<p> Participation in youth sports is increasingly popular with estimates of 35&ndash;40 million U.S. children playing an organized sport each year. Current concussion education has not been shown to be consistently effective. The risk of concussion exposure is present in a number of youth sports. Much of the research surrounding concussion reporting has targeted older adolescents. A better understanding of the reporting process among younger athletes is needed. </p><p> <b>Purpose of the Study:</b> The purpose of this study was to generate a grounded theory that explained concussion reporting in youth sports from the perspective of the young athletes. </p><p> <b>Design and Methods:</b> A grounded theory approach was used to gather and analyze data from semi-structured interviews with soccer players ages 5 to 12. The sample consisted of eleven athletes (8 male, 3 female) from non-elite soccer leagues in two counties; Maricopa, Arizona and Santa Barbara, California. </p><p> <b>Results:</b> Data analysis induced four conceptual categories; trusted environment, self-monitoring, being a player and incentive structure. The resultant theoretical model explains injury reporting from the perspective of young athletes. This study suggests that there is an incentive structure related to injury reporting, that young athletes have a good understanding of the incentives in relation to their perception of self as a player. Athletes demonstrate self-agency in terms of self-monitoring, however important adult others provide a trusted environment that makes children feel safe with their decisions. </p><p> <i>Implications:</i> This study suggests that a better understanding of the incentive structure embedded in the reporting process is needed to design effective prevention and education strategies. Important other adults such as parents and coaches may play a pivotal role in injury reporting among younger athletes when compared to adolescents.</p><p>

<p> Between 1990 and 2010 changing perceptions of water-scarcity and evolving adaptation strategies to water stress transformed water management in San Diego, California. This project examines how perceptions of water scarcity affect the programmatic variety, geographic scale, and types of adaptations that are undertaken. It also investigates whether a cultural consensus developed within San Diego County as a whole about what causes particular water problems. Lastly, the research shows how adaptation responses to the collective action problem of water provisioning contributed to resolving the other collective action problems of wastewater production and water conservation. The project presents San Diego as an example of polycentric governance arrangements that were adaptive to the challenges of a changing social-ecological system. </p><p>

<p> The purpose for this qualitative research was to provide comparative data to determine if there was areas in need of improvement when it pertained to medical errors. Researchers have validated that initiating measures for continuous improvement would minimize error rates and benefit the clinicians and their patients. Patient safety was important and cause major concerns, therefore this research explored categories that influenced decision-making processes or conditions that causes deficit in reasoning, which could have an impact on cognitive abilities. Therefore, medical errors are a research worthy problem; since they cause phenomenon, conflict within managerial processes, and was a contributing factor for malpractice payouts, per a report from 2015 Institute of Medicine. As a result, researchers validated that initiating measures for continuous improvement would benefit the clinicians and their patients by minimizing errors or keeping them at a minimum. Utilizing the qualitative approach provided the best framework to narrow down cause and effects to validate the importance of support that relates to memory and relational network through retrieval-mediated learning. This research provides evidence that medical errors occurred during decision-making processes with (90%) cognitive errors, anchoring (75.7%), and (78.6%) premature closure. As a result, this qualitative research concentrated on constructs, such as, data collection from observation of prior research from scholarly, empirical, peered reviewed articles; <i>Medical Journals</i>, and education materials to provide pertinent information on diagnostic medical errors for the material within this investigation. The results from this study indicated, although, there was suggestions to improve patient-safety no significant decrease in medical harm occurred, therefore additional investigations will provide a valuable contribution to the body of knowledge and conditions for continuous improvement.</p><p>

<p> Public health leaders lead a diverse workforce and organizations that are comprehensive in their breadth and scope of services. The purpose of this descriptive quantitative study was to describe the transformational and transactional leadership behaviors of federal public health leaders, their coaching practices, and the relationship between those leadership and coaching behaviors. Researcher recruited a convenience sample of 91 U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) officers from training events between March-July 2014. Participants self-selected to voluntarily complete an internet-based survey comprising a researcher-designed questionnaire, the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X Form, and Get Fit for Coaching self-assessment. The first two research questions related to leadership and coaching behaviors were analyzed in SPSS 22 using Kruskal-Wallis H, Yates&rsquo; correction, and Monte Carlo significance tests. The Pearson&rsquo;s product-moment correlation analyzed the third research question examining the relationship between leadership and coaching behaviors. No difference was found in the leadership or coaching behaviors of junior and senior officers when examined by actual rank or seniority. The data revealed several relationships between leadership and coaching behaviors, with significant correlations found for 24 dichotomous pairs, indicating transformational and constructive transactional leadership and coaching behaviors as similar, complementary, and interrelated. The findings showed the act of providing feedback improved performance, while failure to take action or implement change stifles learning and growth. Recommendations for future research included: examining these behaviors among non-uniformed and non-federal public health leaders; exploring their leadership outcomes; and the inclusion of the 360-assessment to validate the self-reported leader data.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative exploratory multiple case study is to explore what influence lifestyle polygraph screening hiring requirements have on federal government agencies to attract Millennial applicants in the Washington D.C. area. The broad theoretical framework under which this research study falls includes Maslow&rsquo;s hierarchy of needs theory, generational theory, the social cognitive theory, and the social exclusion theory. Data collection for this research study involved conducting semi-structured interviews with thirteen members of the Millennial Generation and thirteen former federal government hiring managers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The interview data was entered into NVIVO 11 for data mining and categorization. This resulted in the establishment of common themes about the perceptions of Millennials and former federal government hiring managers about the lifestyle polygraph hiring requirement. The results of the study concluded that the lifestyle polygraph hiring requirement is not a deterring factor on the ability of federal government agencies to attract Millennial applicants. However, the lifestyle polygraph hiring requirement was found to be a deterrent in achieving federal government employment objectives in hiring Millennials. This study provided organizational leaders and managers with empirical data for evaluating and effecting potential hiring process changes. Recommendations for future areas of research include reassessing drug test requirements, exploration of potential polygraph examiner bias, and early intervention marketing at the middle and high school levels.</p><p>

