Relationship education for stepcouples reporting relationship instability--evaluation of the Smart Steps: Embrace the Journey curriculum.

This study analyzes the relationship between facilitator effectiveness ratings and several facilitator characteristics. Characteristics include professional and personal experiences as well as demographics. Participants attended Smart Steps, a relationship education course for stepfamilies, which was offered through community agencies. There were 858 participants with an overrepresentation of low-income and Latino participants. Facilitators who had specific training in Smart Steps and facilitators who had stepchildren of their own had higher effectiveness ratings. A regression model identified that both of these variables along with being female were significantly associated with higher effectiveness ratings as reported by the participants.

Return to Work—From Research to Practice

Social network analysis provides a broad and complex perspective on animal sociality that is widely applicable to almost any species. Recent applications demonstrate the utility of network analysis for advancing our understanding of the dynamics, selection pressures, development, and evolution of complex social systems. However, most studies of animal social networks rely primarily on a descriptive approach. To propel the field of animal social networks beyond exploratory analyses and to facilitate the integration of quantitative methods that allow for the testing of ecologically and evolutionarily relevant hypotheses, we review methodological and conceptual advances in network science, which are underutilized in studies of animal sociality. First, we highlight how the use of statistical modeling and triadic motifs analysis can advance our understanding of the processes that structure networks. Second, we discuss how the consideration of temporal changes and spatial constraints can shed light on the dynamics of social networks. Third, we consider how the study of variation at multiple scales can potentially transform our understanding of the structure and function of animal networks. We direct readers to analytical tools that facilitate the adoption of these new concepts and methods. Our goal is to provide behavioral ecologists with a toolbox of current methods that can stimulate novel insights into the ecological influences and evolutionary pressures structuring networks and advance our understanding of the proximate and ultimate processes that drive animal sociality.

Background: The adoption and successful implementation of digital health solutions heavily depend on digital health literacy, which is particularly critical in the current COVID-19 era. Low levels of digital health literacy are associated with poor preventative practices, the spread of inaccurate information, vaccine hesitancy, and reduced subjective well-being. Thus, the aim of this review was to highlight areas of current scholarly interest and identify any gaps in the literature regarding conceptual and methodological advancements in digital disruption. Methods: The authors conducted a literature search using the databases Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar, focusing on papers released between 2003 and October 2023. The following keywords were used to conduct a thorough literature search: ((digital health OR digital disruption OR digital dental health)) AND (medical health OR telemedicine)), ((online doctor OR online consultation OR online health app)) AND (COVID-19 OR pandemic)). A total of 1,244 studies were screened, including duplicates and non- English research. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 72 articles were selected for the review. Results: A total of 72 articles were included in this review. The studies discussed the potential reasons for disrupted access to healthcare, which is linked to avoidable hospital admissions. Delayed care due to disruptions can lead to disease progression, the exacerbation of existing conditions, and chronic ambulatory care-sensitive conditions. Digital health innovations were presented as solutions to enhance care, reduce clinical workload, and promote independent living. Conclusions: In conclusion, this narrative review provides a comprehensive overview of the conceptual and methodological advancements in digital technology related to healthcare. It demonstrates the potential of digital technology to revolutionize both medical and dental education.

Habitat selection is a fundamental animal behavior that shapes a wide range of ecological processes, including animal movement, nutrient transfer, trophic dynamics and population distribution. Although habitat selection has been a focus of ecological studies for decades, technological, conceptual and methodological advances over the last 20 yr have led to a surge in studies addressing this process. Despite the substantial literature focused on quantifying the habitat‐selection patterns of animals, there is a marked lack of guidance on best analytical practices. The conceptual foundations of the most commonly applied modeling frameworks can be confusing even to those well versed in their application. Furthermore, there has yet to be a synthesis of the advances made over the last 20 yr. Therefore, there is a need for both synthesis of the current state of knowledge on habitat selection, and guidance for those seeking to study this process. Here, we provide an approachable overview and synthesis of the literature on habitat‐selection analyses (HSAs) conducted using selection functions, which are by far the most applied modeling framework for understanding the habitat‐selection process. This review is purposefully non‐technical and focused on understanding without heavy mathematical and statistical notation, which can confuse many practitioners. We offer an overview and history of HSAs, describing the tortuous conceptual path to our current understanding. Through this overview, we also aim to address the areas of greatest confusion in the literature. We synthesize the literature outlining the most exciting conceptual advances in the field of habitat‐selection modeling, discussing the substantial ecological and evolutionary inference that can be made using contemporary techniques. We aim for this paper to provide clarity for those navigating the complex literature on HSAs while acting as a reference and best practices guide for practitioners.

