Measuring Relational and Intrapersonal Empowerment: Testing Instrument Validity in a Former Soviet Country with a Secular Muslim Culture

Research and evaluation studies measuring the construct of empowerment within international community development and human rights initiatives are rare due to a lack of validated measures appropriate for the cultural context. This study represents an initial effort to develop and test the Brief Azerbaijani Empowerment Scale (BAES), an instrument designed to assess relational and intrapersonal components of psychological empowerment among adult community residents (n = 350) in Azerbaijan, a former Soviet country with a predominantly Muslim culture. Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the underlying dimensionality of the BAES, and path analysis was used to examine relationships between subscales of the BAES and a set of conceptually relevant variables (i.e., alienation, sense of community, and involvement in community organizations). Findings supported the reliability and validity of the BAES, which may be useful to future efforts to develop more comprehensive measures of intrapersonal and relational empowerment. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Governance Processes and Change Within Organizational Participants of Multi-sectoral Community Health Care Alliances: The Mediating Role of Vision,Mission, Strategy Agreement and Perceived Alliance Value

Multi-sectoral community health care alliances are organizations that bring together individuals and organizations from different industry sectors to work collaboratively on improving the health and health care in local communities. Long-term success and sustainability of alliances are dependent on their ability to galvanize participants to take action within their ‘home’ organizations and institutionalize the vision, goals, and programs within participating organizations and the broader community. The purpose of this study was to investigate two mechanisms by which alliance leadership and management processes may promote such changes within organizations participating in alliances. The findings of the study suggest that, despite modest levels of change undertaken by participating organizations, more positive perceptions of alliance leadership, decision making, and conflict management were associated with a greater likelihood of participating organizations making changes as a result of their participation in the alliance, in part by promoting greater vision, mission, and strategy agreement and higher levels of perceived value. Leadership processes had a stronger relationship with change within participating organizations than decision-making style and conflict management processes. Open-ended responses by participants indicated that participating organizations most often incorporated new measures or goals into their existing portfolio of strategic plans and activities in response to alliance participation.     

“A Community with Diversity of Culture,Wealth, Resources,and Living Experiences”: Defining Neighborhood in an Unincorporated Community

To obtain a better understanding of how people living in an unincorporated region define their neighborhood, a long-term photovoice project was conducted. Thirty-one photovoice sessions and eight structured interviews were coded and analyzed to assess participants’ neighborhood definitions. Participant’s difficulties in identifying the geographic, physical and demographic characteristics of their neighborhood led them to use social interactions, place-mediated values, and civic engagement to define neighborhood.     

Paternal autonomy restriction,neighborhood safety,and child anxiety trajectory in community youth

Intrusive parenting, primarily examined among middle to upper-middle class mothers, has been positively associated with the presence and severity of anxiety in children. This study employed cross-sectional linear regression and longitudinal latent growth curve analyses to evaluate the main and interactive effects of early childhood paternal autonomy restriction (AR) and neighborhood safety (NS) on the trajectory of child anxiety in a sample of 596 community children and fathers from the NICHD SECYD. Longitudinal analyses revealed that greater paternal AR at age 6 was actually associated with greater decreases in child anxiety in later childhood. Cross-sectional analyses revealed main effects for NS across childhood, and interactive effects of paternal AR and NS that were present only in early childhood, whereby children living in safer neighborhoods demonstrated increased anxiety when experiencing lower levels of paternal AR. Findings further clarify for whom and when paternal AR impacts child anxiety in community youth.     

Exploring traffic safety culture and drunk driving: An examination of the community and DUI related fatal crashes in the U.S. (1993–2015)

This project explores the relationship between structural level factors associated with community traffic safety culture toward alcohol and alcohol related fatal crashes in the United States from 1993 to 2015. Multilevel growth curve models were estimated to explore these relationships within longitudinal data. As hypothesized, increases in factors associated with anti-alcohol community norms, values, attitudes, and beliefs were related to decreases in alcohol related crashes at the county level. Conversely, measures associated with pro-alcohol factors were related to increased alcohol related crashes. These findings are consistent with traffic safety culture, social norms theory, and the Positive Community Framework (PCF).     

Variable Structure of Cultural Capital and Implications for Multicultural Counseling

The purpose of this study was to identify the latent variable structure of a measure of cultural capital in the community college field. The community college was used based on its emergence as both a gateway and a gatekeeper to higher education, and as a power structure that can afford both social and economic opportunities through degree attainment for underrepresented groups. Therefore, implications for counselors in various settings were highlighted, along with implications for future research. El propósito de este estudio fue identificar la estructura de la variable latente de una medida de capital cultural en el campo de los colegios comunitarios. Se usó el colegio comunitario por su surgimiento como ambos filtro y puerta de entrada a la educación superior, así como una estructura de poder que puede ofrecer oportunidades sociales y económicas a grupos infrarrepresentados a través de la obtención de grados. Por lo tanto, se destacaron las implicaciones para consejeros en entornos variados, junto con las implicaciones para investigaciones futuras.     

Value Concern of Ecological Rationality and Exploration of the Chinese Path to Modernization

The COVID-19 pandemic has raged around the world over the recent years, raising the global community’s awareness of the interconnection of human civilizations and urging the reconsideration of the humannature relationship. The escalating worldwide ecological crises are putting human survival and development at risk. The phenomenon has aroused the awareness of “ecological rationality,” consciousness of “economic value” and appeal for “ecological justice” in the universal sense. The endeavor of promoting ecological civilization has been included as part of the fivesphere integrated plan for building socialism with Chinese characteristics since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). General Secretary Xi Jinping’s thought on ecological civilization has fully manifested the value and goal of comprehensively promoting ecological civilization and adhering to the Chinese path to modernization. The Chinese path to modernization, which has reflected on and outclassed the Westernstyle logic for modernization, shows a unique horizon and independent wisdom. Focusing on addressing the uncertainties facing human survival in the New Era and aiming at embracing the future, the Chinese path to modernization has shifted the mindset from economic rationality to ecological rationality, abandoned anthropocentrism, and firmly upheld and fulfilled the code of conduct for rational “economic man.” The endeavor of building an eco-friendly society and an ecological community has showcased the favorable institutional practice in Chinese modernization and China’s wisdom, demonstrated rational planning, prudential design and effective implementation for the prospect of mankind and highlighted a progressive trend in human civilization.     

Shared Values of Humanity Are the Ethical Foundation for Building a Human Community with a Shared Future

On the basis of recognizing the diversity of cultures and civilizations in the world and the existence of different values among people of different nations, regions, and countries, the shared values of humanity pursue after the largest common ground and greatest convergence of values of all mankind. Shared values of humanity are the deep cultural structure of a human community with a shared future, and value and ethical consensus is necessary to form at the global level to promote the building of a human community with a shared future. Shared values of humanity embody the public good of all peoples and countries in the world in the fields of common interests, needs, and development, serve as the ethical guidelines for reconstructing the rules for interaction and order of communication of the international society in the era of globalization, and represent the ethical vision for the development of a human community with a shared future. Shared values of humanity lay the ethical foundation for promoting the construction of a human community with a shared future. Specifically, peace and development represent the ethical consensus on the survival of the community; fairness and justice advocate the new ethical consensus on international relations formed within the framework of the community; and democracy and freedom demonstrate the political-ethical consensus of the community.     

发挥中医药学优势,构建和完善小康社会卫生服务体系

全面分析和阐述了中医药学在我国社区卫生服务体系的理论建设和医疗实践中所具有的作用、意义和优势.提出利用中医药学优势,将促进社区卫生服务,确保小康社会卫生服务体系的完善.