Individual Change Processes Research Articles

An Ecological Mobile Momentary Intervention to Support Dynamic Goal Pursuit: Feasibility and Acceptability Study.

Individuals can experience difficulties pursuing their goals amid multiple competing priorities in their environment. Effective goal dynamics require flexible and generalizable pursuit skills. Supporting successful goal pursuit requires a perpetually adapting intervention responsive to internal states. The purpose of this study was to (1) develop a flexible intervention that can adapt to an individual's changing short to medium-term goals and be applied to their daily life and (2) examine the feasibility and acceptability of the just-in-time adaptive intervention for goal pursuit. This study involved 3 iterations to test and systematically enhance all aspects of the intervention. During the pilot phase, 73 participants engaged in an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) over 1 month. After week 1, they attended an intervention training session and received just-in-time intervention prompts during the following 3 weeks. The training employed the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behavior (COM-B) framework for goal setting, along with mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII). Subsequent prompts, triggered by variability in goal pursuit, guided the participants to engage in MCII in relation to their current goal. We evaluated feasibility and acceptability, efficacy, and individual change processes by combining intensive (single-case experimental design) and extensive methods. The results suggest that the digital intervention was feasible and acceptable to participants. Compliance with the intervention was high (n=63, 86%). The participants endorsed high acceptability ratings relating to both the study procedures and the intervention. All participants (N=73, 100%) demonstrated significant improvements in goal pursuit with an average difference of 0.495 units in the outcome (P<.001). The results of the dynamic network modeling suggest that self-monitoring behavior (EMA) and implementing the MCII strategy may aid in goal reprioritization, where goal pursuit itself is a driver of further goal pursuit. This pilot study demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of a just-in-time adaptive intervention among a nonclinical adult sample. This intervention used self-monitoring of behavior, the COM-B framework, and MCII strategies to improve dynamic goal pursuit. It was delivered via an Ecological Momentary Intervention (EMI) procedure. Future research should consider the utility of this approach as an additional intervention element within psychological interventions to improve goal pursuit. Sustaining goal pursuit throughout interventions is central to their effectiveness and warrants further evaluation.

State Space Mixture Modeling: Finding People with Similar Patterns of Change

Increasingly, behavioral scientists encounter data where several individuals were measured on multiple variables over numerous occasions. Many current methods combine these data, assuming all individuals are randomly equivalent. An extreme alternative assumes no one is randomly equivalent. We propose state space mixture modeling as one possible compromise. State space mixture modeling assumes that unknown groups of people exist who share the same parameters of a state space model, and simultaneously estimates both the state space parameters and group membership. The goal is to find people that are undergoing similar change processes over time. The present work demonstrates state space mixture modeling on a simulated data set, and summarizes the results from a large simulation study. The illustration shows how the analysis is conducted, whereas the simulation provides evidence of its general validity and applicability. In the simulation study, sample size had the greatest influence on parameter estimation and the dimension of the change process had the greatest impact on correctly grouping people together, likely due to the distinctiveness of their patterns of change. State space mixture modeling offers one of the best-performing methods for simultaneously drawing conclusions about individual change processes while also analyzing multiple people.

Parsing within & between-person dynamics of therapy homework completion and clinical symptoms in two cognitive behavioral treatments for adults with anhedonia

ObjectiveHomework is a key theoretical component of cognitive-behavioral therapies, however, the effects of homework on clinical outcomes have largely been evaluated between-persons rather than within-persons. MethodsThe effects of homework completion on treatment response were examined in a randomized trial comparing Behavioral Activation Treatment for Anhedonia (BATA, n = 38), a novel psychotherapy, to Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT, n=35). The primary endpoint was consummatory reward sensitivity, measured weekly by the Snaith Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS), up to 15 weeks. Multilevel models evaluated change in SHAPS scores over time and the effects of clinician-reported and participant-reported homework. ResultsBATA and MBCT resulted in significant, equivalent reductions in SHAPS scores. Unexpectedly, participants who completed greater mean total amounts of homework did not improve at a faster rate (i.e., no between-person effect). However, sessions with greater than average participant-reported homework completion were associated with greater than average reductions in SHAPS scores (i.e., a within-person effect). For clinician-reported homework, this effect was only evident within the BATA condition. ConclusionThis study shows psychotherapy homework completion relates to symptomatic improvement in cognitive-behavioral treatments for anhedonia when session-to-session changes are examined within-person. On the contrary, we found no evidence that total homework completion predicted greater improvements between-person. When possible, psychotherapy researchers should evaluate their constructs of interest across multiple sessions (not just pre/post) to allow more direct tests of hypotheses predicted by theoretical models of individual change processes.

