This doctoral study explores what being a professional in child protection social work actually means to those working within this context. In an attempt to unravel the meaning of professional identity for social workers, I carried out an ethnography ‘at home’. But in order to create that passage of space and time between me and the discourse I currently employed, I also decided to observe the Flemish child protection system. This study has, therefore, a comparative element. My analytic focus has been drawn towards certain cultural factors which impact upon and influence the ways practitioners construct their identities. By considering where professionals are located, in the North West of England and Flanders, I wanted to explore the systems for which they work; systems embedded in unique yet diverse cultures which collectively impact on the practitioner in some shape or form. Data analysis has involved material from interviews, naturally occurring talk, electronic information (case notes, reports and emails), photographs, organisational policy and procedures. The findings demonstrate that social workers in England are firmly situated within an incongruent agency which is entrenched in a context of blame. Subsequently, a blame posture has been established which further encourages various forms of destructive discourse to emerge. Practitioners also find they are stigmatised and labelled as professional failures by both society and the agency they work for. In Flanders, however, by drawing from a discourse which evokes compassion for abusers, child protection professionals perceive themselves differently. As well as feeling confident and passionate about their practice they feel valued and revered by their agency and society. If our identity is constructed out of the discourses which are made culturally available to us then this comparative ethnography shows just how and why the practitioners from these two settings perceive their own professional identities so considerably differently.

Wellbeing has been of paramount concern to scholars since antiquity, and the pursuit of wellbeing has become a central part of western life. This study was dedicated to wellbeing and optimal human functioning. The study aimed to establish the investment in self construct as a wellbeing construct. In the spirit of positive psychology, the focus of the present study was on the salutary constructs of wellbeing and optimal functioning. To this end, the relationships between investment in self, emotional intelligence and wellbeing and optimal functioning were investigated. Satisfaction with life, relationship satisfaction and job satisfaction were chosen to operationalise wellbeing and optimal functioning, as they were seen as the real-life outcomes of wellness. Measures targeting each of the variables were completed by 352 volunteers from the general population. The data was analysed using the Rash measurement model, correlations and structural equation modelling. The results indicated that investment in self has a positive relationship to emotional intelligence. Investment in self is also positively associated with wellbeing and optimal functioning, as it correlated positively with satisfaction with life and job satisfaction. Similarly, emotional intelligence was found to have a significant relationship to satisfaction with life, relationship satisfaction and job satisfaction. Collectively, this study has successfully shown that investment in self can positively improve people’s lives. Similarly, emotional intelligence seems to have positive benefits to everyday life / Prof. G.P. De Bruin

The research discussed here forth pertains most dominantly to the moderating effect demonstrated by four different sources of social support on individual and organisational wellbeing in the presence of workplace bullying. Given the turbulent tensions cemented within a South African Apartheid past, bullying, particularly within the workplace, is a likely outcome channelled by conflicting sensations towards diversity. The foundational framework of the presented research was derived from the individual level factors depicted in Einarsen’s conceptual framework of the study and management of workplace bullying, and was implicitly modelled according to Cox and Mackay’s (1978, as cited in Cox & Mackay, 1985) transactional model centred on stressor-strain relationships coupled with associated buffers that may ameliorate the outcomes thereof. A plethora of research suggests that social support serves to operate effectively as a moderator within such a relationship, sufficing thus as a deciding factor in the formulation of the present study, where the stressor was conceptualised as workplace bullying, and the strain took the form of the potential adverse effects imposed on psychological wellbeing (individual wellbeing) and intention to leave (organisational wellbeing). Research has further provided evidence for organisational support from supervisors and colleagues, and external support from friends and family to be common instruments of assistance; the current study thereby sought to assess whether colleague, supervisor, friend, and family support would moderate the relationship between perceptions of bullying, psychological wellbeing and intention to leave. The present study further aimed to examine direct effects by assessing the existence of a relationship between perceptions of bullying, psychological wellbeing, intention to leave and these four sources of social support. Additionally the associations that exist between psychological wellbeing, intention to leave and the sources of support under observation were examined. Correlative analyses and moderated multiple regression analyses were conducted in order to decipher the nature of the relationships outlined above. Results yielded through moderated multiple regressions demonstrated that perceived social support from both colleagues and supervisors moderated the relationship between perceptions of bullying and intention to leave. It was additionally established that when analysed as a single variable, friends and family social support was able to demonstrate a significant inverse interaction effect on intention to leave in the presence of workplace bullying. Correlative analyses revealed that perceptions of bullying demonstrated an inverse association with supervisor support, suggesting thus that higher levels of supervisor support are associated with lower perceptions of bullying, and simultaneously that higher perceptions of bullying are associated with lower levels of supervisor support. Both colleague and supervisor support appeared to demonstrate inverse main effects for psychological wellbeing and intention to leave. Perceptions of bullying predicted the degree of variance vi explained in intention to leave. Therefore higher levels of bullying were found to predict higher levels of intention to leave. The present research therefore provided evidence for the buffering effect of social support, particularly support obtained from supervisors within the workplace, on psychological wellbeing and intention to leave, and colleagues for intention to leave in the presence of perceived workplace bullying. Additional individual-level factors worthy of future consideration, as detected by the current study included the function of childhood attachment, race, gender leadership, proximity, reciprocity, relational value and context specifity of the type and source support, propensity to seek support and coping. In conjunction with individual-level factors, organisational-level factors such as such as company culture, climate, context and industry, are essential factors to consider in the attempt to grasp a holistic understanding of the complexities that may function as precedents of the workplace bullying and social support process. The current study consequently recommended that future research account for the suggestions provided with regard to the limitations, theoretical and practical implications and potential resources utilisable in the subsistence of this process. In so doing, future research may aid in expounding an understandings of the severe experiences to which ‘victimised’ individuals are exposed, alongside the nature and function of various forms of support most effective for workplace difficulties. The responsibility to ensure that an organisation is functioning at optimum levels of productivity rests in the hands of Human Resources practitioners and industrial psychologists working within the organisation. The implications of failing such responsibility are severe; therefore it is necessary for such practitioners to grasp a holistic perspective of the underlying relational elements that operate within the workforce, and to consequently ensure the cultivation of a positive and productive work environment that is conducive to the nurturing of positive and productive employees. This may be aptly achieved through perpetual monitoring of both internal and external environments so as to detect and eradicate negative acts such as bullying, and thereby prevent the escalation of such events.

