Search results for: social interventions

Authors: Nir Wittenberg, Moshe Farhi

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This mixed-methods study examines the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in a first-year social work course to assess their potential for enhancing professional knowledge and skills. The incorporation of digital technologies, such as AI, in social work interventions, training, and research has increased, with the expectation that AI will become as commonplace as email and mobile phones. However, policies and ethical guidelines regarding AI, as well as empirical evaluations of its usefulness, are lacking. As AI is gradually being adopted in the field, it is prudent to explore AI thoughtfully in alignment with pedagogical goals. The outcomes assessed include professional identity, course satisfaction, and motivation. AI offers unique reflective learning opportunities through personalized simulations, feedback, and queries to complement face-to-face lessons. For instance, AI simulations provide low-risk practices for situations such as client interactions, enabling students to build skills with less stress. However, it is essential to recognize that AI alone cannot ensure real-world competence or cultural sensitivity. Outcomes related to student learning, experience, and perceptions will help to elucidate the best practices for AI integration, guiding faculty, and advancing pedagogical innovation. This strategic integration of selected AI technologies is expected to diversify course methodology, improve learning outcomes, and generate new evidence on AI’s educational utility. The findings will inform faculty seeking to thoughtfully incorporate AI into teaching and learning.

Keywords: artificial intelligence (AI), social work education, students, developing a professional identity, ethical considerations

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Authors: Apra Sinha

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The inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) demonstrates(pollution-income relationship)that initially the pollution and environmental degradation surpass the level of income per capita; however this trend reverses since at the higher income levels, economic growth initiates environmental upgrading. However, what effect does increased environmental degradation has on growth is the missing feedback link which has not been addressed in the EKC hypothesis. This paper examines the missing feedback link in EKC hypothesis in Indian context by examining the casual association between fossil fuel consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth for India. Fossil fuel consumption here has been taken as a proxy of driver of economic growth. The casual association between the aforementioned variables has been analyzed using five interventions namely 1) urban development for which urbanization has been taken proxy 2) industrial development for which industrial value added has been taken proxy 3) trade liberalization for which sum of exports and imports as a share of GDP has been taken as proxy 4)financial development for which a)domestic credit to private sector and b)net foreign assets has been taken as proxies. The choice of interventions for this study has been done keeping in view the economic liberalization perspective of India. The main aim of the paper is to investigate the missing feedback link for Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis before and after incorporating the intervening variables. The period of study is from 1971 to 2011 as it covers pre and post liberalization era in India. All the data has been taken from World Bank country level indicators. The Johansen and Juselius cointegration testing methodology and Error Correction based Granger causality have been applied on all the variables. The results clearly show that out of five interventions, only in two interventions the missing feedback link is being addressed. This paper can put forward significant policy implications for environment protection and sustainable development.

Keywords: environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis, fossil fuel consumption, industrialization, trade liberalization, urbanization

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Authors: Brian Fleischli, Shani Robins

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In recent years, the implementation of wisdom skills, including emotional intelligence, mindfulness, empathy, compassion, gratitude, realism (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy), and humility, within K-12 educational settings has demonstrated significant benefits in reducing stress, anxiety, anger, and conflict among students. This study summarizes the findings of research conducted over several years, showcasing the positive outcomes associated with teaching these skills to elementary and high school students. Additionally, this overview includes an updated synthesis of current literature concerning the application and effectiveness of training these skill sets in K-12 schools. The research outcomes highlight substantial improvements in student well-being and behavior. Demonstrated with treatment group students exhibiting notable reductions in anger, anxiety, depression, and disruptive behaviors compared to control groups. For instance, fourth-grade students showed enhanced empathy, responsibility, and attention, particularly benefiting those with lower initial scores on these measures. Specific interaction effects suggest that older students and males particularly benefit from these interventions, showcasing the nuanced impact of wisdom skill training across different demographics. Furthermore, this presentation emphasizes the critical role of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs in addressing the multifaceted challenges faced by children and adolescents, including mental health issues, academic performance, and social behaviors. The integration of wisdom skills into school curricula not only fosters individual growth and emotional regulation but also enhances overall school climate and academic achievement. In conclusion, the findings contribute to the growing body of empirical evidence supporting the efficacy of teaching wisdom skills in educational settings. The success of these interventions underscores the potential for widespread implementation of evidence-based programs to promote emotional well-being and academic success among students nationwide.

Keywords: wisdom skills, CBT, cognitive behavioral training, mindfulness, empathy, anxiety

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Authors: Louis Botha

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Since the presentation of South Africa’s inclusive education strategy in Education White Paper 6 in 2001, very little has been accomplished in terms of its implementation. The failure to achieve the goals set by this policy document is related to teachers lacking confidence and knowledge about how to enact inclusive education, as well as challenges of inflexible curricula, limited resources in overcrowded classrooms, and so forth. This paper presents a socio-cultural approach to addressing these challenges of implementing inclusive education in the South African context. It takes its departure from the view that inclusive education has been adequately theorized and conceptualized in terms of its philosophical and ethical principles, especially in South African policy and debates. What is missing, however, are carefully theorized, practically implementable research interventions which can address the concerns mentioned above. Drawing on socio-cultural principles of learning and development and on cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) in particular, this paper argues for the use of formative interventions which introduce appropriately constructed mediational artifacts that have the potential to initiate inclusive practices and pedagogies within South African schools and classrooms. It makes use of Vygotsky’s concept of double stimulation to show how the proposed artifacts could instigate forms of transformative agency which promote the adoption of inclusive cultures of learning and teaching.

