Foot health education for people with rheumatoid arthritis : the practitioner's perspective

Background: Patient education is considered to be a key role for podiatrists in the management of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Patient education has undoubtedly led to improved clinical outcomes, however no attempts have been made to optimise its content or delivery to maximise benefits within the context of the foot affected by rheumatoid arthritis. The aim of this study was to identify the nature and content of podiatrists' foot health education for people with RA. Any potential barriers to its provision were also explored. Methods: A focus group was conducted. The audio dialogue was recorded digitally, transcribed verbatim and analysed using a structured, thematic approach. The full transcription was verified by the focus group as an accurate account of what was said. The thematic analysis framework was verified by members of the research team to ensure validity of the data. Results: Twelve members (all female) of the north west Podiatry Clinical Effectiveness Group for Rheumatology participated. Six overarching themes emerged: (i) the essence of patient education; (ii) the content; (iii) patient-centred approach to content and timing; (iv) barriers to provision; (v) the therapeutic relationship; and (vi) tools of the trade. Conclusion: The study identified aspects of patient education that this group of podiatrists consider most important in relation to its: content, timing, delivery and barriers to its provision. General disease and foot health information in relation to RA together with a potential prognosis for foot health, the role of the podiatrist in management of foot health, and appropriate self-management strategies were considered to be key aspects of content, delivered according to the needs of the individual. Barriers to foot health education provision, including financial constraints and difficulties in establishing effective therapeutic relationships, were viewed as factors that strongly influenced foot health education provision. These data will contribute to the development of a patient-centred, negotiated approach to the provision of foot health education for people with RA

Discourse, credentialism and occupational closure in the communications industries: The case of public relations in the UK

This article addresses the problem of stubbornly low levels of diversity in the communications industries, using the case of public relations to illustrate the points made. The author explores how disciplinary discourses of occupational practice and identity combine with representations of normative embodiment to construct and communicate a system of informal credentialism in the field that marginalises certain identities. Through a critical discourse analysis of formal texts that circulate across the industry, the author illustrates how apparently value-neutral presentations of PR work and workers exclude BME and working-class practitioners who cannot easily demonstrate a natural ‘fit’ with client, consultancy or colleague. The findings illustrate how the construction of informal credentialism through discourse may be acting as a powerful source of closure across the communications industries

Public Relations, News Production and Changing Patterns of Source Access in the British National Media

This article aims to draw attention to the rising influence of professional public relations on the process of national news production in Britain and to discuss how this influence is affecting existing media-source relations. It notes that a wide range of organizations have begun adopting public relations as a means of achieving particular goals through media coverage. At the same time media institutions, operating under tighter editorial budgets, have become more dependent on information supplied by external sources. The two trends have resulted in the sudden growth of the professional public relations sector and changes to existing patterns of source access. How such trends are affecting various sources in their attempts to gain and manage media access is the debate that therefore takes up most of this piece. Is public relations simply another means by which institutional and corporate organizations are managing to secure access advantages, or is it providing new means whereby non-official sources can gain media access which was hitherto denied them

Institutional racism in cultural production: the case of public relations

This article explores the institutionalized nature of racism in public relations (PR) in the United Kingdom, a situation that originates in the occupation's history and continues to disadvantage PR practitioners from Black, Asian, and other minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. Drawing on a qualitative study of the experiences of BAME PR practitioners, I consider how institutional racism makes itself felt in their professional lives and the strategies they use to address it. My central argument is that institutional racism operates across the PR industry, potentially affecting their mediation of culture both within and beyond the context of cultural production