There is a paucity of research examining the use of psychological skills and strategies within strength and conditioning, this is despite research evidencing the effectiveness of psycho-physiological interventions which would be pertinent to the objectives of the strength and conditioning practitioner. The purpose of this project was to examine the use of psychology within the strength and conditioning environment from the perspective of the strength and conditioning coaches themselves. Specifically, this project assessed the most important psychological aspects, the most frequently used skills, barriers to the use of psychology, and the psychology knowledge base for the strength and conditioning community. Finally, an experimental protocol evidenced the efficacy of employing misinformation within strength and conditioning. The project revealed that psychology was more commonly used by more experienced professionals, nevertheless there was considerable disparity in the frequency with which psychological skills and strategies were used, with particular strategies being used significantly more than others. This was consistent with subsequent in-depth phenomenological exploration which revealed that strategies to promote confidence, skill acquisition, and regulate arousal were most frequently used. It was evident that there was uncertainty between practitioners as to the role responsibilities and the ethical boundaries associated within strength and conditioning. Furthermore, a lack of understanding was identified as the largest inhibitory factor. Finally, guidelines are proposed as to what changes are required to facilitate the use of psychology within strength and conditioning. These comprise the increased use of continual professional development with workshop sessions developed by appropriately qualified psychologists. Equally the use of collaborative links with qualified psychologists was suggested as beneficial.

The main objective of the thesis was to explore how social work Approved Mental Health Professionals accomplished social work identity when seconded to Mental Health Trusts. The project has examined the identity work that the social workers engaged in as they located themselves within interprofessional interagency community mental health teams. Insights from ethnomethodology and conversation analysis have been used to examine the interview data. Following Wieder (1974), the findings chapters are presented in two parts. In the first part, the focus is on the interviews as a resource and thus there is a more traditional reporting of what the social workers talked about in the interviews. Throughout the interviews, the social workers were concerned to delineate what was ‘real’ social work. Real social work was depicted as involving autonomous work in the community with mental health service users; this is the ‘authentic realm of social work’ (Pithouse 1998 p.21). Social work identity was portrayed as intrinsic to the self with congruence between personal and professional identity and values. However, the social workers struggled to define social work. Instead of having a clearly defined role, social work was depicted as intangible; as being without clear margins and boundaries, filling in the gaps left by other professions. Notions of ‘dirty work’ (Hughes 1948) and the implications of being seconded to a Health Trust are also discussed. The analytic focus shifts in the second part to the interview as a topic, specifically to how social work identity was accomplished within the interview as interaction. Matters such as being a member, the part played by the use of humour in the interviews, and the interaction as a research interview are explored. Finally, there is an examination of how social work identity was accomplished through the telling of atrocity stories.