Keywords: cultural-historical activity theory, double stimulation, formative interventions, transformative agency

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Authors: Josephine Muchiri, Makena Muriithi

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Adverse mental health consequences are experienced by those that have been touched by Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), whether directly or indirectly. These negative effects are felt not only in the short term but in years to come. It is important to examine the prevalence and co-occurrence of mental disorders in order to provide strategic interventions for women who have experienced IPV. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence and comorbidity of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Depression, and Anxiety among women who had experienced intimate Partner violence in two selected informal settlements in Nairobi County, Kenya. Participants were 116 women (15-60 years) selected through purposive and snowball sampling from the low social, economic settlements (Kawangware and Kibera) in Nairobi, Kenya. A social demographic questionnaire and the Woman Abuse Screening Tool (WAST) were used to collect data on intimate partner violence experiences. The PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), Beck’s Depression Inventory, and the Beck’s Anxiety Inventory assessed for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety, respectively. Data analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 29, utilizing descriptive and correlation analyses. Findings indicated that the women had undergone various forms of abuse from their intimate partners, which were physical abuse 111(92.5%), sexual abuse 70(88.6%), and verbal abuse 92(93.9%). The prevalence of the mental disorders was PTSD 47(32.4%); M= 44.11, S.D =14.67, depression was the highest at n=131(90.3%; M=33.37±9.98) with the levels of depression having varying prevalence rates where severe depression had the highest representation [moderate: n= 35; 24.1%, severe: n=69 (47.6%) and extremely severe: n=27(18.6%)]. Anxiety had the second highest prevalence of n=99 (68.8%; M= 28.55±13.63) with differing prevalence rates in the levels of anxiety which were normal anxiety: 45(31.3%), moderate anxiety n=62(43.1%) and severe anxiety: n=37(25.7%). Regarding comorbidities, the Pearson correlation test showed that there was a significant (p=0.000) positive relationship between PTSD and depression (r=0.379; p=.000), PTSD and anxiety (r=0.624; p=.000), and depression and anxiety (r=0.386; p=.000) such that increase in one disorder concomitantly led to increase of the other two disorders; hence comorbidity of the three disorders was ascertained. Conclusion: The study asserted the adverse impacts of IPV on women’s mental well-being, where the prevalence of PTSD, depression, and anxiety was established. Almost all the women had depressive symptoms; whereas more than half had anxiety and slightly more than a third had PTSD. Regarding the severity levels of anxiety and depression, almost half of the women with depression had severe depression whereas moderate anxiety was more prevalent for those with anxiety. The three disorders were found to co-occur where comorbidities of PTSD and anxiety had the highest probability of co-occurrence. It is thus recommended that mental health interventions with a focus on the three disorders be offered for women undergoing IPV.

Keywords: anxiety, comorbidity, depression, intimate partner violence, post-traumatic stress disorder

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Authors: Ayat Ayman Abdelaziz Ibrahim Amayem, Hassan Abdel-Salam, Zeyad El-Sayad

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Nowadays, ICTs have spread extensively in everyday life in an unprecedented way. A great attention is paid to the ICTs while ignoring the social aspect. With the immersive invasion of internet as well as smart phones’ applications and digital social networking, people become more socially connected through virtual spaces instead of meeting in physical public spaces. Thus, this paper aims to find the ways of implementing ICTs in public spaces to regain their status as attractive places for people, incite meetings in real life and create sustainable lively city centers. One selected example of urban space in the city center of Alexandria is selected for the study. Alexandria represents a large metropolitan city subjected to rapid transformation. Improving the quality of its public spaces will have great effects on the whole well-being of the city. The major roles that ICTs can play in the public space are: culture and art, education, planning and design, games and entertainment, and information and communication. Based on this classification various examples and proposals of ICTs interventions in public spaces are presented and analyzed to encourage good old fashioned social interaction by creating the New Social Public Place of this Digital Era. The paper will adopt methods such as questionnaire for evaluating the people’s willingness to accept the idea of using ICTs in public spaces, their needs and their proposals for an attractive place; the technique of observation to understand the people behavior and their movement through the space and finally will present an experimental design proposal for the selected urban space. Accordingly, this study will help to find design principles that can be adopted in the design of future public spaces to meet the needs of the digital era’s users with the new concepts of social life respecting the rules of place-making.

Keywords: Alexandria sustainable city center, digital place-making, ICTs, social interaction, social networking, urban places

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Authors: Sakshi Dhruve, Ar. Sarang Barbarwar

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Public spaces are the locus of activity and interaction in any urban area. Such spaces provide identity to cities, towns or neighborhoods and define the people and culture over there. Inclusiveness is one of the core aspects of public or community spaces. With its humongous population and rapidly expanding urban areas, India needs more inclusivity in public spaces to attain true equitable development. The aim of the paper is to discuss the sensitivity of public spaces in India to the transgender community. The study shows how this community was legally included as ‘Third Gender’ in country’s legislation yet lacks social acceptance and security. It shows the challenges and issues faced by them at public spaces. The community was studied on ethnographic basis to understand their culture, lifestyle, requirements, etc. The findings have indicated towards a social stigma from people and insensitivity in designing of civic spaces. The larger objective of the study is also to provide recommendations on the design aspects and interventions in public places to increase their inclusiveness towards the transgender society.

