“Put me in,Coach”: A pilot evaluation of executive coaching in the nonprofit sector

The use of executive coaching within the nonprofit sector has received increased attention over the past decade as a mechanism to build capacity and address issues of burnout and turnover among executives. This article presents the results of an evaluation of a pilot six‐month executive coaching program that was implemented in 2005 in an urban metropolitan area. The evaluation collected data through surveys and semistructured interviews with nine executive directors and five coaches who participated in the pilot and analyzed the data to assess the effectiveness of the delivery and usefulness of the experience. The coaching experience was rated as very helpful and supportive of the development of executive directors as nonprofit leaders.     

Book reviews

Brezzi Francesca, A Partire dal Gioco ‐ Per i Sentieri di un Pensiero Ludico Marinetti, Genova, 1992, pp. 134, L. 25.000

Ian McIntyre, DOGFIGHT ‐ The Transatlantic Battle over Airbus, Praeger Publishers, 112 pages, $42

Angela Ales Bello, Fenomenología dell'essere umano. Lineamenti di una filosofía al femminile, Roma, Città Nuova, 1992, pp. 170 L. 18.000

“A Critical Note on Some Literature Concerning Backwardness and Social Unbalances in Islamic Countries”     

Risk Perception and the Value of Safety

This paper examines the relationship between perceived risk and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for increased safety from technological hazards in both conceptual and empirical terms. A conceptual model is developed in which a given household's WTP for risk reductions is a function of traditional socioeconomic variables (i.e., income and base level of risk) and perceived characteristics of the hazards (i.e., dread, knowledge, and exposure). Data to estimate the model are obtained through a combined contingent valuation and risk perception survey that considers 10 technological hazards, five of which are well-defined (e.g., death rates are known and the risks are relatively common) and five are less well-defined. Econometric results, using TOBIT estimation procedures, support the importance of both types of variables in explaining WTP across all 10 hazards. When the risks are split into two groups, the results show that WTP for well-defined hazards is most influenced by perceived personal exposure, while WTP for less well-defined risks is most influenced by levels of dread and severity.     

Mother-child relationships of mothers living apart from their children

Mothers' perceptions of mother-child relationships when mothers lived with or apart from their children were examined. Interviews and questionnaires were employed with 16 custody mothers and 17 noncustody mothers. Relationships of custody mothers with the children were more positive and less hostile and mothers felt they had gained in the parental role. Noncustody mothers reported more negative, hostile, and nonexistent relationships with their children. Noncustody mothers had less contact with sons than daughters and overall less contact with children than was reported for noncustody fathers. The results were discussed in terms of a complicated set of agendas on the parts of mothers, fathers, and children, all of which were thought to contribute to the more negative noncustody mother-child relationships. Further research is needed to assess the perceptions of all family members in these complex situations.This research was supported in part by a grant from the College of Home Economics Research Institutes, Texas Tech University.     

Student nurses view an abortion client: Attitude and context effects

Conclusions The chief findings of the two studies were: (a) both attitudes and case circumstances greatly affected subjects' impressions of the abortion client; (b) there was some evidence to support the hypothesis that, when need for an abortion is more obvious (e.g., woman's health endangered, woman unmarried), the attitudecriterion correlation is relatively lower; (c) however, even in these apparently more urgent situations, attitude had a very substantial effect on the respondent's judgments. A peripheral finding was that religiosity seemed to imitate attitude toward abortion, as a predictor variable, since the former variable related to the criteria (although not as strongly) whenever the latter did.Thus, while certain conditions softened the impressions that the antiabortion people had of an abortion client, these circumstances did not greatly weaken the attitude-impression relationship. The antiabortion respondents still saw the abortion client in a less favorable light than did the proabortion people, regardless of the implied need for an abortion. It would seem that the potent attitude effects observed were due to the inherent nature of the topic: abortion is a sensitive, highly salient, issue. The subjects appeared to hold well-defined beliefs about abortion and, according to present findings, these beliefs sharply affected their reactions to an individual who typified the issue.The subjects of this study were student nurses with little clinical experience; possibly different results would obtain for experienced nurses (or for male subjects, as has been suggested already). The author is not aware of any person perception studies which evaluate abortion as a potential stigma which may influence a nurse's or other professional's tacit or explicit reactions to a patient. However, earlier research has indicated that nurses' willingness to perform various clinical services for abortion patients is a direct function of their general attitudes toward abortion (Allen et al., 1973), and that nurses' attitudes toward abortion also seem to affect the quality of care given to abortion patients (Harper et al., 1972).This article combines two papers presented earlier, at the meetings of the American Psychological Association in Montreal, Canada (1973) and in Washington, D.C. (1976).     

The emerging role of adoption reunion registries: adoptee and birthparent views

Since the 1980s, government-sponsored adoption reunion registries have emerged as key access points for individuals separated by adoption to secure information and initiate efforts to be reunited with their birth-families. Despite the prevalence of such registries, little information is available about their operational effectiveness. This article presents data from a survey of adult adoptees and birthparents who used the services of a statewide reunion registry.     

Integrationstandems und Supervised Networking mit geflüchteten Menschen in studentischen Gruppen durch Service LearningIntegration Tandems and Supervised Networking with Refugees in Student Groups through Service Learning

This contribution reports on a pilot project which took place during the winter semester 2015/16 at the University of Göttingen based on the concept of Service Learning. As part of service learning, students assume practical tasks from the social environment and apply academic knowledge. With this new didactical approach, personality development of the students as well as civil and democratic values in society should be enhanced.     

Drivers of biodiversity patterns in parks of a growing South American megacity

How urban habitats contribute to biodiversity conservation is a key challenge in a rapidly urbanising world. Urban parks can provide important habitats for native species, but previous studies are geographically biased; fast growing megacities, in particular in South America, are clearly understudied. To assess habitat functions and underlying drivers in parks of Santiago de Chile, we analysed the assemblages of wild growing plant species in two ubiquitous park habitat types (grasslands, wooded areas) in 15 parks (150 plots) along an urban-rural gradient. We first used linear contrasts to compare species richness, beta diversity and the proportion of introduced species. We then tested for the explanatory value of environmental variables operating at different spatial scales (plot, park, urban matrix). Unlike in most previous studies, biodiversity patterns were not related to the position of the parks on the urban-rural gradient. Introduced species, mostly from Europe, generally dominated both habitat types (>90 %). Socio-economic (population growth or density), but not spatial, variables were retained in most models. Maintenance intensity was most influential in predicting species assemblages, complemented by park age in wooded areas. A high proportion of European grassland species indicates a trend of homogenisation in park grassland at a cross-continental scale. We conclude that habitat functions of urban parks for native species that have been mainly demonstrated for Europe cannot be generalised to South American megacities. This highlights the need for innovative and locally appropriate conservation approaches (e.g., re-introduction of native species) to foster biodiversity functions in urban parks of South American megacities.