bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Homeless Children and Parents: Short-Term Mental Health Outcome
Authors: Karim Khalid , Tischler Victoria , Gregory Peter , Vostanis Panos
Published: December 2006

Background: Homeless families are an increasing but marginalised part of society. They have diverse and complex needs that have often not been addressed by the available services. There is some evidence that psychosocial factors continue to be detrimental to the mental health of these families even after rehousing.

Method: Thirty-five homeless families were assessed on their mental health (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory Scale, Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for Children and Adolescents), parenting problems (Parenting Daily Hassles Scale), and service satisfaction (semi-structured interview) following admission to two homeless hostels, and four months later, when most families (69%) had been rehoused in the community.

Results: Children and their mothers continued to experience high rates of mental health problems whilst resident in the hostels and after rehousing. However, a proportion of parents expressed a subjective improvement, which was often associated with their housing and social circumstances. A diverse range of further needs was described.

Conclusions: There is a need to address the complex problems experienced by these families, with housing only forming one aspect of this provision. Interagency strategy, commissioning and services are required to meet the needs of this vulnerable group of parents and children.
Schneiderian First Rank Symptoms in A Sample of Schizophrenic Patients in Egypt
Authors: Botros Mona M. , Atalla Sherif F. , El-Islam M. Fakhr
Published: December 2006

Background: Schneiderian first rank symptoms are included in the most influential operative diagnostic criteria, such as the ICD-10 and the DSM-IV. Many studies have examined their prevalence in the West, but their prevalence in non-Western countries still needs to be explored given that cultural beliefs are so different.

Aims: The aim of this study is to shed some light on Schneiderian first rank symptoms (FRS) as they occur in patients with schizophrenia in Egypt.

Method: Forty-two patients were interviewed, their demographic characteristics studied and FRS elicited. The SPSS computer program was used to analyse the data.

Results: The prevalence rate of FRS was found to be 67%, which is similar to previous studies both in the East and the West. The study also showed that demographic variables had no significant relation to the prevalence of FRS except for nationality and social status.

Conclusion: Schneiderian first rank symptoms transcend cultural barriers. However, strong cultural beliefs about the influence of supernatural forces on humans should nonetheless be carefully considered in eliciting delusions of control, influence or passivity.
Universalism and cultural relativism in social work ethics
Authors: Healy Lynne M.
Published: December 2006

English

Given globalization and increasing multiculturalism, growing numbers of social workers face the challenges of respecting culture while upholding professional ethics. This article examines the perspectives of universalism and cultural relativism as applied to ethical decision-making in social work. A moderately universalist stance is recommended for social work, as valuing both diversity and human rights.

French

Face à la mondialisation et à l'augmentation du multiculturalisme, un nombre croissant de travailleurs sociaux font face à des défis dans un contexte qui demande de tenir compte à la fois du respect culturel et de l'éthique professionnelle. Cet article examine l'application de prises de décisions éthiques dans des perspectives universalistes et de relativisme culturel en travail social. Une position universaliste modérée est recommandée pour le travail social, valorisant à la fois la diversité culturelle et les droits humains.

Spanish

Dada la globalización y el multiculturalismo creciente, los trabajadores sociales se encuentran con el reto de respetar tanto la cultura como la ética profesional. Se examina la aplicación de las perspectivas universalistas y del relativismo cultural al proceso de decisión ética en trabajo social. Se recomienda una postura universalista moderada que respete tanto la diversidad como los derechos humanos.
Social work in the UK and the global labour market
Authors: Welbourne Penelope , Harrison Gai , Ford Deirdre
Published: December 2006

English

While the global movement of skilled labour is widely documented, there has been little analysis of its significance for UK social work, or for the sending countries involved. The ethical implications of UK reliance on overseas trained practitioners are considered, including a Code of Good Practice for ethical recruitment in social work.

French

Tandis que les mouvements mondiaux de la main-doeuvre qualifiée sont amplement documentés, très peu de recherches ont été menées sur l'impact de ces mouvements sur le travail social national ou encore sur les pays d'où exode cette main-d'oeuvre. Dans cette recherche, nous examinons les implications éthiques de la dépendance du Royaume-Uni à l'égard des praticiens formés outre-mer et nous proposons un Code de bonne conduite pour le recrutement éthique des ressources en travail social.

Spanish

Mientras que el movimiento global de las destrezas laborales se encuentra ampliamente documentado, ha habido escaso análisis sobre la importancia que este tiene para el trabajo social nacional o para los países remitentes involucrados. Consideramos las implicaciones éticas de la dependencia del Reino Unido de los practicantes entrenados en el extranjero y sugerimos un Código de Buena Práctica para un reclutamiento ético en trabajo social.
Guatemala’s current and future globalization
Authors: Villereal Gary L.
Published: December 2006

English

Globalization is affecting Guatemala and tensions are evident between efforts to modernize relative to the traditional lifestyle. The marginalization of rural indigenous people is presented and seven specific initiatives are recommended for social work education.

French

La mondialisation affecte le Guatemala et les efforts de modernisation s'opposent au style de vie traditionnel, ce qui suscite de réelles tensions. Cette étude se penche sur la marginalisation des populations indigènes et elle propose sept initiatives spécifiques d'éducation en travail social.

Spanish

La globalización está afectando a Guatemala y las tensiones entre los esfuerzos de modernización y el estilo de vida tradicional son evidentes. Se discute la marginación de los grupos rurales indígenas y se recomiendan siete iniciativas específicas para la educación en el Trabajo Social.
Using principles of community participatory research
Authors: Pinto Rogério M. , Schmidt Clecy N.T. , Rodriguez Paulo S.O. , Solano Renata
Published: December 2006

English

This article presents a five-step model for establishing participatory research reflecting the principles of collaboration between researchers and community partners. Theoretical discussion is illustrated from experience gained in the preliminary phases of an international research project on HIV/AIDS work in Brazil. The congruence with social work values is noted.

French

Cet article présente un modèle en cinque étapes d'établissement d'une recherche participative. Ce modèle reflète des principes de collaboration entre chercheurs et partenaires communautaires. L'expérience de la phase préparatoire d'un projet de recherche internationale en lien avec le travail se le VIH/SIDA au Brésil en illustre les fondements théoriques. La congruence avec le travail social est notée.

Spanish

Se presenta un modelo de cinco fases para establecer investigación participativa, modelo que refleja los principios de colaboración entre los investigardores y los miembros de la comunidad. La teoría se ilustra con la experiencia derivada de las fases preparatorias de un proyecto de investigación internacional sobre el VIH/SIDA en el Brasil. Se destaca la congruencia de tal proyecto con los valores éticos del trabajo social.
Obstacles and facilitative factors affecting community organizing on disability issues
Authors: Wehbi Samantha
Published: December 2006

English

This article discusses community organizing for disability rights in the Arab region by giving voice to local experiences. The discussion relies on a case example of a grassroots organization, the Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union. Findings demonstrate the presence of a broad range of facilitative factors and obstacles that organizers encounter.

French

Cette étude de cas a été menée auprès de la Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union et elle rend compte des principales préoccupations auxquelles les organisateurs communautaires font face quand il est question d'invalidité. L'étude fait état de divers obstacles internes et externes qui surviennent dans l'organisation des efforts de même que de certains facteurs facilitants.

Spanish

El artículo constituye un reporte de un estudio de caso de la Unión Libanesa de Discapacidad Física para ilustrar los temas clave enfrentados por los organizadores comunitarios que trabajan en temas de discapacidad en Líbano. En el artículo se discuten diversos obstáculos internos y externos en la organización de esfuerzos, así como los factores que facilitan este tipo de trabajo.
Missed opportunities
Authors: Hochfeld Tessa
Published: December 2006

English

The draft National Family Policy of South Africa contains pervasive conservative discourses which have a serious negative impact on both social welfare and the social work profession. The NFP promotes family self-reliance (resonating with neo-liberal welfare discourses internationally), reinforces gender inequalities and misses the opportunity to construct progressive notions of motherhood and fatherhood.

French

Le Projet de Politique Nationale sur la Famille de l'Afrique du Sud est empreint d'une idéologie conservatrice qui a des conséquences négatives importantes tant sur l'aide sociale que sur la profession du travail social. Cette politique fait la promotion du développement autocentré de la famille (ce qui rappelle les discours néo-libéraux sur l'aide sociale à l'échelle internationale), renforçant ainsi les inégalités de genre et empêchant, par le fait même, l'occasion de construire des notions progressistes sur la maternité et la paternité.

Spanish

El contenido de la Política Nacional para la Familia en Sud Africa contiene discursos conservadores que tienen un serio impacto negativo tanto en el bienestar social como en la profesión del trabajo social. La PNF promueve la auto-dependencia (en consonancia en los discursos internacionales neo-liberales del bienestar), refuerza las inequidades de género y pierde la oportunidad de construir nociones progresistas de maternidad y paternidad.
Tensions and dilemmas of social work education in China
Authors: Yip Kam-shing
Published: December 2006

English

Social work education in China has developed dramatically over the past decade. However, because of its unique social, cultural and political back-ground and contexts, its current and future development faces tensions associated with politicization, professionalization and commercialization in the fields of values, social service delivery, social work practice and curriculum development.

French

L'enseignement du travail social a pris un essor considérable en Chine au cours de la dernière décennie. Toutefois, compte tenu du caractère unique des dimensions sociales, politiques et culturelles du contexte chinois, son développement actuel et futur fait face à des tensions liées à la politicisation, la professionnalisation et la commercialisation au plan des valeurs, de l'offre des services sociaux, de même qu'aux plans de la pratique du service social et de son développement.