Transitions from the Evangelical Lutheran to the Orthodox Church in Finland

Abstract Since the turn of the millennium, the Orthodox Church of Finland has welcomed up to 1,000 new members annually, excluding infant baptisms. This is over 1.5 percent of the church’s current total membership. In this study, I investigate Finnish cultural workers’ transitions to Orthodox Christianity, based on interviews of twenty-nine people. As a theoretical framework, I use Henri Gooren’s conversion career approach. My interlocutors’ narratives demonstrate how the appeal of Orthodoxy is constructed vis-à-vis the Lutheran-dominated religious and cultural landscape. Another key finding is the overlapping influence of life crises, social networks, and character traits on processes of individual religious change.

Analysis of Character Education Patterns About Social and Religious Values at SDIT As-Salam Samarinda

This research was conducted based on observations of the Integrated Islamic Elementary School (SDIT) As-Salam Samarinda which is a school with good social and religious character cultivation. The purpose of this study was to analyze the process of strengthening character education at SDIT As-Salam Samarinda. This method of research used descriptive qualitative methods with a phenomenological approach to reveal more deeply the phenomenon of individual change processes in changing the character of students at SDIT As-Salam. Data collection techniques are carried out by means of observation, interviews, and documentation. The data source for this research is primary data obtained from interviews with the principal, class teachers, subject teachers and students at SDIT As-Salam Samarinda. The research data validity technique used the criteria for the degree of trust (credibility) with the triangulation technique. The results of the study can be concluded that the system for forming patterns of character education for SDIT As-Salam students is carried out by to grow character education values ​​through the components of the learning system. Habits carried out by schools and teachers can motivate students and change the character of students in the long future. The application of religious activities and teacher discipline in every step of learning activities is visible and can be applied continuously. Furthermore, there is the role of the teacher as executor of program development activities when the learning process takes place both inside and outside the classroom so that students' character education values ​​are reflected in everyday life. The implication of this research was to provide a reference regarding the learning process and the role of teachers in schools in order to instill good character values, especially social and religious values ​​in students. Keywords: Character Education Value, Learning Theory, Education School System.

From Metaphor to Computation: Constructing the Potential Landscape for Multivariate Psychological Formal Models

For psychological formal models, the stability of different phases is an important property for understanding individual differences and change processes. Many researchers use landscapes as a metaphor to illustrate the concept of stability, but so far there is no method to quantify the stability of a system’s phases. We here propose a method to construct the potential landscape for multivariate psychological models. This method is based on the generalized potential function defined by Wang et al. (2008) and Monte Carlo simulation. Based on potential landscapes we define three different types of stability for psychological phases: absolute stability, relative stability, and geometric stability. The panic disorder model by Robinaugh et al. (2019) is used as an example, to demonstrate how the method can be used to quantify the stability of states and phases, illustrate the influence of model parameters, and guide model modifications. An R package, simlandr, was developed to provide an implementation of the method.

A Study of Environmental Factors in Low Vision Rehabilitation.

