Context Matters Research Articles

RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND COGNITIVE HEALTH AMONG OLDER ADULTS IN CHINA

Abstract Existing research links perceived social support from family and friends to cognitive health in later life. Yet we know less about how cognitive functioning may also shape social support and whether these reciprocal relationships vary between rural and urban areas, especially in China where rural-urban migration is common. This study investigates: (1) whether family support and friendship support help maintaining cognitive functioning, (2) whether cognitive functioning improves perceived family support and friendship support, and (3) whether and how these relationships differ between rural and urban areas. I estimate cross-lagged panel models with a sample including 9,553 adults aged 60 years and above, from two waves of the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS). Results show that cognitive functioning was positively associated with perceived friendship support, regardless of the area of residence. There was a reciprocal relationship between friendship support and cognitive functioning only for rural older adults, with friendship support predicting lower cognitive functioning for urban older adults. Findings suggest that rural and urban context matter – perceived social support, whether from friends or family, may have different implications for the cognitive health of older Chinese adults depending on where they live.

Initial programme theory development: The first step in a realist evaluation of a cross-sectoral intervention for expectant Danish parents living with psychosocial risks.

A distinct inequality in maternity care exists, and women with psychosocial risks are at a greater risk of adverse birth outcomes. In several high-income countries, a psychosocial risk assessment early in pregnancy is recommended so that expectant parents are offered an appropriate level of care which facilitates relevant, tailored interventions for those in need. In 2017, a cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary intervention for expectant parents with psychosocial risks was developed and implemented in the North Denmark Region. The development process of the intervention has not been reported and theory-based knowledge about how supportive interventions bring about change for expectant parents with psychosocial risks is scarce. Through the initial phase of a realist evaluation, we aimed to elicit key contexts and mechanisms of change regarding the intervention for expectant parents with psychosocial risks. Through an initial programme theory, this article illustrates how, for whom and in which contexts the intervention is intended to work. Data is comprised of intervention documents, 14 pilot observations and 29 realist interviews with key stakeholders. A thematic analytical approach inspired by retroductive thinking was applied to identify and analyse patterns related to the incentive of the intervention, its structure, intended outcomes, generative mechanisms and contextual matters. Generative mechanisms responsible for bringing about change in the intervention were identified as healthcare professionals' approach, continuity, trust, early intervention and social network. Cross-sectoral collaboration and healthcare professionals' competencies were assumed to be central stimulating contextual factors. The initial programme theory developed in this study will serve as the basis for further refinement via empirical testing in a later phase of the realist evaluation.

Context matters: Exploring the mediated nature of digital service provision within homelessness organizations

A wide body of research has demonstrated the importance of mobile media in the lives of people experiencing homelessness. However, there is a need to understand digital access, uses, and needs within wider organizational and technological contexts. Informed by a social construction of technology theoretical perspective, this article explores how different homelessness organizations in England appropriate technology within their support services. Drawing on findings from three case studies, it demonstrates how provision is shaped by interpretive, cultural, and material factors that operate to facilitate or inhibit use. Given the significance of technology within the lives of people experiencing homelessness, this article highlights the need for practitioners and policy makers to prioritize and examine the nature and impact of digital service provision and to ensure that its design and delivery reflects the needs of users.

Context matters: athletes' perception of dopers' values, actions and vulnerabilities.

Although athletes seem to hold uniform views towards non-dopers, their perception of dopers is more nuanced, reflecting positive and negative attributes. Research also indicates that rarely a single factor can explain doping, but a host of reasons that intertwine. A holistic understanding of how values play a role in decisions in anti-doping and the elements that influence athletes' doping vulnerability is timely and warranted. We recruited elite athletes from 13 countries representing 27 sports at a national or international level (N = 60) to participate as part of a larger research project. Data were collected via focus group interviews focusing on values, value priorities and perceptions about the role of values in doping as a phenomenon and in dopers' actions. Data were analysed using iterative thematic analysis. Three themes were identified: (1) athletes' personal stance on doping, (2) dopers in the eyes of the anti-doping-compliant athletes, and (3) doping vulnerability is a balance. Athletes in this study strongly opposed doping but showed empathy and understanding toward athletes who doped under certain circumstances. Furthermore, athletes believed that "clean" and "doping" athletes are not always distinguished by the values they hold, leading to the realisation that all athletes can be vulnerable to doping at some point. This vulnerability is a balance between risks and protective factors in a complex interaction between environmental, personal, and situational influences. Each element (e.g., values, environment) can be a motivator or a barrier. Consequently, doping vulnerability is highly idiosyncratic and dynamic. If doping is not due to a lack of moral values but the consequences of combined risk factors that override the guiding function of values, then doping can happen to anyone, "good" athletes included. Developers and facilitators of anti-doping education programmes are advised to embrace this important aspect. The results also contribute to developing the doping vulnerability concept as a balance between risks and protective factors and draw attention to the clean athlete vulnerability, which is rooted in the combination of strategic performance enhancement via non-prohibited means, their exposure to anti-doping requirements and the constant high level of suspicion that surrounds them.