This study investigated burnout and aspects of perceived work environment among employees of selected state-operated community residences in western Massachusetts. The primary aim of the study was to compare alternative approaches to diagnosing burnout: a traditional regression model, and a burnout phase model. This comparison was employed to assess the relative utility of the burnout models for guiding managerial decisionmaking about organizational change interventions. The descriptive component of the study found that the sample was characterized by low burnout. Low burnout was strongly associated with positive perceptions of the work environment, as expected. Both burnout and work environment perceptions varied significantly for the sample subgroups of high/low contact workers, workers with previous experience in private social service agencies, and workers assigned to either apartments or to the more restrictive and closely monitored Intermediate Care Facilities. Diagnosis using the traditional approach suggested the primacy of structural factors in predicting burnout, while the phase model implicated social factors. In addition, the traditional approach suggested that burnout was not an issue of concern in the organization studied, while the phase approach led to the finding that a significant portion of the employees were severely burned out. Thus the guidance provided for managers through application of the traditional versus phase approaches differed depending on which model was used. Although the study supported a functional difference between the phase and traditional approaches, further research using objective outcome measures and comparing groups over time is needed.

Résumé :Dans un contexte de modernisation de l'Etat, les structures publiques doivent faire face à de nombreuses mutations organisationnelles autant qu'à une montée des risques psychosociaux. A partir des travaux conduits sur l'hypermodernité que nous complétons par la théorie de la préservation des ressources, nous cherchons à identifier certains enjeux en matière de management public.Cette recherche, réalisée à partir d'une étude qualitative menée auprès de trois administrations déconcentrées de l'Etat, examine la dynamique entre trois variables : les facteurs de risques psychosociaux, les ressources disponibles ainsi que les valeurs professionnelles.L'analyse révèle, d'une part, l'existence de risques conformes à ceux dentifiés dans les entreprises privées, d'autre part, la présence de ressources régulatrices liées à la qualité des relations avec les pairs et à la nature des missions autant qu'aux possibilités de développement et, enfin, des valeurs relatives à la motivation à l'égard du service public.D'une manière générale, l'interprétation des données indique que les valeurs professionnelles se heurtent fréquemment à la logique du new management public qui sous-tend les nouveaux modes de production publique. Cependant, loin de rester passifs, les agents se tournent vers d'autres valeurs "refuges", telles l'utilité de leur travail ou la satisfaction des usagers, qui agissent comme de nouvelles ressources dans un contexte à l'avenir incertain. / Abstract :In a context of modernization of the state, public structures have to face many organizational changes as well as a rise in psychosocial risks. From the works conducted on hypermodernity that we supplement with the theory of the preservation of resources, we seek to identify some issues in public management. This research, based on a qualitative study conducted among three decentralized state administrations, examines the dynamics between three variables: psychosocial risk factors, available resources and professional values. The analysis reveals, on the one hand, the existence of risksconsistent with those identified in private companies, on the other hand, the presence of regulatory resources related to the quality of relations with peers and the nature of missions as much as development opportunities; and, finally, values relating to motivation for public service. In general terms, the interpretation of the data indicates that professional values frequently come up against the logic of the new public management that underpins the new modes of public production. However, far from being passive, agents are turning to other "safe haven" values, such as the usefulness of their work or the satisfaction of users, who act as new resources in a context of uncertain future.

This thesis is about public relations as an occupation and a business. The study is focused on investigating the nature of the expertise utilised in public relations, ways in which it is exploited commercially, and the consequences such practices have for the occupational group and its economic existence. The theoretical framework for this thesis combines insights from the sociology of the professions, studies of cultural/creative professions, Bourdieu's approach to the study of cultural practices, and critical examination of professional services, such as management consultancy. In empirical terms, the thesis combines a range of data and analytical approaches. The key part of the thesis is a model of public relations expertise derived from an analysis of participant observation of professional training. Its component parts are identified as: picture of the world; conceptual frame; and working knowledge, which in turn is composed of problems, tools and truths. The thesis also offers a narrative analysis of competition case studies, a particular genre of practitionars accounts of their own work, leading to the conclusion that their role is to show practitioners how to make sense of the immediate experience of work within a more abstract and ordered professional framework. A range of secondary data on the industry and the labour force are reanalysed to show how expertise is transformed into a commodity that can be priced and sold. The transformation involves an understanding of demand and supply dynamics for PR services. Finally, through the analysis of routine practices, the thesis draws attention to the occupation's &quot;split personality&quot; - two coexisting yet contradictory ways in which practitioners think about public relations - and pursues it at the level of the group's strategies designed to counteract the weaknessess resulting from this unsettled identity.

Thesis (M.S.)--Northwest Missouri State University, 2009. / The full text of the thesis is included in the pdf file. Title from title screen of full text.pdf file (viewed on January 13, 2010) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Hous. M.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.