Healthcare has the past decades shifted from a narrow medical perspective to a more holistic, biopsychosocial perspective. Disability understood as a contextual condition constituted by the relation of the individual to their social and physical context. The disability model of the International Classification of Functions (ICF) contextualizes activity, participation, body functions and structure by including environmental and personal factors. However, illustrated by the consideration of the environmental factors as a neutral dimension, the dynamic interrelation of the individual parts of the system is rather unchartered. In 2017–2019, a lighting assessment was developed and tested on 60 participants in low vision rehabilitation. An action research project accompanied the pilot study from 2018. Ethnographic participatory observations of the low vision consultants in 15 consultations, semi-structured interviews, and a document analysis of the project material of the pilot project has been analyzed using the theoretical framework of science and technology studies. Mapping the physical environment showed a range of factors from spatial organization to luminaires and light bulbs. Moreover, in relation to specific activities, relevant factors were identified and assessed, and in the intervention adjusted to relevant personal and social factors. Identifying overlapping personal, environmental, and professional spheres illustrates the complexity of practicing rehabilitation in people's everyday lives. Acknowledging and coordinating different versions of lighting enabled low vision consultants to work across these spheres relationally. ICF was embedded in the practice of low vision consultants as a frame of reference, however, implementing this framework occurred through an assemblage of tools from different fields. The focus on lighting as an active element in low vision rehabilitation demonstrated a way to work across the personal and environmental to reduce the gap that caused disability. In everyday life, the physical environment was pivotal in the person–environment relationship and in enabling or disabling the individual. However, the physical environment was also key to the rehabilitation process, facilitating the individual's learning and change processes and reconfiguring their understanding and use of the environment. Consequently, the physical environment was not a neutral background to the other factors but rather enabling the rehabilitation and recovery processes.

Micro-Compass quality assurance short programme: Designing effective quality assurance systems in HE Institutions in Bangladesh

Due to increased demand for quality education worldwide, the Higher education sector globally has been undergoing an unprecedented level of changes over the past several decades. These result in increased public expectations towards the institutions’ provision, new tasks and responsibilities for scholars and administrators, new modes of knowledge production and transfer. The abundance of individual and organisational change processes requires higher education institutions to rethink the quality of their provision in higher education. This study aims to examine the importance of the Fundamental of Quality Assurance of Higher Education Sector and the influence of a short training programme on quality assurance in developing excellence in education. Micro-CQAP (micro compass quality assurance programme) provides direction and focus that is based on evidence, appraisal, and experience. The study is based on the recent venture by the authors of this study providing a 5-days training programme to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University (BSMRMU) and its impact on their overall quality assurance system within the university. The outcome of the training programme and findings of this study suggest that a short training programme on quality assurance within the institution enhances the overall understanding of Quality Assurance and help to implement it in practice more effectively and efficiently. The short programme was based on providing basic knowledge about what quality in higher education is, where it comes from, why quality assurance should &amp; must be carried out, and how the process can be set up and managed at Higher Education institutions. This study is original as it was based on the experience, observations and feedback received after conducting the training programme from the participants. It has significant implications for the bother Higher Education Institutions, Government, and various stakeholders in Bangladesh.

Explorations of Individual Change Processes and Their Determinants: A Novel Approach and Remaining Challenges

Over the past 40 years there have been great advances in the analysis of individual change and the analyses of between-person differences in change. While conditional growth models are the dominant approach, exploratory models, such as growth mixture models and structural equation modeling trees, allow for greater flexibility in the modeling of between-person differences in change. We continue to push for greater flexibility in the modeling of individual change and its determinants by combining growth mixture modeling with structural equation modeling trees to evaluate how measured covariates predict class membership using a recursive partitioning algorithm. This approach, referred to as growth mixture modeling with membership trees, is illustrated with longitudinal reading data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study with the MplusTrees package in R.

Opportunities and Challenges of Aging Workforces toward HR Practices in Business Management: A Comparison Between Thailand and China

As the number of elderly population are getting higher, many countries are now facing with rapidly growth in number of aging citizens due to increase in life expectancy, healthcare advancement, and baby boomers become aged. This leads Human Resource sector to understand more on aging workforces as an individual change process in terms of competencies, motivation, behavior and values. The aim of this study is to analyze and compare the opportunities and challenges in managing aging workforces toward Human Resource practices between Thai and Chinese business sectors. In line with the gathering of secondary data and literature-based analysis found that both Thai and Chinese business sectors recognize the common important challenges of the composition of the workforce and also shrinking young labor forces However, business sector in Thailand presents certain challenges from a human resources perspective. i.e.technology challenges when compared to China. Several companies in China realized that aging workforces tends to have positive contributions; as it will increase competitive edge and intellectual capital especially in technology development. However, several companies in Thailand has recruited of aging workforces by increasing the number of part-time employees and offering flexible work options which are a priority for aging workforces.