Spanish

La educación en trabajo social en China se ha desarrollado dramáticamente durante la década pasada. Sin embargo, en virtud de sus antecedentes y contextos sociales, culturales y políticos únicos, su desarrollo actual y futuro enfrenta tensiones asociadas con la politizacíon, profesionalizacíon y comercializacíon en los valores, el otorgamiento de servicios sociales, la práctica del trabajo social y el desarrollo del currículum.
The Relationship Between Parental Involvement and Urban Secondary School Student Academic Achievement
Authors: Jeynes William H.
Published: December 2006

A meta-analysis is undertaken, including 52 studies, to determine the influence of parental involvement on the educational outcomes of urban secondary school children. Statistical analyses are done to determine the overall impact of parental involvement as well as specific components of parental involvement. Four different measures of educational outcomes are used. These measures include an overall measure of all components of academic achievement combined, grades, standardized tests, and other measures that generally included teacher rating scales and indices of academic attitudes and behaviors. The possible differing effects of parental involvement by race and socioeconomic status are also examined. The results indicate that the influence of parental involvement overall is significant for secondary school children. Parental involvement as a whole affects all the academic variables under study by about .5 to .55 of a standard deviation unit. The positive effects of parental involvement hold for both White and minority children.
Courses of Action
Authors: Olsen Brad , Anderson Lauren
Published: December 2006

This article reports on a study investigating relationships among the reasons for entry, preparation experiences, workplace conditions, and future career plans of 15 early-career teachers working in urban Los Angeles. Specifically, the authors examine why these teachers stay in, shift from, or consider leaving the urban schools in which they teach. Our analysis highlights the need to reconceptualize teacher retention to acknowledge and support the development of deep, varied, successful careers in urban education. Findings demonstrate that these urban teachers will remain in urban education if they can adopt multiple education roles inside and outside the classroom and receive professional support during the whole of their careers, not just the beginnings of their teaching.
Promising Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Successful Urban Teachers
Authors: Stotko Elaine M. , Ingram Rochelle , Beaty-O’Ferrall Mary Ellen
Published: December 2006

In the debate about urban school effectiveness and teacher quality, one proposition has emerged as indisputable: The success of urban schools depends heavily on the quality of the teachers who serve the schools and the administrators who support the teachers. Unfortunately, urban school district recruitment policies are often not aligned with research and practical knowledge about urban teacher effectiveness; thus, the best candidates are often ignored, neglected, or otherwise discouraged. To achieve challenging goals for student achievement, urban school districts must tailor their recruitment and retention efforts to address the characteristics and motivations of potential urban teachers.
Talking About Machines, Thick Description, and Knowledge Work
Authors: Bechky Beth A.
Published: December 2006

In the decade since the publication of Julian Orr’s Talking About Machines: An Ethnography of a Modern Job, the field of organization studies has yet to develop a rich and complete picture of the world of knowledge workers. In this essay, I argue that organization theory would benefit if scholars followed Orr’s lead and devoted increased ethnographic attention to knowledge and technical work. Thick descriptions of the situated work practices of knowledge workers would help us understand the complex relationship of work, occupations, and organizations. In particular, I suggest further investigation of the intersection of occupational communities within organizations, as well as additional empirical studies of networks of practice that extend beyond organizational boundaries.
What Talking About Machines Tells Us
Authors: Duguid Paul
Published: December 2006

Orr’s work falls on one side of a marked divide separating rule-based theories from practice-focused research. From within the tradition of workplace studies (which show themselves intermittently susceptible to rule-based assumptions), Orr argues that his pre-decessors failed to see the sort of improvisation and bricolage central to his analysis, for want of looking. I claim, by contrast, that it was more for want of seeing. Early work-place studies could barely conceive of workplace autonomy or improvisation as anything but counterproductive. By attacking the theoretical demarcation between mental and manual labour implicit in this presupposition, Orr’s analysis presents both management and theorists with the surprisingly uncomfortable challenge of the knowledgeable worker. A brief analysis of the EUREKA project’s support of workplace learning suggests how Orr’s work challenged and still challenges more complacent views of knowledge in organization and ‘knowledge management’.
Talking about Practices: On Julian Orr’s Talking About Machines
Authors: Yanow Dvora
Published: December 2006

Julian Orr’s ethnographic study of copier technicians explores three themes—practices, practitioners, and learning—gathered under the heading of ‘work’ and situated in geographic spaces—the team’s territory—and places. In my reading, the book addresses three central concerns in organizational studies today: moves to (re-)ground theorizing in work practices, drawing on methods suitable for studying what it is that people in organizations actually do; developing practice-based understandings of organizational learning; and attending to the settings—the places and spaces—in which those practices take place.
The Christmas Gift: A Story of Dialectics
Authors: Bartunek Jean M.
Published: December 2006

