Research and Evidence-Based Practice is an accessible textbook for nursing, health and social care students seeking to understand what research is and how it can provide evidence for practice. Through clear explanations, key case studies, questions and activities, the book will help you to understand the principles of research and develop your own evidence-based practice. You will learn: Why research is carried out, what the aims are, and why it matters. How to search and review the literature and evaluate the quality of research How research projects are designed, how participants are recruited, how data is collected and analysed, and how research findings are communicated About the costs of research and how it is funded About the ethics of research in health and social care How to review evidence and how evidence is used to improve the quality of care This book will help you to demonstrate your understanding of research and evidence and to develop and promote best practice in health and social care. From reviews: "I would definitely recommend this book to any student starting a research module or even to refresh your memories ready for your dissertations/literature reviews. The content included is everything I would want to know as a student starting a research module. The glossary at the back is great for understanding the research terminology, which can often feel like a brand new language when you first start reading research papers. There are also handy references which you can use to do further reading and enhance your critical discussion within your assignments. The book lives up to its intention to act as a lead-in to the research topic and has a clear and concise style throughout, whilst explaining things in the amount of detail needed to fully understand them. A must read for any nursing or health and social care student!" Review on studentnurseandbeyond.co.uk, March 2019 Essentials is a series of accessible, introductory textbooks for students in nursing, health and social care. New and forthcoming titles in the series: The Care Process Communication Skills Leadership Mental Health Promoting Health and Wellbeing Study Skills

Ivor Cutler: A Life Outside the Sitting Room is the first biography of one of post-war Britain's most recognisable authors, poets and performers. Mr Cutler (as he preferred to be known) wrote and recorded some of the most unusual and memorable songs and poems in British popular culture, including the hilarious and unsettling 'Life in a Scotch Sitting Room' series. Described by fans and commentators as an outsider because of his eccentric behaviour on and off stage, in many ways he was an insider, working for thirty years as a primary school teacher, gathering a body of fans from the heart of the cultural and social establishment, and regularly appearing on mainstream media. He was one of the first - if not the first - performers to appear on BBC radio 1, 2, 3 and 4 and famously recorded more John Peel sessions than any other act except The Fall. This book is based on evidence from official documents, print and broadcast media; archive interviews with Ivor Cutler, his close friends and family, fans and collaborators; and new interviews with fans, friends and fellow performers. Contributors include musical and acting collaborators who have never been interviewed about their experiences with Mr Cutler.

Two Bold Singermen and the English Folk Revival explores the lives and song traditions of two of the most influential English traditional singers: Sam Larner and Harry Cox. Using extensive primary evidence, including recorded interviews with both men, the book provides the first detailed biographies of these great singers, placing their singing and repertoires within the social and cultural contexts in which they lived. Larner and Cox were born within six years and 15 miles of each other, in late-nineteenth century Norfolk. Both men grew up in large, working-class, families, started work before their teens, spent their working lives in hard manual labour - Sam as a trawlerman, Harry as a farm labourer - married late and lived into their 80s. Crucially, both men were singers from an early age, amassed large repertoires of songs that are now established in the traditional canon and became key figures in the 'folk revival' of the 1950s and 60s. They directly influenced performers such as Martin Carthy, Shirley Collins, Peggy Seeger, Young Tradition and Steeleye Span, and indirectly influenced Paul Simon and Bob Dylan. Their impact extends to the current generation of performers and composers in the folk, Americana and singer/songwriter fields and even to Hollywood.

‘Shellac and Swing!’ tells the story of the gramophone’s ‘golden age,’ from 1900-1955, when it helped to shape Britain’s culture from the arts to warfare. The story focuses on the gramophone, the invention of Emile Berliner in the 1880s, but begins with a brief outline of the first attempts to record the human voice and of Edison’s invention of the cylinder and the phonograph. It uses primary evidence, images and interviews with DJs, fans, musicians and historians to explore this fascinating and often eccentric tale. Each chapter ends with ‘On the Record,’ a discussion of a record that relates to the chapter’s themes. Although the gramophone and its fragile shellac discs were vital to Britain’s music scene—opera and music hall, the Jazz Age, the crooners, early rock’n’roll—its impact was far more extensive. Its place in British history encompasses advertising and design, fraud and piracy, phallic symbols, talking books, the threat from radio and TV, the contrasting worlds of the Salvation Army and adult ‘party’ discs, the creation of a parliamentary insult, new political strategies and the seditious activity of the Mau Mau. From the establishment of the Gramophone Company in London in the late 1890s to the end of shellac record production in the 1950s, the British public bought the machines and the discs in their millions and the record labels made stars of performers like Caruso, Harry Lauder, Al Bowlly and Dame Nellie Melba. ‘Shellac and Swing!’ explores the ways in which the gramophone helped these singers to achieve stardom but it also explores in detail and for the first time many other stories of not-so-famous performers, of the gramophone in political electioneering and of forgotten technology: the first pirate radio broadcasters, the soldiers who took their ‘Trench Decca’ portables to the Western Front, the invention of the Flame-O-Phone, the People’s Budget recordings and the pioneering label owner and producer of ‘blue’ discs. The gramophone’s heyday ended with the rise of rock ’n ’roll, teenagers, the 45 rpm single, the LP and the record player, but it survives today as part of a vibrant contemporary music, fashion and lifestyle scene.

This accessible textbook provides an understandable and interactive introduction to research and evidence-based practice in health and social care. It is aimed at students in Further Education, on Foundations Degree courses and in the first year of a diploma or undergraduate programme in higher education. The book assumes no prior knowledge of health and social care research on the part of the reader and uses straightforward language, supported by illustrative graphs and figures, to describe the research process and the ways in which evidence is used to change and develop care. Content is structured in a logical fashion. The text begins by defining key terms, then takes the reader along a pathway from the creation of initial research questions or objectives, through the design and undertaking of a research project, the adoption of findings into practice and the ongoing audit and evaluation of new practice to ensure its continued effectiveness. Exercises and case studies support student learning and the author's personal reflections on the research process make this a lively and engaging text. The Health and Social Care series This series of textbooks is aimed at students on Health and Social Care Foundation Degree programmes in FE and HE institutions. However, the books also provide short introductions to key topics for Common Foundation Programme modules and will be suitable for first-year undergraduate courses in a variety of Health and Social Care subject areas. Books in the series will also be useful for those returning to practice and for overseas nursing students. The series includes three types of textbook: * Knowledge and Skills books; * Theory and Practice books; * Specialist books that cover specific professions, topics and issues. All titles in the series will address the common elements articulated in relevant sector skill frameworks, for example, Skills for Care, Skills for Health, the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework.