Class of 2016 Abstract / Objectives: The objectives of this study were to (1) evaluate student perceptions of completing a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and (2) determine hospital administrators’ awareness of potential student roles and interest in future student involvement in completing their mandated CHNA. Methods: Rural Health Professions Program (RHPP) participants who completed the CHNA course were emailed a link to a survey addressing demographics and satisfaction with the CHNA experience. Rural, not-for profit hospitals who were members of the Arizona Hospital and Health Care Association were selected for inclusion. Representatives from eligible hospitals completed a telephonic interview regarding their CHNA process, results, and interest in collaborating with RHPP students. Results: Twenty-nine students completed the survey (60% participation). In thematic analysis addressing overall satisfaction with the process, the top response was that it was a good learning experience (9 responses). Participants strongly agreed that communities can benefit from student involvement (65%) and 83% believed their CHNA could benefit the community. Of 19 eligible hospitals, 12 completed phone interviews (63% participation). The most commonly reported obstacles to completing a CHNA were: lack of resources, time, and community participation. Pharmacy was involved in the process at five of the facilities (41%). After describing the RHPP, 10 respondents indicated interest in student involvement in their CHNA (83%). Conclusions: There is potential for a mutually beneficial student-community collaboration, providing hospitals with additional resources while enhancing student engagement and community impact. This partnership could also increase pharmacy representation in the CHNA process, as less than half of hospitals reported pharmacy involvement.

In this study, the purpose was to describe the knowledge of, and involvement in, retirement planning among employees in their middle adulthood. Retirement is often viewed as an issue only relevant to older people who are on the verge of retiring and as something that has nothing to do with young employees or young people in general. This study will therefore add knowledge regarding middle adulthood employees and their understanding of, and involvement in planning for retirement. The first objective of the study was to conceptualise theoretically retirement planning. The second objective was to describe empirically the knowledge of and involvement in retirement planning among employees in their middle adulthood and the third objective was to formulate conclusions and recommendations to the Department of Health and Social Development. A descriptive applied study was conducted with the aim of describing the knowledge of, and involvement in, retirement planning among employees in their middle adulthood. It was a mixed methodology approach with the quantitative design being more dominant. A sample of 119 respondents was identified with the final response rate of (50%). No sampling methods were used because the population was too small. A questionnaire was used as the tool for data collection and the respondents had to complete these themselves. All respondents signed a consent form prior to the commencement of data collection. In achieving its objectives, the study discovered that although most of the employees still lack knowledge regarding retirement planning information, some are already involved in financial planning activities. There is not a retirement education programme within the institution even though it is supposed to be part of the induction programme. It was therefore concluded that there is a need for more education and encouragement among employees to assist them in planning for retirement. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

We investigate "dual headquarters involvement", i.e., corporate and divisional headquarters' simultaneous involvement in innovation development projects hosted by subsidiaries of multibusiness firms. Drawing on selective hierarchical involvement theory and the literature on subsidiary network embeddedness, we analyze 83 innovation projects in 22 multibusiness firms and find that the number of partners in the projects, rather than subsidiary intra- and inter-divisional embeddedness acts as a driver of dual headquarters involvement. We do however find that intra- and inter-divisional embeddedness is positively related to dual headquarters involvement when the number of partners in the innovation project is relatively large. These results lend support to the idea that parenting in complex organizations entail complex headquarters structures. Our results suggest that we need to go beyond simple conceptualizations of headquarters and that considering different dimensions of the innovating subsidiary's network helps in explaining dual headquarters involvement.

