In this qualitative study, the social construct of community citizenship as perceived in the worldviews of adults with developmental disabilities living in a large eastern city was explored. While authors report government-sponsored institutionalization and custodial care is no longer as common, the voices of people with developmental disabilities are still to be heard on what they think about being participating members of their communities rather than segregated as they once were. This study provided a group of adults with developmental disabilities an opportunity to help others better understand their thoughts about belonging. A combined case study and photovoice research approach was used in the study. Five adult participants were supplied with cameras with which to take photographs of what they felt best represented their interpretation of belonging and community citizenship. Each was later interviewed to provide descriptions of their pictures. The data were then evaluated with the assistance of qualitative analysis software to determine themes. The findings indicated the participants placed high personal value on gainful employment and expressions of respect from others. In keeping with Maslow's hierarchy of needs thesis as well as the self-actualization and self-determination theories, a sense of belonging is vital to emotional health and well-being. The results of this study contribute to social change by affirming what participants communicated "an inclusive community is one that promotes and provides equitable opportunities for employment, respect, decision-making, and participation."

Researchers have indicated that there are no formal guidelines for placing convicted transgender felons in the United States in correctional facilities and addressing their post-placement medical care and treatment. The problem is that inappropriate placement may lead to the discrimination of transgender offenders; it may also put them in situations that threaten their safety. Attorneys are legal advocates assigned to defend and protect the rights of their clients during the trial and sentencing phase when correctional placement is determined. The purpose of this hermeneutic, phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of attorneys who represent transgender clients during the legal process of determining their correctional placement. Heider's attribution theory and de Lauretis's queer theory provided a conceptual framework for this study. Participants were 5 attorneys and 1 legal assistant in a large, urban county in Texas. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and analyzed using thematic, linguistic content analysis. The findings from this study suggested that the participant attorneys believed that gender self-identification may reduce the amount of discrimination that transgender clients face in the U.S. prison system and is the first step in determining safe and appropriate housing placement for transgender felons. The findings further suggested that judges and administrators serving in the U.S. criminal justice system need additional education about the transgender population so that sentencing decisions can effectively and safely house the transgender inmate population. The results of this study affect social change by providing wide-ranging administrative changes that should be made in order to address the overall needs of transgender individuals across the U.S. criminal justice system.

Leading at a distance has emerged concurrently with complex global changes, resulting in the diverse use of technology, virtual teams, and collaboration as a way of solving problems and growing innovative and successful organizations. Little research has been done to explore the perceptions of individuals who lead virtual organizations. In the absence of such research, little is known about effective leadership processes in virtual environments. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to discover an explanatory theory, derived from data, which facilitates an understanding of effective virtual leadership systems and processes. This study used classic grounded theory methodology involving multiple extant data reviews (> 20) and a purposive sampling group of 77 virtual leaders, dispersed globally, who were interviewed using voice-over Internet protocol, phone contacts, and e-mail as data collection methods. The grand tour research question for this study examined issues leaders faced when leading/working virtually and the processes virtual leaders used to resolve the stated issues. Data were analyzed using open coding, sorting, memoing, constant comparative analysis, selective coding, and theoretical sampling. The key finding of this study was a generated theory of seducing engagement, addressing participants' main concern: the process of cultivating success in the virtual worker-learner. Engagement is viewed as a significant variable in successful virtual working, virtual leading, and organizational/company success. The results from this study might be used by global organizations to inform infrastructure and planning for virtual leading; to enhance the knowledge, training, and preparedness of virtual leaders; and to spur further research in a rapidly growing field.

