This study examines the interaction of the Second World War with the selfhood of Kenneth Preston, a Keighley schoolmaster, using primarily the exceptionally rich content of Preston’s Diary, maintained 1941-1945. In tracing Preston’s home front experience, attention is given to the ways in which the war interacted with the individual’s own self and social conceptions, as well as ways in which subjective experiences and perceptions translated into objective realities, such as in Preston’s participation in the war effort. Illuminating the personal dimensions of the war experience enabled a broad range of meanings and “webs of significance” to emerge, allowing for examination of the interplay between the conflict and understandings of class, community, gender, citizenship, social mores, and aspects of social change during the conflict. Preston’s understandings of himself and of society are intriguing contributions to the discussion surrounding active wartime citizenship, and further historical awareness of the meanings and understandings held within the British population during the era of the Second World War. In particular, the prestige the war offered to modernistic notions of science and technical intelligence is shown to have held a central place in the war experience of this particular individual and in his perception of the rise of the welfare state. With its focus on selfhood, the study is distinguished from arguments grounded in analysis of cultural products from the era; it also contributes to understandings of the causes and implications of social change, as well as the war’s personal impact on the male civilian.

This study explores Working from Home (WFH) as a model of work in a public organisation in London, which operates in the clinical-trials sector. It argues that WFH is used as a strategy that offers benefits both to the organisation and its employees. WFH is offered to all Clinical Research Associates (CRAs) who work as monitors of the whole process of a clinical trial. Based on a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews of 29 CRAs, managers and administrative staff and secondary data, this single-case study focuses on five topics that are part of the CRAs’ everyday life. These are work-life balance (WLB), cost reduction, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) factor, the performance of the CRAs and the management of remote workers. In particular, the study identified that WFH had a positive effect on CRAs’ WLB. Moreover, it argues that WFH may offer significant assistance to organisational budgets and may reduce personal expenses. It found that existing ICT could cover all employees’ technological needs and reduce the requirement of managers to keep them physically present at a centralised workplace. Additionally, this thesis also identified that WFH improved CRAs’ performance, whilst it also highlighted that results-oriented management was the main managerial approach towards employees who work from a distance. The key contribution of the thesis is the examination of the CRA occupation through a contemporary perspective on the WFH phenomenon.

Global alcohol- and drug consumption is a big health problem, despite the fact that the amount of usage has decreased throughout the years. Our interest for this study arose because earlier research showed that films, series and television can affect viewers' perceptions regarding alcohol- and drug use. Thus we were interested in examining how alcohol- and drug use is constructed in the teen dramas Skins UK and Euphoria, considering that these series manage subjects such as drugs, alcohol and addiction. The method this study conducted was multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) because this method is used to analyze audiovisual materials. The theoretical framework for this study consists of poststructuralism, socialsemiotics and filmsemiotics to analyze and identify discourses in our empirical material. Our empirical material was analyzed by looking at poses, facial expressions, lexical choices, distance, sound and music. The results showed that the construction of alcohol- and drug use in the respective series was more negative than positive. Four discourses were identified from the results: escapism, anxiety management, connection and self-destructiveness.

Yes

No description available.

This thesis examines through the means of a comparative perspective, factors which have allowed the British National Party to enjoy recent electoral success at the local level under the leadership of party chairman Nick Griffin. Such electoral successes have arisen despite the seemingly relative obscurity of the party at the turn of the century. A number of different aspects are examined in order to achieve this aim. The history of the far right in the UK is examined to establish whether the BNP have changed their stance in comparison to previous far right movements. The BNP are also investigated comparatively with other West European parties who have enjoyed national success, as a means of discovering whether the party are similar to their far right neighbours and why they have not enjoyed similar national success. The press coverage of the BNP is examined at a local and national level, using content analysis and the LexisNexis database. The thesis looks at the role played by the BNP in local elections and the decline of participation in political activity, to establish if there is a link between these two factors. Finally a case study is taken of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, to establish directly if any of the above factors can be directly applied to BNP electoral success in this district. The research discovers that there are opportunities for the BNP to establish a connection with the electorate in local politics which are not necessarily available at times of general election.

No / Reducing hospital admissions of older adults with ambulatory care sensitive conditions is a government priority. Yet relatively little is known about current health care practice in UK nursing homes. We studied approaches to developing understanding of current health care practices in UK nursing homes using a methodology of data-extraction from retrospective care home records combined with key informant interviews. Older adults with an exacerbation of one of 4 ambulatory sensitive conditions that warranted decision making around admission to hospital or continued primary-care led nursing home care were 178 identified and recruited for participation. Care home records were examined using a proforma for data-extraction. These data were combined with care-plans to construct a brief care narrative. The relevant progress notes/daily record of care-given at the time of the decision making were used to construct a visual time-line of events. For those participants who consented, the key multiple stake holders in care were identified: non-professional carers, care-home workers, caring professionals and care-managers. These data were used to generate supplementary trigger questions and topics for semi-structured interviews. This enabled questions raised by the care record to be identified and explored. Implications of the findings for practice and research will be discussed. / NIHR

Yes / Even prior to the conclusion of the European Union (EU) referendum (Brexit), the NHS was showing tremendous signs of strain. Immediately after the outcome was announced, promises of major re-investment of funds saved from payments to the EU were retracted. Since then, hospital closures, cuts and changes to health and social care have been revealed, with regular news broadcasts highlighting the crisis facing the NHS. The uncertainties about post-Brexit relationships, economy, politics and security are likely to further significantly impact the NHS and its sustainability. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and the NHS are inextricably linked through research and education of health and social care professionals – changes therefore having implications for both.

Yes / Whole-systems approaches are being adopted to tackle physical inactivity. The mechanisms contributing to changes resulting from whole-systems approaches are not fully understood. The voices of children and families that these approaches are designed for need to be heard to understand what is working, for whom, where and in what context. This paper describes the protocol for the children and families' citizen science evaluation of the Join Us: Move, Play (JU:MP) programme, a whole-systems approach to increasing physical activity in children and young people aged 5-14 years in Bradford, UK. The evaluation aims to understand the lived experiences of children and families' relationship with physical activity and participation in the JU:MP programme. The study takes a collaborative and contributory citizen science approach, including focus groups, parent-child dyad interviews and participatory research. Feedback and data will guide changes within this study and the JU:MP programme. We also aim to examine participant experience of citizen science and the suitability of a citizen science approach to evaluate a whole-systems approach. Data will be analysed using framework approach alongside iterative analysis with and by citizen scientists in the collaborative citizen science study. Ethical approval has been granted by the University of Bradford: study one (E891-focus groups as part of the control trial, E982-parent-child dyad interviews) and study two (E992). Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and summaries will be provided to the participants, through schools or directly. The citizen scientists will provide input to create further dissemination opportunities.

Yes / Universities are increasingly being seen as key sites for transformation around sustainability. However, much of the literature in this area uses the terms transformation and transformative learning rather uncritically. Moreover, there is little extant research which has investigated the links between transformative learning theories and Education for Sustainability (EfS). This paper reports on a research project which explored academic and student perceptions of the opportunities for transformation around sustainability in two UK universities. The findings suggest that, despite shared understanding about the nature of pedagogic approaches that promote deep learning, academics are wary about promoting transformation beyond the professional sphere and students are more likely to have transformative experiences outside the formal curriculum. There are indications that although universities have significant potential as sites for transformation around sustainability, at present, this is not being achieved.