Dynamics of generation values and environmental ethics in the information space: case of a metropolis and regional centre

The article presents the values of generations living in different regions of North-West Russia. The research identified changes in the values of generations over the period of 2009–2018. The first stage was conducted in 2009, the second one in 2018. The study involved 769 people (288 men and 481 women) aged 16-83 living in Arkhangelsk and Arkhangelsk region, St. Petersburg and Leningrad region. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was a sociological approach to generations as well as socio-psychological interpretation of a generation as a large social group. We tested our hypothesis ether there are any differences in generational values and how they changed since 2009 in a Metropolis and Regional Centre. We studied values using the Russian version of Schwartz’s Value Survey adapted by V. Karandashev (Karandashev, 2004). Statistical analysis was carried out with the help of Statistica 10.0 software package. We calculated primary statistics and used the criteria analysis applying the Mann-Whitney criterion (Z). The results showed that: 1) values are a good indicator for monitoring the processes of social and individual change resulting from historical, social, and personal events; 2) value orientations of residents of a metropolis demonstrate relatively high stability; 3) values of older generations are more stable; 4) younger generations contribute most to the generational dynamics of values.

Responding and adapting to change: an allied health perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the response and adaption to change of allied health professionals. Understanding how individuals respond and adapt to change is essential to assist leaders to manage transformational change effectively. Contemporary health-care environments are characterised by frequent and rapid change, often with unrealistic and challenging time frames. Individuals operate independently, but also as members of teams, professions and organisations. Therefore, having a sound understanding of individual response to change is important for change leaders. In the Australian context, allied health professionals represent a quarter of the health-care workforce. There is a significant gap in understanding how allied health professionals respond and adapt to change.Design/methodology/approachA scoping review was designed to report on the nature and extent of the literature on the response and adaption to change in the context of allied health professionals. Change leaders in the health-care environment face a number of complex challenges when attempting to facilitate change. While this scoping review did not identify any specific literature on the response and adaption to change of allied health professionals, it did however provide information on change models and factors to take into consideration when implementing a change process.FindingsThe results of this scoping review identified findings in two main areas with regard to response and adaptation of allied health to change: a review of change management literature at the organisation level and change management for allied health. Most of the literature described organisational level change management without providing a structural framework for change. At the professional individual level, the literature focused on specific clinical interventions, rather than on the response and adaption to change for allied health. Minimal literature was identified in regard to the response and adaption to change of allied health professionals. In an environment characterised by continuous change and policy reform, a greater understanding of the response and adaption to change by allied health is a priority for research, policy and practice.Research limitations/implicationsThis scoping review was undertaken to explore the response and adaption to change of allied health. It sought to identify the factors that may explain why certain disciplines within the allied health professional group responded to change differently. Scoping reviews do not set out to comprehensively source all relevant literature but rather to ascertain the nature and extent of the published literature in the field. Therefore, it is possible that a systematic review might uncover additional relevant papers. However, this scoping review provides a clear indication of the nature and extent of the literature in allied health.Practical implicationsSocial implicationsThis scoping review will assist change leaders to gain a better understanding of theoretical frameworks of individual, team and organisational change processes and the impacts these have individually and collectively on change processes.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this scoping review is the first of its kind to identify the minimal literature available on the way allied health professionals respond and adapt to change.

Suddengains: An R package to identify sudden gains in longitudinal data.

Sudden gains are large and stable improvements in an outcome variable between consecutive measurements, for example during a psychological intervention with multiple assessments. Researching these occurrences could help understand individual change processes in longitudinal data. Three criteria are generally used to identify sudden gains in psychological interventions. However, applying these criteria can be time consuming and prone to errors if not fully automated. Adaptations to these criteria and methodological decisions such as how multiple gains are handled vary across studies and are reported with different levels of detail. These problems limit the comparability of individual studies and make it hard to understand or replicate the exact methods used. The R package suddengains provides a set of tools to facilitate sudden gains research. This article illustrates how to use the package to identify sudden gains or sudden losses and how to extract descriptive statistics as well as exportable data files for further analysis. It also outlines how these analyses can be customised to apply adaptations of the standard criteria. The suddengains package therefore offers significant scope to improve the efficiency, reporting, and reproducibility of sudden gains research.