In this paper I discuss some of the dualities, tensions, and dialectical processes that have been central to my intellectual development, as well as how they have shaped and continue to shape my scholarly contributions. I focus, in particular, on dualities and tensions between my academic and my religious life and between theory and practice. Both sets of tensions play crucial roles in my formulations of organizational change and transformation and in the insider/outsider joint research methodology I have helped to develop. These dualities and tensions were once reconciled in a Christmas gift whose ramifications have unfolded throughout my scholarly career.
Neither Completing the Practice Turn, Nor Enriching the Process Tradition: Secondary Misinterpretations of a Case Analysis Reconsidered
Authors: Hodgkinson Gerard P. , Wright George
Published: December 2006

In an attempt to display the power of his meta-theoretical framework to fill in key gaps in ‘the practice turn in strategy research’, Whittington (2006) drew upon our previously published case study account of a failed strategy process workshop (Hodgkinson and Wright 2002), arguing that as strategy practitioners we were inept in our praxis, seeking to apply practices that were ill-suited to the organizational context in which we were operating. In response, we demonstrate that his analysis is based on a series of misconceptions and unwarranted inferences. Providing additional background information, we clarify our involvement and reinforce our original interpretation of the case.
When We Have Never Been Human, What Is to Be Done?
Authors: Gane Nicholas
Published: December 2006

This interview reconsiders Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto 21 years after it was first published. It asks what has become of the three boundary breakdowns around which the Manifesto was structured - those between animals and humans, animal-humans (organisms) and machines, and the ‘physical and non-physical’. Against this backdrop, this interview examines the connection between the Cyborg Manifesto and Haraway’s more recent writings on companion species, along with what it means to read or write a ‘manifesto’ today. Recent notions of the ‘posthuman’ are also placed into question.
Posthuman, All Too Human
Authors: Braidotti Rosi
Published: December 2006

This article looks at Donna Haraway’s work in the light of Continental philosophy, and especially post-structuralism, and examines both the post-humanist and the post-anthropocentric aspects of her thought. The article argues that the great contribution of Haraway’s work is the re-grounding of the subject in material practice. This neo-foundationalist approach is combined, however, with a firm commitment to a process ontology that looks at subjectivity as a complex and open-ended set of relations. The article argues for the centrality of the notion of relationality in Haraway’s thought, and in this respect her work can be compared to Deleuze’s rhizomic thinking. Special emphasis is placed on the analysis of the relation to other species in comparison with Deleuze’s notion of becoming-animal.
Friedrich Kittler
Authors: Winthrop-Young Geoffrey , Gane Nicholas
Published: December 2006

The introduction provides a short outline of Kittler’s biographical background and briefly discusses the stages of his work: The initial discourse-analytical stage of the late 1970s that centered primarily on literary text; the media-theoretical stage of the 1980s and early 1990s that focused in particular on electric and electronic media; and a current stage dedicated to rewriting the origin of one the most basic cultural technologies: the alphanumeric notation system.
Thinking Colours and/or Machines
Authors: Kittler Friedrich
Published: December 2006

The article attempts to locate the role of the computer in the long-standing conflict between the humanities on one side and the hard sciences and mathematics on the other. The state-sponsored promotion of philosophy and its subsequent demotion of scientific explanations provoked a scientific counter-attack, in the course of which psychophysical research subjected the human perception apparatus to rigorous investigations that all but mechanized the faculties of human understanding that were so central to the aspirations of philosophers. The latter retaliated either by creating realms such as Husserl’s phenomenological ‘life-world’ that preceded, and hence were immune to, psychophysical explanations of sensation and perception, or by universalizing the faculty of understanding in such a way as to ensure the importance and competence of philosophy (e.g., in the work of the early Heidegger). This ongoing antagonism was also present in the ways in which the parties treated media technology: Philosophy tried to constrain media by conceptualizing them as obedient instruments tools at the beck and call of their users, whereas psychophysical research modeled the human mind on the very media that were indispensable for accessing this mind in the first place. The former saw media as ‘handy’ tools, the latter proceeded to make them the very measure of man. Alan Turing’s universal machine puts an end to this struggle: Not only does it blur the distinction between instructions and data, it converts the materials of the real world, the mechanisms of the mind, and the principal bastion of philosophy, natural languages, into numbers.
Number and Numeral
Authors: Kittler Friedrich
Published: December 2006