Keywords: community spaces, ethnographic, stigma, Third Gender community

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Authors: Syafinatul Fitri

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Cakrawala Baca is one of social organization in Indonesia that realize to transform its organization into social enterprise to create more sustainable organization that result more sustainable social impact. Cakrawala Baca implements voluntary system for its organization and it has passive social target. It funds its program by several fund rising activities that depend on donors or sponsor. Therefore social activity that held does not create sustainable social impact. It is different with social enterprise that usually more independent in funding its activity through social business and implement active social target and professional work for organization member. Therefore social enterprise can sustain its organization and then able to create sustainable social impact. Developing transformation model from social movement into social enterprise is the focus of this study. To achieve the aim of study, benchmark approach from successful social enterprise in Indonesia that has previously formed as social movement is employed. The benchmark is conducted through internal and external scanning that result the understanding of how they transformed into social enterprise. After understanding SAM and Agritektur transformation, transformation pattern is formulated based on their transformation similarities. This transformation pattern will be implemented to formulate the transformation plan for Cakrawala Baca to be a social enterprise.

Keywords: social movement/social organization, non-profit organization (NPO), social enterprise, transformation, Benchmarks approach

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Authors: L. Meers, L. Contalbrigo, V. Stevens, O. Ulitina, S. Laufer, W. E. Samuels, S. Normando

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Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, there has been concern that domestic animals may help spread SARS-Cov-2. This concern also greatly affected human-animal interaction projects such as animal-assisted interventions (AAI). As a result, institutions and AAI practitioners developed new safety protocols and procedures to control the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 virus during AAI sessions and to guarantee safety for their clients and animals. However, little is known yet about the impact on animals' needs and the possible welfare issues due to these lifestyle adaptions. Fifteen therapists in Flanders, Belgium, who were currently conducting canine-assisted interventions, conducted unstructured observations on how their dogs' (11 mixed breeds, 3 Labradors, 1 terrier aged 2 – 12 years) behaviors changed due to institutional COVID-19 safety protocols. Most (80%) of the respondents reported that their dogs showed sniffing or sneezing after smelling disinfected areas. Two (13%) dogs responded with vomiting and gagging, and three (20%) dogs urinated over disinfected areas. All protocols advise social distancing between participants and animals. When held back, eight (53%) dogs showed self-calming behaviors. Respondents reported that most (73%) dogs responded with flight reactions when seeing humans wearing facial masks. When practitioners threw their used masks in open dustbins, five (33%) dogs tried to take them out with their mouths and play with them; two (13%) Labradors tried to eat them. Taking the dogs' temperatures was the most frequently (53%) used method to supervise their health. However, all dogs showed behaviors as ducking the tail, trying to escape, or biting the animal handler during this procedure. We interpret these results to suggest that dogs tended to react with stress and confusion to the changes in AAI practices they're part of. The health and safety protocols that institutions used were largely borne from recommendations made to protect humans. The participating practitioners appeared to use their knowledge of dog behavior and safety to modify them as best they could—but with more significant concern directed towards the other humans. Given their inter-relatedness and mutual importance for welfare, we advocate for integrated human and animal health and welfare assessments and protocols to provide a framework for "One health" approaches in animal-assisted interventions.

Keywords: animal-assisted therapy, COVID-19 protocol, one health, welfare

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Authors: Andreas Aceranti, Simonetta Vernocchi, Elisabetta Aldrovandi, Marco Colorato, Carolina Ascrizzi

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Nowadays, especially due to an increasing flow of migration and uncontrolled globalisation, linguistic, cultural and religious differences can be a major obstacle for people belonging to different ethnic groups. Each group has its own traditional background, which, in addition to its positive aspects, also includes extremely unpleasant and dramatic situations: culture-related crimes. We analysed several cases belonging to this category of crime which is becoming more and more present in Europe, creating not only a strong social rift dictated by the misunderstanding between migrants and host populations but also by the isolation and ghettoisation of subjects classified as 'different'. Such social rejection, in fact, represents a great source of stress and frustration for those who seek to be part of the community and can generate phenomena of rebellion that result in violent acts. Similar situations must be addressed by the figure of the cultural-linguistic mediator who, thanks to his or her multidisciplinary knowledge, assumes the role of a 'bridge', thus helping the process of awareness and understanding within the social group through the use of various tools, including awareness-raising campaigns and interventions in both the school and social-health sectors. By analysing how the notions of culture and offense have evolved throughout history until they have merged into a single principle and, secondly, how the figure of the language mediator represents a fundamental role in the resolution of conflicts related to cultural diversity has helped us define the basis for new protocols in dealing with such crimes. Especially we have to define the directions of further investigations that we will carry out in the next months.

Keywords: cultural crimes, hatred crimes, immigration, cultural mediation

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Authors: Alfonso Unceta, Javier Castro-Spila

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This paper offers a conceptual and empirical exploration between the organizational performance and the impact of social innovation. The paper contributes on the social innovation field in three domains: a) It provides analytical and empirical evidence linking organizational performance to the impact of social innovation; b) it provides a first outline of impact assessment of social innovation when it is developed by a diversity of heterogeneous actors (systemic social innovation); c) it provides a first outline for the development of innovation policies to support social innovations according to a typology of organizations and a typology of impact.

