The primary aim of this study was to enhance understanding of readiness to change excessive alcohol use in young adults, ages 18-29 in order optimize clinical care for military personnel. Secondary data analysis was conducted using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with a proxy sample of community health center beneficiaries obtained from the 2009 Insight Project Research Group’s study on Screening Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) in the Harris County Hospital District (HCHD). Based on research-supported predictors of readiness to change alcohol use a multivariate model of pathways to readiness to change was created which incorporated psychological (i.e., emotional distress), behavioral (i.e., drinking severity, consequences severity), and maturation (i.e., age, marital status) factors, as well as demographic characteristics (i.e, race/ethnicity, gender). Multiple fit indices were used to assess the model fit with the data, while multiple group analysis was used to test for invariance between pathways to readiness to change for the young (18-29) and middle adult (30-60) groups. The study sample was ethnically diverse and consisted of 1,256 young adults and 4,623 middle adults. The proposed model showed a good fit with the InSight data set. Results demonstrated a strong path connecting emotional distress to both drinking severity and consequences severity, and then from consequence severity to readiness to change. Together, this path lends support to the concept that young adults are using alcohol to modulate their emotions and further, consequences may play an important role in readiness to chance excessive drinking. Variance detected in the multi-group analysis between young and middle adults also provided support for theory claiming differentiation of these groups, particularly as it relates to excessive drinking and readiness to change. Implications for future research and practice include the importance of replicating this and future studies with military samples. These findings lend support to the role of emotional distress and the coping theory paradigm in treating young adults. The military may be best served by continuing to support resources which promote healthy stress tolerance while simultaneously fostering proactive screening procedures and evidence-based care. Further, these findings also suggest that pathways to readiness to change may vary between young and middle adults, particularly as they relate to alcohol related consequences. Future research should focus on the role of consequences and the influence they may have in promoting readiness to change for each age group within the clinical setting. / text

This multi-methods research project studies the main leadership practices from the perspectives of teachers in the recent process of curriculum reform and the extent to which these leadership practices motivated their commitment to change. It also investigates the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on their perceptions of these transformational school leadership practices in Shenyang, a northeast city of China. The first research question explored the transformational leadership model in Chinese school context. Key words relevant to transformational school leadership practices were identified from teachers’ survey answers using content analysis for formulating the Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire. Additionally, the Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire was formulated using principal component analysis. Subsequently, the organizational characteristics questionnaire, and the teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire were validated using principal component analysis and reliability analysis for answering remaining two research questions. The second research question investigated the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. The results of multiple regression analysis revealed that variables like culture, strategy, environment, and teacher’s age had significant relationships with teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. Culture, environment, strategy, structure, and teachers’ factors such as age and grade teacher taught had moderate effects on different dimensions of teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. The third research question examined the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change. The results of linear regression showed that the effect of transformational school leadership was moderate when transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change were treated as a single variable. Four dimensions of transformational leadership practices together explained the moderate effects on the four dimensions of teachers’ commitment to change respectively, among which the effect of managing the instructional program was the most prominent. This study represents an original attempt to understand how Chinese teachers perceive transformational school leadership, the effects of organizational and personal factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership, and the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change in the Chinese urban upper secondary school context. This research seeks to contribute to leadership development and school change practices in the Chinese school context.

This multi-methods research project studies the main leadership practices from the perspectives of teachers in the recent process of curriculum reform and the extent to which these leadership practices motivated their commitment to change. It also investigates the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on their perceptions of these transformational school leadership practices in Shenyang, a northeast city of China. The first research question explored the transformational leadership model in Chinese school context. Key words relevant to transformational school leadership practices were identified from teachers’ survey answers using content analysis for formulating the Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire. Additionally, the Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire was formulated using principal component analysis. Subsequently, the organizational characteristics questionnaire, and the teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire were validated using principal component analysis and reliability analysis for answering remaining two research questions. The second research question investigated the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. The results of multiple regression analysis revealed that variables like culture, strategy, environment, and teacher’s age had significant relationships with teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. Culture, environment, strategy, structure, and teachers’ factors such as age and grade teacher taught had moderate effects on different dimensions of teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. The third research question examined the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change. The results of linear regression showed that the effect of transformational school leadership was moderate when transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change were treated as a single variable. Four dimensions of transformational leadership practices together explained the moderate effects on the four dimensions of teachers’ commitment to change respectively, among which the effect of managing the instructional program was the most prominent. This study represents an original attempt to understand how Chinese teachers perceive transformational school leadership, the effects of organizational and personal factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership, and the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change in the Chinese urban upper secondary school context. This research seeks to contribute to leadership development and school change practices in the Chinese school context.

