Yes / The demand for healthcare services internationally continues to increase, exacerbated by patient backlogs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the difficulties in recruiting and retaining healthcare staff. These difficulties have led to increased interest in workforce redesign, and the upskilling of existing staff in all areas of healthcare, including within the Allied Health Professions (AHP). Clinical support staff are a key component of workforce redesign, yet little has been documented on the utilization of this workforce across the wide range of professions that collectively form the AHP workforce. Existing research is also unclear due to the variety of titles used to describe them (eg, allied health assistants, therapy assistants, etc). This study aimed to review how Support Workers and Assistant Practitioners (SWAPs) are utilized within the AHP professions. Electronic databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL complete, Scopus, and Google Scholar) were searched to find English Language primary research articles that explored the deployment of clinical support staff within Allied Health. Following the scoping review methodology, data from each study were analyzed in terms of design, key findings, and implications. A quality assessment was also completed. Thirty-nine articles met the eligibility criteria. Studies were undertaken in Australia, UK, and USA, and covered a range of AHPs and methodological approaches. Most articles employed qualitative methods, with highly variable research quality identified. Key findings were that cost-effectiveness of this workforce has not been formally evaluated in any setting or AHP discipline, and that support workers are a largely underutilized staff group potentially due to inconsistencies in their deployment and scope of practice, and the lack of a clear career pathway. Rigorous, quantitative, and mixed methods research into the deployment and impact of this staff group is needed in order to gain a clearer understanding of how they are optimally utilized across the different AHP disciplines. / The study was funded by the NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research programme (I.D. NIHR133813)

Yes / Reliable health information is essential for decision making in the healthcare system. Information management in Kenya was considered the weakest area under the Health Information System pillar mainly due to inadequate health workers capacity. The study therefore aimed at assessing health workers skills and current training needs for information management in the selected healthcare facilities. Cross-section research design was adopted and both purposive sampling technique and censuses were used to establish the study participants. Analysis was done using SPSS version 20 and results were presented in tables, charts and graphs. It was established that capacity building was usually undertaken through on-job trainings i.e. 85.1% (103) health workers had on-job training on filling of data collection tools and only 10% (13) had received formal classroom training on the same. Further, only 9.1% (11) health workers had received information management training while 90.9% (110) had not received such training. Health workers demonstrated below average skills on information management i.e. only 17.4% (21) could check for data accuracy, only 16.5% (20) could compute trends from bar charts and only 16.5% (20) could transform the data they collected into meaningful information for use. The researcher recommended that healthcare facilities management teams develop a competency based framework for defining the desired skill mix for information management and have a yearly Training Needs Assessment for assessing training needs for information management among the health workers.

Pregnancy is significantly protected in labour law and the position of a pregnant woman in employment relations is, therefore, very specific. After the creation of an employment relationship, or a legal relation based on the agreements to work outside the scope of employment, a whole range of protective institutes are in place to ensure a special position of a pregnant worker that is of key importance. The thesis focuses primarily on the position of a pregnant woman during the employment relationship as only there all the protective institutes are present. The introductory parts deal with the reason and importance of the protection of a pregnant worker, its establishment in the Czech legal order and the importance of informing the employer of one's pregnancy. The following parts are dedicated mainly to individual labour law institutes constituting special protection and special working conditions of a pregnant worker during the employment relationship until the commencement of her maternity leave. The last part underlines the differences in the protection of a pregnant woman granted during one of the legal relations based on the agreements to work outside the scope of employment compared to the one granted during the employment relationship. The thesis tries to provide a detailed description and...

Two of the most important issues in knowledge age are knowledge management and innovation. Companies that is able to control knowledge, able to develop the ability of innovation. Therefore, understand how to acquire, encode, diffuse, storage knowledge, and how to match knowledge and management system, is very important for organizations. Knowledge workers are the most important carrier of knowledge. They are the one who actually learn, share, use, and create knowledge. Thus, understand and pay attention to knowledge worker and the management of knowledge worker should be considered one part of knowledge management. Moreover, knowledge management should match corporation¡¦s competitive strategy. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the relationship among organizational characteristics, knowledge management, strategy of knowledge management, organizational innovation, and consider the influence of the strategy of knowledge management and organizational characters to knowledge management and organizational innovation. The results of the research indicate that: The lifecycle of a company has significant difference on organizational innovation. The scale of a company has also significant difference on organizational innovation. In addition to difference analysis, relation analysis indicates that ¡§connect performance and reward¡¨, ¡¨improve knowledge which is already there¡¨, ¡§leadership of knowledge¡¨, ¡§institutionalize the measurement of knowledge¡¨, ¡§organic organization structure¡¨, and ¡§culture of learning¡¨ has significant influence on organizational innovation. As the result, the suggestions are: companies should develop their manager¡¦s ability of leadership of knowledge; connect performance and reward; improve knowledge which is already there; institutionalize the measurement of knowledge; establish organic organization structure; and create the culture of learning.

