Qualitative Account Research Articles

Understanding the illness representations of young people with anxiety and depression: A qualitative study.

Many young people with anxiety or depression drop out of treatment early, and/or leave treatment without showing measurably improved symptom levels. To enhance treatment engagement and effectiveness, it is critical to better understand how young people's perceptions of the symptoms, causes, consequences, treatability, and course of their anxiety and depression influence engagement. This study aimed to provide a qualitative account of illness perceptions among youth with anxiety and depression by applying the Common Sense Model of Self-Regulation (CSM), which was developed in physical health contexts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 young people (aged 16-24, 73% female) with a history of anxiety and/or depression. Interviews were analysed using a combination of theory- and data-driven analysis techniques, consisting primarily of deductive thematic analysis. The five themes broadly mapped onto the dimensions of the CSM, suggesting parallels in how mental and physical health problems are perceived. Anxiety and depression were viewed as non-linear, relapsing and remitting, but lifelong conditions, with a fluctuating and complex path to recovery and coping. Youth described pervasive negative impacts on their lives, but also described some positive aspects. Better understanding of young people's illness beliefs has the potential to open a range of intervention possibilities by prioritizing young people's illness perceptions over the clinician's understanding and the supposed objective condition severity and trajectory. Although this study supported a common structure of illness beliefs, the content of these beliefs was idiosyncratic and specific to anxiety and depression, suggesting the need to develop a valid tool to measure illness perceptions in this group. Our findings suggest that illness perceptions are complex, highly idiosyncratic, and specific to youth anxiety and depression. Given the complexity of these beliefs and the known association with important treatment- and health-related outcomes, it is important that clinical formulation incorporates young people's illness belief models, including their perceptions of symptoms, cause, timeline to recovery, consequences, and personal and treatment control. To increase help-seeking, treatment engagement and adaptive coping strategies, therapy should work to a shared understanding of illness beliefs. Increasing congruence between the belief models of young people, families, and clinicians may serve to improve treatment benefits and address the unmet mental health needs of young people.

Encapsulation Characteristics of Cavitand Type Tetrabromo-Functionalized Resorcin[4]arenes in the Crystal Structure

Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis of upper rim functionalized tetrabromo-resorcin[4]arenes are presented and their guest encapsulation abilities are discussed. The Br-atoms either attached directly to resorcinarene rim or extended by methylene group (CH2–Br). The substituents on the upper-rim plays an important role in the guest encapsulation characteristic of the resorcinarene cavity. In the crystal structure the host–guest supramolecular systems were stabilized by C–H⋯O, C–H⋯π and C⋯H···Br nonbonding interactions. The Hirshfeld surfaces analysis and the related 2D fingerprint plots provided qualitative and quantitative account of the various supramolecular non-bonding interactions present within the crystal. Guest encapsulation characteristic of tetrabromo-functionalized resorcin[4]arenes.

Parliamentary Representation in Six European Right-Wing Sovereignist Parties: Resemblance or Innovation?

AbstractThe appeal to the re-appropriation of national sovereignty has recently become the unifying trait of a heterogeneous group of right-wing parties. The underlying reasoning behind this claim is that globalised elites ignore the needs of the people—defined as a restricted and ethnically homogeneous group of natives—they are supposed to represent. After defining the perimeter of this party cluster, including populist, national conservatives and extreme-right parties, this article explores the extent to which the adoption of similar political platforms might also be reflected in a convergence of parliamentary party articulations. A qualitative account of the evolution of parliamentary representation in a few right-wing parties from Italy, Hungary and the Netherlands shows that a two-way street of institutionalisation might be at play in the complex balance between uncompromising grassroots components and a more pragmatic institutional component.

A Qualitative Account of Young People's Experiences Seeking Care from Emergency Departments for Self-Harm.