Keywords: absorptive capacity, social innovation impact, organizational performance, RESINDEX, Basque Country

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Authors: Gholam Hossein Javanmard, Roghayeh Mohammadi Garegozlo

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The present study was a randomized three-group double-blind clinical trial with repeated measures designs which aimed to determine the pure effect and combined effect of mindfulness based-relaxation (MBR) technique and Transcranial Electrical Simulation (tCES) on psychological distress decreasing of patients with type-2 diabetes. The sample of the study consisted of 30 patients with type-2 diabetes who were selected from the Diabetes Association of Bonab city in Iran. The participants were matched and then randomly assigned to the three groups of 10 subjects (MBR, CES, MBR+CES). The subjects received interventions related to their group in 10 individual sessions. Pre-test, post-test, and one-month follow-up were conducted using DASS-42. Analysis of variance with repeated measures showed a significant change in psychological distress. Multivariate covariance analysis and the paired interpersonal comparative test of Ben Foruni indicated that both interventions of MBR and CES have a similar effect on psychological distress decreasing in the post-test and follow-up phase. But, the combined therapy of MBR+CES was more efficient, and it had a more stable effect. However, all three interventions, especially combined intervention of MBR+CES, as efficient and stable treatment, are suggested for improving the psychological status of diabetic patients.

Keywords: mindfulness based-relaxation, transcranial electrical simulation, type 2 diabetes, psychological distress

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Authors: Maria Hopkins, Sarah Koch, Fred Biasini

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Autism is lifelong disorder that affects one out of every 110 Americans. The deficits that accompany Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), such as abnormal behaviors and social incompetence, often make it extremely difficult for these individuals to gain functional independence from caregivers. These long-term implications necessitate an immediate effort to improve social skills among children with an ASD. Any technology that could teach individuals with ASD necessary social skills would not only be invaluable for the individuals affected, but could also effect a massive saving to society in treatment programs. The overall purpose of the first study was to develop, implement, and evaluate an avatar tutor for social skills training in children with ASD. “Face Say” was developed as a colorful computer program that contains several different activities designed to teach children specific social skills, such as eye gaze, joint attention, and facial recognition. The children with ASD were asked to attend to FaceSay or a control painting computer game for six weeks. Children with ASD who received the training had an increase in emotion recognition, F(1, 48) = 23.04, p < 0.001 (adjusted Ms 8.70 and 6.79, respectively) compared to the control group. In addition, children who received the FaceSay training had higher post-test scored in facial recognition, F(1, 48) = 5.09, p < 0.05 (adjusted Ms: 38.11 and 33.37, respectively) compared to controls. The findings provide information about the benefits of computer-based training for children with ASD. Recent research suggests the value of also using socially assistive robots with children who have an ASD. Researchers investigating robots as tools for therapy in ASD have reported increased engagement, increased levels of attention, and novel social behaviors when robots are part of the social interaction. The overall goal of the second study was to develop a social robot designed to teach children specific social skills such as emotion recognition. The robot is approachable, with both an animal-like appearance and features of a human face (i.e., eyes, eyebrows, mouth). The feasibility of the robot is being investigated in children ages 7-12 to explore whether the social robot is capable of forming different facial expressions to accurately display emotions similar to those observed in the human face. The findings of this study will be used to create a potentially effective and cost efficient therapy for improving the cognitive-emotional skills of children with autism. Implications and study findings using the robot as an intervention tool will be discussed.

Keywords: autism, intervention, technology, emotions

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Authors: Sarah Maiter

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Heightened globalization, migration, displacement of citizens, and refugee needs is putting increasing demand for approaches to social services for diverse populations that responds to families to ensure the safety and protection of vulnerable members while providing supports and services. Along with this social works re-focus on socially just approaches to practice increasingly asks social workers to consider the challenging circumstances of families when providing services rather than a focus on individual shortcomings alone. Child protection workers then struggle to ensure safety of children while assessing the needs of families. This assessment can prove to be difficult when providing services to immigrant, refugee, and racially diverse families as understanding of and familiarity with these families is often limited. Furthermore, child protection intervention in western countries is state mandated having legal authority when intervening in the lives of families where child protection concerns have been identified. Within this context, racialized immigrant and refugee families are at risk of misunderstandings that can result in interventions that are overly intrusive, unhelpful, and harsh. Research shows disproportionality and overrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities, and immigrant families in the child protection system. Reasons noted include: a) possibilities of racial bias in reporting and substantiating abuse, b) struggles on the part of workers when working with families from diverse ethno-racial backgrounds and who are immigrants and may have limited proficiency in the national language of the country, c) interventions during crisis and differential ongoing services for these families, d) diverse contexts of these families that poses additional challenges for families and children, and e) possible differential definitions of child maltreatment. While cultural and ethnic diversity in child rearing approaches have been cited as contributors to child protection concerns, this approach should be viewed cautiously as it can result in stereotyping and generalizing that then results in inappropriate assessment and intervention. However, poverty and the lack of social supports, both well-known contributors to child protection concerns, also impact these families disproportionately. Child protection systems, therefore, need to continue to examine policy and practice approaches with these families that ensures safety of children while balancing the needs of families. This presentation provides data from several research studies that examined definitions of child maltreatment among a sample of racialized immigrant families, experiences of a sample of immigrant families with the child protection system, concerns of a sample of child protection workers in the provision of services to these families, and struggles of families in the transitions to their new country. These studies, along with others provide insights into areas of consideration for practice that can contribute to safety for children while ensuring just and equitable responses that have greater potential for keeping families together rather than premature apprehension and removal of children to state care.