Texas Child Protective Services has been struggling with keeping its workers. The turnover rate, which measures the frequency of workers quitting and entering the agency, has been extremely high since the 1980s. In 2012, CPS reported that about one-fourth of its skilled workers are leaving the agency. This puts extra burden on the remaining workers, eventually leading them to resign as well. To fix the turnover issue, the state of Texas initiated a major reform in CPS in 2006. Although the reform succeeded in improving the quality of work environment and other areas, it failed to bring down the turnover rate. To identify why the statewide reform had failed, former caseworkers share their experiences with the agency to reveal what causes the high turnover, the detrimental effects it has on children, and what should be done to reduce the rates. / text

In this dissertation, using the tool of a political economy of communication analysis gives us an important way to conceptualize the challenges confronting Chinese media workers, especially editors, due to media reform and social transformation. I will accomplish this by examining three different but inter-related processes: commodification, structuration, and spatialization. First, I will analyze the ways in which the deepening of the media commodification process has forced Chinese media workers to serve the political interests of the state, and at the same time, to generate profit for their companies and promote political and social reforms. Second, I will explore the structuration process by analyzing how fundamental social, technological, political, and economic changes—especially those in class relations and power dynamics—have produced five critical problems for the Chinese media workers. Third, I will explore the media spatialization process by addressing its three indispensable components: globalization, neoliberalism, and the global division of labour. When China is increasingly integrated into the global political economy, most Chinese media workers have faced great changes in their value systems and their daily work processes. As a result, the privileged existence of workers as the “masters” of the Communist society has been transformed in many ways (Rocca 2003). In the last chapter, I will suggest plausible solutions to the problems of Chinese media workers, addressing the benefits of labour convergence, the basic functions and major limitations of worker organizations and trade unions, and how they can further help Chinese media workers better deal with the challenges associated with current media reform when labour unrest is on the rise. To conclude, this dissertation concentrates on the trajectories of the labour process transformation of Chinese media workers; their changing social, economic, and political roles; and their dilemma, challenges, and opportunities associated with current social reform and China’s more integration into the global political economy. Through the political economic analysis of Chinese media workers, I aim to better understand the broader social and economic transformations, particularly the network of power relations and institutional contexts in which Chinese media workers are situated, that have been taking place in China since the late 1970s. / Thesis (Ph.D, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2012-06-18 17:01:26.92

Background The remarkably efficient mechanisms of the human body to maintain its core temperature of 37°C can be inadequate when harsh climatic conditions and excessive muscle movement lead to heat stress, dehydration and potential heat illness, ranging from minor symptoms such as fatigue to a potentially fatal heat stroke. Agricultural workers in the tropics are at high risk, which is expected to increase with climate change. Sugarcane harvesting in Costa Rica is largely done by cutting the cane with a machete, by temporary, sub-contracted workers who are often migrants and living in poverty. Sugarcane harvesters are known to be affected by an epidemic of chronic kidney disease of non-traditional origin, currently hypothesized to be related to working conditions. Objectives This work aimed to better understand and document sugarcane harvester exposure to heat and the health consequences of working under such conditions. Specific objectives were to 1) Document working conditions and heat in the Costa Rican sugarcane industry (Paper I); 2) Quantify heat stress exposures faced by sugarcane harvesters in Costa Rica (Paper II); and 3) Quantify the occurrence of heat stress symptoms and abnormal urinary parameters in sugarcane workers in Costa Rica (Papers III and IV). Methods This study took place over three harvests following a pilot assessment prior to the first harvest. Methods included direct observation, semi-structured interviews with 24 individuals and a participatory workshop with 8 harvesters about heat-related perceptions, exposures and coping strategies during the harvest and non-harvest season (Pilot). Researchers accompanied workers in the field during all three harvests, measured wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) and conducted direct observation. Heat exposure assessment was conducted by calculating metabolic load, WBGT and corresponding limit values based on international guidelines (NTP and OSHA) (Harvest 1). Self-reported symptom data were collected using orally-administered questionnaires from 106 sugarcane harvesters and 63 non-harvesters from the same company (Harvest 2). Chi-square test and gamma statistic were used to evaluate differences in self-reported symptoms and trends over heat exposure categories. Finally, liquid consumption during the work shift was documented and urinalysis was conducted pre-and post-shift in 48 sugarcane harvesters on three days; differences were assessed with McNemar´s test on paired proportions (Harvest 3). Results Sugarcane workers in both the harvest and non-harvest seasons are exposed to heat, but particularly during the harvest season. Field workers have to carry their own water to the field and often have no access to shade. Some plantworkers are also exposed to intense heat. The metabolic load of sugarcane harvesting was determined to be 261 W/m2. The corresponding threshold value is 26 ◦C WBGT, above which workers should decrease work load or take breaks to avoid the risk of heat stress. Harvesters in this study were at risk of heat stress as early as 7:15 am on some mornings and by 9:00 am on all mornings. After 9:15 am, OSHA recommendations would require that harvesters only work at full effort 25% of each hour to avoid heat stress. Heat and dehydration symptoms at least once per week were experienced significantly more frequently among harvesters than non-harvesters (p<0.05): headache, tachycardia, fever, nausea, difficulty breathing, dizziness, and dysuria. Percentages of workers reporting heat and dehydration-related symptoms increased over increasing heat exposure categories. Total liquid consumed ranged from 1 to 9 L and differed over days (median 5.0, 4.0 and 3.25 on days 1, 2 and 3 respectively). On these same days, the two principle indicators of dehydration: high USG (≥1.025) and low pH (≤5), changed significantly from pre to post-shift (p=0.000 and p=0.012).Proportions of workers with proteinuria >30 mg/dL, and blood, leucocytes and casts in urine were also significantly different between pre and post-shift samples at the group level, but unlike USG and pH, these alterations were more frequent in the pre-shift sample. 85% of workers presented with proteinuria at least once and 52% had at least one post-shift USG indicative of dehydration. Conclusion Heat exposure is an important occupational health risk for sugarcane workers according to international standards. A large percentage of harvesters experience symptoms consistent with heat exhaustion throughout the harvest season. Pre and post-shift urine samples demonstrate dehydration and other abnormal findings. The results of this study demonstrate an urgent need to improve working conditions for sugarcane harvesters both under current conditions and in adaptation plans for future climate change.

