Behavior Analytic Concepts and Change in a Large Metropolitan Research University: The Graduation Success Initiative

The Graduation Success Initiative is a complex, organization-wide application of behavior analytic concepts to improving undergraduate student retention and on-time graduation at a large metropolitan research university. The behavior analytic concepts discussed here include culture, supraorganismic phenomena, selecting environments, macrobehaviors, macrocontingencies, interlocking behavioral contingencies, metacontingencies, and rule-governed behavior. We introduce a change template that includes all pertinent agents in the university system and that focuses change efforts specifically on desired behaviors, targeted behaviors, strategic interventions, and reinforcing contingencies for each of the categories of agents. The Graduation Success Initiative produced a 16-point increase in on-time graduation in 4 years.     

Friendship networks and the social structure of opportunities for contact and interaction

This paper explores the Partnermarktsurvey to analyze how the size and composition of individuals’ friendship networks are associated with the opportunities for contact and interaction provided by individuals’ immediate social environment. The size and composition of individuals’ social environment are strongly reflected in the size and composition of their network of friends. Several properties of an individual’s foci of activity help to transform mere contacts into opportunities for interaction. The paper suggests to combine macro-structural theory with micro-sociological theories about action and social capital.     

服务交易关系与使用程度对转换成本和顾客保留的影响

通过对来自互联网接入和信用卡服务行业的447个消费者样本进行基于结构方程模型的数据分析,考察服务使用程度、转换成本与顾客保留之间的关系,并探讨服务交易关系类型对服务使用程度→转换成本→顾客保留路径的调节作用.研究结果表明,对于独占型和非独占型交易关系的服务,转换成本对顾客保留均具有显著的正影响效应.当顾客与服务企业的交易关系为独占型时,现供应商服务的使用程度和竞争者服务的使用程度两个变量对转换成本的影响都不显著,它们对转换成本的相对影响力也无差异;竞争者服务的使用程度对顾客保留具有显著影响,但现供应商服务的使用程度对顾客保留的直接影响不显著.当顾客与服务企业的交易关系为非独占型时,现供应商服务的使用程度和竞争者服务的使用程度两个变量在影响转换成本和顾客保留中发挥的作用没有明显差别.     

Correlates of Treatment Retention Among Persons with Serious Mental Illness Receiving Integrated Care in a Community Mental Health Setting

ABSTRACT

Knowledge about methods to retain community mental health (CMH) clients in integrated primary and behavioral health care (PBHC) programs is needed to address longstanding health disparities. A preexisting data set that contained the clinical records of 446 PBHC program participants was used to examine whether baseline sociodemographic, health, and psychosocial characteristics predicted retention in care at 6 months post-enrollment. Results indicated that less than half of PBHC participants (43.7%) were retained in care, and approximately 17% of the variance in retention was explained by the inclusion of seven predictors in the model (overall health, medications, laboratory data, primary care provider, disorder type, transportation, and living arrangement). Clients with thought disorders were almost twice as likely as those with mood disorders to be retained in care, and greater frequency of prescribed medications also increased the likelihood of treatment continuation (ORs = 1.99 and 1.20, respectively). Future research should identify factors that improve retention in integrated PBHC programs overall, and among persons with mood disorders, in particular.     

客户保持动态模型的研究

利用生命周期理论揭示出的客户关系的动态特征,可以建立一个基于客户关系生命周期的客户保持动态模型.模型用于描述客户保持的四个决定因素--客户价值、客户满意、客户信任和转移成本,及其如何驱动客户关系不断从低级阶段向高级阶段发展,并在客户关系生命周期的不同阶段建立不同层次客户忠诚,揭示客户保持的四因素之间、四因素与客户忠诚(用重复购买意图、交叉购买意图、价格忍耐力和客户推荐意图四个指标度量)和客户关系生命周期之间、客户忠诚与客户关系生命周期之间的相互关系.     

基于客户识别的客户保持决策模型与定价策略

建立了以客户识别为基础进行客户保持决策的理论框架和决策模型,提出了客户识别的三维框架模型,认为客户识别需要在包含客户生命周期价值、客户感知价值和竞争可得性3个维度的框架下进行;随后通过建立客户识别模型,定量分析了客户识别对于客户保持的重要意义;接着阐述了以客户识别为基础进行客户保持决策的过程和方法,并综合考虑客户忠诚度因素,通过建立客户保持的决策模型,分析了统一定价和差别定价2种模式下客户保持的企业产品定价策略。     

Friendship,humour and non-native language: Emotions and experiences of professional migrants to Australia

This article explores a particular consequence of migration, which is the need to make new friends in a new country. Migration scholars tend to ignore the process of making friends, when this can be a key challenge to integrating in a new society. We draw on semi-structured interviews with professional migrants to Australia, from a range of different countries, to explore how using non-native language impacted on new friendships. In particular, using the sociological lens of ‘facework’, we show how humour was used during new friendships with English speakers [Goffman, E. 1969. Where the Action Is: Three Essays. London: Allen Lane]. Non-native language confidence impacted on informal socialising because migrants encountered challenges using humour with new friends. This led to feelings of embarrassment, which had to be emotionally managed. Despite speaking good English, these non-native English language migrants can still face language challenges in informal settings. As the migrant's length of time in Australia increased, language confidence improved, however, there were still barriers when using humour. Whilst analysis is specific to Australia, given the increased numbers of professional migrants globally, further investigation is needed to explore if non-native English migrants to other similar cultures such as England, the USA, or Canada also experience such barriers to integration at local level.     

Achieving high quality and long‐lasting matches in youth mentoring programmes: a case study of 4Results mentoring

Mentoring programmes show significant promise for enhancing the well‐being of youth with complex needs. Research indicates that high quality mentoring, although difficult to achieve, positively impacts youth development across behavioural, social, emotional and academic domains. The difficulty of sustaining long‐term matches between mentors and youth, however, remains an important concern for the field of mentoring, as foreshortened matches can be harmful to youth. The 4Results mentoring programme has been identified as a Promising Practice through the Washington State Inventory of child‐serving behavioural and mental health programmes and has developed a unique infrastructure to support critical programme values such as match longevity. In 7 years, the programme has successfully retained 98% of mentors for at least 1 year with an average match length of 3.7 years. The following article describes the programme's guiding philosophy and approach to recruiting and training mentors in the context of existing best practices research.     

Adapting an evidence-based model to retain adolescent study participants in longitudinal research

Maintaining contact with and collecting outcome data from adolescent study participants can present a significant challenge for researchers conducting longitudinal studies. Establishing an organized and effective protocol for participant follow-up is crucial to reduce attrition and maintain high retention rates. This paper describes our methods in using and adapting the evidence-based Engagement, Verification, Maintenance, and Confirmation (EVMC) model to follow up with adolescents 6 and 12 months after implementation of a health program. It extends previous research by focusing on two key modifications to the model: (1) the central role of cell phones and texting to maintain contact with study participants throughout the EVMC process and, (2) use of responsive two-way communication between staff and participants and flexible administration modes and methods in the confirmation phase to ensure that busy teens not only respond to contacts, but also complete data collection. These strategies have resulted in high overall retention rates (87–91%) with adolescent study participants at each follow-up data collection point without the utilization of other, more involved tracking measures. The methods and findings presented may be valuable for other researchers with limited resources planning for or engaged in collecting follow-up outcome data from adolescents enrolled in longitudinal studies.     

Friends in locked places: An investigation of prison inmate network structure

The current study investigates informal social structure among prison inmates. Data come from the Prison Inmate Network Study (PINS), a project focused on a unit of a Pennsylvania medium security men’s prison. We focus on 205 inmates and their “get along with” network – an approximation of friendship in other settings. We find a weak subgroup structure dominated by two groups of “old heads” and characterized by moderate (non gang-based) race/ethnic clustering. Structurally, the network resembles adolescents in schools, suggesting that prison inmates are capable of successfully building peer associations. We conclude that under the right conditions self-organizing inmate society can foster social integration reminiscent of other social settings.