There has been growing interest among parents, teachers, researchers, and policymakers in better understanding children’s school readiness and the precise mechanisms by which early care and education programs promote these early skills. Two key, but understudied, mechanisms include preschool instruction and parenting practices. The present study used the Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) 2006 cohort and examined whether gains in young children’s (n = 2,308) math, literacy, and behavior problems over the Head Start year were predicted by increased stimulation across children’s homes and school using structural equation modeling. Net of all other factors, parent learning support was uniquely associated with lower levels of behavioral problems and greater math achievement. Although there were no direct effects of parent involvement on child outcomes, the effects of parent involvement on children’s math and behavior were mediated through parent learning support. Children also demonstrated reduced problem behaviors when they received greater teacher instruction. However, the observed benefits for math achievement and reduced problem behaviors appear to be stronger when young children receive stimulation across both the home and school contexts. These findings have implications for children’s early problem behaviors and achievement, suggesting that parenting practices and teacher instruction are important avenues that can promote young children’s early skills. For optimal academic and behavioral outcomes, however, greater effort needs to be coordinated across children’s home and school settings. / text

SAMMANFATTNING Bakgrund: Patientcentrerad vård innebär att varje patient ses som en individ istället för en diagnos och fokuserar på dennes resurser istället för behov samt att patienten ska vara delaktig i vårdprocessen. RCC - Regionalt cancercentrum verkar för att förbättra och stärka patienternas inflytande och ställning inom cancervården genom patientrepresentation i patientråd och vårdprogramgrupper där patientens upplevelser, kunskap och åsikter kring cancervården tas till vara på. Enligt tidigare forskning inom området är kunskapen allt för begränsad för att kunna kartlägga betydelsen. Syfte: Studien syftar till att ur ett patientperspektiv undersöka patientrepresentanternas upplevelser och åsikter om deras arbete i vårdprogramgrupperna och patientrådet i Uppsala Örebro-regionen. Metod: Åtta patientrepresentanter från RCC:s vårdprogramgrupper och patientråd intervjuades enligt en semi-konstrukturerad intervjuguide. Därefter gjordes en innehållsanalys enligt Lundman och Hällgren-Graneheim. Resultat: Ur intervjuerna erhölls två kategorier; patientföreträde och erfarenheter av vården. Ur dessa identifierades sex subkategorier. Patientrepresentanterna var överlag nöjda med det bemötande de fått inom såväl inom vårdprogramgrupperna och patientrådet. Samtliga var positiva till sitt arbete dock fanns en osäkerhet huruvida de påverkade och medverkande till en förändring av vården eller om deras roll enbart hade funktion som alibi. Forskningen inom området är sparsam och det finns svårigheter att mäta resultaten av patientmedverkan. Slutsats: Enligt studien upplever patientrepresentanterna sin roll, sitt arbete och bemötande från professionen som positivt dock fanns en osäkerhet om hur stor inverkan på vården de hade. För att slutsatsen av studien ska kunna generaliseras krävs dock en större studie som omfattar samtliga patientrepresentanter inom RCC. / Background: Patient-centered care means that each patient is seen as an individual rather than a diagnosis and focus on the patient's resources instead of needs, and should be involved in the care process. RCC - Regional cancer center works to enhance patient empowerment and status in cancer care by patient representation in patient council care programs and groups, in which the patient´s experiences, knowledge and opinions about cancer care is being utilized. According to previous research, there is currently not enough evidence to identify the importance of patient involvement in health care. Aim: The study aimed to explore patient representatives' experiences and opinions of their work in care programs and patient council of Uppsala Örebro region from a patient perspective. Method: Eight patient representatives of the RCC's program of care groups and patient council were interviewed according to a semi-constructed interview guide. A content analysis by Lundman and Hällgren-Graneheim was used. Results: From the interviews two categories were obtained; patient representation and experience of care. From these categories six subcategories were identified. The informants were generally satisfied with their treatment. All respondents were positive about their work, however, there is uncertainty whether their work lead to changes in the health care. Conclusion: The finding of this study, suggests that patients' representatives perceive their role, work and attitude as positive. For the results of the study to be able to generalize, a larger study that includes all patient representatives in RCC is required