Converging Concepts of Evolutionary Epistemology and Cognitive Biology Within a Framework of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis

Evolutionary epistemology (EE) has experienced a continuous rise over the last decades. Important new theoretical considerations and novel empirical findings have been integrated into the existing framework (Gontier and Bradie 2018). In this paper, I would like to suggest three lines of research that I believe will significantly contribute to further advance EE: (1) ontogenetic considerations, (2) key ideas from cognitive biology, and (3) the framework of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. (1) EE, in particular the program of the evolution of epistemological mechanisms (EEM), seeks to provide a phylogenetic account of the generation of cognitive processes underlying knowledge creation (Bradie and Harms 2017). Traditionally, EE and EEM have been oriented towards an account of evolutionary theory that mainly drew from the tenets of the Modern Synthesis. The Modern Synthesis largely dismisses ontogenetic processes and considers them irrelevant for evolutionary explanations. If anything, the role of development in evolution is believed to be that of a constraint. There is, however, ample evidence for a tight intertwinement of developmental and evolutionary processes. Organisms employ their cognitive apparatus to interact with the environment in order to achieve a fully functioning perceptual and cognitive nervous system. Also, ontogeny provides generative potentials to enable variations that natural selection can act upon. EEM’s agenda may, therefore, strongly benefit from bringing together ontogenetic and phylogenetic approaches. To grapple with this challenge, an alternative vision of the evolutionary theory termed Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (Pigliucci and Muller 2010) could be used. This extended evolutionary theory explores relationships between the processes of individual development and phenotypic change during evolution (i.e., EvoDevo) and can provide a more suitable framework for EEM to draw from. (2) In recent years, cognitive biology has gained momentum as an independent research field. Cognitive biology builds on the concepts of EEM and understands knowledge as a biogenic phenomenon. Its main objective is also the formulation of substantiated interrelations between cognition and evolution but it focuses on cognitive functionality at all levels of biological organization. It thus employs a “vertical” approach that encompasses nested hierarchies which span from single molecules, cells, and tissues to the organismal level, communities, and societies. In contrast to cognitive biology, EEM is here understood to adopt a “horizontal” approach that focuses on phylogenetic explanations of cognition and knowledge acquisition (Kovac 2006). Linking EEM with the key ideas of cognitive biology could make EEM’s research program stronger as it can more easily accommodate phylogenetic and ontogenetic questions within a hierarchical, multilevel perspective. This is of particular importance for a more comprehensive account of cognition since living systems are subject to context-dependent causal influences from different organizational levels. (3) In addition to EEM, there is a second program of EE. This program has been labeled evolutionary epistemology of theories (EET) and understands the increase in human knowledge, such as scientific theories, as naturalistic accounts of evolution. Both, EEM and EET initially drew from the core concepts of the Modern Synthesis. Several scholars have severely criticized the analogies made between EET and the Neo-Darwinian key processes of evolution. In particular processes of random mutation, the rate of variation, natural selection as the unique driving force, and the adaptationist agenda are believed to reveal disanalogies. In contrast to the Modern Synthesis, the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis not only recognizes developmental processes but also ecological interactions and systems dynamics as well as social and cultural evolutionary reciprocity as important evolutionary processes. Concepts of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis are therefore expected to be more fruitful for re-conceptualizing parallels between scientific theorizing and biological evolution.

'We're all in the same boat': A qualitative study on how groups work in a diabetes prevention and management programme.

