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Disputing Discipline explores how global and local children’s rights activists’ efforts within the school systems of Zanzibar to eradicate corporal punishment are changing the archipelago’s moral and political landscape. Through an equal consideration of child and adult perspectives, Fay explores what child protection means for Zanzibari children who have to negotiate their lives at the intersections of universalized and local child protection aspirations while growing up to be pious and responsible adults. Through a visual and participatory ethnographic approach that foregrounds young people’s voices through their poetry, photographs, and drawings, paired with in-depth Swahili language analysis, Fay shows how children’s views and experiences can transform our understanding of child protection. This book demonstrates that to improve interventions, policy makers and practitioners need to understand child protection beyond a policy sense of the term and respond to the reality of children’s lives to avoid unintentionally compromising, rather than improving, young people’s well-being.  

The nature of events demand uniqueness and memorability, but the specific elements of experience that produce these have not been deeply examined, particularly over the course of the event experience. Much of this relies heavily on event places and the social relations they facilitate. This research used the concept of temporary communitas and built on the event experience scale (EES) through an ethnographic study of an iconic multiday, spectator-driven sporting event. Solicited participant diaries of eight friends and family who traveled to attend the 2017 Boxing Day Ashes Test in Melbourne, Australia were collected pre-, during, and postevent to capture the event experience as it emerged over time. Qualitative analysis of the ethnographic accounts revealed four event experience themes ( competition , emotions and atmosphere, special experience, and interactions ), which collectively were connected to a strong sense of temporary communitas. These themes were evident across the event cycle, providing insight into the nuances of the event experience, and highlighting the importance of understanding the social relations generated in the event place pre- and postevent. Consequently, it is suggested that revision to the existing EES instrument is required to more comprehensively assess for temporary communitas as part of the event experience. Future studies could usefully test the factor structure of the EES with and without the suggested additional temporary communitas items and compare both models on the basis of their reliability and validity.

Little is known about the usage, adoption process and long-term effects of domestic service robots in people’s homes. We investigated the usage, acceptance and process of adoption of a vacuum cleaning robot in nine households by means of a six month ethnographic study. Our major goals were to explore how the robot was used and integrated into daily practices, whether it was adopted in a durable way, and how it impacted its environment. We studied people’s perception of the robot and how it evolved over time, kept track of daily routines, the usage patterns of cleaning tools, and social activities related to the robot. We integrated our results in an existing framework for domestic robot adoption and outlined similarities and differences to it. Finally, we identified several factors that promote or hinder the process of adopting a domestic service robot and make suggestions to further improve human-robot interactions and the design of functional home robots toward long-term acceptance.

To transition to a fully digital workflow, a pathology department in a German university hospital reorganized its processes, upgrading and integrating new technologies such as an updated laboratory information system and high-throughput scanners. While the visions of digital pathology follow a \"promissory rhetoric\" of improved patient care, studies name technological and professional challenges of digital pathology. We examined the experiences of the pathology staff with the digital transformation process from an occupational health perspective, focusing on the mutual influences between digital transformation and work-related psychosocial demands and resources. The purpose of this study was to explore the interactions between occupational health and digital transformation in the workplace based on a holistic analysis of an ongoing digital transformation process. We conducted participant observation, focus groups, qualitative interviews, and document analysis using an ethnographic research design. The pathology department had approximately 100 employees. More than 30 pathology staff members and supervisors from the diagnostics, laboratory, quality management, administration, and IT areas participated. Data were collected in 3 field phases between July 2022 and December 2023, representing different stages of the digital transformation. Data were analyzed using the reflexive thematic analysis method of Braun and Clarke. In addition, 2 member-checking workshops were conducted with the entire pathology team. We identified 2 key themes and 7 subthemes. The 2 key themes were (1) highly demanding work in a complex system that does not fit and (2) striving for steadiness in an open-ended process. What we found was that the pathology department under study experienced a digital transformation process with scarce human, time, and technological resources. The results showed that the process was at the expense of the people. Digital transformation remained a compromise and did not (yet) deliver on the promise of increased work efficiency and reduced workload. The demand-resource mismatch emerged as a major digital transformation stressor. However, the slower transformation was leveraged by the pathology staff to improve the organizational culture and (again) find creative workarounds. Digital transformation led to the renegotiation of work roles and identity. It also led to the creation of a new network of connections through the implementation of new technologies but also through the creation of new forms of team communication. The modernization of the health care system is necessary, but it risks taking place under inadequate working conditions. Increased work intensity and perceived psychosocial stress during the transformation process threaten to drive even more people out of the health care system. Therefore, protecting the occupational health of the people implementing digital transformation should be at the core of planning digital transformation projects.