This thesis deals with gender differences in social work. Specifically, it focuses on gender differences in social workers in dealing with life situations of clients in social work. At work, there are differences between men and women in everyday life, which is reflected in the work area. There are also mentioned gender prejudices focused on social work. To complement the professional literature I use in this thesis research survey. For that I use qualitative data collection techniques based on semi-structured interview. The sample is divided into social men workers and social women workers from an unnamed city in the South Region. The intention in the sample is to get interviews from both, men and women social workers, from organizations and institutions focusing on different target groups. The aim is to describe the disparity in the attitude of social workers in dealing with life situation in terms of gender aspect.

The present thesis is concerned with the ideas that social work students have of their future profession. The theoretical part defines and characterizes social work, its mission, objectives and methods. Furthermore, the theoretical part describes the history of education of social workers in the Czech Republic, where it examines in detail the beginnings of this type of education, areas of work of social workers and the development of social work in connection with education from the World War Two to the present. The following chapter is engaged in the education system regarding social work at present. The last chapter looks at social work as a profession. This chapter further depicts and defines ancillary professions, identifying areas of self-realisation of graduates from social work studies, and finally, it describes ethics in social work. The objective of our thesis is to ascertain the ideas of social work students of their future profession, for example, the thesis identifies the kind of workplaces such students would prefer to work at, the target group they would be interested in, and, in point of fact, if such students want to find thein jobs within the field of their study. The practical part uses the quantitative research method, which was conducted by means of a questionnaire technique. The research group consisted of social work students at the Faculty of Health and Social Studies and Theological Faculty of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. The research based on questionnaires was carried out both in Bachelor's and Master's study programmes. Only full-time students participated in the research. Pre-research was conducted before the research per se. The following hypothesis was set forth: ,,Students of social work want to work within their field of study." The above hypothesis was tested statistically by means of non-parametric testing in the SPSS programme. McNemar's test was used, which proved that the values ,,he/she wants to work within their field of study" and ,,he/she does not want to work within their field of study" do not show significant mutual differences and their probability is the same. Based on the test, a sufficient difference was identified between the resulting signification at the significance level of 0,5; accordingly, the zero hypothesis ,,Students of social work do not want to work within their field of study" was declined, and the hypothesis set forth was confirmed. The findings imply that students have different plans as to their future professions. In particular, this regards workplaces and target groups with which students would like to work, and the query if students want to work within their field of study. For most part, students want to work in the state administration, in nongovernmental non-profit organizations, and chiefly with children. In addition, a part of students emerged that do not wish to find their jobs within the discipline they currently study. Other considerable differences were identified in particular categories that were examined regarding the aspect of student's willingness or unwillingness to work as social workers, the reasons why they want or do not want to work within thein fields of study, practice in the social area (outside their school practice), search for a job during studies, and the key activities of social workers. These differences are further described in the discussion part. The conclusion gives a description of the research findings and assesses the complex problems of ideas that social work students have as regards their future profession; in particular, the problematic self-realisation of this group in the employment market. The author outlines possible solutions to these problems. Moreover, other issues related to the theme discussed are considered. Options of possible utilization of the present thesis are delineated towards the end of the thesis.