This exploratory research investigates students’ responses to innovative instructional methods, focusing primarily on identifying the barriers that discourage students from engaging with methods that are new or not expected. The instructional methods explored are examples of learning-centred teaching and assessment methods, and are considered to be innovative since they are not yet widely used in higher education. To investigate this issue, literature from organizational change management, resistance to change, and higher education is reviewed. Gaps from the higher education literature suggest that no comprehensive framework or model exists regarding students’ barriers to engaging with innovative, learning-centred instructional methods. Additionally, few studies compare faculty member and student perceptions, clarify whether the instructional methods studied are innovative for the students, or apply theories and concepts from the change management literature. This research attempts to address these gaps. Case study methodology is selected to enable a detailed study of a course that employs innovative instructional methods. A modified grounded theory approach is used to inform both research instrument design and data analyses. Data are collected from multiple sources and via multiple methods, and both thematic and comparative analyses are presented. Overall, support is found for the four research propositions posed. The students’ barriers fall into eight key themes, and comprise various codes and properties to provide further understanding. The saliency of the codes appears to vary by time of term and type of instructional method. Other relevant factors include: the students’ year of study and amount of instructional variety, the academic discipline and culture of the innovative course, and misalignments between the students’ and instructor’s perceptions of the barriers to change. The value of course evaluation data as feedback about innovative courses is also questioned. Finally, connections are made between the findings and the Reasoned Action Approach theory for future possible research. The findings provide a new comprehensive barrier framework, analytic fishbone tool, and testable theory to help guide the development of future research projects. Additionally, future practitioners – both faculty members and educational developers – can benefit from knowing what factors to consider when planning for and confronting student resistance to innovative instructional methods.

With this study, we will test the interrelations between the psychological concept of self-efficacy of managers and its influences on the resistance to change. The results show that it makes a qualitative difference, if change in competences occurs in a positive or a negative direction and that there is a clear predisposition of managers concerning change. Both results have to be taken into account in designing changes processes.

Introduction Community Kitchens (CKs) are one of the main providers of food to low-income families in Peru and may serve to improve the offer of healthier diets. This study aims to determine the prevalence of, and sociodemographic and behavioral factors associated with fruits and vegetables consumption among CKs customers. Methods A cross-sectional study enrolling customers of 48 CKs in two areas of Lima, Peru, was performed. The outcome variable was the self-reported amount of fruits and vegetables consumed (<5 vs. ≥5 servings/day). The exposures were grouped in sociodemographic variables (age, gender, education level, familial income, marital status, and place of birth), and self- reported intention to change eating and exercise related habits in the last four weeks before interview. Poisson regression models were used to estimate prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results Data from 422 persons were analyzed, 328 females (77.9%), mean age 43.7 (±14.5) years. Only 36 (8.5%; 95% CI 5.9%-11.2%) customers reported consuming ≥5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. This pattern was 4-fold more likely among those with higher levels of education (≥12 vs. <7 years) and 64% less common for migrants born outside of Lima relative non-migrants. In terms of intentions to change eating-related habits, those who reported having tried to reduce sugar consumption or to eat more fruits were up to 90% more likely to meet the ≥5 servings/day target. Conclusions A substantial gap in the consumption of ≥5 servings of fruits and vegetables/day has been found among CK customers and apparently it is not dependent of familial income. The profiles reported in this study can inform appropriate strategies to increase healthier eating in this population.

This repeated-measures study evaluated the relative sensitivity to change of the Child Behavior Checklist/6-18 (CBCL/6-18), the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2 (BASC-2), and the Youth Outcome Questionnaire-2.01 (Y-OQ-2.01). Participants were recruited from Valley Mental Health, a community outpatient clinic in Salt Lake City, UT. There were 178 participants for 136 cases, with 134 adults and 44 adolescents. Participants provided two through five data points for a total of 548 data points. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was conducted for three major comparisons: adult informants, adult and adolescent dyads, and adolescents. Results indicated the Y-OQ-2.01 was the most change sensitive, while the BASC-2 and CBCL/6-18 were not statistically different from each other. Results also showed that the parent-report measures were more change-sensitive than the self-report measures completed by adolescent informants. Sensitivity to change was also evaluated through the reliable change index (RCI) and the use of cut-off scores. In comparisons using the RCI, the Y-OQ-2.01 identified the most cases for reliable change. The Y-OQ-2.01 also had the greatest corroboration of its findings with the other two measures. In comparisons using cut-off scores, results are offered for three variations, as different standards were used to establish cut-off scores for the three measures. The third variation, for which cut-off scores for all three measures were adjusted to one standard deviation above the mean, is suggested to be the most appropriate when comparing measures. Those results indicated there was no statistical difference in how the measures performed relative to each other. Thus, based on the HLM and RCI results of this study, it is recommended that clinicians select the Y-OQ-2.01 for outcome use and tracking changes in child and adolescent symptoms and behaviors.

Although professional development is accepted as important for making educational improvements, some have been unsuccessful due to how the teachers choose to participate, and the lack of motivation in teachers to attend or implement the suggested changes. A case study of secondary mathematics teachers in a required professional development is used to look at teachers' motivation and participation during the professional development. This study compared mathematics teachers' motivation to attend with ways of participating in order to determine how these influence a teacher's intent to change. It was found that certain aspects of motivation and participation does influence a teacher's intent to change.

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