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In the Czech Republic little attention has been given to the research of civil society in rural areas. One of the fundamental preconditions for the development of civil society is engagement of citizens. The aim of this work is to explore social engagement, which is an important part of civic engagement, in two villages. The research was conducted in the north of the Czech republic, in the specific area of the former Sudetenland. Promoting social engagement may be one of the factors influencing the development of the Czech countryside, which is struggling with a long- term depopulation. Through in-depth interviews and document analysis the study argues about what are the main factors for social engagement and how social engagement contributes to the development of social capital.

Children with ASD are characterized by impairments in socialization and communication, as well as by the presence of repetitive behaviours and limited interests. Their impairment often influences their participation in everyday ac-tivities and by extension their social engagement in playful activities with their peers is affected. Researches set play as the leading activity for a child’s development, because it is identified as the means that can deliver various mental tools and teaching strategies to preschoolers. Purpose of this systematic literature review is to identify play interven-tions that describe the procedures aiming in promoting the social engagement of preschoolers with autism. This review will also examine the people that implemented these interventions, in order to provide information and guid-ance for all professionals and educators that may need them. Search in the three databases, ERIC, CINAHL and PsychINFO was performed. Seven articles were found to meet all criteria and were divided based on the similarities on the design and the procedures that were followed. The results of the study led to three play interventions that used the ASAP and JASPER intervention programs in order to examine the social communication of children with autism leading to their social engagement. The remaining findings resulted in four different kind of interventions that use play as the context for either increasing social engagement or promoting engagement of students with ASD with their peers. These interventions include auditory, dance and video modelling interventions. The Zone of Proximal Development was used as the theoretical framework to support the ideas mentioned, since it points out the role of play in the child’s development. However, this study highlights the need for further investigation regarding the pro-motion of social engagement of preschoolers with ASD. The level of the social engagement of children with ASD are rarely investigated in the natural context of schools during their everyday peer-to-peer play interactions.

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Thesis advisor: Alyssa Goldman / People’s needs for social engagement vary over the life course. Social engagement for individuals residing in memory care facilities is an important topic to research because this population benefits greatly from active participation in the communities in which they reside. This study examines the following research questions: To what extent does the facility in which adults with Alzheimer’s disease reside impact their social ties? How do the facilities differ in facilitating social engagement? I interviewed ten memory care facility employees across seven facilities in Massachusetts and found patterns in visitation for family members and friends of Alzheimer’s residents and social engagement for residents in memory care. Individual factors that affect visitation include family dynamics and disease progression. Structural factors that affect visitation include geographic location and religion. These findings are useful to inform policy and recognize increased opportunities for social engagement as an opportunity for facilities to slow disease progression. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.

It is difficult to have an integrated population throughout all age strata in a society. Especially if one considers the growing percentage of the aged population and their feeling alienated in their current physical surroundings. In order to solve imminent problems with the growing elderly population, a primary task should be considering how to improve the housing of senior citizens. Furthermore, bringing the youth and elderly together would produce a functioning self-help system. It engenders interaction strategies by employing the strengths of one generation to serve another generation’s needs. This idea was introduced by the systemic family therapist Gerhard Schiele. He indicates that current care facilities, nursing homes and assisted living facilities are not socially sustainable over the long term. This system also fosters a symbiotic relationship within a living complex, where residents and local communities interact in a mutually beneficial living arrangement. An improvement in the design of senior living community, combined with programs that promote a multi-generational interaction, can provide a holistic solution for the entire population. This cross generational solution will focus on the best practice of intergenerational living as it aims to allow all age groups to commingle. The ultimate goal of this study is to show an optimal type of residence within a mixed use building complex that accommodates the aging process with a full life perspective. A focus on age-related issues not only provides great promise for those as they mature, but also greatly improves the quality of life for everyone, regardless of age.

The master thesis studies the value of light art installations as a tool to raise awareness, communicate messages,inspire people and create social engagement to take action and deal with important issues. Additionally, it researchesthe lighting characteristics that have to be considered in order to create a high emotional response. Three case studieson light art installations tackling environmental issues were selected to understand the tools that makes themsuccessful. The final result of the thesis is the design proposal for a site specific light art installation to raise awarenesson droughts and its effects - following the CLUE competition 2019 guidelines - and create social engagement to fightthis major crisis. Specifically, the installation uses daylight in combination with shadows and reflections, in order toachieve the purpose of the installation. In the interest of creating a strong emotional response from the visitors,brightness, color, dynamics, contrast and direction of the perceived light were used to change the visitor’s perception ofthe space. The thesis concludes with the discussion of the evaluation of the installation to prove how effective thedesign is to achieve its purpose on raising awareness on droughts and the presence of the 7 light characteristics inorder to create an emotional response from the visitors.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the efficacy of animated video modeling (VM) in promoting acquisition of joint attention and social engagement skills for children with social skills difficulty. The study also sought to evaluate whether acquired skills generalized outside of the research setting. 6 children, ages ranging from 7 – 11 years, participated in the study, which was conducted at 2 different behavioral health clinics in Midwestern Nebraska. Participants were required to meet pre-requisite skills prior to being included in the study. Overall, results of the study found rapid acquisition of both target skills for the majority of the participants. Acquired skills were also demonstrated beyond the treatment setting and person. Further, caregivers reported animated VM was an acceptable treatment approach that was likely to make improvements for their children, reasonable, and could be willingly carried out with minimal concern for time, cost, or undesirable effects. Findings have several important implications regarding the use of animated VM as another type of VM intervention. Limitations and recommendations for future research are presented.

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