Quality assurance (QA) is considered a critical component in higher education institutions (HEIs) and their academic programmes in the twenty-first century. Despite significant investments to enhance QA in HEIs, contemporary research suggests that QA systems may not always meet the expectations of HEI stakeholders. The literature review suggests that differing interpretations of ‘quality’ in HE can impact the progress of QA and related issues. This study, therefore, aims to empirically investigate the reality of QA in HEIs, specifically how it is perceived and implemented in these institutions. Additionally, it seeks to identify challenges impacting the success of QA and propose practical solutions that may improve QA systems in HEIs. Applying a qualitative ethnographic approach, this research includes in-depth interviews with 53 participants, both participant and non-participant observations, and document analyses at three universities (two public and one private), as well as related QA agencies. The findings of this study offer a range of theoretical and practical insights. Most notably, they contribute to the existing literature on QA and HEIs by providing detailed evidence of the contentious aspects of QA and their implications, particularly regarding the understanding and implications of QA in HEIs from the perspective of relevant participants. Furthermore, the study provides QA policymakers (both external and internal), staff, and general members of HEIs with various challenges and practical solutions for enhancing awareness and engagement with QA issues. Finally, the conclusion and implications section outlines key areas for future research in different contexts of the world.

Older adults with intellectual disabilities are not adequately prepared for ageing and show anxiety and uncertainty regarding the future. Therefore, the two-year educational intervention “Good Life in Old Age” was implemented to improve their understanding of ageing and enhance their well-being. This study aimed to explore the meaning of ageing during and after the intervention from the perspective of older adults with mild intellectual disability. The ethnographic design included participant observations, field notes, group interviews, and individual follow-up interviews with 20 adults aged 44–75 (mean 63.2) with intellectual disabilities. The main findings are expressed in four themes; Awareness of ageing with intellectual disabilities, Strengthened as a person through empowering community, Awareness of vulnerability as an older adult, and The educational intervention as a resource to manage vulnerability. The education programme created a social network for healthy ageing with an atmosphere of mutual support fostering greater mental strength and self-confidence. Individual retirement plans should be created to foster socialisation, involving adapted activities and conversations about bereavement and death. There is a need to disseminate and continue developing promising education programmes for older adults with intellectual disabilities to reduce their anxiety about retirement and loneliness and facilitate healthy ageing.

Electronic prescription (EP) systems are supported by health authorities worldwide, and most European countries have started implementing or have fully implemented such systems. However, few studies have explored how EP systems affect the work of health care professionals (HCPs) across institutions and levels in health and care services. This study aims to explore changes in HCPs' roles, tasks, and responsibilities related to medication management by following a national EP system through different contexts and levels in health and care services. Through a qualitative study with an ethnographic approach, including participant observations and individual interviews, this study followed an EP technology in an intermediate unit, an emergency unit at a hospital, and a municipal home care service in Norway. Participant observations were conducted for 6 weeks in the intermediate unit, the emergency unit at the hospital, and the home care service. During the observations, 20 individual interviews with HCPs were conducted. For the analysis, we leaned on a stepwise-deductive inductive approach, using the concepts of delegation and enabler as theoretical tools to explore how roles, tasks, and responsibilities were being distributed within the sociotechnical system of which EP formed part. The results showed that physicians were overall satisfied with the Norwegian EP system and expressed satisfaction that some of their previous tasks were now delegated to the EP system, allowing a more efficient workflow on their side. In contrast, the home care service managing medication on their patients' behalf described several challenges and reported an increased workload related to medication management. Home care nurses often became mediators between the general practitioners and the pharmacies to ensure patient safety. The home care nurses also developed EP-based work-arounds to enable the Norwegian EP system to work. This study revealed that Norwegian the EP systems altered daily medication management routines, removing tasks from physicians and creating and delegating new roles, tasks, and responsibilities to home care nurses. Drawing on theoretical concepts (delegation and enabler), this study offers insights into the changing distribution of roles, tasks, and responsibilities following in the wake of implementing national EP systems.