Context matters: rescuing allied civilians interned in the japanese-controlled areas of China, 1944–1947

Around 13,500 Allied civilians were interned by Japan throughout China during the Second World War. This article explores how these Allied internees were rescued after the war. It finds that the Allied and Japanese governments made painstaking efforts to make the rescue mission a success. The complex military, diplomatic, and political context in China around the end of the war caused numerous difficulties for the rescue mission. This context also facilitated the mission to a certain degree by creating the conditions for the Allied internees to become increasingly valuable, which, in turn motivated the Allied and Japanese governments to work actively towards their relief.

Not that basic: how level, design, and context matter for the redistributive outcomes of universal basic income

Abstract Proponents of a basic income (BI) claim that, on top of many other benefits, it could bring significant reductions in financial poverty. Using microsimulation analysis in a comparative two-country setting, we show that the potential poverty-reducing impact of BI strongly depends on exactly how and where it is implemented. Implementing a BI requires far more choices than advocates seem to realise. The level at which a BI is set matters, but its exact specification matters even more. The impact of a BI, be it a low or a high one, also strongly depends on the characteristics of the system that it is (partially) replacing or complementing, as well as the socio-economic context in which it is introduced. Some versions of BI could potentially help to reduce poverty but always at a significant cost and with substantial sections of the population incurring significant losses, which matters for political feasibility. A partial BI complementing existing provisions appears to make more potential sense than a full BI replacing them. The simplicity of BI, however, tends to be vastly overstated.

Context matters: environmental microbiota from ice cream processing facilities affected the inhibitory performance of two lactic acid bacteria strains against Listeria monocytogenes.

Antilisterial LAB strains have been proposed as biological control agents for application in food processing environments. However, the effect of resident food processing environment microbiota on the performance on antilisterial LAB strains is poorly understood. Our study shows that the presence of microbiota collected from ice cream processing facilities' environmental surfaces can affect the attachment and inhibitory effect of LAB strains against L. monocytogenes. Further studies are therefore needed to assess whether individual microbial taxa affect antilisterial properties of LAB strains and to characterize the underlying mechanisms.

School context matters? Faculty trust and academic emphasis moderating the effects of principals' distributed leadership on teacher leadership

PurposeThe importance of teacher leadership in enhancing school outcomes is recognized, but there remains a scarcity of research addressing the conditions for principals to nurture such leadership. This study examined how school contextual factors, i.e. faculty trust and academic emphasis, moderate the impact of principals' distributed leadership lon teacher leadership.Design/methodology/approachA nationwide survey was conducted among junior high school teachers in Taiwan. The sample encompassed schools from different geographical regions and sizes, yielding a total of 1,340 valid responses. Hierarchical regression analyses were employed to analyze the potential moderating effects of interest.FindingsThere were interactive effects of principals' distributed leadership and school contextual factors on teachers' adoption of leadership roles. The impact of principals' distributed leadership on teacher leadership was amplified in environments marked by elevated levels of trust relations and reduced academic emphasis.Practical implicationsThis study uncovers the critical prerequisites principals must address to cultivate teacher leadership. To effectively encourage heightened teacher engagement in leadership, principals must place a premium on nurturing trusting relations with their teaching staff and acknowledge that the influence of their leadership might be lessened in an environment where credentialism holds sway.Originality/valueThe exploration into faculty trust and academic emphasis yields insights into the conducive conditions for principals to foster teacher leadership. The identified attenuating impact of academic emphasis on principal effect within an Asian societal context highlights its significance not only as an organizational property but also as a manifestation of national cultural values.

Career capital, career success, and perceived employability: evidence from medical billing companies in the post-COVID world.

This paper focuses on the concept of career construction based on the theory of conservation of resources to understand the overall effect of career capital on career success from both a subjective and objective manner through the mediating effect of perceived employability. This study attempts to explain how different integrated aspects of career capital, including human, social, and psychological (antecedents), influence both subjective career success and objective career success (outcome) through the mediating effect of perceived employability (mediator). Time-lagged data of 331 employees from the telehealth medical billing service companies based in Pakistan were analyzed through a structural equation modeling technique using SmartPLS software. The main results confirmed that career capital positively affects perceived employability and career success while perceived employability positively mediates the relationship between career capital and career success. This research responded to prior calls by explaining the positive mediating role of perceived employability (as a mediator) in explaining the positive influence of career capital on career success using different various dimensions of career capital and career success. This research included the contextual issues by testing the model in the telehealth sector of Pakistan. The findings suggested that context or occupation matters in the relationship between career capital and career success.