Submitted by JÚLIO HEBER SILVA (julioheber@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-12-05T18:09:00Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Edjane Borges Frazão - 2016.pdf: 2916160 bytes, checksum: f7c3025dc0358d0038dbdcd60cbcc363 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Jaqueline Silva (jtas29@gmail.com) on 2016-12-13T15:33:26Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Edjane Borges Frazão - 2016.pdf: 2916160 bytes, checksum: f7c3025dc0358d0038dbdcd60cbcc363 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-13T15:33:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Edjane Borges Frazão - 2016.pdf: 2916160 bytes, checksum: f7c3025dc0358d0038dbdcd60cbcc363 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-11-04 / This study aims to analyze the staff satisfaction of the Federal Institute Goiano – Urutaí Campus at work, compared to those that have management positions. In addition, check the work level of satisfaction of the public administrative and teaching staff of the Goiano Federal Institute - Campus Urutaí and its relation with the organizational climate. This is a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional survey and exploratory study of the Goiano Federal Institute - Campus Urutaí, with a sample of 146/256 servers. The instruments used were the Satisfaction Questionnaire at Work (S20 / 23) and the Job Satisfaction Scale (EST).Data analysis was performed using the statistical program Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 2.0. For EST data, we estimated mean, 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), standard deviation and variance for each instrument item, global and by size. Pearson's correlation was used to verify association between age and means, and values of p <0.05 were considered statistically significant. The average age of participants is 39 years. It was verified the unmarried had decreased overall satisfaction (p=0,004). It was also found that women had 3.77 times more likely to dissatisfaction with the promotion when compared to men. Administrative technicians presented lower scores of intrinsic satisfaction when compared to teachers (p = 0.030) and 3.08 times more likely to be dissatisfied with salaries and promotions. Individuals with no administrative position presented higher odds of global dissatisfaction (p <0.01), in relation to management (p <0.05) and in relation to promotions (p <0.01).Preliminary results showed positive responses to Job Satisfaction according to the indicators evaluated. However, indifference and dissatisfaction presented in some factors shows that there is need for further studies to identify the aspects that interfere with the satisfaction and motivation of administrative staff of the IF Goiano - Campus Urutaí. / A satisfação no trabalho surge com diversos conceitos que a abordam como um vínculo afetivo do indivíduo com o seu trabalho, sendo entendida como resultado do ambiente organizacional sobre a saúde do trabalhador. Desta forma, o objetivo geral foi analisar a satisfação no trabalho dos servidores públicos administrativos e docentes do Instituto Federal Goiano - Campus Urutaí e sua relação com o clima organizacional. Trata-se de uma pesquisa quantitativa, transversal, descritiva e exploratória, do Instituto Federal Goiano - Campus Urutaí, com uma amostra 146/256 servidores. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio do Questionário de Satisfação no Trabalho (S20/23) e da Escala de Satisfação no Trabalho (EST). A análise dos dados foi realizada através do programa estatístico Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Versão 20.0. Para os dados da EST foram estimadas médias, intervalos de confiança de 95% (IC 95%), desvio-padrão e variância para cada item do instrumento, global e por dimensão. A correlação de Pearson foi usada para verificar associação entre idade e as médias sendo considerados estatisticamente significantes valores de p < 0,05. A idade média dos participantes está entre 39 anos. Verificou-se que o estado civil solteiro, apresentou satisfação global diminuída (p=0,004). Constatou-se ainda que mulheres apresentaram 3,77 vezes mais chances de insatisfação em relação as promoções quando comparado aos homens. Técnicos administrativos apresentaram escores mais baixos de satisfação intrínseca quando comparado aos docentes (p=0,030) e 3,08 vezes mais chances de insatisfação com relação aos salários e promoções. Indivíduos sem cargo administrativo apresentaram maiores chances de insatisfação global (p<0,01), com relação à chefia (p<0,05)e com relação às promoções(p<0,01). Todavia, a indiferença e a insatisfação apresentada em alguns fatores demonstram que há necessidade de mais estudos para identificar os aspectos que interferem na satisfação e na motivação dos servidores, ampliando a discussão acerca das condições de trabalho, de ensino e de vida no ambiente universitário.