Step Three: Assessing Readiness for OAM (Older Adult Ministry)

SUMMARY

Assessing existing programs as well as the readiness of the congregation to receive new programs in the area of older adult ministry is an essential building block. An assessment of existing ministries is essential to discovering what needs to be developed. At the same time, the strengths and challenges of a congregation to develop and maintain an expanded older adult ministry is also important to assess so that starting points can be identified and needs filled. Often, the secondary gain of any congregational assessment is the ability to hear all of the voices within the congregation, help congregants to feel like they have participated in the process and to prepare them to expect something new. Tools for assessing existing programs as well as the readiness of the congregation are shared and explained.     

Individual differences: Factors affecting employee utilization of flexible work arrangements

This study investigated individual and organizational factors that predict an individual’s choice to use flexible work arrangements (FWAs). Survey data was collected from 144 employees in two different organizations. The results revealed several significant predictors of FWAs: tenure, hours worked per week, supervisory responsibilities, perceptions of workgroup use and personal lifestyle. Individuals with longer tenure in the organization, who had supervisory responsibilities, had coworkers in their immediate workgroup who used FWAs or had personal lifestyle preferences were more likely to use the programs than those with less tenure, who did not have supervisory responsibilities, did not perceive their workgroup used FWAs or did not have personal lifestyle preferences.     

Financing A Voucher Program for Cocaine Abusers Through Community Donations in Spain

This study analyzed the viability of financing a voucher program for cocaine addicts in Spain through public and private donations. Of the 136 companies contacted, 52 (38%) provided donations. The difference between the benefits (15,670€/$20,371) and the costs (3,734€/$4,854) was 11,936€/$15,517. The type of reinforcer a company can offer, the size of the company, and the time elapsed before responding may be determining variables in a company''s decision whether to collaborate.     

The Effect of Knowledge Accumulation on Support for Workplace Accommodation

We investigated the relationship between knowledge about the demonstrated benefits of breastfeeding and individual support for breastfeeding accommodation in the workplace. We tested our hypotheses by asking participants to respond to vignettes that described the factors a Director of Human Resources had to consider in responding to the needs of a breastfeeding employee. We found that participants had a low level of knowledge about the benefits of breastfeeding for child, mother, and organization. Participants with children reported stronger support for accommodation, and the level of knowledge about the benefits of breastfeeding mediated this effect. The results showed that participants in executive level positions, and who had no children, were the least supportive of accommodation. There were no occupational differences in responses to the support measure.     

Introduction to the Special Section: Advances in psychological prevention and treatment interventions to promote children's mental health

This paper introduces the Special Section on Advances in Psychological Prevention and Treatment Interventions to Promote Children's Mental Health. The three articles in the Special Section provide perspectives on the adaptation, evaluation, and implementation of evidence‐based psychological interventions for children in countries in Northern and Eastern Europe, and Latin America. The articles highlight disparate methodologies for the examination of intervention data, including addressing causal inference in the absence of availability of true experiment data (i.e., randomised controlled trial data), randomised trial data from a school‐based prevention programme, and predictors of change in an evidence‐based treatment programme. Together, the articles highlight the movement of evidence‐based practices into routine care settings and emerging strategies for settings in which randomised trial data are not yet available. They demonstrate the contribution of psychological research to the advancement of practices for improving children's mental health.     

What is competent communication behaviour of patients in physician consultations? – Chronically-ill patients answer in focus groups

Many desirable outcomes depend on good patient-physician communication. Patient-based perspectives of what constitutes competent communication behavior with physicians are needed for patient-oriented health care. Therefore it was our main aim to identify competent patient communication skills from the patient’s perspective. We also wanted to reveal any differences in opinion among various groups (chronic ischemic heart disease, chronic low back pain, breast cancer). This study examined nine guideline-supported focus groups in rehabilitation centers. The criterion for study inclusion was any one of the three diagnoses. Enrolled in the study were N = 49 patients (32 women) aged M = 60.1 (SD = 12.8). The interview recordings were transcribed and subjected to content analysis. We documented 396 commentaries in these interviews that were allocated to 82 different codes; these in turn resulted in the formation of 12 main topics. Examples are: posing questions, being an active and participatory patient, being aware of emotions and communicating them. This study represents stage two (‘documentation of patient and clinician views’) in the seven-stage model of communication research. Findings reveal that chronically-ill patients name behaviours that contribute to successful discussion with a physician. These enable us to develop communication trainings and design-measuring tools used for patient-based communication skills.     

