Conceptualising 'the relationship' in intensive key worker support as a therapeutic medium

Across various welfare and justice systems, intensive key worker support is a model of working considered effective for individuals and families identified as having multiple and complex needs. The high profile 'troubled families' programme in England is the most recent prominent example of such a model. The key worker role is to assess an individual’s needs, carry out support planning, provide and/or co-ordinate the delivery of supportive interventions and complete care plan reviews. This requires the key worker to work on a one-to-one basis with individuals which, in turn, demands the ability to form effective relationships. In this paper and using evidence from a number of studies, I look at how the key worker-client relationship is developed and maintained. I examine the skills, processes and communication strategies that allow key workers to engage clients, build relationships and drive change. I also explore the notion that the key worker-service user relationship is itself a ‘therapeutic’ medium and is therefore a productive practice in its own right. The paper suggests that while key workers might not be trained therapists or counsellors, they might be equipped to address some emotional challenges that individuals with complex needs face and build therapeutic relationships with them

The Lexicographic Treatment of Xitsonga Kinship Terminologies in Selected Bilingual Dictionaries

Kinship terminologies, which vary across cultures and languages, present challenges for lexicographers in creating bilingual dictionaries. Effective bilingual dictionaries must accurately and comprehensively reflect kinship terms and their equivalents. This study explores the lexicographic treatment of Xitsonga kinship terms in bilingual dictionaries, focusing on their definition, translation, and cross-referencing in English-Xitsonga contexts. It addresses the lexicographic challenges posed by kinship terms' cultural specificity and structural diversity across languages. Using a descriptive qualitative methodology, data were collected from the English-Tsonga/Tsonga-English Pocket Dictionary (2008) and the Pharos Bilingual Dictionary: English-Xitsonga/Xitsonga-English (2021). This study is guided by the user-driven approach to lexicography. The study has found that even though bilingual dictionaries offer some accurate equivalents, they often lack full definitions and overlook specific cultural nuances. Cultural differences between English and Xitsonga were identified as key factors limiting the inclusion of kinship equivalents. To improve the accuracy and cultural representation of kinship terms, this study recommends expanding definitions to cover a wider range of familial relationships and ensuring all relevant Xitsonga equivalents are included to reflect its cultural distinctions. These findings contribute to understanding the challenges and opportunities of presenting kinship terms and informing the improvement of bilingual lexicographic resources for Xitsonga

Using MonoConc Pro to teach and learn lexical collocations in Xitsonga

Few language resources have been developed for indigenous languages in South Africa. Surprisingly, these are also official languages which constitutionally share the same language status as other languages. One of the major challenges for the development of basic language resources is the lack of digital corpora that can be used to train and develop the resources. Such a challenge has impeded the use of technology for research, learning, and teaching domains in indigenous languages. In this study, we used MonoConc Pro, a concordancer, to demonstrate how language users can utilise the software to display lexical collocation from a corpus for teaching and learning purposes. We illustrated how corpus can be used simultaneously with language technology to teach and learn aspects of linguistics in a form of lexical collocations in Xitsonga. An Autshumato Xitsonga Monolingual Corpus (AXMC) that was retrieved from the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources repository was used as data for analysis. The AXMC is a corpus that was collected and semi-automatically aligned at the sentence level during the Autshumato project. To search for lexical collocations, we interrogated the AXMC corpus using the MonoConc Pro program. A semi-automatic search for collocates of Xitsonga adjectives lavakulu, letikulu, lavantsongo, and letinene was conducted. The study found that lexical collocations or words that co-occur with adjectives are nouns, adjectives, possessives, and relatives. It was also observed that each adjective frequently collocates with certain nouns belonging to a specific class. The results obtained suggest a practical way in which language technologies can be used to explore corpora and examine language patterns for teaching and learning. We hope that this line of study will lead to the use of modern language resources to examine linguistic traits in indigenous languages

