The information requirements and information-seeking behaviours of health and social care professionals providing care to children with health care needs: a pilot study

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this work were to identify the sources of information currently received, information-seeking behaviours, information requirements and preferences for future information provision amongst health and social care professionals providing care to children with health care needs. METHODS: Data were collected using a cross-sectional postal questionnaire survey. RESULTS: A wide range of information resources was reported as being available to professionals. However, a large proportion of respondents found it necessary to perform additional searches for information, suggesting that current resources were not satisfying their needs. The majority of professionals reported a preference for electronic formats, whilst a smaller proportion preferred hard copy materials. Participants promoted the use of informal networks as a means of support and exchange of information. CONCLUSION: Supplementing the information that is provided in electronic and hard copy formats, by enhancing informal networks, may be the most effective way of meeting the information needs of this group of professionals.     

Retooling Education: Testing and the Liberal Arts

The motivation and methodology for measuring intelligence have changed repeatedly in the modern history of large-scale student testing. Test makers have always sought to identify raw aptitude for cultivation, but they have never figured out how to promote excellence while preserving equality. They’ve settled for egalitarianism, which gives rise to “culturally fair” tests that substitute vagaries for knowledge, deprive students of any real appreciation for language, and trivialize education. Robert Jackson yearns for traditional oratorical approaches to schooling that venerate and imitate essential, time-tested masters. Unfortunately, he writes, such an education defies measurement with today’s multiple-choice instruments.

Navigating the discursive tensions of the public university: the case of a South African student

As public universities seek to be locally responsive and compete internationally, tensions arise between expansion and equity, and between discourses of neoliberalism and social justice. This article focuses on how students navigate these tensions, and the implications for how they can act, interact and be. Norman Fairclough’s three-level view of the social and language, and his method of critical discourse analysis are used to analyse longitudinal interviews with an undergraduate science student. This student is, on account of his home and schooling, considered ‘historically marginalised’ at an historically-white, English-medium South African university. The results show how the student navigates multiple positionings that draw on notions of class, language, independence, progress, choice, care, and so on. It is argued that while universities should support students to navigate some of these tensions, there is a need to re-imagine structuring discourses related to the ‘normal’, ‘independent’ university student.     

Managerial Practices and Organizational Conditions That Encourage Employee Growth and Development

This paper focuses on seven major managerial practices and three negative conditions that must be managed to enhance employee growth and development. These managerial practices and conditions have significant potential for human resource development practitioners and performance improvement technologists by providing new perspectives to improve employee performance through employee growth and development activities. Surveys measuring employee perceptions of manager behaviors were administered to 503 MBA and PhD students from the United States, resulting in 463 useable responses. The hypotheses were tested using linear regression and structural equation modeling. Based on the analysis, the researchers found that involving employees in decision making, motivating employees, treating employees as unique individuals, and making certain that managers are effective have the highest influence on employee growth and development.     

The cultural value of heritage: evidence from the Heritage Lottery Fund

The Heritage Lottery Fund has, over the past 13 years, given £4billion to heritage projects of all kinds. As the Fund has matured a greater emphasis has been placed on the evaluation of the social and economic outcomes of this funding. In 2004 we reported on progress with evaluation of the programmes targeted at particular types of heritage (Clark, 2004 Clark, K. 2004. Why fund heritage? The role of research in the Heritage Lottery Fund. Cultural Trends, 52: 65–85.  [Google Scholar]). The greater challenge has been to evaluate the outcomes from the Fund's generic programmes, which can fund any type of heritage and which between them account for over two-thirds of total funding. This article reviews the Fund's experience over the last 3 years in developing and implementing an evaluation system using the Public (or Cultural) Value framework. It presents some initial results from the research so far completed and reviews how far the framework has been useful in suggesting research priorities and organizing findings.     

Relational efficacy beliefs in athlete dyads: an investigation using actor-partner interdependence models

The first purpose of this study was to examine the interrelationships among three forms of relational efficacy within performing dyads, namely, self-efficacy, other-efficacy, and relation-inferred self-efficacy. The second objective was to examine the relationships between these efficacy beliefs and athletes' perceptions of their commitment to and satisfaction with their current partnership. Participants were 120 junior tennis players (age, M = 14.30 years, SD = 1.21) performing within 60 intact pairs (i.e., doubles). Results revealed that self-efficacy and other-efficacy were predictive of athlete commitment and satisfaction, respectively. In addition, by utilizing actor-partner interdependence models, partner as well as actor effects were evident. The findings illustrate that relational efficacy beliefs may not only have implications for the individual holding such beliefs, but also for his or her relational partner. Implications for the future study of efficacy beliefs within dyadic contexts are discussed.