Many young people who engage in self-harm do not seek help from health services. For those that do, emergency departments (EDs) are a key point of contact. Substantial gaps remain in current knowledge related to young consumers’ experiences and views on optimal treatment of self-harm in the ED. In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirteen young people (Mage = 21.2 years), who were engaged with care at headspace early intervention centers and had presented to an ED with a self-inflicted physical injury. Participants were asked to describe their experience in the ED and the care they received. Data were analyzed thematically. Three inter-related themes were identified: 1. The ED was experienced through a lens of significant distress, 2. The ED environment and processes were counter-therapeutic, and 3. Staff were perceived to be disinterested, dismissive, and lacking in knowledge. The study highlights the overwhelmingly negative nature of participants’ experiences, and presents recommendations for service and practice improvements, such as the provision of staff training and increased aftercare.

FINANCIALIZED GENTRIFICATION AND CLASS COMPOSITION IN THE POST‐INDUSTRIAL CITY: A Rent Strike Against a Real Estate Investment Trust in Hamilton, Ontario

Through a case study of a rent strike against a real estate investment trust in a working-class neighbourhood in Hamilton, Ontario, this article asks how we might understand class and class struggle against financialized gentrification in a post-industrial context. While class has been central to gentrification literature, working-class experience and struggle have often been ignored or conceptualized in a way that precludes agency. New research on financialization of housing often focuses on struggles but has so far paid limited attention to class. In this article I draw on Italian operaismo (workerism) and its concept of class composition to contribute to the current debate by suggesting that financialized gentrification and struggles against it might contribute to a recomposition of the urban working class. Through a qualitative account of the 2018 East Hamilton rent strike, I analyse this struggle as two moments of class composition in the sphere of social reproduction. First, the extraction, exploitation and displacement pressure tenants experienced is analysed through the lens of technical class composition. Second, the rent strike itself is analysed as an expression of political class composition involving a confrontation of urban capital, a politicization of housing precarity, and the building of collective, autonomous power.

Lived Experiences of Racism Among Child Welfare-Involved Parents

The problem of racism has always been a pervasive issue deeply rooted in the fabric of our country. Many of our established social and human services have been structured based on the insidious nature of racism and oppression. The Child Welfare System (CWS) is not exempt and race-based inequities experienced by CWS-involved Black and Latinx families remain persistent and harmful. This article presents a qualitative account that underscores the lived experiences of racism among CWS-involved parents. Two emergent themes are highlighted: (1) the impact of CWS surveillance and oversight and (2) perceptions of race-based mistreatment and unfair judgment. In-depth interviews were conducted with 17 primarily Black and Latinx parents in order to investigate their perceptions regarding CWS oversight and ways in which their minority status played a role in how they were treated. There is inherent racism in the surveillance, reporting and assessment, and resulting determinations regarding Black and Latinx people in the child welfare system. This manifests in service delivery practices underpinned by an unbalanced power dynamic between caseworkers and parents. Overall, parents expressed feeling disrespected, fearful of family disruption, shamed and judged based on implicit biases. Implications for policy and system changes are discussed, including a call to include the voices of historically disenfranchised Black and Latinx CWS-involved families.

An Informal Education Intervention in Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic: Homework Mentorships in a Berlin Refugee Shelter

The Covid-19 pandemic and resulting damage is often portrayed in staggering numbers and statistics. This article offers, by contrast, a personal and qualitative account of employees, volunteers, and young residents at a refugee home in Berlin, Germany. Through the story of a boy who has spent the past 4 years in several of Berlin’s 84 remaining refugee accommodations, we examine the inequalities that already existed in Germany and how the pandemic has exacerbated them. To provide ample context, we critically assess the so-called Welcome Classes that children and teens have been attending since their arrival to the country in or around 2015 and argue that the segregation experienced at school mirrors the isolation from the host society that refugees and people seeking asylum are subjected to residentially. We then present an emergency response to school closures: A digital homework mentorship program designed to mitigate the heightened barriers to social interaction and access to education brought about by the pandemic. We explore the sociocultural theory underpinning the program, describe its methods, and offer a qualitative evaluation of the results. Finally, we discuss how the informal education intervention helps fill gaps in the system, offering an approach that can be used going forward to promote learning, social-emotional development, and inclusion of young people with migration and refugee backgrounds.