Modelling human gait has become an invaluable tool in a wide range of fields such as robotics and rehabilitation. With progress in computing, model complexity has advanced quickly but nevertheless, the contributions of incremental increases in model complexity are poorly understood. This thesis addresses this through a series of modelling studies. The first investigation examined the advantages and disadvantages of inverted pendulum (IP) models of walking, using a forward dynamics approach, by comparing to a normal set of experimental gait data. It was shown that the biggest failing of these models is their inability to adequately simulate double stance. The second investigation sought to highlight the effects of additional model complexities on the kinematics and kinetics, using optimisation. The additions, added one-by-one, were a knee joint, an ankle and static foot, a moving foot and a swing leg. The presence of a knee joint and an ankle moment were shown to be largely responsible for the initial peak in the vertical ground force reaction (GRF) curve. The second peak in this curve was achieved through a combination of heel rise and the presence of a swing leg. This gave mathematical evidence for the true determinants of human gait. A double support model was produced next, using a novel method to constrain both feet to the ground and calculate the GRF distribution. This was run in conjunction with the best single support model to simulate a whole gait cycle. Despite the problem of discontinuities at the transitions between double and single support, the whole gait cycle simulation had mean kinematic and mean GRF errors of less than a single standard deviation from the normal experimental data set. The final study collected gait and anthropometric data from ten subjects, which was then applied to the full gait cycle model. The model was shown to be adaptable to different people; a property that would be important for any computational model to be used in clinical assessment and diagnostics.

Introduction Intermittent claudication (IC) is a condition which affects people with peripheral arterial disease in the lower limbs and causes calf muscle pain and limping due to the lack of blood supply to the gastrocnemius muscle in particular. This limits the distance people with IC (known as claudicants) can walk before having to stop because of the pain. The accepted best treatment currently is enrolment onto supervised exercise regimes, but these provide limited improvement and do not alter their antalgic gait. This study aims to investigate the effect of specific footwear designs on gait and lower limb muscle function with the intention of identifying which features would be recommended for inclusion in footwear designed to relieve their painful symptoms by offloading the calf muscles. Method Fifteen volunteer healthy subjects, age range 20-29 years (mean 25.3 ± 2.73) undertook a series of gait laboratory trials with shoes adapted with specifically-chosen outsole features. High street shoes were adapted with the test conditions which included shoes with five different heel heights (varying from a 1.5cm to 5.5cm heels), two heel profile conditions (curved and semi curved heels), three traditional (angled) rocker soles with varying apex positions (55%, 62.5% and 70% of shoe length) and three with varying apex angles (10, 15, and 20 deg.), plus three with different forepart sole stiffness (solid, semi-flexible and flexible). The baseline shoe was taken as being one with no heel curve, a heel height of 3.5mm, an apex position of 62.5% of shoe length, and apex angle of 15 deg. and a stiff forepart to the shoe. Measurement and comparisons were taken of lower limb kinetics and kinematics (Qualysis, Sweden) plus electromyographical (EMG) activity (Noraxon USA) of medial gastrocnemius, soleus, tibialis anterior, rectus femoris and biceps femoris during walking trials where the walking speed was controlled using timing gaits. Data were analysed using Visual3D and OpenSim software to enable interpretation of EMG activity to enable calculation of lower limb muscle function during gait. Results Changes from the baseline shoe were taken as being at a level of significance of p<0.05. The most effective footwear test condition in regards to offloading of the calf muscles compared to the control shoe was that with a 4.5cm heel, a 55% of shoe length apex position, and a 20° rocker apex angle; which demonstrated significant offloading to the calf muscles. The 55% apex position had a significant offloading influence on the calf muscles whilst at the same time not significantly altering knee and hip kinematics. Conclusion This study demonstrates that a potentially useful shoe design was identified for treatment of claudicant calf pain which did not adversely affect more proximal joint kinetics and kinematics.

The human heel pad is subject to repetitive loading and plays an important role in absorbing shocks which may cause injuries. The heel pad has a composite biological structure consisting of the fat pad and the skin. The fat pad tissue is organised into a superficial micro-chamber layer and a deep macro-chamber layer. The heel pad sub-layers have different structures and properties. Hence, to understand the contribution of each layer to the heel problem, it is essential to develop a model with discrete structure. Currently, only plantar pressure measurements are used for diagnosis and treatment of the heel problems, whereas it has been shown that high internal tissue stress is an important factor. Because of complex geometry, discrete structure and nonlinear material behaviour of the heel pad, the external force applied to the heel may result in inhomogeneous internal stress condition. Therefore, the relationship between the plantar pressure and internal stress does not seem to be simple. Since there is no equipment to allow measurement of internal stress, a detailed multi-layered FE model of the heel pad can be used as a solution to predict the internal stress. The main objective of this work was to obtain the hyperelastic and viscoelastic material properties of the subject-specific heel pad sub-layers in-vivo. For this purpose, a combined methodology of finite element modeling and experimentation was developed. An anatomically detailed 3D FE model of the human heel area was developed using MR images of the right foot of a female subject. A combined ultrasound and indentation system was used to apply series of slow and rapid compression tests on the same foot. The forcestrain responses of the heel pad and its sub-layers were used as input to the FE model to estimate properties of the heel pad sub-layers using inverse FEA. The hyperelastic and viscoelastic FE models were then implemented to investigate the effects of experimental and geometrical factors on the heel pad responses. The model was also used to assess the robustness of the hyperelastic FE model when predicting the behaviour of other heels with different geometries. Finally, this model was used with Taguchi method to evaluate the effect of footwear design factors on the compressive stress in the heel pad tissue. There were some key limitations in this study. For example, the properties of the heel pad sub-layers were estimated only for a specific heel pad. Also, whilst it is preferred to use xviii automatic segmentation and solid modeling to improve repeatability of some FE processes, some parts of the modeling process were performed manually.