The present study examines how mothering and fathering impact child academic outcomes in divorced and intact families, and if there are unique influences of mothering and fathering variables for sons and daughters. An ethnically diverse sample of 1,714 university students from Florida International University (n=1371) and Florida State University (n=343) responded to measures on a questionnaire that included the Nurturant Fathering and Mothering Scales (Finley & Schwartz, 2004; Schwartz & Finley, 2005; Finley & Schwartz, 2006), the Mother and Father Involvement Scales (Finley, Mira, & Schwartz, 2008), demographic measures, and academic outcome measures. In intact families, mothering and fathering variables were significantly correlated with each other, and positively correlated with child academic outcomes including grades, GPA, academic satisfaction, and academic importance. In divorced families, mothering and fathering variables were not correlated with each other. Furthermore, when analyzing divorced families, significant effects were found for both parent and child gender. Mothering variables were found to have the greatest positive impact for sons’ academic outcomes. Maternal nurturance and maternal involvement were correlated positively with academic outcomes for sons from divorced families and accounted for 3-4% of the unique variance explained. Consistently, desired mother involvement, how much involvement the child wished they had received, was negatively correlated with academic outcomes for sons from divorced families and accounted for 10-15% of the unique variance explained. This means that when the amount of maternal involvement that sons in divorced families received matched or exceeded their desired level of involvement, sons had more positive academic outcomes including grades, GPA, satisfaction with academics and academic importance. This suggests that in intact family forms, nurturant and involved mothering and fathering have a positive effect on academic outcomes for sons and daughters. In divorced family forms, the effects of fathering on child academic outcomes were not significant. Therefore, in divorced families, the positive effects fathering on academic outcomes of sons and daughters drop out, and mothers are uniquely important for sons’ academic success.

This study is about factors affecting the effectiveness of parental involvement in their children’s education. This chapter focuses on the background to the study, statement of the problem, research questions, delimitation and limitations of the study and definitions of terms used in the context of the study. The education system during the apartheid era did not encourage effective involvement of stakeholders in schools. The achievement of democracy in South Africa has consigned to history the past system of Education which was based on racial inequality and segregation whereas this country requires a new national system for schools which will redress past injustices in educational provision, provide an education of progressively high quality for all learners (South African Schools Act (SASA) 84 of 1996). One of the factors which influence the success of a school system is the involvement of its stakeholders (SASA 84 of 1996). The school stakeholders are parents, educators, the learners, the community and the department of education officials. This means that these stakeholders should work together. According to SASA, a parent is the person legally entitled to the custody of a learner or a person who undertakes to fulfill the obligations of a person towards the learner’s education at school. Parental involvement is described as the willingness and active participation of parents in a wide range of school and home-based activities related to their children’s education. Literally, parental involvement is a dynamic process whereby teachers and parents work together for the ultimate benefit of the child. The SASA emphasizes that the role of parents in the education of their children is a vital support source of learning.

Most industrialised countries have witnessed a shift in the 'male breadwinner' model of family life as new generations of mothers have increasingly combined employment with parenting responsibilities. This has had implications for the role of fathers and their contributions to childcare and domestic work have increased as a result. However the change in fathers' contributions has not kept pace with the change in women's economic activity, suggesting there are social, political, economic and cultural barriers in place. Two sweeps of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) are used to explore some of the conditions under which fathers become more actively involved in childcare and housework when cohort children are aged nine months and three years old. This question is examined cross-sectionally and longitudinally within the context of a two parent, heterosexual household in Britain. Three data classification techniques are used to derive two latent measures that represent two dimensions of paternal involvement (engagement and responsibility). Multiple regression is used to model involvement at aged nine months; logistic regression is used to model what type of caregiver a father is when the child is aged three. The main findings are: · Patterns of maternal and paternal employment have the strongest association with paternal involvement at both time points. When children are aged nine months, the hours that a mother works appear to have a stronger association with paternal involvement than fathers' own work hours (although this is still important). The likelihood of a father being involved with his three year old also increases dramatically the longer the hours the mother spends in paid work. Fathers' own work hours have a slightly stronger association with whether they take on a primary caregiving role at age three. · There are considerable variations in involvement when the child is aged nine months by ethnicity as involvement is lower for fathers with an Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi background. Responsibility for housework, however, is slightly higher for black/black British fathers. · Various demographics also have a small association with involved fathering atage three. For example, fathers are more likely to be involved when their child is a boy, when there are no other children in the household and when they took leave following their child's birth. The thesis exposes some of the employment and demographic conditions associated with greater paternal involvement with young children. In doing so it also brings to light some of the barriers to greater gender equity in the division of domestic labour (childcare and housework). The findings emphasise the importance of employment hours with long work hours hindering involvement and mothers' participation in the labour market encouraging it. The thesis provides a foundation from which to develop further analyses so that a better understanding of the variations in paternal involvement can be achieved.