Public Spaces Protection Orders: a critical policy analysis

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to critically appraise the Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) policy that was introduced by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act (2014). Within a designated area assigned by the local council, PSPOs can prohibit or require specific behaviours to improve the quality of life for people inhabiting that space. Those who do not comply face a fixed penalty notice of £100 or a fine of £1000 on summary conviction. However, the practical and theoretical impact associated with the development of these powers has yet to be fully explored. Design/methodology/approach: Using Bannister and O’Sullivan’s (2013) discussion of civility and ASB policy as a starting point, we show how PSPOs could create new frontiers in exclusion, intolerance and criminalisation; as PSPOs enable the prohibition of any type of behaviour perceived to negatively affect the quality of life. Findings: Local councils in England and Wales now have unlimited and unregulated powers to control public spaces. We suggest this has the potential to produce localised tolerance thresholds and civility agendas that currently target and further marginalise vulnerable people, and we highlight street sleeping homeless people as one such group. Originality: There has been little academic debate on this topic. This article raises a number of original, conceptual questions that provide an analytical framework for future empirical research. We also use original data from Freedom of Information requests to contextualise our discussions

Comparing machine translation and human translation for South African languages

Machine translation (MT) has been available for several years but has only recently begun to be considered viable, particularly in the context of indigenous South African languages. Although the quality of an MT remains inferior to that of a human translation (HT), MT systems have gained popularity, making some significant contributions to translation studies. This study explored the similarities and differences between the two modes of translation. A case study approach based on a qualitative research method was used. The source data for this study are an  MT and an HT of an article titled “Stellenbosch University to offer academic and psychosocial support to students”, written by Ntwaagae Seleka and published on News24. As a computer-aided translation tool, Autshumato Machine Translation Web Service (MTWS) produced the MT from English into Setswana as a target text. Meanwhile, a Setswana master’s student from the Tshwane University of Technology manually translated the source text. The findings show that the human translator outperformed the MTWS in providing high-quality translation. The MTWS was unable to offer a better translation in terms of case sensitivity and terminological inconsistencies. It also mistranslated, adding and omitting words that changed the intended meaning and leaving certain words untranslated. Human cognitive competency, intelligence, and flexibility enable human translators to deal with such translation problems to provide high-quality outputs. The initiatives discussed in this study show that even though the MTWS operates as a useful translation tool with the capacity to instantly translate a large number of documents, its output is not yet capable of replacing an HT when translating into indigenous South African languages. Post-editing of the MTWS outputs is always recommended

Implementation of a first-trimester prognostic model to improve screening for gestational diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND: Improvement in the accuracy of identifying women who are at risk to develop gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is warranted, since timely diagnosis and treatment improves the outcomes of this common pregnancy disorder. Although prognostic models for GDM are externally validated and outperform current risk factor based selective approaches, there is little known about the impact of such models in day-to-day obstetric care. METHODS: A prognostic model was implemented as a directive clinical prediction rule, classifying women as low- or high-risk for GDM, with subsequent distinctive care pathways including selective midpregnancy testing for GDM in high-risk women in a prospective multicenter birth cohort comprising 1073 pregnant women without pre-existing diabetes and 60 obstetric healthcare professionals included in nine independent midwifery practices and three hospitals in the Netherlands (effectiveness-implementation hybrid type 2 study). Model performance (c-statistic) and implementation outcomes (acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, feasibility, fidelity, penetration, sustainability) were evaluated after 6 months by indicators and implementation instruments (NoMAD; MIDI). RESULTS: The adherence to the prognostic model (c-statistic 0.85 (95%CI 0.81-0.90)) was 95% (n = 1021). Healthcare professionals scored 3.7 (IQR 3.3-4.0) on implementation instruments on a 5-point Likert scale. Important facilitators were knowledge, willingness and confidence to use the model, client cooperation and opportunities for reconfiguration. Identified barriers mostly related to operational and organizational issues. Regardless of risk-status, pregnant women appreciated first-trimester information on GDM risk-status and lifestyle advice to achieve risk reduction, respectively 89% (n = 556) and 90% (n = 564)). CONCLUSIONS: The prognostic model was successfully implemented and well received by healthcare professionals and pregnant women. Prognostic models should be recommended for adoption in guidelines