Keywords: child protection, child welfare services, immigrant families, racial and ethnic diversity

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Authors: Prescott C. Ensign

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Social enterprises play a vital role in Canada’s rural and northern communities. Most operate as non-profit organizations, use market approaches, and generate revenue from services or goods to support goals that address social, cultural, and environmental issues. As provincial and federal governments make reductions to programs providing social services to local communities, rural and northern residents who already have fewer resources from which to draw will be especially affected. Social enterprises will be called on to take up the slack. The aim of this paper is to provide a more comprehensive picture of the social enterprise as an organization and to understand the impact that context/ecosystem has on a social enterprise as it develops.

Keywords: social enterprises, structuration, embeddedness, ecosystem

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Authors: Mohaned G. Abed

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is considered one of the most frequently diagnosed psychiatric childhood disorders. It has an effect on 3–5% of school-aged children, and brings about difficulties in academic and social interaction. This study explored the knowledge and beliefs of parents in Saudi Arabia about children with ADHD. The Knowledge about Attention Deficit Disorder Questionnaire (KADD-Q) was administered to a sample of parents, followed by interviews with a subset of the total respondents. The results indicated that the parents knew more about the characteristics of ADHD than they knew about its related causes and treatment. Overall, the findings indicated that these parents had some knowledge about general characteristics of ADHD, but they had little understanding of causes and possible interventions. These results suggest an important need for more formal parents training regarding all aspects of ADHD in school age children.

Keywords: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, childhood disorders, school-aged children, difficulties in academic, social interaction

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Authors: E. Von Cheong, Carol Sinnott, Darren Dahly, Patricia M. Kearney

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Introduction and Aim: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are all too common and have been linked to poorer health and wellbeing across the life course. While the prevention of ACEs is a worthy goal, it is important that we also try to lessen the impact of ACEs for those who do experience them. This study aims to investigate associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and later-life depressive symptoms; and to explore whether perceived social support (PSS) moderates these. Method: We analysed baseline data from the Mitchelstown (Ireland) 2010-11 cohort involving 2047 men and women aged 50–69 years. Self-reported assessments included ACEs (Centre for Disease Control ACE questionnaire), PSS (Oslo Social Support Scale), and depressive symptoms (CES-D). The primary exposure was self-report of at least one ACE. We also investigated the effects of ACE exposure by the subtypes abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. Associations between each of these exposures and depressive symptoms were estimated using logistic regression, adjusted for socio-demographic factors that were selected using the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) approach. We also tested whether the estimated associations varied across levels of PSS (poor, moderate, and good). Results: 23.7% of participants reported at least one ACE (95% CI: 21.9% to 25.6%). ACE exposures (overall or subtype) were associated with a higher odds of depressive symptoms, but only among individuals with poor PSS. For example, exposure to any ACE (vs. none) was associated with 3 times the odds of depressive symptoms (Adjusted OR 2.97; 95% CI 1.63 to 5.40) among individuals reporting poor PSS, while among those reporting moderate PSS, the adjusted OR was 1.18 (95% CI 0.72 to 1.94). Discussion: ACEs are common among older adults in Ireland and are associated with higher odds of later-life depressive symptoms among those also reporting poor PSS. Interventions that enhance perception of social support following ACE exposure may help reduce the burden of depression in older populations.

Keywords: adverse childhood experiences, depression, later-life, perceived social support

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Authors: Faihan Alotaibi

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This study explores Saudi teachers’ perceptions of the efficacy of social stories in the development of social skills in students with autism in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in two phases. Data were collected in sequential quantitative and qualitative phases. Participants in this study were 100 teachers in the quantitative phase and 15 teachers were interviewed. In this poster, the researcher will present the data result in the qualitative second phase in which an understanding of teachers’ experiences was deepened by conducting semi-structured interviews with a purposeful sample of fifteen teachers of diverse experience, covering six initial themes: the social story concept, sources of social stories, the effectiveness of social stories in improving social skills in students with autism, barriers to using social stories for students with autism, cultural consideration and context of social stories, and factors which contribute to the best use of social stories to developing of social skills for students with autism.

Keywords: autism, social storyteachers’ perceptions, intervention, social skills

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Authors: Min-Pei Ling

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Aflatoxin is a fungal secondary metabolite with high toxicity capable of contaminating various types of food crops. It has been identified as a Group 1 human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Chronic aflatoxin exposure has caused a worldwide public food safety concern. Peanuts and peanut products are the major sources of aflatoxin exposure. Therefore, some reduction interventions have been developed to minimize contamination through the peanut production chain. The purpose of this study is to estimate the efficacy of interventions in reducing the health impact of hepatocellular carcinoma caused by aflatoxin contamination in peanuts. The estimated total disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) was calculated using FDA-iRISK online software. Six aflatoxin reduction strategies were evaluated, including good agricultural practice (GAP), biocontrol, Purdue Improved Crop Storage packaging, basic processing, ozonolysis, and ultraviolet irradiation. The results indicated that basic processing could prevent huge public health loss of 4,079.7–21,833 total DALYs per year, which accounted for 39.6% of all decreased total DALYs. GAP and biocontrol were both effective strategies in the farm field, while the other three interventions were limited in reducing total DALYs. In conclusion, this study could help farmers, processing plants, and government policymakers to alleviate aflatoxin contamination issues in the peanut production chain.

