"Sociologist of education Annette Lareau is renowned in her field for her compassionate ethnographic work and the insightful ideas she's able to draw from it. With Listening to People, she has given us an extremely practical guide to doing the kind of work she has been celebrated for. Lareau covers just about everything a social scientist needs to know--formulating a topic and honing it down to a good research question, obtaining IRB approval, finding a site and making introductions, conducting high-quality interviews and participant--observation, taking good notes and writing them up later, analyzing the data, and best of all, making clear how much the data analysis and the writing are part of the same process. Her tone throughout is about as straightforward as it gets, and she very generously shares stories of her own mistakes, missteps, and anxieties. Written for students and scholars in sociology, education, communications, social work, and possibly political science, anthropology, and related fields, the book will be an indispensable guide for graduate students and faculty in the social sciences (broadly conceived), and is even suitable for undergraduates"-- Provided by publisher.
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Social needs are important basic human needs; when not satisfied, loneliness and social isolation can occur and subsequently sickness or even premature death. For older people social needs can be more difficult to satisfy because of the loss of resources such as health and mobility. Interventions for older people to satisfy social needs are often not evaluated and when evaluated are not proven successful. Technological interventions can be successful, but the relationship between technology and social wellbeing is complex and more research in this area is needed. The aim of this research is to uncover design opportunities for technological interventions to fulfil social needs of older people. Context-mapping sessions are a way to gain more insight into the social needs of older people and to involve them in the design of interventions to fulfil social needs. Participants of the context-mapping sessions were older people and social workers working with older people. Four sessions with a total of 20 participants were held to generate ideas for interventions to satisfy social needs. The results are transcripts from the discussion parts of the context-mapping sessions and collages the participants created. The transcripts were independently analysed and inductive codes were attached to quotations in the transcripts that are relevant to the research question and subsequently thematic analysis took place. Collages made by the participants were independently analysed by the researchers and after discussion consensus was reached about important themes. The following three main themes emerged: ‘connectedness’, ‘independence’ and ‘meaningfulness’. Technology was not identified as a separate theme, but was addressed in relation to the above mentioned themes. Staying active in a meaningful way, for example by engaging in volunteer work, may fulfil the three needs of being connected, independent and meaningful. In addition, interventions can also focus on the need to be and remain independent and to deal with becoming more dependent. The older people in our study have an ambivalent attitude towards technology, which needs to be taken into account when designing an intervention. We conclude this paper by making recommendations for possible technological interventions to fulfil social needs.
BACKGROUND: People experiencing homelessness often encounter progressive incurable somatic diseases in combination with psychiatric and psychosocial problems, and many need palliative care at the end of their lives. Little is known about how palliative care for this group can be started in good time and provided optimally. The objective of this paper is to give insight into the extent people experiencing homelessness have access to good palliative care.
The increasing concentration of people in urban environments in an era of globalisation means that social, economic, and environmental resources for living and working are under pressure. Urban communities experience increased stress levels due to inadequate and overburdened infrastructure and services, challenges due to ethnic and cultural diversity, socio-economic inequalities as well as the impact of environmental degradation. For these communities to build resilience under these circumstances therefore requires a multipronged approach. The underlying question this project will answer is: “What are the key characteristics of experiencescapes that contribute to resilience-building in communities?” The project will dive into the identification of building blocks of experiencescapes and roles of relevant actors that can support communities in building resilience. Within the context of a multidisciplinary approach, this project applies a range of qualitative research methods, such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, participant observation, storytelling techniques, life stories, as well as various biometric quantitative methods, available through the experience lab of BUas. The outcome of the project will enable practitioners and researchers alike in various sectors to understand what and how they can contribute to creating an environment in which people can meaningfully interact in a way that builds resilience in communities. This outcome is communicated not only through academic publications and conference contributions, but also through public reports and a handbook for practitioners and students. These reports and handbooks support identification and application of building blocks of experiencescapes that support building resilience in communities. Finally, the knowledge generated in the project will contribute to the development of curricula of various educational programmes at Breda University of Applied Sciences by expanding the scope of experience design into the area of people-to-people relationships.
The Jean Monnet Chair in Sustainable EU Economy is a teaching and research position awarded by the European Commission to Dr Beata Kviatek and is hosted by the International Business School at Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, the Netherlands. It is the first time that the Jean Monnet Chair is hosted by a university of applied sciences.Project descriptionThe Jean Monnet Chair is awarded to professors with an excellent profile and expertise in European Union studies, following a positive evaluation of the candidate and the proposed actions by independent experts as excellent with regard to the relevance, quality, and impact. The implementation of the proposed actions is supported by a three-year grant, co-financed by the Erasmus Plus Programme of the European Union and the hosting organisation.GoalsThe Jean Monnet Chair in Sustainable EU Economy, led by Dr Beata Kviatek, aims to:develop knowledge on EU efforts to develop a low carbon, more resource efficient, strong and resilient economy that supports the development of a climate-neutral, green, fair and social Europe;enhance, innovate and promote excellence in teaching and research on European integration and sustainable EU economy at universities of applied sciences and, in particular, business schools;foster dialogue and exchanges of ideas between the academic world, policy makers, businesses, and society at large by providing a meeting place for debate, sharing of knowledge and people-to-people dialogue on European integration and sustainable EU economy.ValorisationThe Jean Monnet Chair (JMC) in Sustainable EU Economy is important because it addresses the challenges society faces by linking local and regional actions with national and European goals for sustainability.The JMC generates knowledge and insights for policy-makers, promotes excellence in teaching and research, fosters a dialogue between the academic world and society, and reaches out to the wider public. In that way the Jean Monnet Chair creates value for the hosting organization as well as the region.The Chair brings the knowledge on EU leadership in sustainability worldwide and the EU priorities and policies for sustainable economy to the classroom and provides guidelines for its broader integration into the business curriculum of higher education. This allows to innovate and update the business curriculum in order to meet the growing need for well-educated, competent professionals who are familiar with a European perspective.The Jean Monnet Chair provides a platform for meeting, debate, and knowledge sharing. In that way the Chair strengthens the social engagement of Hanze UAS locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, and contributes to the implementation of the Hanze UAS mission and the Strategic Plan.The Hanze motto “share your talent. move the world.” is leading in the work programme of the Jean Monnet Chair that includes promotion of excellence in teaching and research of sustainable EU economy and sharing the gained experience and knowledge with other international business schools and universities.
