Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 2012
This article describes a qualitative synthesis of published research on cancer patients' experien... more This article describes a qualitative synthesis of published research on cancer patients' experiences of complementary therapies. We conducted a systematic search for qualitative studies on this subject published between 1998 and 2007. Twenty-six refereed journal articles met the inclusion criteria. These 26 articles were repeatedly read by the research team and key concepts emerging from them were identified. Differences and variations were examined in association with treatment, therapy type and by stage of cancer (early stage, mid-treatment, advanced cancer, palliative care and long term 'survivors'). Six overarching concepts were located, which describe the key aspects of patients' experiences of the use of complementary and alternative medicine after a diagnosis of cancer: Connection; Control; Well-being; Transformation; Integration; and Polarization. These are described in a 'line of argument' synthesis, and differences associated with treatment type and stage of disease are noted. The findings are presented in a table showing the six concepts according to treatment type and stage; as a composite story; and in a diagrammatic model showing the individual, practitioner and organizational levels. The synthesis identified various specific ways in which complementary therapies supported cancer patients, as well as occasional negative effects. The most notable barrier was the perceived polarization of complementary therapies and biomedicine; patients reported better experiences in integrated settings.
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1999
This article explores the orientations of young people (aged 18-30) to family and employment. We ... more This article explores the orientations of young people (aged 18-30) to family and employment. We draw on data collected as part of a qualitative transnational study conducted in five European countries: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Norway, and Sweden. The young people who participated in this study were either employed, in education or training programs, or unemployed. Some of the
This project extends understanding of the changing contexts in which young parents negotiate the ... more This project extends understanding of the changing contexts in which young parents negotiate the transition to parenthood, based on policy analysis and an international literature review in eight European states and empirical work in seven countries. The overall objective was to examine qualitatively how young European women and men negotiate motherhood and fatherhood and workfamily boundaries and how this impacts on their well-being, in the context of different national welfare state regimes, substantial organisational change, and family and employer support. Eleven organisational case studies were conducted in private (mostly finance) and public (social services) sector workplaces, followed by home based biographical interviews with selected parents and some of their partners. New parents in this study managed work and care in particularly intense, competitive and pressured contexts amid rapid workplace changes and especially the increasingly demanding workloads reported in all th...
Abstract: Este artigo analisa as perspectivas e experiências de emprego dos jovens, relativamente... more Abstract: Este artigo analisa as perspectivas e experiências de emprego dos jovens, relativamente a uma gestão futura do trabalho e da vida familiar, tendo por base uma série de entrevistas de grupo focalizadas realizadas em cinco países europeus. Foram discutidas algumas das consequências que, quer a insegurança objectiva, quer a noção de incerteza pode ter nos jovens. Foram particularmente tidas em conta as expectativas e representações dos jovens acerca do trabalho, a experiência destes em horários ...
The relationship between flexible working arrangements and the gender pay gap is explored in this... more The relationship between flexible working arrangements and the gender pay gap is explored in this article, based on a study of flexible working arrangements among Chartered Accountants in Britain. Individual interviews with 50 participants provided details on working patterns, flexibility policies and practices, and experiences of flexible working.The article considers whether gender-neutral discourses of flexible working succeed in encouraging more men and non-parents to use flexible working arrangements, thereby potentially reducing the gender pay gap. The study highlighted gendered patterns of take-up of flexible working. Women who worked flexibly or part time typically did so to combine working with caring commitments, in ways that damaged their career prospects. In contrast, men typically deferred working flexibly to a later stage when their career had progressed further. There was therefore a clear impact on current and future salary for women taking up flexible working arrangements, which was not equivalent for the men who did so. In this context, the promotion of flexible working arrangements is reinforcing the gender pay gap.