Keywords: aflatoxin, health burden, disability-adjusted life-years, peanuts

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Authors: Ilana Margalith, Yaron Niv

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One of the most important factors of professional health treatment is teamwork, in which each discipline contributes its expert knowledge, thus ensuring quality and a high standard of care as well as efficient communication (one of the International Patient Safety Goals). However, in most countries, students are educated separately by each health discipline. They are exposed to teamwork only during their clinical experience, which in some cases is short and skill-oriented. In addition, health organizations in most countries are hierarchical and although changes have occurred in the hierarchy of the medical system, there are still disciplines that underrate the unique contributions of other health professionals, thus, young graduates of health professions develop and base their perception of their peers from other disciplines on insufficient knowledge. In order to establish a wide-ranging perception among nursing students as to the contribution of different health professionals to the health of their patients, students at the Clalit Nursing Academy, Rabin Campus (Dina), Israel, participated in an interdisciplinary clinical discussion with students from several different professions, other than nursing, who were completing their clinical experience at Rabin Medical Center in medicine, health psychology, social work, audiology, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. The discussion was led by a medical-surgical nursing instructor. Their tutors received in advance, a case report enabling them to prepare the students as to how to present their professional theories and interventions regarding the case. Mutual stimulation and acknowledgment of the unique contribution of each part of the team enriched the nursing students' understanding as to how their own nursing interventions could be integrated into the entire process towards a safe and speedy recovery of the patient.

Keywords: health professions' students, interdisciplinary clinical discussion, nursing education, patient safety

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Authors: Meenu S. Babu, K. Jayasankara Reddy

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Depression is a serious mental health concern that leads to significant distress and dysfunction in an individual. Due to the high physical, psychological, social, and economic burden it causes, it is important to study various bio-psycho-social factors that influence the onset, course, duration, intensity of depressive symptoms. The study aims to explore relationship between autobiographical memory (AM) functions, perceived control over stressful events and depressive symptoms. AM functions and perceived control were both found to be protective factors for individuals against depression and were both modifiable to predict better behavioral and affective outcomes. An extensive review of literatur, with a systematic search on Google Scholar, JSTOR, Science Direct and Springer Journals database, was conducted for the purpose of this review paper. These were used for all the aforementioned databases. The time frame used for the search was 2010-2021. An additional search was conducted with no time bar to map the development of the theoretical concepts. The relevant studies with quantitative, qualitative, experimental, and quasi- experimental research designs were included for the review. Studies including a sample with a DSM- 5 or ICD-10 diagnosis of depressive disorders were excluded from the study to focus on the behavioral patterns in a non-clinical population. The synthesis of the findings that were obtained from the review indicates there is a significant relationship between cognitive variables of AM functions and perceived control and depressive symptoms. AM functions were found to be have significant effects on once sense of self, interpersonal relationships, decision making, self- continuity and were related to better emotion regulation and lower depressive symptoms. Not all the components of AM function were equally significant in their relationships with various depressive symptoms. While self and directive functions were more related to emotion regulation, anhedonia, motivation and hence mood and affect, the social function was related to perceived social support and social engagement. Perceived control was found to be another protective cognitive factor that provides individuals a sense of agency and control over one’s life outcomes which was found to be low in individuals with depression. This was also associated to the locus of control, competency beliefs, contingency beliefs and subjective well being in individuals and acted as protective factors against depressive symptoms. AM and perceived control over stressful events serve adaptive functions, hence it is imperative to study these variables more extensively. They can be imperative in planning and implementing therapeutic interventions to foster these cognitive protective factors to mitigate or alleviate depressive symptoms. Exploring AM as a determining factor in depressive symptoms along with perceived control over stress creates a bridge between biological and cognitive factors underlying depression and increases the scope of developing a more eclectic and effective treatment plan for individuals. As culture plays a crucial role in AM functions as well as certain aspects of control such as locus of control, it is necessary to study these variables keeping in mind the cultural context to tailor culture/community specific interventions for depression.

Keywords: autobiographical memories, autobiographical memory functions, perceived control, depressive symptoms, depression, young adults

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Authors: Michael Vallely

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This paper uses data from waves 1 to 10 (2009-2019) of the UK Household Longitudinal Study to examine the social origin pay gap in the UK labour market. We find that regardless of how we proxy social origin, whether it be using the dominance approach, total parental occupation, parental education, total parental education, or the higher parental occupation and higher parental education, the results have one thing in common; in all cases, we observe a significant social origin pay gap for those from the lower social origins with the largest pay gap observed for those from the ‘lowest’ social origin. The results may indicate that when we consider the occupational status and education of both parents, previous estimates of social origin pay gaps and the number of individuals affected may have been underestimated. We also observe social origin pay gaps within educational attainment groups, such as degree holders, and within professional and managerial occupations. Therefore, this paper makes a valuable contribution to the social origin pay gap literature as it provides empirical evidence of a social origin pay gap using a large-scale UK dataset and challenges the argument that education is the great ‘social leveller’.