Introduction to the special issue does local context matter? The re-localization of politics during municipal elections in three French cities

Introduction to the special issue does local context matter? The re-localization of politics during municipal elections in three French cities

Context matters: using an Evidence to Decision (EtD) framework to develop and encourage uptake of opioid deprescribing guideline recommendations at the point-of-care

ObjectivesTo describe the development and use of an Evidence to Decision (EtD) framework when formulating recommendations for the Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline for Deprescribing Opioid Analgesics. Study Design and SettingEvidence was derived from an overview of systematic reviews and qualitative studies conducted with healthcare professionals and people who take opioids for pain. A multidisciplinary guideline development group conducted extensive EtD framework review and iterative refinement to ensure that guideline recommendations captured contextual factors relevant to the guideline target setting and audience. ResultsThe guideline development group considered and accounted for the complexities of opioid deprescribing at the individual and health system level, shaping recommendations and practice points to facilitate point-of-care use. Stakeholders exhibited diverse preferences, beliefs, and values. This variability, low certainty of evidence, and system-level policies and funding models impacted the strength of the generated recommendations, resulting in the formulation of four ‘conditional’ recommendations. ConclusionThe context within which evidence-based recommendations are considered, as well as the political and health system environment, can contribute to the success of recommendation implementation. Use of an EtD framework allowed for the development of implementable recommendations relevant at the point-of-care through consideration of limitations of the evidence and relevant contextual factors.

Context matters in myriad ways: a reply to ‘Building a cooperative child: evidence and lessons cross-culturally’ by Tanya Broesch and Erin Robbins

Context matters in myriad ways: a reply to ‘Building a cooperative child: evidence and lessons cross-culturally’ by Tanya Broesch and Erin Robbins

Context matters—different entrepreneurial approaches among street‐level bureaucrats enhancing digital inclusion

AbstractDigital technology is frequently used in the delivery of public services. Since not everyone has the skills or digital access required to use such digital services, street‐level bureaucrats must find new ways to support citizens to be able to enhance digital inclusion. In most public settings, these new practices of digital support need to be developed in parallel with the street‐level bureaucrats' ordinary assignments. This article analyses the development of street‐level bureaucrats' entrepreneurial and innovative practices in promoting digital inclusion in two spheres: conventional welfare service provision and in a project‐based welfare service provision initiative explicitly intended to enhance digital inclusion. The article builds on qualitative case studies in municipalities in Sweden and demonstrates that there are more openings for innovative, entrepreneurial solutions among street‐level bureaucrats in the more project‐based setting than in the conventional welfare services. This implies that context matters for street‐level entrepreneurial approaches.

The Influence of Food Chain Puzzle Learning Media on Learning Outcomes in Class V Science Subjects at State Elementary School 024767 Binjai

Learning media functions as a tool to convey subject matter in a learning context. The aim of this research is to assess the impact of using learning media in the form of the Food Chain Puzzle on learning outcomes in science subjects, especially in Theme 5 Sub Theme 2 Learning 1 in class V of SD Negeri 024767 Binjai for the 2023/2024 academic year. This research is a quantitative type of research and uses an experimental method with a quasi-experimental design. The research results show that the T-test value for the experimental posttest is 0.000, and the control posttest value is also 0.000. Because these values ​​are less than or equal to 0.05, it can be concluded that the use of learning media in the form of the Food Chain Puzzle has a significant influence on learning outcomes in science subjects, especially in Theme 5 Sub Theme 2 Learning 1 in class V of State Elementary Schools. 024767 Binjai for the 2023/2024 academic year.

Misperceptions, Intergroup Prejudice, and the Varied Encounters Between European Citizens and Non-EU Foreigners

Abstract How does interpersonal exposure to immigrants influence citizens’ opinions about immigrants? The Intergroup Contact Theory (ICT) famously predicts improved attitudes under certain circumstances. However, research on the population innumeracy phenomenon predicts that this same exposure may worsen demographic misperceptions about immigrants. The current study seeks to analyze these contradictory possibilities with data on native-born citizens’ encounters with non-EU immigrants from the 2017 Eurobarometer survey. The analysis considers a wide variety of exposure contexts and generates hypotheses about which will matter most for each outcome based on cognitive availability processes and the optimal conditions outlined in the original ICT. The results indicate that intergroup exposure increases both positive attitudes toward immigrants and incorrect perceptions about immigrants. However, context matters. Those with exposure to immigrants among their primary networks or through their participation in sport, volunteer, and cultural activities exhibit the most pro-immigrant evaluations. Those with exposure through their neighborhoods and workplaces exhibit the most inflated perceptions. The study concludes by considering the implications of these findings for future research.