This study examined science achievement growth across elementary and middle school and parent school involvement using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Class of 1998 – 1999 (ECLS-K). The ECLS-K is a nationally representative kindergarten cohort of students from public and private schools who attended full-day or half-day kindergarten class in 1998 – 1999. The present study’s sample (N = 8,070) was based on students that had a sampling weight available from the public-use data file. Students were assessed in science achievement at third, fifth, and eighth grades and parents of the students were surveyed at the same time points. Analyses using latent growth curve modeling with time invariant and varying covariates in an SEM framework revealed a positive relationship between science achievement and parent involvement at eighth grade. Furthermore, there were gender and racial/ethnic differences in parents’ school involvement as a predictor of science achievement. Findings indicated that students with lower initial science achievement scores had a faster rate of growth across time. The achievement gap between low and high achievers in earth, space and life sciences lessened from elementary to middle school. Parents’ involvement with school usually tapers off after elementary school, but due to parent school involvement being a significant predictor of eighth grade science achievement, later school involvement may need to be supported and better implemented in secondary schooling.

This study sought to determine if participation in a home education learning program would impact the perceived levels of parental self-efficacy of parents/caregivers who participate in the completion of home-learning assignments and increase their levels of home-learning involvement practices. Also, the study examined the relationship between the parental involvement practice of completing interactive home-learning assignments and the reading comprehension achievement of first grade students. A total of 146 students and their parents/caregivers representing a convenience sample of eight first grade classes participated in the study. Four classes (n=74) were selected as the experimental group and four classes (n=72) served as the control group. . There were 72 girls in the sample and 74 boys and the median age was 6 years 6 months. The study employed a quasi-experimental research design utilizing eight existing first grade classes. It examined the effects of a home-learning support intervention program on the perceived efficacy levels of the participating parents/care¬givers, as measured by the Parent Perceptions of Parent Efficacy Scale (Hoover-Dempsey, Bassler, & Brissie, 1992) administered on a pre/post basis. The amount and type of parent involvement in the completion of home assignments was determined by means of a locally developed instrument, the H.E.L.P. Parent Involvement Home-learning Scale, administered on a pre/post basis. Student achievement in reading comprehension was measured via the reading subtest of the Brigance, CIB-S pre and post. The elementary students and their parents/caregivers participated in an interactive home-learning intervention program for 12 weeks that required parent/caregiver assistance. Results revealed the experimental group of parents/caregivers had a significant increase in their levels of perceived self-efficacy, p<.001, from the pre to post, and also had significantly increased levels of parental involvement in seven home-learning activities, p<.001, than the control group parents/caregivers. The experimental group students demonstrated significantly higher reading levels than the control group students, p<.001. This study provided evidence that interactive home-learning activities improved the levels of parental self-efficacy and parental involvement in home-learning activities, and improved the reading comprehension of the experimental group in comparison to the control.

This study examined peer relationships and psychosocial functioning as a function of maternal and paternal involvement and nurturance along with the moderating effects of gender, family form, and ethnicity. Prior research has shown the influence of mother’s involvement on peer relationship quality but not of fathers. Further, previous studies did not examine moderation by family form, gender, or ethnicity. The sample consisted of 1359 students who identified their biological mother and father as the most influential parental figures in their lives. Their ages ranged from 18 to 26; Sixty–one percent of the sample was Hispanic, 13% non-Hispanic Black, 25% non-Hispanic White; 76% female and 70% from intact families. The analytical strategy included using bivariate correlations and structural equation modeling to examine these relationships. All dimensions of maternal and paternal nurturing and involvement were positively related to positive characteristics of peer relationships, self-esteem and life satisfaction consistent with the multicultural findings of PARTheory (Rohner, Khalique, & Cournoyer, 2005). A structural model was developed that was able to adequately account for the relationship between parental influence, peer relationships, and psychosocial functioning. These effects of both maternal and paternal influence were strongly moderated by culture, family form, and gender. Finally, a differential effect was found among parental influence with fathers having a greater influence on friendship quality and importance than mothers, despite greater maternal involvement. These findings have theoretical, clinical, and social implications as they call for a socially based theoretical perspective within which to study these relationships. Such a perspective would better inform clinicians when using impaired social functioning as indicative of axial diagnosis, and for the implementation of social policy to encourage paternal involvement.

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / Parental involvement during late adolescence has been confirmed by scholars as a major determinant in fostering the educational and psychosocial outcomes in the life trajectory of an individual. Certain bodies of literature, however, argue that parental involvement declines dramatically during adolescence, while others insist that parents merely employ more developmentally appropriate forms of involvement. Western-based parental involvement frameworks – while useful – have not sufficiently captured the contextualised perceptions, experiences and challenges of late adolescents in rural South Africa.