In his essay Thinking Colours and/or Machines Kittler hints at a key point in the emergence of modern European culture: the point at which ‘letters and numbers no longer coincide’. In this essay - first published in 2003 as Zahl und Ziffer - Kittler traces the split between numerals and numbers in sweeping historical detail. This is part of a much larger project, the aim of which is to think about technology, history and culture anew by considering the ways in which ‘letters, numbers, images and tones’ have been differentiated and re-integrated by developing notation systems and media technologies. In this present essay, Kittler is concerned specifically with the question of number. His argument is that numbers and numerals have not always stood apart. In Old Hebrew and even nursery rhymes, for example, numbers are in fact words. This might seem like a banal observation, but for Kittler it is crucial as historically, mathematics proper only developed ‘in cultures in which numbers are present as numerals’, a development which entailed the transformation of numbers from signifiers (‘a matter of hearing’) into signifieds (‘a matter of reading and writing’) and which rested on the emergence of storage and transmission media that Kittler calls ‘the media of mathematics’. This connection between media and mathematics is explored through a wide range of philosophical sources: Plato, Philolaus, Aristotle and Aquinas, to name but a few. Kittler is fascinated by the inscription technologies that make mathematics possible, and which at the same time structure cultural forms as well as our bodily experience of them. As he puts it in a programmatic aside, ‘media studies only make sense’ if they focus on how ‘media make senses.’ Hence his focus on the Greek phonetic alphabet: for Kittler, its superiority has less to do with its ability to reproduce the spoken words of any language, than with the fact that at one point it was used to handle language, music, and mathematics - that is, one and the same set of signs was used to encode letters, tones and numbers. This, however, was not an abstract undertaking but developed in constant feedback with specific instruments or media, especially the lyre and the bow. It was here that fundamental concepts such as logoi were first developed that were subsequently distorted, misunderstood and deprived of their musico-technical origins by philosophers such as Aristotle. Kittler’s essay is thus also part of a larger cultural project, indebted in particular to Martin Heidegger, whose aim it is to ferret out the different, as yet unrevealed beginning of occidental culture. Moreover, while it was necessary for the evolution of modern mathematics that numbers receive a notation system of their own that will allow for ratios and decimals, among others, it is obvious that Kittler sees the computer (as first envisaged in Alan Turing’s mathematical modelling) as a return of universal alphabet that operates in constant feedback with a medium that shapes our senses: ‘In the Greek alphabet our senses were present - and thanks to Turing they are so once again.’
Lightning and Series - Event and Thunder
Authors: Kittler Friedrich
Published: December 2006

The article is an attempt to subject a basic figure of historical analysis - the juxtaposition of event and series - to the changing alphanumerical writing systems of Ancient Greece, the Early Modern Age, and the contemporary digitial environment. It shows how the basic mathematical analysis of periodicity and frequency in the realm of sound is, first, a by-product of innovations in war technology and, second, radically changed by different ways in which numerical systems process data. With regard to the development of Kittler’s thought the article is a somewhat idiosyncratic but nonetheless highly revealing and representative example of his recent switch from media-technological to more alphanumerically oriented analyses and the accompanying focus on the importance of Ancient Greece for the evolution of science.
Implosion and Intoxication
Authors: Winthrop-Young Geoffrey
Published: December 2006

Focusing on Kittler’s reading of Goethe’s ‘Wanderer’s Nightsong’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Brain Damage’, the article traces Kittler’s development from discourse analysis to media theory. Where more traditional approaches would stress notions of self-reflexivity (both the poem and the song elaborate on their effects and foreground their own construction), Kittler performs, in his own words, a kind of ‘implosion’: The words of Goethe’s poem collapse back into the discursive order they evoke, and Pink Floyd’s song performs its own technology. But it is precisely this implosion that has an intoxicating effect, which paves the way for a more political, or at least politicized, reading of Kittler’s work that highlights his indebtedness to the cultural transgressions of the 1960s.
Gods, German Scholars, and the Gift of Greece
Authors: Breger Claudia
Published: December 2006

This article argues that the abundance of Greek figures and scenarios in Kittler’s recent work points to a shift in his oeuvre, which, however, does not represent a radical break with his ‘hardware studies’. At the turn of the 21st century, Kittler champions an emphatic notion of culture as a necessary supplement to science and technology. This conceptual marriage mediates grand historical narratives of cultural identity. Specifically, Kittler’s texts provide us with narratives of Greek origin which serve to re-capture collective identities in the age of globalization. On the explicit level, this identity is predominantly European, but the search has national components as well. With his turn to culture, the organizing trope of 19th-century German nationalism, Kittler has also embraced the legacy of German philhellenism, which articulated national identities through the theme of ‘elective affinity’. Kittler’s Greece occupies the very structural place it had in 19th-century German philhellenism: It stands in for both the foundation of European civilization and its virtual better self, a realm of sensual culture untainted by modern capitalism and Empire. Most of the figures inhabiting this realm are familiar from 19th-century discourse as well, but these discursive loops are fueled by contemporary feedback. Kittler’s Greek narratives have developed out of postwar academic discourses and connect to other post-unification Greek fantasies.
Crossing the Howrah Bridge
Authors: Mukhopadhyay Bhaskar
Published: December 2006