This treatise presents a transcendental argument for corporate social responsibility. The argument is that corporate social responsibility, or CSR, is best understood as a collective moral practice that is a precondition for sustainable business. There are a number of theories and definitions of CSR in the contemporary business literature. These theories include considerations of economic, legal, social, and environmental notions of what a corporation ought to take responsibility for based on either motives or concerns of accountability for corporate acts. This work focuses on economic theories. I analyze the distinction between the technical terms "responsibility" and "accountability" found in these theories. This enables me to explicate the meaning of corporate responsibility as it relates to the conditions of sustainable business activity. These conditions necessarily include moral content. In other words, this is an applied ethics project. First, I inquire into the intellectual history of the broader sense of corporate responsibility and review various contemporary notions of corporate social responsibility. My concern is whether these notions presuppose broader forms of moral responsibility to others as an obligation, moral responsibility for acts, or to be held morally responsible (i.e., accountable) based on moral tendencies, particular motives, or resulting outcomes. This concern forms the basis of my consideration of the notions of individual and collective responsibility. The following work includes an analysis of the notion of human choice as a collective endeavor of institutional relationships and practice in the economic market system. I argue that corporate motives for moral interrelationships are necessarily implicit in biosocioeconomic multinational market enterprise. I conclude that an analysis of corporate community involvement may be found in a case study of Starbucks Coffee Company's efforts to practice CSR in particular coffee bean farming communities in developing countries.

Living on campus has long been an important part of many students' collegiate experience. Most research describing the benefits of living on campus was conducted in the 1960s and 1970s and was based upon students living in double rooms on double loaded corridors with community bathrooms. In recent years, the style of residence hall buildings has changed from these traditional rooms to suite and apartment-style housing offering more privacy and greater amenities to students. This study sought to examine how first year students living in three different types of residence hall environments differ on measures of social and academic integration, academic performance, involvement, and retention from the first to second year. One hundred and ninety one first year students living in three different types of residence halls (traditional, suite-style, and apartment-style) completed the Institutional Integration Scale during spring 2006. Students also gave permission for their GPAs and enrollment information to be obtained from the Registrar's Office. Results indicated that there were no significant differences in the social and academic integration, academic performance, involvement, or persistence among students living in these three different types of residence halls. While this study did not point to statistically significant differences, care must be taken in generalizing this finding to other settings due to the limited sample size used in this study. Suggestions for further research in this area are provided.