On theoretical engorgement and the myth of fair value accounting in China: a reply

PurposeThis article is a reply to “On theoretical engorgement and the myth of fair value accounting in China” Nobes (2019) from the authors of “Adaptability to fair value accounting in an emerging economy: A case study of China's IRFS convergence” (Peng and Bewley, 2010) and “The Winding Road to Fair Value Accounting in China: A Social Movement Analysis” (Bewley et al., 2018).Design/methodology/approachThis article engages directly with the arguments of the criticism.FindingsThis article argues that the author of the commentary misunderstands the purpose, content and findings of both papers. By providing only a narrowly focused technical analysis of the new Chinese accounting standards, the author fails to see that their qualitative research approach reveals important, complex social and political factors at play in China's attempts to adopt modern international accounting principles. The commentary expresses a view that accounting is a neutral technology that needs only to be clearly defined and enumerated to be correctly implemented, whereas this research takes a much broader and deeper perspective. The authors seek to understand how China was able to successfully adopt fair value accounting standards in 2006, whereas an earlier attempt to introduce fair value in 1998 had led to abuse of fair value measurements and the eventual repeal of fair value regulations in 2001.Practical implicationsThis article helps clarify the purpose of qualitative accounting research, the role of theory in such research and the usefulness of theory in describing and explaining empirical case facts related to changes in accounting standards, particularly in an international context.Originality/valueThis article contributes to a better appreciation of qualitative accounting research.

Application of GIS technologies in quality management of land accounting in Uzbekistan

Qualitative land accounting plays an important role in the efficient use of agricultural land, the targeted placement of crops and the imposition of taxes on land users. Today, the quality of irrigated agricultural land shows the use of traditional methods in determining, assessing and mapping is inefficient in terms of time and cost. This, in turn, increases the need for fast, resource-efficient and science-based methods of modern geographic information system (GIS) technologies to address these issues. This article describes the results of scientific research on the compilation of histogram maps of soil quality indicators and geostatistical analysis using GIS technologies to determine the quality of irrigated agricultural lands. Hereby, the quality of soils was mapped in an automated system using the method of quality colors, the results of geostatistical analysis were converted into cartographic data and a new scale of values was developed. Geostatic analysis was performed in ArcGIS based on agrochemical cartogram data of land contours.

Evolution of risk assessment methods and the possibility of their use in determining the investment and construction projects’ effectiveness

The study is devoted to identifying the main trends in the development of the theory of evaluating the effectiveness of investment and construction linear-extended projects, the implementation of which is carried out with the participation of public investments of different levels, as well as those of socio-economic importance for the construction region and Russia as a whole. Global informatization, penetrating into all spheres of human activity, determines the digital economy formation as an economic activity operating in the digital space. This means that digital material data is a key factor in production, processing of which in large volumes, compared to traditional forms of management, makes it possible to increase the economic activities efficiency. Methods of qualitative and quantitative risk assessment and accounting for the uncertainty of investment projects have been applied. In most theoretical directions, the preference is given to the use of the cost effectiveness criterion; methods of qualitative assessment and risk identification; introduction of modern digital methods of risk assessment and uncertainty accounting (Monte Carlo method, method of integral convolutions of numbers). There is no universal theoretical approach that reveals the investment process essence through the return on investment, which makes it possible to reliably assess the economic efficiency in construction ICP in the digital economy. It was revealed that the implementation of investment and construction projects (ICP) suggests the need to supplement the theoretical foundations, taking into account their specificity in terms of the effects taken into account, as well as uncertainty factors. The development of efficiency theory and, as a consequence, an increase in the basic data collection speed in the digital economy, as well as an increase in the reliability of efficiency estimates due to mathematical methods for quantifying risk and uncertainty. The implementation of investment and construction projects plays an important role in the transport industry.

Aggregate Tone and Gross Domestic Product

We examine whether earnings announcement textual tone, aggregated across individual publicly traded firms, helps to predict future GDP growth. Prior literature shows changes in aggregate accounting earnings are useful in predicting future economic growth, but only when aggregate earnings changes are negative. Because conservative accounting rules limit managers’ ability to communicate positive news in a timely manner, we look to corporate narrative tone as a possible source of timely positive information disseminated by publicly traded firms. Our results show that aggregate tone is useful in predicting future economic growth, but only when the change in aggregate tone is positive. Our study contributes to prior literature by providing initial evidence on the link between qualitative accounting disclosure, accounting timeliness, and macroeconomic outcomes.