This photo-essay analyzes the politics of dwelling of the inhabitants of ‘outcast’ Calcutta - the city that is the nightmare of urban planners and whose squalor, filth and poverty are taken to be indexes of the failure of the postcolonial urbanism as such. The city that turned itself into a barricade during the street-fighting years of the 1960s is now about to turn its back on its own subalterns (migrants from poorer areas), participating in urban cleansing drives that derive from neo-liberal dictates. Showing that the squatters also dwell and forge solidarities underpinned by an ethic of survival, this essay draws attention to non-state political formations emerging out of the negotiations of the City Form with the non-civic but enabling life-forms prevalent in subaltern Calcutta.
The Big Bang at Centre Georges Pompidou
Authors: Tang Jeannine
Published: December 2006

One of the world’s largest collections of European modern art, held by Centre Georges Pompidou, was displayed for the first time in a thematically-curated exhibition, The Big Bang (2005). This review article evaluates the merits and permutations of thematic curation, in lieu of The Big Bang’s relation to previous instances of thematic curation of significant museum collections, most notably at the Museum of Modern Art and Tate Modern. The Big Bang is also considered against the ideological underpinnings of both thematic and chronological curation, and their implications for the future.
Undercover Surrealism
Authors: W.P. Phillips John , Shaoling Ma
Published: December 2006

This article considers the Undercover Surrealism exhibition curated at London’s Hayward Gallery (from May to July 2006) and reflects on the practices of documentation, archiving and exhibition when the topic of the exhibition, as in this case, is a journal that in its most radical intention was set up to critique the practices of exhibition and documentation. The short and controversial life of Georges Bataille’s Documents unfolds as an often deliberately confusing juxtaposition of images and articles. The exhibition aims to represent both the sometimes incompatible interests of the journal’s collaborators and the public dispute between Bataille and Breton over the aims of Surrealism. The article explores the intentions, risks, and possible effects of the exhibition in the context of Bataille’s own philosophy and his own peculiar part in the publication of Documents, which in its time was a contemporary review of diverse cultural phenomena interspersed with subversive dictionary entries. The article thus raises the question of what happens to the subversive intentions of a project like Documents in the scholarly historicist environment of public exhibition space.
Cultural Studies and Politics in India Today
Authors: Mukhopadhyay Bhaskar
Published: December 2006

Cultural Studies needs to be reinvented for India - a polity where the larger part of the population are disenfranchised non-citizens. The terrain of ‘culture’ here being differently constituted, manners could serve as a useful category for theorizing this difference. Included in ‘manners’ are a different historical formation of subjectivity as well as another ontology of representation. Further, Cultural Studies, so conceived, could productively interrogate that excess of Indian political/public culture which cannot be penetrated by disciplinary political theory. This article is a plea for a Political Cultural Studies.
Reflections on the Development of Cultural Studies in Japan
Authors: Tamari Tomoko
Published: December 2006

Although Japan had its own distinctive ‘pre-history’ of cultural studies, which produced some excellent research on popular culture, which can be traced back to the 1920s, the current state of cultural studies has been criticized by conventional mainstream academics; whereas the younger generation has been attracted by cultural studies as a new academic trend. An important new development in cultural studies in Japan is Cultural Typhoon. This new movement seeks to avoid institutionalization and create an alternative academic public sphere alongside broadened cultural practices, social activities and political interventions. Cultural studies in Japan can be seen as a part of a new diversity in cultural studies, which has some potentialities to move beyond the academy and open new dialogical spaces for communication and cultural intervention.
A retrospective review of place of death of palliative care patients in regional north Queensland
Authors: Howat A , Veitch C , Cairns W
Published: December 2006

Background: Palliative care strives to offer patients and their families choice in the location of their management and final terminal care. The place of death has been shown to be related to various patient, carer and health service factors.

Aim: This study explores place of death of palliative care patients in regional north Queensland, and investigates which patient, disease, and other factors impact on place of death.

Methods: All patients under the care of the specialist Palliative Care Service (PCS) at The Townsville Hospital, who died in 2004, were identified. Medical charts for these patients were analysed for various demographic data, disease-related information and place of death.

Results: Some 270 patients were analysed. A total of 162 were male, median age was 72 years, and 146 (54%) were married. Home death rate was 19% (54 patients), with 64% (173) of patients dying in hospital. Factors significantly associated with home death included younger age, married, a diagnosis of colorectal carcinoma, and the involvement of community nurses. There was a trend towards male patients being more likely to die at home. Logistic regression analysis indicated that younger age and community nurse involvement were significantly associated with home death.