Impact Challenges in Community Science-with-Practice: Lessons from PROSPER on Transformative Practitioner-Scientist Partnerships and Prevention Infrastructure Development

At present, evidence-based programs (EBPs) to reduce youth violence are failing to translate into widespread community practice, despite their potential for impact on this pervasive public health problem. In this paper we address two types of challenges in the achievement of such impact, drawing upon lessons from the implementation of a partnership model called PROSPER. First, we address five key challenges in the achievement of community-level impact through effective community planning and action: readiness and mobilization of community teams; maintaining EBP implementation quality; sustaining community teams and EBPs; demonstrating community-level impact; and continuous, proactive technical assistance. Second, we consider grand challenges in the large-scale translation of EBPs: (1) building, linking and expanding existing infrastructures to support effective EBP delivery systems, and (2) organizing networks of practitioner-scientist partnerships-networks designed to integrate diffusion of EBPs with research that examines effective strategies to do so. The PROSPER partnership model is an evidence-based delivery system for community-based prevention and has evolved through two decades of NIH-funded research, assisted by land grant universities' Cooperative Extension Systems. Findings and lessons of relevance to each of the challenges are summarized. In this context, we outline how practitioner-scientist partnerships can serve to transform EBP delivery systems, particularly in conjunction with supportive federal policy.     

Innovations in computational type theory using Nuprl

For twenty years the Nuprl (“new pearl”) system has been used to develop software systems and formal theories of computational mathematics. It has also been used to explore and implement computational type theory (CTT)—a formal theory of computation closely related to Martin-Löf's intuitionistic type theory (ITT) and to the calculus of inductive constructions (CIC) implemented in the Coq prover.

This article focuses on the theory and practice underpinning our use of Nuprl for much of the last decade. We discuss innovative elements of type theory, including new type constructors such as unions and dependent intersections, our theory of classes, and our theory of event structures.

We also discuss the innovative architecture of Nuprl as a distributed system and as a transactional database of formal mathematics using the notion of abstract object identifiers. The database has led to an independent project called the Formal Digital Library, FDL, now used as a repository for Nuprl results as well as selected results from HOL, MetaPRL, and PVS. We discuss Howe's set theoretic semantics that is used to relate such disparate theories and systems as those represented by these provers.     

Workforce Support for Urban After‐School Programs: Turning Obstacles into Opportunities

Organized after‐school programs can mitigate risk and build resilience for youth in urban communities. Benefits rely on high‐quality developmental experiences characterized by a supportive environment, structured youth–adult interactions, and opportunities for reflective engagement. Programs in historically disenfranchised communities are underfunded; staff are transient, underpaid, and undertrained; and youth exhibit significant mental health problems which staff are variably equipped to address. Historically, after‐school research has focused on behavior management and social‐emotional learning, relying on traditional evidence‐based interventions designed for and tested in schools. However, after‐school workforce and resource limitations interfere with adoption of empirically supported strategies and youth health promotion. We have engaged in practice‐based research with urban after‐school programs in economically vulnerable communities for nearly two decades, toward building a resource‐efficient, empirically informed multitiered model of workforce support. In this paper, we offer first‐person accounts of four academic–community partnerships to illustrate common challenges, variability across programs, and recommendations that prioritize core skills underlying risk and resilience, align with individual program goals, and leverage without overextending natural routines and resources. Reframing obstacles as opportunities has revealed the application of mental health kernels to the after‐school program workforce support and inspired lessons regarding sustainability of partnerships and practice.     

2001 INVITED ADDRESS: The Mystery of Human Context and Coping: An Unraveling of Clues

Community and clinical psychology share a fundamental focus: to understand the interplay between human contexts, coping, and adaptation. To highlight recent progress in this area, I offer a guiding conceptual framework and discuss 8 propositions about environment and coping. The propositions consider such issues as patterns of social climate and coping and their links to personal development and dysfunction, the connections between ongoing life circumstances and intervention programs, the role of personal characteristics in matching individuals and environments, and the value of placing specific settings in an ecological context. I then focus on 8 enigmas, such as how to identify conceptually unifying dimensions of diverse social contexts, how to model the processes involved in person–environment transactions, how to understand the link between adversity and personal growth, how to examine the generality of models across ethnic and cultural groups, and how to enhance positive carryover from intervention programs to ongoing life contexts. I close by addressing some implications of these issues for a vision of a dynamic community psychology.