Domestic violence situations create tough choices between protecting an individual's safety and fostering family harmony and autonomy. Using a sample of 157 adult residents of Georgia, this study examines how the public wants the police and court to handle domestic violence situations. Respondents read a detailed story about a domestic violence situation and then recommended how the police and court should handle the situation. The majority of respondents wanted the police and the courts to provide referrals to marriage counseling; only 26% of the respondents recommended arrest when the wife had moderately severe injuries. Respondents based their preference for arrest or informal methods on their fairness and on their effectiveness at reducing conflict. These findings suggest that the public may still place more importance on rehabilitative justice than on retributive justice. Moreover, the public recognizes the victim's need for protection but still places much importance on family autonomy and harmony. Practical implications and future research directions are discussed.

Aim Patients with stroke experience various challenges such as motor and cognitive and sensory problems, which can increase the caregiver burden of family members in long-term care. Understanding the factors related to caregiver burden is important to develop strategies to support informal caregivers. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the relationship of religious coping strategies and family harmony to caregiver burden for family members of patients with stroke. Method The sample of this descriptive, cross-sectional study consisted of 181 family caregivers who completed the Religious Coping Scale, Burden Interview Scale, and Family Harmony Scale – Short Form. Multiple linear regression and Pearson’s correlation were performed. Results Pearson’s correlation analysis indicated a significant positive relationship between caregiver burden and negative religious coping. A significant negative relationship was found of caregiver burden and family harmony with positive religious coping. Multiple regression analysis indicated that family harmony, amount of time spent on caregiving, and negative and positive religious coping were predictors of caregiver burden. Given the significant relationship of caregiver burden and family harmony to positive religious coping, future research should integrate religious coping strategies into multidisciplinary caregiver intervention programs to reduce caregiver burden.