The notion of the "psychological contract" was first coined by to refer to employer and employee ... more The notion of the "psychological contract" was first coined by to refer to employer and employee expectations of the employment relationship, i.e. mutual obligations, values, expectations and aspirations that operate over and above the formal contract of employment. Since then there have been many attempts to develop and refine this concept. Historically, the concept can be viewed as an extension of philosophical concepts of social contract theory (Schein, 1980;. The social contract, which deals with the origins of the state, supposes that individuals voluntarily consent to belonging to an organised society, with attendant constraints and rights. Argyris (1960) used the concept to describe an implicit agreement between a group of employees and their supervisor. Other influential early writers such as , used the concept to describe the set of expectations and obligations that individual employees spoke of when talking about their work experience. They identified a number of different types of employee expectations, held both consciously (for example expectations about job performance, security, and financial rewards) and unconsciously (for example being looked after by the employer). Roehling (1997) credits with explicitly recognising the dynamic relationship of the psychological contract: contracts evolve or change over time as a result of changing needs and relationships on both the employee's and the employer's side. Schein (1965) emphasised the importance of the psychological contract concept in understanding and managing behaviour in organisations. He argued that expectations may not be written into any formal agreement but operate powerfully as determinants of behaviour. For example, an employer may expect a worker not to harm the company's public image, and an employee may expect not to be made redundant after many years' service. Like , Schein emphasised that the psychological contract will change over time.
International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 2014
ABSTRACT This paper explores the use of focus group methodology as part of a life course approach... more ABSTRACT This paper explores the use of focus group methodology as part of a life course approach building on Julia Brannen’s pioneering work in these two areas. Much life course research uses individual interviews, including biographical interview techniques. It is less usual to find focus groups used within the life course perspective. This paper draws on a PhD study of young British and Asian adults’ experiences of the transition from university to full-time employment, using focus groups as part of a multi-method approach, within a life course perspective. The study drew explicitly on Julia Brannen’s approach to life course transitions. Three focus group excerpts are presented and discussed to illustrate how focus group data can further the understanding of the ways in which a group of peers discuss the transition to work and especially future work–life balance. We show how focus group discussions about individual choice for future work and ‘life’ or ‘lifestyle’ can highlight shared assumptions of this birth cohort group as well as areas of disagreement and contention, rooted in both individual experiences and societal and socio-cultural expectations. We relate this to Julia Brannen’s conceptualisation of the three different modalities which young people draw on to talk about the future.
This project extends understanding of the changing contexts in which young parents negotiate the ... more This project extends understanding of the changing contexts in which young parents negotiate the transition to parenthood, based on policy analysis and an international literature review in eight European states and empirical work in seven countries. The overall objective was to examine qualitatively how young European women and men negotiate motherhood and fatherhood and workfamily boundaries and how this impacts on their well-being, in the context of different national welfare state regimes, substantial organisational change, and family and employer support. Eleven organisational case studies were conducted in private (mostly finance) and public (social services) sector workplaces, followed by home based biographical interviews with selected parents and some of their partners.
This article explores young European women and men’s expectations of support - from the state and... more This article explores young European women and men’s expectations of support - from the state and employers - for reconciling paid employment and family life. It is based on a qualitative study employing focus groups with young women and men in Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Ireland and the UK. Drawing on the concept of sense of entitlement, derived from social justice
The paper examines young adults' perspectives on and experiences of job insecurity, including bot... more The paper examines young adults' perspectives on and experiences of job insecurity, including both objective insecurity and perceived uncertainty, as they emerged in a series of focus groups and interviews. It discusses young adults' changing notions of security and career, effects of insecurity and uncertainty on planning future work and non work lives for people with different levels of occupational skills and qualifications, the gendered effects of insecurity and the impact of insecure employment on attitudes to employers. The impact of perceptions and experiences of job insecurity on young men and women's expectations of work are considered in terms of a changing psychological contract.
gender and language from a feminist perspective. In so doing, we engage in the recent series of e... more gender and language from a feminist perspective. In so doing, we engage in the recent series of exchanges about conversation analysis (CA) and other strands of discourse analysis that have been published in Discourse & Society. We consider talk from two sets of discourse data, focusing on participants' orientation to gender categories as they crop up in the interactions. We suggest that a CA approach produces a rich understanding of the links between discourse and gender. However, we are critical of several, often unexamined aspects and conundrums of conversation analytic methodology. First, we consider the extent to which the 'analytic stances' of feminism and conversation analysis are compatible. Second, we question whether, as Schegloff (1997) suggests, it is fruitful to rely on descriptions of and orientations to gender solely in participants' terms, as well as problematizing the notion of 'orienting to gender' itself. Finally, while we propose CA is a useful tool for making claims about the relevance of gender in conversational interaction, and that such claims are grounded in speakers' orientations, we suggest that culture and common-sense knowledge, of both members and analysts, are largely unacknowledged and unexplicated resources in CA.
Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 2012
This article describes a qualitative synthesis of published research on cancer patients' experien... more This article describes a qualitative synthesis of published research on cancer patients' experiences of complementary therapies. We conducted a systematic search for qualitative studies on this subject published between 1998 and 2007. Twenty-six refereed journal articles met the inclusion criteria. These 26 articles were repeatedly read by the research team and key concepts emerging from them were identified. Differences and variations were examined in association with treatment, therapy type and by stage of cancer (early stage, mid-treatment, advanced cancer, palliative care and long term 'survivors'). Six overarching concepts were located, which describe the key aspects of patients' experiences of the use of complementary and alternative medicine after a diagnosis of cancer: Connection; Control; Well-being; Transformation; Integration; and Polarization. These are described in a 'line of argument' synthesis, and differences associated with treatment type and stage of disease are noted. The findings are presented in a table showing the six concepts according to treatment type and stage; as a composite story; and in a diagrammatic model showing the individual, practitioner and organizational levels. The synthesis identified various specific ways in which complementary therapies supported cancer patients, as well as occasional negative effects. The most notable barrier was the perceived polarization of complementary therapies and biomedicine; patients reported better experiences in integrated settings.
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1999
This article explores the orientations of young people (aged 18-30) to family and employment. We ... more This article explores the orientations of young people (aged 18-30) to family and employment. We draw on data collected as part of a qualitative transnational study conducted in five European countries: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Norway, and Sweden. The young people who participated in this study were either employed, in education or training programs, or unemployed. Some of the
This project extends understanding of the changing contexts in which young parents negotiate the ... more This project extends understanding of the changing contexts in which young parents negotiate the transition to parenthood, based on policy analysis and an international literature review in eight European states and empirical work in seven countries. The overall objective was to examine qualitatively how young European women and men negotiate motherhood and fatherhood and workfamily boundaries and how this impacts on their well-being, in the context of different national welfare state regimes, substantial organisational change, and family and employer support. Eleven organisational case studies were conducted in private (mostly finance) and public (social services) sector workplaces, followed by home based biographical interviews with selected parents and some of their partners. New parents in this study managed work and care in particularly intense, competitive and pressured contexts amid rapid workplace changes and especially the increasingly demanding workloads reported in all th...
Abstract: Este artigo analisa as perspectivas e experiências de emprego dos jovens, relativamente... more Abstract: Este artigo analisa as perspectivas e experiências de emprego dos jovens, relativamente a uma gestão futura do trabalho e da vida familiar, tendo por base uma série de entrevistas de grupo focalizadas realizadas em cinco países europeus. Foram discutidas algumas das consequências que, quer a insegurança objectiva, quer a noção de incerteza pode ter nos jovens. Foram particularmente tidas em conta as expectativas e representações dos jovens acerca do trabalho, a experiência destes em horários ...
The relationship between flexible working arrangements and the gender pay gap is explored in this... more The relationship between flexible working arrangements and the gender pay gap is explored in this article, based on a study of flexible working arrangements among Chartered Accountants in Britain. Individual interviews with 50 participants provided details on working patterns, flexibility policies and practices, and experiences of flexible working.The article considers whether gender-neutral discourses of flexible working succeed in encouraging more men and non-parents to use flexible working arrangements, thereby potentially reducing the gender pay gap. The study highlighted gendered patterns of take-up of flexible working. Women who worked flexibly or part time typically did so to combine working with caring commitments, in ways that damaged their career prospects. In contrast, men typically deferred working flexibly to a later stage when their career had progressed further. There was therefore a clear impact on current and future salary for women taking up flexible working arrangements, which was not equivalent for the men who did so. In this context, the promotion of flexible working arrangements is reinforcing the gender pay gap.
