trypophobia was associated with an aversion to spiders, and not snakes; (2) trypophobic stimuli did not produce a bias in the subjective estimation of stimulus duration but (3) increased the heart rate and its variability. Fear inducing stimuli generally give effects opposite to those listed as 2 and 3. In conclusion, trypophobia is a reaction of disgust to clusters of objects with particular spectral profile that may resemble contamination sources (e.g., skin lesions).