Although many health interventions are delivered in groups, it is unclear how group context can be best used to promote health-related behaviour change and what change processes are most helpful to participants. This study explored participants' experiences of attending type 2 diabetes prevention and management programme, and their perceptions of how group participation influenced changes in diet and physical activity. Qualitative. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 20 participants (twelve men) from nine groups in the Norfolk Diabetes Prevention Study. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using thematic analysis in NVivo. Participants benefited from individual change processes, including information provision, structuring and prioritizing health goals, action planning, self-monitoring, and receiving feedback. They also benefited from group processes, including having a common purpose, sharing experiences, making social comparisons, monitoring and accountability, and providing and receiving social supportin the groups. Participants' engagement with, and benefits from, the groups were enhanced when there was a supportive group context (i.e., group cohesion, homogeneous group composition, and a positive group atmosphere). Optimal facilitation to develop an appropriate group context and initiate effective change processes necessitated good facilitator interpersonal and professional skills, credibility and empathy, and effective group facilitation methods. Participants reported developing a sense of responsibility and making behaviour changes that resulted in improvements in health outcomes and weight loss. This study highlights the role of individual and group processes in facilitating health-promoting behaviour change, and the importance of group context and optimal facilitation in promoting engagement with the programme. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Many health interventions, including programmes to help prevent or manage diabetes and facilitate weight loss, are delivered in groups. Such group-based behaviour-change interventions are ofteneffective in facilitating psychological and behaviour change. There is considerable research and theory on individual change processes and techniques, but less is known about which change processes and techniques facilitate behaviour change in group settings. What does this study add? This study contributes to our understanding of how participating in group-based health programmes may enhance or impede individual behaviour change. It identified individual (intrapersonal) and group (interpersonal, facilitated through group interaction) change processes that were valued by group participants. The findings also show how these change processes may be affected by the group context. A diagram summarizes the identified themes helping to understand interactions between these key processes occurring in groups. The study offers an insight into participants' views on, and experiences of, attending a group-based diabetes prevention and management programme. Thus, it helps better understand how the intervention might have helped them (or not) and what processes may have influenced intervention outcomes. Key practical recommendations for designing and delivering group-based behaviour-change interventions are presented, which may be used to improve future group-based health interventions.

Mercantile and Religious Mobility between Byzantines, Latins and Muslims, 1200-1500: On the Theory and Practice of Social Networks

This paper combines documentary evidence with concepts and tools of historical network science and social theory in order to explore phenomena of (especially) mercantile mobility and religious conversion in the late medieval Byzantine world. The intensification of commercial exchange and the multiplication of contact zones between ethnic and religious identities in the 13th to 15th centuries, both due to the growth of the activity of Italian merchant communities as well as due to the Mongol expansion across entire Asia, facilitated the change of places of residence and/or of religious confession for elite as well as non-elite members of these societies. With the help of network analytical and sociological concepts, potential underlying mechanisms such as the »social infrastructure« for these phenomena are described. In general, the last centuries of the relationship between Byzantium and the West saw the intensification of processes of individual and community-wide religious change, which equally shaped the following early modern period of Mediterranean history.

Connecting models of the individual and policy change processes: a research agenda

This article proposes that closer attention to models of the individual provides substantial theoretical and empirical leverage to policy studies scholars. Capturing the nuances of individual choice can assist policy researchers in adjudicating between specific theories of policy change. We provide an analytical matrix for parsing models of the individual underpinning various collective processes of policy change and demonstrate the value of our approach by applying it to the case of Canadian provincial renewable energy policy. The article demonstrates that gathering evidence regarding individual choice can support the presence or absence of processes functioning at the collective level. It concludes with a discussion of the implications of this approach for future policy research on the relative explanatory power of different causal processes, sequencing of policy change, and the identification of new mechanisms of policy change.

Back to my old self and life restarting: Biographies of ageing in Beck’s risk society

Drawing on free-text survey comments from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health (ALSWH), this article explores themes of transition and change in the lives of 150 women baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1951) in relation to Beck’s theories of the risk society, reflexive modernisation and individualisation. Few studies have explicitly explored ageing through Beck’s theoretical lenses. However, Beck’s emphasis on interactional processes of social, individual and structural change has much to offer for sociological studies of ageing. A key premise is that of complex adaptation and change as people age, with focus on the socio-political contexts in which the post-Second World War baby boomer generation will live out their later years.