At its core, the family unit is composed of individual members. The way in which an individual engages in self-care practices has been shown to influence their ability to interact with others. Minimal research has explored the impact of an individual’s self-care on broader family functioning. Through a systems theory lens, this paper aims to elucidate two specific mechanisms through which self-care may affect family harmony through dyadic communication constructs. A parallel mediation model was tested using a sample of participants who completed the ELEVATE relationship education program ( N = 1578). Findings revealed two positive indirect effects of self-care on family harmony via affectionate communication and negative conflict management. Results also indicated a positive direct relationship between self-care and family harmony. This study represents an important empirical step towards understanding the complex relationships among intrapersonal self-care, interpersonal communication, and broader family harmony. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The state-of-the-art treatment of challenging behaviors is discussed in terms of methodological and conceptual advances in applied behavior analysis. A protocol for addressing these behaviors is presented that includes a functional analysis, preference assessment, empirically validated treatment with assessments of both inter-observer agreement and procedural integrity, and assessment of outcome generality and maintenance. Key words: Challenging behaviors, preference assessment, functional analysis, establishing operations, behavioral momentum ********** Challenging behaviors are challenging because they are highly resistant to change. In addition, they are often harmful to the people who exhibit them or to others, a factor that substantially increases clinical concern. In the past decade, applied behavior analysts have become increasingly well-equipped to respond to challenging behaviors. Refined methodologies such as functional analyses and preferences assessments now help them to empirically determine variables maintaining the problem behaviors and to identify effective reinforcers for individuals who need treatment. With this information in hand, applied behavior analysts can develop treatment procedures that are more likely to be effective than they might be able to do otherwise. Additional refinements in principles including the differentiation between establishing operations and discriminative stimuli (Michael, 1982), and the exploration of applied use of concepts such as behavioral momentum (Nevin, 1996) have broadened the assessment and intervention procedures available to treat clinical problems. From the applied behavioral research, a protocol emerges for addressing challenging behaviors that captures the new developments in the field. It includes, with some variation, (a) a functional analysis, (b) a preference assessment, (c) a treatment plan based on the functional analysis, (d) an empirically validated treatment implementation with assessments of both inter-observer agreement and procedural integrity, and (e) an assessment of outcome generality and maintenance. FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS It is easy to assume that all behavioral interventions are based on an examination of the contingencies related to the behaviors of concern. This, however, is not always the case. Quite often applied behavior analysts simply control behaviors by employing powerful reinforcers or punishers that override the existing maintaining relationships. Such an approach can be problematic because it increases the likelihood that any behavior changes realized might not be sustained once the consequences are removed. The powerful contingency may only suppress, but not weaken, the maintaining relationships. As a result, once the potent reinforcer or punisher is no longer provided, the discriminative stimuli that previously occasioned the behavior may resume their function, which allows former consequences to re-establish control. If this occurs, it necessitates development of procedures to ensure maintenance of treatment gains, or indefinite implementation of treatment. When a functional analysis is included in the standard treatment protocol for addressing challenging behaviors, it directs the applied behavior analyst's attention away from treatments involving powerful consequences to those that change how the challenging behavior functions for the individual who exhibits it. By observing and collecting data on the relationship between antecedent events, behaviors, and consequences, the applied behavior analysts learns how the environment is maintaining the behavior in question. Treatment, then, involves changing the relationship of those contingencies and making them no longer effective. Iwata and colleagues advance functional analysis procedures that typically call for a multi-element analysis in which several contingencies are evaluated in succession. These contingencies usually represent negative, positive, and automatic reinforcement; however, establishing operations and other antecedent events may also be manipulated. …

PurposeWith the increasing digitalization processes taking place in different industries, the success of family small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) appears to be more under threat than for any other types of organizations, especially when information technologies (ITs) are not adequately used and managed. To grow and increase the chances of survival, family SMEs need more than ever IT. Stemming from agency theory, the aim of this article is to understand whether family harmony impacts the performance of family SMEs and to what extent IT mediates this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe research follows a quantitative approach, based on a sample of 182 family SMEs. Structured equation modeling, through SmartPLS, was employed to validate the research model.FindingsThis study’s main findings suggest that family harmony positively impacts firm performance and that IT governance and strategy mediate positively this relationship.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the relatively limited number of respondents limits the degree of representativeness of all family SMEs. Replicating the research with a larger number of respondents could strengthen the findings. Second, this study is limited to French firms and future research could extend the findings by looking at cross-country comparisons.Practical implicationsFamily SMEs are encouraged to link their IT governance with their IT strategy in order to increase their organizational performance. A favorable family harmony will make it easier to choose and implement a richer IT strategy and put in place an adequate IT governance function.Originality/valueThis research offers an enriched knowledge of the roles of family harmony and technological innovation in family SMEs and IT contexts as significant predictors of organizational performance. It contributes to family firm theory through the identification of three determinants of family SMEs' performance.

Multimodal neuroimaging grants a powerful in vivo window into the structure and function of the human brain. Recent methodological and conceptual advances have enabled investigations of the interplay between large-scale spatial trends - or gradients - in brain structure and function, offering a framework to unify principles of brain organization across multiple scales. Strong community enthusiasm for these techniques has been instrumental in their widespread adoption and implementation to answer key questions in neuroscience. Following a brief review of current literature on this framework, this perspective paper will highlight how pragmatic steps aiming to make gradient methods more accessible to the community propelled these techniques to the forefront of neuroscientific inquiry. More specifically, we will emphasize how interest for gradient methods was catalyzed by data sharing, open-source software development, as well as the organization of dedicated workshops led by a diverse team of early career researchers. To this end, we argue that the growing excitement for brain gradients is the result of coordinated and consistent efforts to build an inclusive community and can serve as a case in point for future innovations and conceptual advances in neuroinformatics. We close this perspective paper by discussing challenges for the continuous refinement of neuroscientific theory, methodological innovation, and real-world translation to maintain our collective progress towards integrated models of brain organization.