Background Resilient healthcare organizations maintain critical functions and high-quality care under varying conditions. While previous research has focused on the activities of frontline healthcare professionals working at the “sharp end” of care, less attention has been paid to managers at the top management level. More knowledge is needed to fully understand how the managers align demand and capacity at the “blunt end” of care. Therefore, this study aimed to explore how top managers work to align demand and capacity in a healthcare region in Sweden. Methods Observations of management team meetings, interviews, and conversations were conducted with top managers responsible for healthcare in one of Sweden’s 21 regions. Data collection used an ethnographic approach. Data were analyzed using qualitative reflexive thematic analysis. Results The data showed how alignment work was done through active reflection that built on past experiences and on structures built into the organization at the same time as taking future potential outcomes and consequences into account. In addition to collaborative, preventive, supportive, and contextualizing work, which was conducted in the present, a general approach permeated the organization, which enabled connecting actions, i.e., different forms of alignment work, occurring at different points in time, and connecting different types of knowledge across organizational borders and stakeholders. Conclusion This study explored how top managers work to align demand and capacity in a healthcare region in Sweden. It was shown how four categories of work; collaborative, preventive, supportive and contextualization work, together with a general approach; focusing on opportunities, building on a stable past and taking a reflective stance, constitute alignment in practice. More; the alignment work was done in the here and now, with both the past and future in mind. The ability to take action to benefit the whole is a possibility and a responsibility for top management. In the region studied, this was done by aligning demands with capacity based on past experiences and focusing on the available opportunities to connect knowledge needed within and across organizational borders.

This article offers an exemplary case of grand corruption in Mexico, narrating the story of how a series of actors and institutions at all levels collaborated to obtain favours, while dispossessing an agrarian community of its property rights, and replacing its elected Commissariat with a person of their choice, paying him the equivalent of US$3 million. This manoeuvre gave right of way to President Peña Nieto's interurban train, at the risk of ruining the community's water supply. The study argues that we should distinguish the concept of grand from that of petty corruption. It sees neopatrimonialism as a subtype of grand corruption, describing complex networks of actors across several institutions and levels, which operate the corrupt practices, with agency at all levels. President López Obrador won the 2018 election on a promise to fight corruption. This study illustrates the difficulties he will encounter trying to realize this promise, while suggesting that combatting impunity would constitute a promising start. Este artículo ofrece un caso ejemplar de gran corrupción en México. Narra la historia de cómo una serie de actores e instituciones de todos los niveles colaboraron para obtener favores, mientras despojaban de sus derechos de propiedad a una comunidad agraria y reemplazaban a su comisariado electo por una persona de su preferencia, pagándole el equivalente a 3 millones de dólares estadounidenses. Esta maniobra dió paso al tren interurbano del Presidente Peña Nieto, a riesgo de arruinar el suministro de agua de la comunidad. El estudio argumenta que debemos distinguir el concepto de gran corrupción del de corrupción menor. Considera el neopatrimonialismo como un subtipo de gran corrupción, que describe redes complejas de actores en varias instituciones y niveles, que operan bajo prácticas corruptas, con agencia en todos los niveles. El presidente López Obrador ganó las elecciones de 2018 con la promesa de luchar contra la corrupción. Este estudio ilustra las dificultades que encontrará al tratar de cumplir esta promesa, mientras sugiere que combatir la impunidad constituiría un comienzo prometedor.