사회적 자본 및 공동체의식이 주거만족에 미치는 영향관계 : 대구지역 공동주택 거주자를 중심으로

ABSTRACT Our central thesis is that of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, nicknamed Mormons, has created a culture which is not only friendly to but which also encourages change. This culture grows out of doctrinal preferences which recognize importance of change to processes of personal and institutional growth, and which has therefore been receptive to administrative practices which encourage same behaviors, albeit under a different nomenclature, that OD theory, practice, and interventions support. INTRODUCTION The of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a history of adapting to change. It was, in fact, created with idea of change in mind, and structured accordingly. founder Joseph Smith compiled, for instance, a group of revelations in a book of scripture called The Doctrine and Covenants, which is divided into 138 sections, or chapters. In writing preface to this book, as well as in what until recently was final section, missionary work was principal emphasis. This mandate to grow, or change, is at foundation of everything does, and a great deal of administrative experimentation has shaped successive missionary approaches over years. Nothing has focused attention more directly on institutional and individual change processes more than missionary work, and it has all had effect of creating a very adaptive system. Based on our life-time experience with Church, we suggest changes within seem most probably to be facilitated by: 1) an underlying belief that it is destiny of to grow, and that it therefore must be adaptive. A central mission, if not central mission, is growth. 2) The doctrine that God continues to speak, by revelation, to Apostles and Prophets in this day. A God who continues to talk is one who wants people to change. Otherwise He would be silent. 3) An underlying doctrinal theme that men and women are agents of Deity, responsible to Him for conduct of earthly affairs within His Church, and accountable to find most effective ways to get things done. This too implies need to change constantly. Because shares common goals and purposes with so many other organizations, it is not surprising that common elements of culture are also shared. This creates somewhat of a curiosity. On one hand, we choose to think we are unique, individual, and therefore different from all others; on other hand, we share much in common with many, creating what Joann Martin et.al. (1983), in another context, has called a uniqueness paradox-we think we are unique, but paradoxically, we are vastly similar. Our identity is found in both similarities and differences. In world of religious and spiritual preferences, for example, who is to be surprised that Protestant community shares much in common with Catholic community from which it broke, or that both Protestant and Catholic orthodoxies hold much in common with earlier Judeao-Christian ethic from which they both descend? The Catholic Mass, for example, is child of Jewish Synagogue service, and carries therefore some of values and preferences of parent. One unique expression of religious values is that expressed by of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes called by nickname Church (hereafter called the Church), because of belief that The Book of Mormon is sacred scripture, in exactly same sense that Bible is scripture. In 1820's and 1830's Joseph Smith announced that in answer to his search for religious truth, he received a number of visions and revelations, through which knowledge of God, once preached by Jesus and His apostles, but lost through generations of apostasy, was restored. In making this announcement, Joseph charted a unique course in Christian community: 1) he announced that he was a prophet, not in some social do-good sense of helping solve social problems, but in sense that he received revelations from God in harmony with which men and women might be saved in Kingdom of Heaven; 2) that same revelations which he had received others might receive as well, and thus come to know independently of his prophetic station, and 3) that church he established was a restored church-not reformed, as Protestant community asserts, nor a continuation of an ancient inheritance, as Catholic, Orthodox and Coptic communities assert, but a return to ancient but eternal truths, as word restore implies. …

Local Communities and Capability Evolution: The Core of Human Development Processes

The capability approach has the power to examine how different societal arrangements can be pivotal for the fulfilment and/or deprivations of individual human capabilities and human development [Sen, A. K. 1999. Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press]. However, little analysis has been so far devoted to the centrality of the local community for human capabilities, which constitutes the most proximate socio-institutional setting that most directly shapes individual and collective well-being. In order to reflect about the relations between community and capabilities, this paper embraces a geographical definition of community (complementary—not superior—to other conceptualizations) with a twofold scope. Firstly, it aims at filling the theoretical vacuum presenting an extension of the STEHD framework (Sustainable Territorial Evolution for Human Development) introduced by Biggeri and Ferrannini [2014a. Sustainable Human Development: A New Territorial and People-centred Perspective. New York: Palgrave Macmillan], which links the individual, collective and local community dynamics affecting human capabilities. Secondly, it aims at showing how this framework can help to examine the different processes in place at the community level, by applying to the case study of a Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) programme implemented in Mandya and Ramanagaram Districts (Karnataka State, India). The paper is structured into five sections. After the introduction, the second section introduces the STEHD framework and reveals its potential to frame the local community dynamics. In the third section, the case study is introduced and the main results in terms of human development outcomes are discussed. In the fourth section, the dynamic processes of individual, collective and community change fostered by the CBR programme are analysed by applying the STEHD framework. The last section concludes.