Emotional disengagement of employees may cause poor organizational performance, while emotional commitment of employees may enhance organizational performance. Informed by the theory of psychological ownership in organizations, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore how employee emotional interactions in the workplace related to organizational performance within 3 multinational companies in Nigeria. The 3 selected companies represented the 3 industrial sectors in Nigeria were financial, construction, and oil and gas. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 24 participants with a minimum of 5 years' experience in their respective organizations. Data analysis included transcription, coding, and querying, which produced 5 themes: positive emotions, negative emotions, organizational success, organizational failure, and contextual excellence, cumulating into a fundamental notion of emotional extent effects. Positive emotions contributed to the organizational success, and negative emotions encouraged organizational failure. Both positive and negative emotions instigated the contextual excellence. The findings have the potential of promoting positive social change because practitioners in leadership and organizational change may use the results of this research to improve the adaptive responses to change. The findings of the study may benefit managers by helping them better lead their employees towards impacting social and economic transformations. Implementing workplace spirituality, learning taxonomy, and sustainable human resources practices may manifest innovative socio-economic performance in organizations.

The improper promotion of police officers who lack effective police management skills results in poor supervisor/employee relationships and could have a further negative effect on the relationships between officers and citizens. Yet, few police departments utilize leadership testing in making promotional decisions. The purpose of this quantitative, descriptive study was to explore whether servant leadership, from the perspective of police officers, is viewed as an effective leadership strategy. In particular, the focus of this study was on the element of humility as part of servant leadership theory. Data were collected by distributing the Servant Leadership Survey (SLS) to 2,794 police officers of a large metropolitan area law enforcement agency, resulting in 386 useable surveys. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and factor loading analysis. Findings indicated that most, approximately 60 percent, of police officer participants perceive that their supervisors engage in servant leadership practices related to humility. Further, findings suggest the humility score from the SLS could be used to measure perceptions from subordinates as part of a police manager promotional process. Thus, the use of the SLS Questionnaire for measuring the humility construct within the context of servant leadership was determined to serve as a robust measure. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include providing recommendations to the law enforcement executives of this agency to engage in training and promotional processes that focus on servant leadership in order to promote strong working relationships between officers and supervisors, which in turn may improve relations with the public.

In California classrooms, general education teachers have experienced stress due to an increasing number of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). This study used a hermeneutical phenomenological inquiry approach to explore teachers' perspectives of their pre-service professional development (PD), in-service PD, and classroom experiences with students who have externalizing EBD. The theoretical framework centered on social constructivism. Research questions addressed the teachers' perceptions of their pre-service and in-service PD on students with EBD and their experiences with students' externalizing behaviors. Twenty California general education teachers, each from a different school district, volunteered to participate in face-to-face interviews. Stratified purposeful sampling was used to compare perceptions of teachers whose students ranged from preschool through high school. NVivo was used to organize the data and highlight significant themes. Findings included specific areas of PD needs based on students' grade levels, as well as areas of concern across the grade levels. Teachers of all grade levels need PD on how to address aggressive and unsafe behaviors, issues with families, and disruptions in the classroom. Links between the teachers' PD experiences and classroom experiences were inconclusive due to various influences. Findings and conclusions on pre-service and in-service PD needs were presented as textual descriptions. Results of this inquiry may lead to areas for further research, such as how to foster personal characteristics of teachers who have positive experiences with students who have EBD. Implications for positive social change include addressing the specific areas of PD need. Addressing these target areas may lead to California teachers having increased success with students who have externalizing behaviors.

With the increasing amount of police calls involving persons experiencing a mental health crisis (PICs), agencies are looking for ways to reduce the overuse of emergency services and criminal confinement. Police-mental health collaborative (PMHC) programs were developed to utilize the expertise of both mental health and law enforcement practitioners to provide immediate linkage to psychiatric services in an effort to prevent unnecessary involvement in the criminal justice system. The theoretical framework for this study was built on the sequential intercept model (SIM) along with the theories of social network and social support. The SIM identifies 5 key points where PICs can be diverted away from the criminal justice system. PMHC programs fall within the first intercept where persons with mental illness can be diverted at their first initial contact with law enforcement. Limited empirical research exists that show PMHC programs are reaching their intended objectives. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the effect of PMHC services on the likelihood that PICs will have future mental health calls (MHCs), arrests, and emergency hospitalizations (EHPs). Archival data from 1 midwestern police agency and online public court records was used in the analysis. The study employed OLS and logistic regression techniques, which revealed no statistically significant relationships between the PMHC interventions and the likelihood of future MHCs, arrests, and EHPs. However, significance was achieved for several covariates including transient status, prior history of MHCs, arrests, and EHPs. These findings will contribute to positive social change by informing policymakers and practitioners on best practices in community mental health crisis response.

