Biomedical subjects

Lorraine Sheridan

Publications and source records attributed to Lorraine Sheridan.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Life enrichment programme; enhanced dining experience, a pilot project.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this pilot project is to highlight how food intake, nutrition status and quality of life could be improved for long stay residents of a community nursing unit and demonstrate that assisted feeding can be a more dignified experience for them. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A good dining experience involves not just the food, but also its presentation and the environment in which it is served. A review of the literature identified projects with similar objectives but differing approaches. A survey of residents informed the planning phase. A home style dining room was created with a more traditional ambiance and decoration. The pace of dining was leisurely. Personal choice and independence in eating were supported. A schedule of dining activities was delivered by two staff facilitators. FINDINGS: Eight dining sessions facilitated 23 residents over three months. "Minced" meals were not served, help was given to cut up meat and cues or prompts offered to maximize independence and demonstrate the value of this approach to care staff. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The project illustrated the advantages of stepping outside the purely clinical framework in addressing issues around poor food intake. It highlighted and how small but valuable changes can be implemented even where resources and space is limited. Involvement with the project allowed staff to observe and reflect on the benefits of enhancing the social and aesthetic aspects of dining.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

'There's no smoke without fire': are male ex-partners perceived as more 'entitled' to stalk than acquaintance or stranger stalkers?

In a stalking scenario, the prior relationship between and the gender of stalker and victim were systematically manipulated in order to judge culpability and consequences for the persons involved. Written vignettes were presented to 168 participants who responded via seven Likert scales. Stalker-victim relationship had three levels: ex-partner, acquaintance and stranger. In accordance with the 'Just World' hypothesis (Lerner, 1980), the victim was judged as having greater responsibility for the stalking when their harasser was an ex-partner or a prior acquaintance rather than a stranger, and police intervention was felt to be most necessary when the stalker was a stranger. Sex of stalker and victim was manipulated, and the following comparisons proved significant: when the perpetrator was male, bodily injury to the victim was seen as more likely and police intervention as more necessary than when the perpetrator was female; and male victims were viewed as more responsible for the scenario and as possessing greater powers to alleviate it. The Just World hypothesis and gender stereotypes provide a plausible account for these findings. Future research should determine whether criminal convictions show similar biases towards convicting male and stranger stalkers more often than female and ex-partner stalkers.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Violence and the prior victim-stalker relationship.

INTRODUCTION: Previous research has suggested that stalkers who are ex-partners are more likely to be violent towards their victims than acquaintance or stranger stalkers. A survey was conducted in Britain of 95 individuals who had contacted the Suzy Lamplugh Trust because they were being stalked. METHOD: Eighty-seven of the victims were female and seven were male. They were put into three categories: ex-intimates, former acquaintances and strangers. RESULTS: Ex-intimates were the most aggressive of the three groups. Ex-partners were overall the most intrusive in their behaviour and were also the most likely to threaten and assault third parties as well as their principal victim. Stranger stalkers, however, were significantly more likely than ex-partners to be convicted of stalking-related offences. CONCLUSION: The experiences of our sample would suggest that being stalked carries a high violence risk. Across relational subtypes, over 40% of respondents had experienced physical assault, including attempted murder, sexual assault, or a combination of these acts.

Journal Article↗