Discussion: The results of this study are in keeping with available, largely urban-based literature, with respect to predictive factors of home death. Further prospective study, with an emphasis on choice regarding place of care and GP involvement with palliative care patients, is warranted.
Improving the delivery of palliative care in general practice: an evaluation of the first phase of the Gold Standards Framework
Authors: Thomas Keri , Noble Bill
Published: December 2006

Background: The Gold Standards Framework (GSF) was developed to improve the delivery of palliative care in general practice.

Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the first phase of GSF in terms of its acceptability to primary care teams, effectiveness in changing practice and professionals’ views on the consequences for patient care.

Methods: A prospective longitudinal comparative survey of 12 participating, 12 matched and 18 other practices included focus groups and questionnaires.

Results: Participating practices reported that the GSF was acceptable. They also reported more standards successfully achieved than matched practices. Registers, team meetings and co-ordinated care were thought to have improved communication, teamwork, patient identification, assessment and care planning.

Conclusions: This small study suggests that the GSF appears to be acceptable and its early introduction to a few teams appears to have changed practice. Participants were positive about the effect on care. An evaluation of national uptake and further research into clinical outcomes is required.
Prevalence of pain in hospitalised cancer patients in Norway: a national survey
Authors: Holtan Anders , Aass Nina , Nordøy Tone , Haugen Dagny Faksvåg , Kaasa Stein , Mohr Wenche , Kongsgaard Ulf E
Published: December 2006

Purpose: Pain severely impairs health-related quality of life and is a feared symptom among cancer patients. Unfortunately, patients often do not receive optimal care. We wanted to evaluate the quality of cancer pain treatment in Norwegian hospitals.

Patients and methods: A one-day prevalence study targeting hospitalised cancer patients above 18 years of age was performed. A questionnaire based on the Brief Pain Inventory was used, and additional information regarding sex, age, diagnosis, break through pain (BTP), and treatment was included.

Results: Fifty two percent of the included patients stated having cancer related pain (n = 453), and mean pain during the previous 24 hours for these patients was NRS 3.99 (Numeric Rating scale 1-10). Presence of metastasis, occurrence of BTP, and abnormal skin sensibility in the area of pain were associated with higher pain scores. Forty two percent of all patients used opioids. However, these patients still had higher pain scores, more episodes of BTP, and more influence of the pain on daily life functions than average. Thirty percent of patients with severe pain (NRS ≥ 5) did not use opioids, and some of these patients did not receive any analgesics at all.

Conclusion: Although most cancer patients receive an acceptable pain treatment in Norwegian hospitals, there are patients who are not adequately managed. Lack of basic knowledge and individual systematic symptom assessment may be reasons for the underuse of analgesics and the resulting unnecessary suffering among the cancer patients.
Terminally-ill people living alone without a caregiver: an Australian national scoping study of palliative care needs
Authors: Aoun S , Kristjanson L J , Currow D , Skett K , Oldham L , Yates P
Published: December 2006

Home-based palliative care services are facing increasing challenges in servicing the needs of clients who live alone and without a primary caregiver. The findings from the analysis of 721 services’ records from three Australian states, and feedback from health professionals in interviews and postal surveys, demonstrated that there were aspects of being on one’s own with a terminal illness and living at home that require a specialised approach and support. This study explored the issues of palliative care patients living alone, from a service provider perspective, and provided evidence-based information to assist with service planning. The study made recommendations to the Australian Department of Health and Ageing about services considered important in developing support structures for this growing population.
Dying in hospital of terminal heart failure or severe dementia: the circumstances associated with death and the opinions of caregivers
Authors: Formiga Francesc , Olmedo Claudia , López-Soto Alfons , Navarro Margarita , Culla Alex , Pujol Ramón
Published: December 2006

Background: Improving the care provided to elderly patients affected by end-stage chronic diseases dying in acute hospitals is a health priority. We evaluated the circumstances related to death in end-stage non-cancer patients dying in two acute care hospitals, and their caregiver’s opinions about the death.

Methods: Some 102 patients, over 64 years of age, with end-stage dementia (37%) or congestive heart failure (64%), were included in the study. Caregiver’s opinions on the circumstances of death were obtained using a questionnaire. In addition, we collected data regarding written instructions on several items, including do not resuscitate (DNR) orders, decisions about care in terms of the level or intensity of interventions, information provided to relatives about the prognosis, total withdrawal of normal drug therapy, and provision of palliative care.