The notion of the "psychological contract" was first coined by to refer to employer and employee ... more The notion of the "psychological contract" was first coined by to refer to employer and employee expectations of the employment relationship, i.e. mutual obligations, values, expectations and aspirations that operate over and above the formal contract of employment. Since then there have been many attempts to develop and refine this concept. Historically, the concept can be viewed as an extension of philosophical concepts of social contract theory (Schein, 1980;. The social contract, which deals with the origins of the state, supposes that individuals voluntarily consent to belonging to an organised society, with attendant constraints and rights. Argyris (1960) used the concept to describe an implicit agreement between a group of employees and their supervisor. Other influential early writers such as , used the concept to describe the set of expectations and obligations that individual employees spoke of when talking about their work experience. They identified a number of different types of employee expectations, held both consciously (for example expectations about job performance, security, and financial rewards) and unconsciously (for example being looked after by the employer). Roehling (1997) credits with explicitly recognising the dynamic relationship of the psychological contract: contracts evolve or change over time as a result of changing needs and relationships on both the employee's and the employer's side. Schein (1965) emphasised the importance of the psychological contract concept in understanding and managing behaviour in organisations. He argued that expectations may not be written into any formal agreement but operate powerfully as determinants of behaviour. For example, an employer may expect a worker not to harm the company's public image, and an employee may expect not to be made redundant after many years' service. Like , Schein emphasised that the psychological contract will change over time.
International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 2014
ABSTRACT This paper explores the use of focus group methodology as part of a life course approach... more ABSTRACT This paper explores the use of focus group methodology as part of a life course approach building on Julia Brannen’s pioneering work in these two areas. Much life course research uses individual interviews, including biographical interview techniques. It is less usual to find focus groups used within the life course perspective. This paper draws on a PhD study of young British and Asian adults’ experiences of the transition from university to full-time employment, using focus groups as part of a multi-method approach, within a life course perspective. The study drew explicitly on Julia Brannen’s approach to life course transitions. Three focus group excerpts are presented and discussed to illustrate how focus group data can further the understanding of the ways in which a group of peers discuss the transition to work and especially future work–life balance. We show how focus group discussions about individual choice for future work and ‘life’ or ‘lifestyle’ can highlight shared assumptions of this birth cohort group as well as areas of disagreement and contention, rooted in both individual experiences and societal and socio-cultural expectations. We relate this to Julia Brannen’s conceptualisation of the three different modalities which young people draw on to talk about the future.
This project extends understanding of the changing contexts in which young parents negotiate the ... more This project extends understanding of the changing contexts in which young parents negotiate the transition to parenthood, based on policy analysis and an international literature review in eight European states and empirical work in seven countries. The overall objective was to examine qualitatively how young European women and men negotiate motherhood and fatherhood and workfamily boundaries and how this impacts on their well-being, in the context of different national welfare state regimes, substantial organisational change, and family and employer support. Eleven organisational case studies were conducted in private (mostly finance) and public (social services) sector workplaces, followed by home based biographical interviews with selected parents and some of their partners.
This article explores young European women and men’s expectations of support - from the state and... more This article explores young European women and men’s expectations of support - from the state and employers - for reconciling paid employment and family life. It is based on a qualitative study employing focus groups with young women and men in Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Ireland and the UK. Drawing on the concept of sense of entitlement, derived from social justice
The paper examines young adults' perspectives on and experiences of job insecurity, including bot... more The paper examines young adults' perspectives on and experiences of job insecurity, including both objective insecurity and perceived uncertainty, as they emerged in a series of focus groups and interviews. It discusses young adults' changing notions of security and career, effects of insecurity and uncertainty on planning future work and non work lives for people with different levels of occupational skills and qualifications, the gendered effects of insecurity and the impact of insecure employment on attitudes to employers. The impact of perceptions and experiences of job insecurity on young men and women's expectations of work are considered in terms of a changing psychological contract.
gender and language from a feminist perspective. In so doing, we engage in the recent series of e... more gender and language from a feminist perspective. In so doing, we engage in the recent series of exchanges about conversation analysis (CA) and other strands of discourse analysis that have been published in Discourse & Society. We consider talk from two sets of discourse data, focusing on participants' orientation to gender categories as they crop up in the interactions. We suggest that a CA approach produces a rich understanding of the links between discourse and gender. However, we are critical of several, often unexamined aspects and conundrums of conversation analytic methodology. First, we consider the extent to which the 'analytic stances' of feminism and conversation analysis are compatible. Second, we question whether, as Schegloff (1997) suggests, it is fruitful to rely on descriptions of and orientations to gender solely in participants' terms, as well as problematizing the notion of 'orienting to gender' itself. Finally, while we propose CA is a useful tool for making claims about the relevance of gender in conversational interaction, and that such claims are grounded in speakers' orientations, we suggest that culture and common-sense knowledge, of both members and analysts, are largely unacknowledged and unexplicated resources in CA.
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Papers by Janet Smithson