Qualitative Accounting Research in the Time of COVID-19 - Changes, Challenges and Opportunities

Purpose – COVID-19 restrictions have severely impacted access to the traditional data and data sources used by qualitative researchers. This paper discusses the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the corresponding challenges and opportunities of conducting qualitative research in accounting. Design/methodology/approach – This study highlights the opportunities opened up by the way the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting qualitative accounting research, discussing the most common qualitative accounting research methods, practices and techniques used during the different phases of research.Findings – The COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping some of the traditional research methods, practices and techniques in qualitative accounting research. Particularly, academic researchers who are reluctant to use the new technologies need to adapt their research approach, deal with the new challenges, and exploit the opportunities to conduct research in a COVID-19 environment. Some changes in research methods, practices and techniques will affect accounting research in the long term.Originality/value – This paper is one of the first to focus on the changes, challenges and opportunities for conducting qualitative accounting research in a COVID-19 setting. As such, this paper could be a valuable resource for different types of qualitative accounting researchers, specifically the discussion of ways to deal with the changes and challenges, as well as the opportunities, as summarised in the table.

Glassy dynamics of sticky hard spheres beyond the mode-coupling regime.

Sticky hard spheres, i.e., hard particles decorated with a short-ranged attractive interaction potential, constitute a relatively simple model with highly non-trivial glassy dynamics. The mode-coupling theory of the glass transition (MCT) offers a qualitative account of the complex reentrant dynamics of sticky hard spheres, but the predicted glass transition point is notoriously underestimated. Here we apply an improved first-principles-based theory, referred to as generalized mode-coupling theory (GMCT), to sticky hard spheres. This theoretical framework seeks to go beyond MCT by hierarchically expanding the dynamics in higher-order density correlation functions. We predict the phase diagrams from the first few levels of the GMCT hierarchy and the dynamics-related critical exponents, all of which are much closer to the empirical observations than MCT. Notably, the prominent reentrant glassy dynamics, the glass–glass transition, and the higher-order bifurcation singularity classes (A3 and A4) of sticky hard spheres are found to be preserved within GMCT at arbitrary order. Moreover, we demonstrate that when the hierarchical order of GMCT increases, the effect of the short-ranged attractive interactions becomes more evident in the dynamics. This implies that GMCT is more sensitive to subtle microstructural differences than MCT, and that the framework provides a promising first-principles approach to systematically go beyond the MCT regime.

ПРОБЛЕМИ ЗБЕРЕЖЕННЯ ТА ОХОРОНИ ЗЕМЕЛЬ НА СУЧАСНОМУ ЕТАПІ

The article deals with the main tasks of land reform. It is noted that over the years of land reform has not been developed no land management documentation of complex nature has been developed at the national and regional levels. Shortcomings in the uneconomical use of land during their redistribution, in particular the occupation of agricultural land, are indicated for non-agricultural purposes. The problems of land protection as a result of "underfulfillment" of land management functions in the course of land reform are determined, and also it was established that the development of not only forecast (pre-project) and planning, but also many types of project has decreased or stopped altogether, working and technical documentation on land management. The problem of ignoring the requirements of the state bodies on the need for special protection of the land fund has been studied. It was established that during the formation of the united territorial communities no land management projects were developed to establish their boundaries, no land management schemes of the united territorial communities were drawn up, no work was carried out on the formation of communal lands in settlements, etc. It is considered that the expansion of the territories of settlements was made in the absence of master plans for their development, without proper justification only on the basis of schemes of establishment of boundaries of local councils, villages, settlements, cities. It is proved that continuous large-scale soil surveys are not carried out for a long time, as a result, the quantitative and qualitative accounting of lands has been neglected, there are no full-fledged updated data for the organization of land monitoring and economic stimulation of soil fertility preservation. settlements have no master plans, no boundaries. It is established that the abolition of the moratorium on the purchase and sale of agricultural land from July 1, 2021 leads to the abolition of the legal norm, namely – prohibiting the owner to dispose of his land ownership. Proposals for the development and implementation of a set of measures at the national, regional and local levels to preserve the main national wealth of the state – land.

