Socio-cognitive processes in strategy formation – A conceptual framework

This paper should set the frame for the management focus by introducing the cognitive perspective in management research. The cognitive view has become a considerable perspective in describing and explaining strategic processes and significant advances have been provided especially in the last decade. However, the primary concern of cognitive-oriented strategy process research is still on strategic decision-making and therefore lags behind encompassing conceptional developments in process research. By drawing on the “genesis” approach of Kirsch, this paper develops a framework for explaining the formation of shared strategic orientations from a socio-cognitive perspective, which should broaden the “dominant research design”.     

Trauma-informed care and elder abuse: a synergistic alliance

ABSTRACT

Elder abuse is a global systemic problem in which one or more traumatic or stressful life experiences directly affect older adults, their families, and communities. Despite its devastating impact, the understanding of—and response to—elder abuse has rarely been explored through a trauma-informed lens. Despite the prevalence of traumatic and stressful life experiences, research and practice are just beginning to target the intersection of elder abuse and life course trauma. This article demonstrates how knowledge about the causes, consequences, and responses to elder abuse can be integrated with the principles of trauma-informed care to improve agency and community responses to preventing or intervening with elder abuse and neglect. In order to address the ongoing problems with detection and treatment of elder abuse, we assert that instilling trauma and elder abuse informed care in organizational services and policies forms a synergistic alliance and would address many of these concerns.     

Teaching Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder to Mand “Why?”

For most children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), manding for information is an important skill that must be systematically taught. Although previous studies have evaluated interventions for teaching other mands for information, to date no studies have demonstrated effective procedures for teaching the mand “why?” The purpose of the present study was to teach 3 children with ASD to mand “why?” under relevant establishing operation conditions in 3 distinct scenarios. A trial-unique multiple-exemplar procedure was used to promote generalization and increase the value of information provided across trials. All 3 participants learned to mand “why?” in all 3 scenarios within a mean of 18 sessions (range 14–21 sessions), demonstrated generalization to novel stimuli and settings, and maintained this skill over time. Social validity for the intervention had an overall mean of 5.88 (range 1–7).     

Developmental Trajectories of Social Justice Values in Adolescence: Relations with Sympathy and Friendship Quality

This study examined developmental trajectories of social justice values (SJV) in a representative sample of Swiss adolescents (N = 1258) at 15 (Time 1), 18 (Time 2), and 21 years of age (Time 3). SJV and friendship quality were measured via self‐reports. Sympathy was assessed via self‐ and mother‐reports. Latent class growth analysis revealed three developmental trajectories of SJV: high‐stable (80 percent), moderate‐decreasing (17 percent), and low‐increasing (3 percent). Adolescents with low levels of self‐ and mother‐reported sympathy were more likely to be members of the low‐increasing than the high‐stable or moderate decreasing trajectory groups. Adolescents who reported low levels of sympathy and friendship quality at 15 years of age were more likely to be members of the moderate‐decreasing trajectory group than the high‐stable trajectory group. Results are discussed with respect to the potential significance of sympathy and friendship quality for understanding the development of SJV during adolescence.     

Breakdown of teenage placements in Danish out‐of‐home care

This study deals with the problem of breakdown in out‐of‐home placements for Danish teenagers. How often are these placements prematurely terminated against the requests and intentions of the child welfare authorities? Which factors seem to increase and decrease placement breakdown? The sample consists of 225 youths and 367 placements during the years 2004–2008. Among the 225 youths, 44% experienced a breakdown, and 33% of the 367 placements ended with a breakdown. A large proportion of the placement breakdowns (20%) occurred before 4 months, and within the first year, 62% of the placement breakdowns had taken place. Replacements took place in 61% of all placement breakdowns. The analysis showed that type of placement and number of youth at the same placement had significant association to placement breakdown, but variables based on the social worker's clinical assessment showed no association to breakdown. However, while the logistic regression model was significant, it explained only 6% of the variance. Earlier studies have indicated that breakdown is a substantial problem of child welfare in several other western countries, Denmark is no exception. These corresponding breakdown rates point out that no child welfare system yet have found a method to reduce breakdown substantially.     

The Social Cognitions of Socially Withdrawn Children

The purpose of this study was to examine the social cognitions of peer‐identified socially withdrawn children. Participants included 457 children from grades four, five and six (54% females, 46% males). Children completed a selection of self‐ and peer‐report measures including: (1) peer‐rated behavioral nominations; (2) hostile intent biases and social responses to ambiguous situations; (3) social goals and self‐efficacy; and (4) a newly developed measure of causal attributions. An extreme groups procedure was used to identify three groups of children: (1) socially withdrawn (n=50); (2) aggressive (n=53); and (3) a comparison group (n=206). As compared with their peers, withdrawn children displayed a pattern of self‐defeating attributions for social situations, reported lower efficacy for assertive goals, and indicated a preference for non‐assertive, withdrawn strategies to deal with hypothetical conflict situations. Findings are discussed with respect to implications for interventions, and directions for further research are presented.     

Independent living programs: Do they make a difference?

Children are entering foster care at an alarming rate. There were an estimated 429,000 children in out-of-home care at the end of 1991, which is a 64% increases since 1982 (Tatara, 1990). The largest proportion of children in out-of-home care are between the ages of 13 and 18 (Mech, 1988; Tatara, 1989). Each year, an estimated 16,000 (Sims, 1988) to 18,000 (Ryan, McFadden, Rice, & Warren, 1988) youth are emancipated and leave foster care to assume independence. Many of these young adults are not prepared for self-sufficiency (Barth, 1986, 1990; Festinger, 1983; Westat, 1988). Adolescents from varying out-of-home care settings are eligible for a set of services—Independent Living Programs.The findings of this study suggest that Independent Living Programs may have positive impact on the ability of youth to be self-sufficient at the time of discharge from foster care programs. The youth who participated in the ILP program were more likely to complete high school, have employment history and employment at discharge, and were more likely to be self supporting at the closing of the case.and Ms. Scannapieco is a research assistant, Temple University Center for Human Development and Education.     

Theory and social practice of agency in combining breastfeeding and employment: A qualitative study among health workers in New Delhi,India

BackgroundWomen's agency, or intentional actions, in combining breastfeeding and employment is significant for health and labour productivity. Previous research in India showed that mothers use various collaborative strategies to ensure a “good enough” combination of breastfeeding and employment. Bandura's theoretical agency constructs previously applied in various realms could facilitate the exploration of agency in an Indian context.AimTo explore manifestations of agency in combining breastfeeding and employment amongst Indian health workers using Bandura's theoretical constructs of agency and women's experiences.MethodsQualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten women employees within the governmental health sector in New Delhi, India. Both deductive and inductive qualitative content analyses were used.FindingsBandura's features and modes of agency revealed that intentionality is underpinned by knowledge, forethought means being prepared, self-reactiveness includes collaboration and that self-reflectiveness gives perspective. Women's interviews revealed four approaches to agency entitled: ‘All within my stride or the knowledgeable navigator’; ‘Much harder than expected, but ok overall’; This is a very lonely job’; and ‘Out of my control’.ConclusionsAgency features and their elements are complex, dynamic and involve family members. Bandura's theoretical agency constructs are partially useful in this context, but additional social practice constructs of family structure and relationship quality are needed for better correspondence with women's experiences of agency. The variation in individual approaches to agency has implications for supportive health and workplace services.