Property in Place: A Legacy of Context

Legal research that highlights context to emphasize circumstances in which decisions occur is important for the legal academy as it reveals the realities in which law operates. This is particularly true for property law which, as the work of Bruce Ziff shows, the perspective of stories, people, and geographies are essential to understanding. In his investigation of seminal property case law, Ziff does not simply discuss legal rules, rather, Ziff explores the real life features of each case. Ziff provides a micro perspective on cases, which also capturing broader information that provides a macro outlook on how legal argument is created. Through this work it becomes clear that context matters.

Teachers’ emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction: How much does the school context matter?

The current article investigated the role that the school context plays in teachers’ well-being in terms of emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. First, we analyzed between-school variation in well-being and indicators of social interactions. Second, we examined the association between these indicators and well-being on the teacher and school levels. Based on two large teacher samples (Study 1: N = 1022; Study 2: N = 2886), the results of multilevel regression analyses showed low between-school variance in well-being but substantial variation in indicators of social interactions. Moreover, well-being was tendentially related to interindividual differences in the perception of social climate.

Spatial context matters: Assessing how future renewable energy pathways will impact nature and society

Pathways to decarbonisation are commonly explored by government and industry through the use of energy system models. However, such models rarely consider where new energy infrastructure might be located. This is problematic as the spatial context of new renewable energy infrastructure will determine, in part, the environmental, social, and technical impacts of the energy transition. This paper presents the ADVENT-NEV model which brings together innovations in energy and natural capital modelling to identify the optimal locations of multiple renewable energy technologies at a national scale and high spatial resolution. Using Great Britain as a case study, the results show how the spatial distribution of renewable energy technologies changes when a natural capital approach is taken. In particular, the least-cost locations for onshore wind farms and bioenergy crops are highly influenced by the value of carbon sequestration, or emissions associated with their land use change. Siting using a natural capital approach produced appreciable ecosystem service benefits, such that the overall welfare gain to society was estimated at nearly £25 B. Overall, this paper demonstrates that understanding the geospatial context of the energy transition is essential to identifying which renewable energy pathways are consistent with decarbonisation and environmental objectives.

HIV in MOTION: a community of practice on physical rehabilitation for and by people living with HIV and their allies.

This paper describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a community of practice (CoP), HIV in MOTION (HIM), to advance physical activity rehabilitation interventions with adults living with HIV, clinicians, researchers, and representatives from community-based organizations. We attracted a diverse audience of geographically dispersed people living with HIV, clinicians, exercise personnel, and trainees to eight HIM community of practice events that featured the clinical, research, and lived experience of people living with HIV. HIV in MOTION had (a) a domain related to physical rehabilitation, exercise, and social participation for people living with HIV; (b) a community of diverse individuals; and (c) a practice, that is, a series of sustained interactions online and offline, synchronous, and asynchronous. Our team included six diverse people living with HIV, two coordinators, and three academic researchers who planned, prepared, implemented, and evaluated each online session. To evaluate the HIV in MOTION CoP, we employed an evaluation framework composed of five criteria: Goals and Scope, Context and Structure, Process and Activities, Outcomes, and Impact. We collected quantitative and qualitative evaluative data using online evaluation, audiovisual archiving, and participant observations during the debriefing with all members of our team. We widened the Goals and Scope of the HIV in MOTION CoP to include the HIV narrative of lived experiences, including autopathography, and participant storytelling. In matters of Context and Structure, we received explicit satisfaction with our governance and leadership. Also, being flexible to fit online formats was a productive strategy that made the HIV in MOTION CoP sessions agile and amenable to audiovisual archiving. Our indicators of success in Process, Activities, and Outcomes included participant retention online, elicited verbal interventions and comments in the chat room, and a rate of three repeat visits online. The indicators of success of Impact were the presence of voluntary and unscripted autopathography, the patient storytelling and how it reportedly caused changes in the participants, and the "legitimate peripheral participation" of emerging research and clinical students. In conclusion, we recommend our form of CoP for mixing the knowledge of diverse persons in this area. However, we recommend considering budget and burnout as serious challenges to sustainability.

Context Matters as Racialization Evolves: Exploring Bias in Preservice Teacher Responses to Children

This study explores preservice teacher attributions to children’s behaviors portrayed in specific emotion-laden school scenarios. Participants included 178 preservice teachers from three universities. The preservice teachers viewed video vignettes of Black and White child actors in six different school scenarios. Our team constructed two themes from the preservice teachers’ narratives about what they saw: (a) context matters (i.e., different scenarios activate different preservice teacher attributions), and (b) racialization evolves (i.e., preservice teachers make different attributions about Black and White boys engaged in the same behaviors). Findings underscore the importance of teacher education and professional development for novice teachers that address racial bias in attributions of student behaviors.