本研究探討「工作意義」與「工作投入」之關聯性，並討論工作人員對於工作意義與工作投入是否受個人特質因素所影響。本研究問卷設計採用 Lee (1996) 修正的 Rokeach 價值項目為基礎，用來定義工作意義，個人特質部份以工作人員之性別、年齡、婚姻狀況、職位類別、業務類別、教育程度、工作與所學相關、工作年資，共計8項變項來驗證其工作意義是否會影響工作投入。 研究對象以新北市區公所之工作人員進行實證調查，調查所得資料採用SPSS統計套裝軟體對263份有效問卷統計分析，研究發現： 一、 個人特質中的「性別」、「年齡」、「婚姻狀況」、「業務類別」、「教育程度」、「工作年資」對工作意義有顯著差異。 二、 個人特質中的「年齡」、「婚姻狀況」、「教育程度」、「工作與所學相關」、「工作年資」對工作投入有顯著差異。 三、 「工作意義」與「工作投入」存在顯著正相關，顯示人們對工作的投入程度受到工作能幫助達成個人價值觀的程度所影響。 希望根據上述研究發現，使區公所工作人員瞭解對現任工作之工作意義為何，並清楚自己所重視之工作價值項目與目前工作投入之情況，進而可以依據所重視之工作價值，來找尋適合的工作內容與環境。同時，提供政府部門瞭解目前工作人員之工作意義與工作投入情況與其工作上之需求，於人力資源管理上作改善，增加工作人員工作投入程度，提升行政效能，亦可做為遴選新聘人員時之參考。 / This study investigates the relationship between " work meaning" and "job involvement", analyzing how employees’ personal characters influence their " work meaning" and "job involvement". The questionnaire takes Rokeach value items modified by Lee(1996) as the basement to define work meanings. Personal characters include gender, age, marital status, position, the category of occupation, level of education, the association between studying background and work, and seniority, totally eight variables are tested in the survey to know whether work meaning influences job involvement. Research objects are servants of district office, new taipei city government. Statistical software “SPSS” is used to analyze the survey data and the 263 valid questionnaires, the study found: 1. Personal characters include gender, age, marital status, the category of occupation, level of education, seniority are more likely to effect one’s work meaning. 2. Personal characters include age, marital status, level of education, the association between studying background and work ,and seniority are more likely to effect one’s job involvement. 3.Work meaning is positively and significantly correlated with job involvement. It shows that the more work can achieve one’s personal values the more he or she would like to involve. We hope the above findings can help the servants of district office to realize the work meaning of the present job, and pay attention to the value they place importance on. It can finally help them to meet suitable occupation and work conditions. At the same time, it provides government departments with what the employees’ real need, improves human resource management, and increases job involvement of civil servants. When the governments recruit, the study can also be used as a reference to find the satisfying employees.

Background: The recent political agenda for health and social care requires more client-centred, personalised services. Self-Directed Support, encompassing Direct Payments and Personal Budgets, is designed to provide people with more choice and control over how their needs and outcomes are met. Personal budgets are available for eligible people however take-up is low in mental health services. Research Aims: The study was set in an NHS Health and Social care Trust covering a large predominantly rural area.The aims of this study were: (1) to develop Self-Directed Support within one mental health Trust and; (2) understand more fully service user and carer involvement in the process. Methods: This study used action research incorporating: a spiral methodological framework; a project steering group; and service user and carer co-researchers. Data collection took place between 2007 and 2011, and the project ran in three sequential spirals using qualitative methods to triangulate the findings and identify any divergence in data. Findings: Findings showed that organisational language, structures and power relations provide barriers to effective involvement of service users and carers. Action research is very relevant for researching projects involving transformational change in health and social care, and including service user and carer co-researchers adds rich and authentic data. Findings concerning Self-Directed Support concluded that it afforded people more choice, flexibility and control than previous policy, and an improved quality of life. Concerns about bureaucratic processes, lack of information and knowledge of Self-Directed Supportwere found. Workforce concerns about safety of service users under Self-Directed Support and cultural shifts to more democratic methods of working were reported. Conclusions: This study's results correspond closely with national studies: staff attitudes and culture need changing to empower people to take up Self-directed Support. Concerns about quality assurance and safety are prevalent. Mental health services pose additional obstacles in their structures and reliance on the medical model. Social care knowledge cannot be assumed for all mental health Trust practitioners.

International mathematics assessments have established students in East Asia as among the best in the world and their U.S. counterparts as mediocre. What is not clear is why this “achievement gap” exists. The last major study to address this question, Stevenson and Stigler’s (1992) The Learning Gap, was published prior to empirical and methodological advances in international comparative research on education. Prevailing wisdom points to unverified differences in cultural beliefs, which often leads to defeatist conclusions. This dissertation offers a fresh perspective by applying sociological theory and methods to the issue. Specifically, I rely on underutilized data from the 2003 and 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) of fourth graders to compare educational systems across three major factors that influence math achievement: curriculum, teachers and parents. My main empirical findings are that there is greater uniformity of math instruction across classrooms in the participating East Asian nations of Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan than in the U.S. and that, among all participating educational systems, average achievement tends to be higher in those with greater uniformity of instruction. The implication is that the institutional arrangements that allow for less uniformity of instruction across classrooms in the U.S. might be partially responsible for the gap. Cross-regional differences in teacher effectiveness might also account for part of the gap, as three-level, hierarchical linear models of achievement in each nation indicate that U.S. math teachers are less effective than their East Asian counterparts—even after the quantity of instruction provided is taken into account. The main theoretical contribution is an alternative explanation for the apparent cross-regional disparity in the proportion of involved parents, which highlights how schools can make a difference in whether or not parents become involved. Such an approach promises a way out of the dead-end reached by previous theorists. However, this dissertation also draws attention to the limitations of the existing data. At present, there is not enough information available to substantiate the policy recommendations made in previous studies. As such, a central aim of this dissertation is to put research onto sounder methodological footing. / Sociology