A feasibility trial of an instructed breathing course in prison to improve emotion regulation in people with substance use difficulties

ABSTRACT Substance abuse can be associated with difficulties in emotion regulation. It has been proposed that advantageous emotion regulation is positively associated with heart rate variability , and that slow-paced breathing can increase values of heart rate variability. We explored the feasibility of delivering a six-week, slow-paced breathing intervention in a prison setting, and investigated the effects of the intervention on indices of emotion regulation. The final sample consisted of seven male prisoners with histories of illicit substance and alcohol abuse who were identified as presenting with difficulties in emotion regulation. During the instructed breathing sessions, a device provided a visual aid to encourage a cycle of breathing that corresponds to six breaths per minute (i.e., 0.1 Hz). Changes in scores for psychometric measures were analysed with the Reliable and Clinically Significant Change Statistic. Most participants reported improvements in scores for depression, anxiety, and stress. A qualitative account of interviews with participants and factors influencing successful delivery of sessions was also included for the purposes of triangulation and to inform on feasibility. It is concluded that further evaluation of the intervention is feasible, and that the intervention offers promise for improving emotion regulation in offenders with histories of substance use difficulties.

HOUSING POLICY OF A BIG CITY: SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS AND REQUIREMENTS (RESEARCH ON THE EXAMPLE OF IVANO-FRANKIVSK)

Abstract. This article is devoted to the study of the topical problem of qualitative accounting of socio-psychological conditions of human life in residential architecture, namely in the policy of forming the urban environment. The task of this study can be realized by analyzing the regulatory framework, namely, strategies for the socio-economic and spatial development of cities in parts related to housing construction, housing and communal policy, general planning and territorial principles of city development. Systematization and comparison of this information made it possible to single out the factors influencing the formation of design solutions and development in the city. Another important link in this study is the systematization of factors influencing the solution of the problems of forming a living environment. The aim of this study is to characterize the impact of socio-psychological requirements for environmental comfort in the context of housing policy in large cities. In accordance with the purpose of the study, the following tasks were formed: to streamline the system of socio-psychological factors and methods of their accounting in substantiating the housing policy of urban space; to analyze the socio-economic and spatial development strategies of the city of Ivano-Frankivsk for the last 5 years and sectoral documents of the architectural and construction sector and housing policy; to highlight the factors that underlie the formation of housing policy in Ivano-Frankivsk, to develop recommendations for taking into account the psychological aspects of society in the formation of housing policy in cities. The materials of this study are the aging of the socio-economic and spatial development of Ivano-Frankivsk for the last 5 years, as well as industry documents where the prospects for the development of the housing industry and housing policy are formed. The source base of the study to characterize the factors influencing the formation of the city's residential policy are scientific works on psychology, sociology, architectural sociology and public administration. The main research methods of this article are the method of factorial comparison. The methods of group comparison, and the graphical-analytical method of creating a structural model of factors and determining the place, as well as the role of socio-psychological factors in this model, were also used.

An Analytical Review of Cross Cultural Child-Rearing and Care Practices: A Special Reference to India

Child-rearing is an individualist, social and cultural process. This paper proposes that Child-Rearing has invariable characteristics and huge diversity. It has been considered that cultural perspective may contribute to the understanding of such multiple forms of child-rearing. The present paper provides an analytical account of dominant factors of child-rearing and caring. The factors selection is done by reviewing the articles which have either more than 50 Google scholar citations or are indexed in top-class journals. It also aims to ascertain whether or not Indian child-rearing intrinsically has something different in its practices and which child-rearing patterns are global and common among all the countries. This article took majorly dominating factors in the area of child-rearing and provided a qualitative comparative account of India especially in relation to the world. Some factors are individualistic as parental attitude and the parent-child relationship. But the study found that corporal punishments, socialization and cultural factors have a strong impact on child-rearing. Altogether these factors affect the cognitive skills of children. The study will give a critical overview of child-rearing patterns in India and across the globe, which would be helpful for policymakers to create new policies and act accordingly.