Host-microbe interactions play crucial roles in marine ecosystems, but we still have very little understanding of the mechanisms that govern these relationships, the evolutionary processes that shape them, and their ecological consequences. The holobiont concept is a renewed paradigm in biology that can help to describe and understand these complex systems. It posits that a host and its associated microbiota, living together in a stable relationship, form the holobiont, and have to be studied together as a coherent biological and functional unit to understand its biology, ecology, and evolution. Here we discuss critical concepts and opportunities in marine holobiont research and identify key challenges in the field. We highlight the potential economic, sociological, and environmental impacts of the holobiont concept in marine biological, evolutionary, and environmental sciences with comparisons to terrestrial sciences where appropriate. Given the connectivity and the unexplored biodiversity specific to marine ecosystems, a deeper understanding of such complex systems requires further technological and conceptual advances, e.g. the development of controlled experimental model systems for holobionts from all major lineages and the modeling of (info)chemical-mediated interactions between organisms. The most significant challenge is to bridge cross-disciplinary research on tractable model systems in order to address key ecological and evolutionary questions. This will be crucial to decipher the roles of marine holobionts in biogeochemical cycles, but also developing concrete applications of the holobiont concept e.g. to increase yield or disease resistance in aquacultures or to protect and restore marine ecosystems through management projects.

Evidence shows that immigrants face several challenges post migration, impacting their social inclusion. Yet, limited scholarly knowledge exists on older immigrants including Tamils from Sri Lanka. Thus, an exploratory concept mapping (CM) study was conducted in 2017 with 27 Tamil immigrant women and men aged ≥55years and settled in Toronto, Canada. The aim was to gather their perspectives on factors that help them to feel socially included (focal question). The CM methodology first engaged participants in brainstorming sessions to generate ideas in response to the focal question. Participants then joined sorting and rating sessions and sorted 72 generated items and rated them on a scale of 1-5 for importance and feasibility to initiate a change. Finally, in the interpretation session, participants provided feedback on the visual cluster maps generated through quantitative analysis of the collected data. Participants labelled the seven identified clusters: (a) Services for Employment and Settlement; (b) Financial Independence; (c) Medical System and Senior Care; (d) Adaptation and Integration; (e) Family Harmony; (f) Cultural Interaction and Feeling of Security; and (g) Social Interaction. The clusters one to three were at the top for importance (mean 4.33, 4.22, 4.17) and participants interpreted these as needing policy-level attention (e.g. credential evaluation, hiring practices) and identified the roles of advocacy and community-engagement for community-based programmes (CBPs). The Family Harmony was interpreted as needing 'work within families', while CBPs' culturally sensitive outreach was viewed as valuable. Participant interpretation of other clusters highlighted the role of social networking, trust, belonging, civic engagement and social cohesion through joint working of the community members and CBPs. The findings call for an inter-sectoral and community-engaged approach to strengthen the social inclusion of the community. Future research with a larger sample is needed, especially on early settlement experiences and social inclusion of older immigrants.

Chapter 23 - Self-Regulation: Directions and Challenges for Future Research

Community-based couple relationship education (CRE) focuses on skill-building for healthy couple functioning. Using a family systems perspective, it also can be assumed that participation in CRE will positively affect parenting and young children’s development due to expected linkages, yet comparatively few studies of CRE have tested these assumptions. We used a racially and economically diverse sample of 388 adults in the U.S. with children ages 18 months to 5 years who participated in a randomized control trial of CRE impact to test for positive couple, family, parent, and child outcomes. We find evidence of positive programme impact on couple relationship quality, couple relationship skills, and family harmony over a 6 month period. We also find some effects on parenting efficacy, punitive parenting, and children’s aggression that differed by mother and father report and by age group of child (e.g. toddler/preschooler). Implications for both research and practice are offered.