This qualitative study explored the perceptions and practices of elementary school administrators regarding parental involvement in three urban elementary schools. Particular attention was given to understanding the connection between the beliefs that school leaders shared about parental involvement and its role in school improvement (i.e., their espoused theories) and to how they supported parental involvement in their school community (i.e., their theories in use). Using Argyris and Schön’s (1978) theories of action framework, face-to face interview data and school and district documents were collected and analyzed to explore how well administrators’ practices relative to parental involvement (theory-in-use) aligned with their beliefs and perceptions (espoused theory). As such, data analysis focused on understanding both what administrators believe and what they do to use parental involvement to support school improvement efforts. / text

Sport specialization is defined as a year-round, highly structured commitment to training for and competing in a single sport. Children who begin the process of specialization at an early age are potentially susceptible to several undesirable outcomes, including an increased risk of orthopedic injury, psychological burnout, and limited social development. Despite these inherent risks, the practice of early sport specialization has become prevalent in the United States. This study uses a grounded theory methodology to examine the role of parents in early sport specialization practices. Drawing on in-depth interviews with twelve parents of adolescent soccer players, the study finds that parents are drawn to early sport specialization because of multiple perceived benefits for their children. The two most prominent of these benefits are positive socialization and the use of the sport as a lever for higher education. Parents act on limited information when making decisions regarding early sport specialization, relying on advice and information from coaches, soccer clubs, and other parents to make their decisions. In this manner, the parents themselves are socialized into the culture of early specialized sport, adopting the established values and beliefs of the practice, and furthering the advancement of the practice of early specialization in youth sport. / text

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of parenting style, home-based involvement, parents’ educational expectations and pre-literacy readiness. Sixty-two preschool children and his or her parent or guardian participated in this study of: 1) The relationship between parenting style and pre-literacy readiness of Black children enrolled in Head Start programs; 2) The relationship between parents’ educational expectations of Black children enrolled in Head Start programs and preliteracy readiness; 3) The relationship between home-based involvement of Black parents and levels of pre-literacy readiness of their children enrolled in Head Start programs; and 4) The relationship between the predictor variables (i.e., parenting style, parental homebased involvement, and parents’ educational expectations) and pre-literacy readiness of Black children enrolled in Head Start programs. Data were obtained from a Parent Survey that was administered to parents of children who attended Head Start Centers. Child participants were also administered pre-literacy assessments. A series of correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted to answer the four research questions in this study. Overall, all correlation and multiple regression analyses lacked significant results. None of the predictor variables had more of an influence on pre-literacy readiness variables. Despite the lack of significance, the results of this study contributes to the literature that supports that Black parents do have high expectations for their children and are engaging in activities at home with their children, whether it’s the primary caregiver (e.g., mother) or another person in the immediate or extended family (e.g., father, grandparents, uncle, boyfriend). These results further support the notion that Baumrind’s parenting style constructs may not generalize across other cultural and economical contexts. Future research is needed to determine the generalizability of these parenting style constructs across other ethnic minority and cultural groups. Practical implications of this study suggest that prevention and early intervention practices are two essential components in improving the learning outcomes of young minority children from less privileged backgrounds.