Exploring food security among recently resettled Syrian refugees: results from a qualitative study in two Canadian cities

Purpose This study aims to provide a qualitative in-depth account of the status and experience of food insecurity for Syrian refugee households in Toronto and Saskatoon, Canada. The study considers the range of geographic, socio-economic, cultural and gendered components shaping and determining the barriers and management of food insecurity. Design/methodology/approach The study included 54 semi-structured interviews with refugee families in Toronto and Saskatoon who resettled in Canada after November 2015. In addition, 15 semi-structured in-person or telephone interviews were conducted with settlement and support agencies to measure their capacity to respond to issues of food insecurity for Syrian refugees. Findings Syrian refugees reported experiencing food insecurity as part of the broader resettlement journey, including in the transitional phase of refuge and in each settlement context in Canada. Income status in Canada was reported as a key barrier to food security. Low-income barriers to food security were experienced and shaped by factors including food affordability, physical access and availability and the extent of familial or other support networks including sponsorship relationships. Participants also reported how managing food insecurity contributed to the intensification of gender expectations. Originality/value The analysis reveals food insecurity as both an income and non-income based concern for refugees during the process of resettlement. The study also highlights the importance of considering variations between primary barriers to food security identified by Syrian families and key informants as critical to the development of strategies designed to mitigate the impacts of resettlement on food security.

Exploring biological motion perception in two-stream convolutional neural networks

Visual recognition of biological motion recruits form and motion processes supported by both dorsal and ventral pathways. This neural architecture inspired the two-stream convolutional neural network (CNN) model, which includes a spatial CNN to process appearance information in a sequence of image frames, a temporal CNN to process optical flow information, and a fusion network to integrate the features extracted by the two CNNs and make final decisions about action recognition. In five simulations, we compared the CNN model's performance with classical findings in biological motion perception. The CNNs trained with raw RGB action videos showed weak performance in recognizing point-light actions. Additional transfer training with actions shown in other display formats (e.g., skeletal) was necessary for CNNs to recognize point-light actions. The CNN models exhibited largely viewpoint-dependent recognition of actions, with a limited ability to generalize to viewpoints close to the training views. The CNNs predicted the inversion effect in the presence of global body configuration, but failed to predict the inversion effect driven solely by local motion signals. The CNNs provided a qualitative account of some behavioral results observed in human biological motion perception for fine discrimination tasks with noisy inputs, such as point-light actions with disrupted local motion signals, and walking actions with temporally misaligned motion cues. However, these successes are limited by the CNNs’ lack of adaptive integration for form and motion processes, and failure to incorporate specialized mechanisms (e.g., a life detector) as well as top-down influences on biological motion perception.

Methodological Insights Jumping through hoops: publishing interview-based management accounting research

PurposeThis reflection is aimed primarily at doctoral students, early career researchers and more experienced accounting researchers seeking to undertake interview-based academic accounting research. It is specifically designed to identify and confront some common obstacles to publishing interview-based management accounting research.Design/methodology/approachThis reflection is autoethnographic in the sense that it is based primarily on my publication experience, observations and reflections as an author/co-author and also as a reviewer and editor/editorial board member in submitting, reviewing and evaluating interview-based management accounting research. It therefore adopts a form of participant observation in approach in which the author seeks to provide to readers a sense of “being there” insofar as addressing the barriers to publishing interview-based management accounting research.FindingsWhilst the insights that interview-based accounting research can offer are well established, there remain practical obstacles in publishing this form of research. These obstacles – portrayed in this paper as “hoops” through which authors must jump – largely reduce to challenges in convincing the reader of the credibility and authenticity of their approach and demonstrating the trustworthiness and dependability of the findings and conclusions reached.Research limitations/implicationsThe academic and practical issues raised in this commentary will assist emerging scholars in anticipating and dealing with the challenges they face in submitting these types of studies to academic accounting journals.Originality/valueThis paper is a critical analysis and reflection of the process of publishing interview-based accounting research. Rather than attempting to replicate the many excellent commentaries on this topic, it is designed to be of practical use to emerging scholars in the design, delivery and presentation of qualitative interview-based accounting research with a particular aim of navigating the submission and review process.