The knee is the joint which is most affected by osteoarthritis (OA). Knee OA is more common in older individuals and occurs more in the medial than the lateral compartment. When we stand, walk or climb stairs, our weight is transmitted through our knee joints and this is known as load which is higher in individuals with medial knee OA than healthy counterparts. Additionally, muscle weakness is a factor in medial knee OA and previous work has demonstrated increased muscle co-contraction in these patients. In this thesis we assessed the loading on the knee joint and muscle co-contraction after wearing an assistive device (a valgus knee brace) which is a common treatment in this disease. Whilst previous literature has demonstrated changes in loading with valgus knee braces during over-ground walking, no studies (to date) have assessed the effect of valgus knee braces on knee loading and muscle co-contraction during ascending and descending stairs immediately, and after a period of use. In addition, it is an un-documented opinion that knee bracing affects muscle strength and control around the knee and weakens the joint so this research also aimed to confirm or refute this theory. To accomplish the research, we performed three separate trials; a) a repeatability trial in seven patients to determine the reliability of the outcome measures for the future study; b) a clinical trial of fifteen individuals with medial knee OA would wore a valgus knee brace for a period of three months with an interim assessment at six weeks for pain and muscle strength/function; c) finally, a small pilot study of seven patients investigating combined orthotic treatments on biomechanical outcome measures. In summary the results of this thesis have demonstrated positive biomechanical and clinical outcomes when wearing a valgus knee brace for a sustained period. This was further improved biomechanically with the combination treatment with a lateral wedge insole which reduced knee loading more during stair ascent and descent, in comparison to the orthotic devices alone in the same session. Future studies to find out the effect of a combination of an off-the-shelf valgus knee brace and off-the-shelf lateral wedge insole on knee loading, clinical and radiological outcomes after a period of longer wear were indicated.

Staphylococcus aureus is a major pathogen in both hospital and community settings and it causes infections ranging from mild skin and wound infections to life-threatening systemic illness and, together with the emergence of antibiotic resistance, has been a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The stringent response, is a stress response that bacteria display to avoid death when subjected to amino-acid starvation. This phenomenon has been observed in different species among Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria but relatively few studies have observed the stress response in Staphylococcus aureus. The stringent response can be triggered by treatment with mupirocin, an antibiotic that mimics amino-acid starvation by inhibiting isoleucyl tRNA synthetase. In this project S. aureus 8325-4 was exposed to sub-inhibitory concentrations of mupirocin (0.5 MIC = 0.25µg/ml-1) to investigate the ability of this concentration to trigger the stringent response. The treatment with mupirocin was continued up to 24 h as previous studies only examined short periods of treatment. Growth was inhibited and the stringent response nucleotide ppGpp was detected 1 h after treatment which slowly decreased in concentration for up to 4 h combined with significant growth inhibition. However, ppGpp could not be detected at 12 or 24 h whereas growth resumed. In addition, the effect of sub-inhibitory concentrations of mupirocin was observed on the TSST-1 producing S. aureus clinical strain (B49). Q-PCR showed up-regulation of tst gene, codes for TSST-1, and its regulator RNAIII transcription up to 8 h of exposure relative to controls, the toxin was not detected by Reverse Passive Latex Assay. Further, RNA-seq analysis was used to observe the global transcriptional alterations caused by the stringent response in S. aureus at 1, 12 and 24 h. From the whole transcriptome profile, differentially expressed genes relative to control as well as from comparisons between treated cell time points were observed concentrating on 60 virulence genes and stress related genes that were significantly increased through stringent response status (1 h). Although ppGpp was not detected at 12 h, cells were still under the influence of the stringent response. However, cell growth had resumed by 24 h which indicates recovery after exposure to sub-lethal concentrations of mupirocin. The effect of the sub-inhibitory concentration of mupirocin on global gene expression in S. aureus is discussed in relation to global control of gene expression and clinical use. In addition, a scenario for S. aureus recovery from stringent response has been suggested here which might open doors for drug target determination in the future.