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Heritage tourism has taken deep roots over the last decade with several destination management areas effectively carving a niche for themselves as places that offer products that help people to relive history. For Ghana, with its various forts and castles spread along its coastline; inhabitants of such communities have taken it for granted that tourists visit.Emerging research has shown that when an area is able to package its heritage artifacts and monuments in an integrated manner with its culture, no matter what it is; then it can be more successful in marketing its tourism products for sustainable development.The culture of a place however, cannot be looked at in isolation. The immediate and remote influences all around it must be explored. Butre as a tourist community, has had its culture over the last couple of years been open to influences not only from tourists but also from the larger globalization platform; brought on by travel, access to satellite TV, mobile phone and Internet access etc. Over the course of the few weeks I spent in Butre, talking to and following the lives of 8 community members; I realized that the rich history of the fort which goes to reinforce our colonial history which is of course, significant to the outside world is left largely untold. My motivation for embarking on this study stemmed from a fascination in knowing why tourists would choose to visit one particular site within the same geographical area. Does the lives and culture of the people there matter at all? The results as this study showed, buttressed the point made in the opening paragraph that yes indeed, we as a people living in these areas do take for granted the artifact, its history and the giant number of tourists that come to see the peculiarities that our area offers. To revert this however, we must begin to think of employing the tried and tested community-participation methodologies that foster sustainable development through the integration of the very important and interrelated strands of culture, heritage and people.

The purpose of this study was to examine the parent involvement attitudes and practices of early care and education teachers. A sample of 171 early care and education teachers rated the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with 25 statements regarding general attitudes of parent involvement, as well as family and teacher and/or center obligations in creating family-school partnerships. Teachers were also asked to indicate the frequency in which they engaged in 9 specified activities that could be used to engage families in their young child's education. The surveyed teachers were from 31 early care and education centers that were participants in a quality improvement initiative designed to improve the school readiness of the children they serve. Fifteen of the 31 centers received additional services from a family engagement specialist, who worked to increase parent involvement at the centers and to strengthen family-school partnerships. Results indicated that, overall, the teachers reported positive views about parent involvement and the families they served. They recognized the benefits of family-school partnerships for young children. The teachers reported feeling that it was an important part of their job to involve all families and that all families had strengths and abilities that could be used to help their children get ready for kindergarten. Modest differences were found in the responses between teachers who had received assistance from family engagement specialists and those who had not, with teachers who were part of the intervention indicating stronger support from their directors and center and being more likely to talk to families about concerns. All of the teachers surveyed reported using a wide variety of strategies to engage families, with teachers in the intervention group using parent workshops and newsletters more often that the non-intervention group. Slight but significant differences were found on some of the survey questions related to teacher characteristics, such as hours worked at the center per week and age of children taught. With increased emphasis being placed on quality improvement in early care and education, it is important to know how those being asked to implement possibly new and demanding changes in practice feel about and respond to what is being asked of them. Efforts to support them should be effective and responsive to their current views and practices. / School Psychology

Recently within the juvenile justice system there has been a great deal of attention toward increasing family involvement, with the goal of enhancing the quality of service-delivery for youth active with the justice system and their families, and ultimately achieving better overall outcomes. Many states are adopting new initiatives and policies to improve the involvement and engagement of family members in decision-making, treatment, supervision and overall case management. To date, however, there is little published empirical evidence that demonstrates whether or how such involvement will translate into greater success, increased compliance with treatment and conditions, goal attainment, reduced length of stay/time on supervision, and ultimately lower recidivism rates, for youth active with the juvenile justice system. Furthermore, there is a need to clearly define and operationalize “family involvement” within a juvenile justice context, which has not yet been clearly conceptualized or operationalized in the literature. While there are a few studies that examine family involvement with justice involved youth, these are generally limited to youth in out-of-home placement facilities. With the majority of youth remaining in the community during their involvement with the juvenile justice system, conducting research within a community-based setting is an integral part of understanding family involvement. The current study sought to provide an understanding of how best to measure and operationalize family involvement in a broader juvenile justice context. In addition to developing a working definition of, and framework for, family involvement, this dissertation examined whether or not family involvement influences recidivism. To examine the relationship between family involvement and recidivism from a community corrections lens, the current study used case record data from a random sample of 300 youth referred to the Dauphin County Pennsylvania Juvenile Probation Department in 2010. In Pennsylvania juvenile probation officers are involved with a case from referral to case closing; therefore, in addition to providing a community corrections setting, the juvenile probation department provides the opportunity to measure family involvement from case beginning to end. Employing a longitudinal cohort design, two years of retrospective data were collected for the 97 females and 203 males included in the study sample. Multivariate analyses were used to measure the relationship between various indicators of family involvement and youth outcomes. Findings show that family member presence at court hearings is a significant predictor of recidivism. Youth whose family members missed at least one court hearing were significantly more likely to have a violation of probation filed, to recidivate, and to have a shorter time to rearrest. Additionally, when exploring familial characteristics that may contribute to family involvement, risk assessment results and family member criminal justice history were significantly related to various family involvement measures. This research helps lay the conceptual and empirical foundation for understanding and testing the impact of family involvement, and its findings contribute to the knowledge of the role of family in the juvenile justice system. This dissertation also suggests new areas of research to assess the effects of family involvement on juvenile justice outcomes. These initial findings assist in understanding the nature and impact of such initiatives, and provide important feedback to policy makers and program officials as they continue to shape the role of a family involvement strategy in juvenile justice, with the primary goal of increasing overall youth success and reducing recidivism. / Criminal Justice