Keywords: social class, social origin, pay gaps, wage inequality

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Authors: F. Saptouw

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This paper briefly reviews the range of curatorial interventions made to preserve and display the Timbuktu Manuscripts. The government of South Africa and Mali collaborated to preserve the manuscripts, and brief notes will be presented about the value of archives in those specific spaces. The research initiatives of the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project, based at the University of Cape Town, feature prominently in the text. A brief overview of the history of the archive will be presented and its preservation as a key turning point in curating the intellectual history of the continent. ­­­The strategies of preservation, curation, publication and digitization are presented as complimentary interventions. Each materialization of the manuscripts contributes something significant; the complexity of the contribution is dependent primarily on the format of presentation. This integrated reading of the manuscripts is presented as a means to gain a more nuanced understanding of the past, which greatly surpasses how much information would be gleaned from relying on a single media format.

Keywords: archive, curatorship, cultural heritage, museum practice, Timbuktu manuscripts

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Authors: Haris Karnezi, Kevin Tierney

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Cognitive Behaviour Drama is a research-based intervention model that brought together the science of psychology with the art form of drama to create an unobtrusive and exciting approach that would provide children on the higher end of the autism spectrum the motivation to explore the rules of social interaction and develop competencies associated with communicative success. The method involves engaging the participants in exciting fictional scenarios and encouraging them to seek various solutions on a number of problems that will lead them to an understanding of causal relationships and how a different course of action may lead to a different outcome. The sessions are structured to offer opportunities to the participants to practice target behaviours and understand the functions they serve. The study involved six separate interventions and employed both single case and group designs. Overall 8 children aged between 6 to 13 years, diagnosed with ASD participated in the study. Outcomes were measured using theory of mind tests, executive functioning tests, behavioural observations, pre and post intervention standardised social competence questionnaires for parents and teachers. Collectively, the results indicated positive changes in the self esteem and behaviour of all eight participants. In particular, improvements in the ability to solve theory of mind tasks were noted in the younger group; and qualitative improvements in social communication, in terms of verbal (content) and non verbal expression (body posture, vocal expression, fluency, eye contact, reduction of ritualistic mannerisms) were noted in the older group. The need for reliable impact measures to assess the effectiveness of the model in generating global changes in the participants’ behaviour outside the therapeutic context was identified.

Keywords: autism, drama, intervention, social skills

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Authors: Mohd Adib Abd Muin

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Social entrepreneurship has become a new phenomenon in a country in order to reduce social problems and eradicate poverty communities. However, the study based on Islamic social entrepreneurship from the social entrepreneurial activity is still new especially in the Islamic perspective. In addition, this research found that is lacking of model on social entrepreneurship that focus on Islamic perspective. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to identify the issues and research gap based on Islamic perspective from existing models and to develop a concept of Islamic social entrepreneurship according to Islamic perspective and Maqasid Shari’ah. The research method used in this study is literature review and comparative analysis from 11 existing models of social entrepreneurship. The research finding shows that 11 existing models on social entrepreneurship has been analyzed and it shows that the existing models on social entrepreneurship do not emphasize on Islamic perspective.

Keywords: component, social entrepreneurship, Islamic perspective, research gap

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Authors: Nadeesha Sewwandi, Dilini Shashikala, R. Kanapathy, S. Viyasan, R. M. S. Kumara, Duminda Guruge

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Early childhood development is important to the emotional, social, and physical development of young children and it has a direct effect on their overall development and on the adult they become. Play is so important to optimal child developments including skill development, social development, imagination, creativity and it fulfills a baby’s inborn need to learn. So, health promotion approach empowers people about the development of early childhood. Play area is a new concept and this study focus how this play areas helps to the development of early childhood of children in rural villages in Sri Lanka. This study was conducted with a children society in a rural village called Welankulama in Sri Lanka. Survey was conducted with children society about emotional, social and physical development of young children (Under age eight) in this village using questionnaires. It described most children under eight years age have poor level of emotional, social and physical development in this village. Then children society wanted to find determinants for this problem and among them they prioritized determinants like parental interactions, learning environment and social interaction and address them using an innovative concept called play area. In this village there is a common place as play area under a big tamarind tree. It consists of a playhouse, innovative playing toys, mobile library, etc. Twice a week children, parents, grandparents gather to this nice place. Collective feeding takes place in this area once a week and it was conducted by several mothers groups in this village. Mostly grandparents taught about handicrafts and this is a very nice place to share their experiences with all. Healthy competitions were conducted in this place through playing to motivate the children. Happy calendar (mood of the children) was marked by children before and after coming to the play area. In terms of results qualitative changes got significant place in this study. By learning about colors and counting through playing the thinking and reasoning skills got developed among children. Children were widening their imagination by means of storytelling. We observed there were good developments of fine and gross motor skills of two differently abled children in this village. Children learn to empathize with other people, sharing, collaboration, team work and following of rules. And also children gain knowledge about fairness, through role playing, obtained insight on the right ways of displaying emotions such as stress, fear, anger, frustration, and develops knowledge of how they can manage their feelings. The reading and writing ability of the children got improved by 83% because of the mobile library. The weight of children got increased by 81% in the village. Happiness was increased by 76% among children in the society. Playing is very important for learning during early childhood period of a person. Health promotion interventions play a major role to the development of early childhood and it help children to adjust to the school setting and even to enhance children’s learning readiness, learning behaviors and problem solving skills.