Results: Caregivers stated that the clinical information was accurate in 67.6% of cases, and the control of symptoms was good in 55%. However, the perception of pain persisted in 14% and uncontrolled dyspnoea in 45%. The end-of-life care was assessed as: excellent 30.5%, good 36%, fairly good 25.5%, bad 6%, and very bad 2%. DNR orders were specified in 89% of patients, decisions concerning the intensity of care in 64%, and 80% of relatives were aware of the prognosis. Drug therapy was withdrawn in 64% of cases, and terminal palliative care was initiated in 79.5%.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that some aspects of the palliative care provided to elderly patients with end-stage chronic diseases, admitted to acute care hospitals, could be improved. Such aspects include the clinical information provided and the successful control of specific symptoms.
Acceptability of an advance care planning interview schedule: a focus group study
Authors: Barnes Kelly , Jones Louise , Tookman Adrian , King Michael
Published: December 2006

There is growing recognition that patients should have greater opportunity to plan their future care, a process known as advance care planning. The aims of this phase I qualitative focus group study were (1) to explore the acceptability of an interview schedule, designed to encourage conversations regarding future care; and (2) to explore the suitability of such discussions and inquire about their possible timing, nature and impact. Purposive sampling was used to achieve a balanced sample of 22 palliative care and oncology patients, relatives and user group members. The results showed that, although some patients welcome the opportunity to discuss end-of-life care, others may not feel ready or able to do so. The timing of a discussion is likely to influence its acceptability and effect. A discussion might best be initiated after recurrence of disease. The person initiating discussion should be skilled in responding to the cues of the patient, and should enable the patient to close the topic down at the end of the discussion, in order to avoid dwelling too much on the end of life. Advance care planning should take place over a number of meetings, and be conducted by an appropriately trained professional with sufficient time to talk through the issues raised, and with the knowledge and skills to answer questions, tailor the discussion to the individual, and avoid destroying hope. Advance decisions to refuse treatment should not be the focus of the discussion, but one component of a broader conversation about end-of-life issues. If patients make an advance decision to refuse certain treatments, they should be given the opportunity to change their minds in the future.
Ethical issues arising from the requirement to provide written information in palliative care
Authors: Plu I , Moutel G , Purssell-François I , Lapidus N , Ellien F , Manaouil C , Hervè C
Published: December 2006

French Healthcare Networks aim to help healthcare workers take care of patients by improving co-operation, co-ordination and the continuity of care. When applied to palliative care in the home, they facilitate overall care, including medical, social and psychological aspects. French legislation in 2002 required that an information document explaining the functioning of the Network should be given to patients when they enter a Healthcare Network. Ethical problems arise from this legislation with regard to providing terminal patients with explicit information upon their entry into the palliative phase of the disease, and requiring them to sign the document. It highlights the limitations of this practice, and the gap between the legislation and the nature of the physician-patient relationship in palliative care.
Libraries: prime movers for the age of knowledge and information
Authors: Kim Dae-Jung
Published: December 2006

Keynote Address to the World Library And Information Congress: 72nd IFLA General Conference And Council, 20-24 August 2006, Seoul, Korea, in the Opening Ceremony. Outlines the pivotal roles that libraries must perform in determining whether or not the age of knowledge and information will succeed in attaining its desired goals. Reviews the place of libraries in the intellectual and cultural traditions of Korea and efforts to develop these traditions in the 21st century.
Information Literacy Education in Asian Developing Countries: cultural factors affecting curriculum development and programme delivery
Authors: Dorner Daniel G. , Gorman G. E.
Published: December 2006

The prevailing models of information literacy education (ILE) are contextually grounded in Western social and intellectual structures. For the most part these models follow the taxonomy developed in the 1950s by Bloom, which has been adopted as appropriate for developing societies without considering the contexts from which they are derived, and in which they are being applied. For ILE to be meaningfully embedded in the educational fabric of a developing country, it is important to take account of a range of contextual variables that affect how and why individuals learn. Focusing on ILE through the lens of cultural contextuality, this paper addresses three questions in relation to ILE in developing countries: How do we define information literacy in a developing country context? How do we best determine the educational objectives of information literacy education in a developing country context? How can cultural awareness improve information literacy education?
Using Assessment as a Tool to Improve Learning: an IFLA Workshop
Authors: Murtha Leslie , Stec Eileen , Wilt Marilyn
Published: December 2006

Three librarians from Rutgers University Libraries collaborated on the program ‘Using Assessment as a Tool to Improve Learning’ at the 69th IFLA General Conference and Council in Berlin, Germany in 2003. The workshop was designed to provide participants with an expanded understanding of assessment, and experience with using it effectively as a tool to facilitate improved learning. The presenters framed the workshop with a pre-workshop assessment and post-workshop assessment. The responses from the pre-workshop assessment supported the workshop’s design, provided an initial understanding of the individual participants’ contexts and experiences, and formed the basis for the workshop’s small group activities. The post-workshop assessments offered valuable suggestions for future programs. The article shares the essence of the workshop in the words of the facilitators, each of whom focused on assessment at a different level. The three modes discussed are teacher/instructor, learner/student, and programmatic/institutional.