Yes / Aim: To explore how men with penile cancer construct humour in relation to their diagnosis and treatment. Background: Functionalist, relief and incongruity theories attempt to account for humour but there is a dearth of empirical evidence in nursing care. This is particularly so in relation to a condition like penile cancer where some nurses think that humour in their interactions with patients would be inappropriate. Design: The study employed a participative, mixed-qualitative-methods design. Method: Focus groups and patient-conducted interviews were both used during a one-day ‘pilot workshop’ in March 2011. The data were initially analysed using framework analysis. This paper explores the theme of humour in depth. Findings: Humour helped participants make light of their condition, which meant that they could laugh about the consequences of treatment (‘laughing about urination’) and build rapport with health professionals (‘humour with health professionals’). Nevertheless, the use of humour was less important than the treatment of their cancer (‘humour discounted’) and there was a fear that they would be subject to ridicule because of their condition (‘fear of ridicule’). Conclusion: The findings suggest a combination of functionalist, relief and incongruity theories of humour; the emotions these men experience are contained (functionalist) and released (relief) through humorous interaction, and the potential for comedy lies in an incongruity between what is expected socially and the experiences of these men, for example around expectations that men use urinals in public toilets. Nurses should continue to use humour to build rapport with patients, should they judge this to be appropriate although they may want to avoid jokes about sexual and urinary functioning until after treatment. / National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme (Grant Reference Number PB-PG-0808-17158).

Parental involvement is highly important for children's success at school. Research has shown that parental involvement leads to higher student achievement, better school attendance, and a reduction in dropout rates. However, what happens with those parents who do not speak English or have limited communication skills in this language? How can they become involved in their children's schooling when the children attend school in a language foreign to the parents? This study examines the experiences of three Mexican immigrant mothers and one father getting involved in their children's education in the United States. Helena was an active participant of a service-learning program hosted by a medium-sized Land Grand University. Sandra also attended the program but only for some time. Finally, the Hernandez parents, Mercedes and Jose Luis, were randomly selected in the community and did not participate in the service-learning program. This qualitative study relied mainly upon semi-structure interviews with the participants along with observations and field notes. The conclusions from this study provide insight as to how Mexican-immigrant parents with low-income develop an understanding of the school system in the United States. Analysis revealed two main strategies that parents use to communicate with the school: 1) using interpreters as affordance networks for communication, and 2) using their own knowledge of English to take actions and comply with school requirements. Data show that, contrary to common assumptions, parents do not prefer children as their first option for interpreting functions. In terms of learning about standard cultural practices of parental involvement parents accommodate to school demands by using various strategies and resources from their funds of knowledge. Parents learn about standard cultural practices of parental involvement and at the same time they support their children's education; in this process parents rely on their own cultural repertoires. Besides, parents seek places where they can develop community ties in order to learn about the how-tos of life in the United States. Finally, findings demonstrate that parents feel frustration and anxiety about their relationship with the schools, since they are facing with great resilience the every life challenges of living in a culture and language different from their own. The main findings of this study and discussing on the implications provided a discussion for policy changes in the context of the NCLB act, and suggestions for teacher preparation programs, and local school or service programs. / Ph. D.

Parental involvement has been at the forefront of many studies leading to the conclusion that increased parental involvement improves academic achievement. Despite findings suggesting the benefits of parental involvement, research reveals a lack of parental involvement among Spanish-speaking parents. The overarching objective of this qualitative case study was to explore how Spanish-speaking mothers make sense of the construct of parental involvement. This qualitative study was comprised of three cases: one Guatemalan mother and two Honduran mothers each with children attending elementary school. My methodology allowed me to explore and depict historical and sociocultural factors that influence how the mothers view their role in their children's education. I collected data through semi-structured interviews, informal observations, and extensive fieldnotes and I conducted on-going analysis on these data. Data provide evidence that the mothers in the study hold a different perspective of parental involvement from that of school personnel. Their views stem directly from their own historical and cultural knowledge, which differs from that of middle-class, White Americans. They are involved in their children's overall education in ways not acknowledged by educators. / Ph. D.

Ernest Boyer's The Basic School: A Community for Learning (1995) aligns with other important research and programs that encourage parent involvement to maximize each child's educational potential. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand and to document the first steps undertaken by one school as it began to address Boyer's school as community priority by reaching out to an uninvolved parent population. Meaning was constructed from the perspective of the researcher who was an active participant in the process. Research questions included: 1) What happened when one school began to address the needs of its at-risk population by intentionally reaching out to involve the parents of these students in the life of the school? 2) How was this accomplished within the context of a school beginning to address the priorities of a "Basic School?" 3) What structures were created to facilitate the process and guide its progress? Teachers in the School as Community Family at Kizer Elementary School were the initial focus of this study. Additional groups with related purposes became part of the inquiry as the process unfolded. Transcripts, field notes, and related documents were collected from all relevant group meetings and outreach activities from June of 1997 through January of 1998. The process of data analysis yielded descriptive conceptual models and an interpretive narrative case study that follows a modified chronology of the communicative action steps undertaken by a group of educators readying themselves for outreach to an alienated parent population. This study produced practical implications for schools wishing to begin the steps toward increasing the level of family and community engagement with student learning. A case was made for self-reflective action to create opportunities for authentic conversation that can empower families to take greater initiative in the public education of their children. If schools can learn to build, support and sustain relationships with parents, particularly their at-risk populations, they might expect a greater level of success in educating their children. / Ed. D.