Keywords: early childhood development, health promotion approach, play and learning, working with children

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Authors: Brenda Margaret Behan

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Kenya is a water-stressed country with highly varied socio-ecological environments in its devolved county system, and is currently implementing a polycentric water governance system; this paper examines the importance of social capital in community-based natural resource management and its role in supporting good water governance systems in the Kenya context. Through a robust literature review of theory and case studies, specific aspects of social capital are examined to determine their importance in the implementation of local community-based water management arrangements which support and complement the more formal institutions outlined in the 2002 and 2016 Water Acts of Kenya. Water is an increasingly important and scarce resource not only for Kenya, but for many communities across the globe, and lessons learned in the Kenya context can be useful for other countries and communities faced with similar challenges. Changing climates, increasing populations, and increased per capita consumption of water is contributing to a situation in which the management of water resources will be vital to community resilience. Community-based natural resource management is widely recognized as a building block and component of wider water resource management systems, and when properly conducted can provide a way to enable sustainable use of resources and empower communities. Greater attention to the social and cultural norms and traditional institutions associated with a community’s social capital can lead to better results for Kenya’s polycentric governance of water. The key findings and recommendations from this research show that in Kenya, traditional institutions need to be understood and integrated into governance systems; social values and cultural norms have a significant impact on the implementation of community-based water management efforts; and social capital is a dynamic concept which influences and is influenced by policies and practices. The community-based water management approach will continue to be a key cornerstone for Kenya’s polycentric water governance structure, especially in the more remote arid and semi-arid lands; thus, the successful integration of social capital aspects into planning and implementation will contribute to a strengthened, sustainable, and more equitable national water governance system. Specific observations and recommendations from this study will help practitioners and policymakers to better craft community-based interventions.

Keywords: community-based natural resource management, social capital, traditional institutions, water governance

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Authors: Aimilia Vlami

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This paper examines the tourist economic development of Greece on the basis of the analysis of the main characteristics of the financing and development processes and the spatial and temporal structure of supply and demand. Taking into consideration the evolution of the economic planning and the policy for the tourist development of Greece over time, we study at the same time: the composition, the changes and the dynamics of the hotel industry in the last 20 years and especially the period of the economic adjustment programmes, where tourism has become a key pillar of development. It is clearly evident that this paper is written in a specific economic situation, which directs as much the emphases as the flow of arguments around the central question of balance of interventions in the tourist space, between the need for planning and practice of policy for sustainable tourist growth and in the de facto adaptation of fragmentary and urgent interventions of shaping and transforming the tourist space, as they are shaped by the requirements of various institutions and interest groups.

Keywords: development, Greece, hospitality, economic policy, tourism investments

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Authors: A. Irudaya Veni Mary, M. Victor Louis Anthuvan, P. Christie, A. Indira

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In India, social enterprises are working to create social value in various fields including education; health; women and child development; environment protection and community development. Although social enterprises have brought about tremendous changes in the lives of beneficiaries, the importance of their works is not understood thoroughly. One of the ways to prove themselves is to measure the impact, which in recent times has received much attention. This paper focuses on the study of social value created by the social enterprises in the field of community development. It also aims to put forth a research tool for measuring the social value created by the social enterprises in the field of community development. A close-ended interview schedule was prepared to measure the social value creation and it was administered among 60 beneficiaries of two social enterprises who work in the field of community development. The study results show that the social enterprises have brought four types of impact in the life of their beneficiaries; economic impact, social impact, political impact and cultural impact. This study is limited to the social enterprises those who work towards community development. This empirical finding will enable the reader to understand various types of social value created by the social enterprises working in the field of community development. This study will also serve as guide for social enterprises in community development activities to measure their impact and thereby improve their operation towards the betterment of the society. This paper is derived from an empirical research carried out to describe the different types of social value created by the social enterprises in India.

Keywords: social enterprise, social entrepreneurs, social impact, social value, tool for social impact measurement

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Authors: Kjellgren Maria, Lilliehorn Sara, Markström Urban

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This article describes the counselling practice of school social workers (SSWs) with individual children. SSWs work in the school system’s pupil health team, whose primary task is health promotion and prevention. The work of SSWs is about helping children and adolescents who, for various reasons, suffer from mental ill-health, school absenteeism, or stress that make them unable to achieve their intended goals. SSWs preferably meet these children in individual counselling sessions. The aim of this article is to describe and analyse SSWs’ experience of counselling with children and to examine the characteristics of counselling practice. The data collection was conducted through four semi-structured focus group interviews with a total of 22 SSWs in four different regions in Sweden. SSWs provide counselling to children in order to bring about improved feelings or behavioural changes. It can be noted that SSWs put emphasis on both the counselling process and the alliance with the child. The interviews showed a common practice among SSWs regarding the structure of the counselling sessions, with certain steps and approaches being employed. However, the specific interventions differed and were characterised by an eclectic standpoint in which SSWs utilise a broad repertoire of therapeutic schools and techniques. Furthermore, a relational perspective emerged as a most prominent focus for the SSWs by re-emerging throughout the material. We believe that SSWs could benefit from theoretical perspectives on ‘contextual model’ and ‘attachment theory’ as ‘models of the mind’. Being emotionally close to the child and being able to follow their development requires a lot from SSWs, as both professional caregivers and as “safe havens”.

Keywords: school social conselling, school social workers, contextual model, attachment thory

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