Approximately 150,000 First Nation, Metis, and Inuit children attended Canadian residential schools from the 1840s to 1996. Most residential school children had negative experiences of physical, verbal, and sexual abuse that led to parenting repercussions once these children became parents. These repercussions of residential schools led to a rate of neglect for First Nation children 12 times higher than non-First Nation children. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological descriptive study was to explore the lived experiences of second generation parents, who were schooled in residential schools as children and their current parenting styles. The conceptual frameworks of trauma theory and family systems theory were used to understand the parenting styles of second-generation parents. Data were collected through one-on-one interviews with 20 second generation parents living within 10 Treaty 8 territory Woodland Cree reserves of Alberta, Canada. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded using NVivo10 software to determine common themes. The themes were little affection, too much alcohol and substance abuse, lack of positive reinforcement, an abundance of household chores, coparenting with extended family and friends, and spanking, revolving privileges, and yelling as forms of discipline. Social change may occur through better understanding of the parenting styles of second-generation parents. Recommendations include making levels of government aware of the need for a program to aid second-generation parents in healing from their past trauma. Another recommendation is that First Nation curricula should include the history and legacy of residential schools to allow children and their parents to acknowledge the effects of colonialism on their lives today and, hopefully, to overcome them.

Teenage pregnancy is disproportionate between African American and Caucasian females. This disproportion is notable because African American teenagers are 3 times more likely to become pregnant than their Caucasian counterparts are. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists among major life events, sexual behaviors, and resultant teenage pregnancy among African American females in the United States. The theoretical framework for this study was social learning theory. Three key research questions focused on relationships among (a) major life events and initial sexual behavior, (b) ethnicity, and (c) teenage pregnancy. Independent variables were life event and ethnicity, and dependent variables were teenage pregnancy and initial sexual behavior. The population sample included a total of 12,284 data observations of African American and Caucasian females. Hypotheses were tested using logistic regression and independent sample t tests. The study used public domain data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Survey of Family Growth. Study results indicated that Research Question (RQ) 1 confirmed that life events are a statistically significant predictor of teen pregnancy. RQ2 confirmed that no significant relationship exists between Caucasian and African American adolescent females and the existence of teen pregnancy. RQ3 confirmed significant mean differences in the age of first sexual intercourse between Caucasians and African Americans. This study may contribute to positive social change by educating and empowering teenage African American women about teen pregnancy, enhancing their social competence, and potentially preventing unwanted pregnancy.

There is a gap in research on the effectiveness of mandatory-€minimum sentences on the recidivism rates of federal child pornography offenders, resulting in policy that may be ineffective and costly. Relevant research can further understanding of criminogenic behavior that results in the exploitation of children and aid future policy making decisions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to better understand the relationship between federal sentencing and federal child pornographer recidivism. Central to this study is the research question of whether there exists a statistically significant difference between the likelihood of recidivism in 2 child pornographer cohorts that receive different sentences, probation or mandatory incarceration. The employed frameworks for this study were retributivism and the self-€regulation model. A quantitative analysis was used to examine the recidivism rates of the 2 different cohorts as well as the predictive value of various factors related to recidivism. The sample population consisted of 70 offenders convicted of a federal child pornography offense between 2012 and 2016 from 3 states and 7 federal judicial districts. Purposive sampling was employed via publicly available secondary data. Key findings revealed that the analyzed data does not support the existence of a relationship between recidivism and the given sentence. Second, crime of conviction was the only examined factor that supported predictability for future recidivism. The implications of this study will mean evidence for potential policy modifications, alteration of an existing economically draining strategy, and the positive social change of reduced harm and exploitation of children.