RETA: Chicago School Staff Social Network Questionnaire Qualitative Interviews, 2006

Abstract Background: The Cardiovascular Health Awareness Program (CHAP) was originally developed and evaluated as a community-based cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention program in small to medium size communities in Ontario. Recently, CHAP has been adapted to target older individuals living in 14 social housing buildings in Ontario (7) and Quebec (7). The participation rates in the 10-months program varied across buildings in Quebec from 23.5% to 49.1%. Social network analysis (SNA) has been successfully used to assess and strengthen participation in health promotion programs. We applied SNA methods to investigate whether interpersonal relationships between tenants within buildings influence the participation in CHAP. Methods: We used sociometric questionnaires and complete network analysis, supplemented by qualitative interviews to examine relational dynamics of two buildings in Quebec with a low and a high attendance rates. All residents of the two buildings were eligible to be interviewed for the sociometric questionnaire. The participants for the qualitative part of the study were selected at random. Results: In total, 69 seniors participated in the study, including qualitative interviews. Among study participants selected for qualitative interviews, 10 attended almost all CHAP sessions, 10 attended once and 12 did not attend any. Quantitative results helped to identify well-known and appreciated local leaders. In building 1 which had a high attendance rate (34.3%), there was a main leader (In-degree or ‘named by others’ frequency 23.2%) who attended all sessions. In building 2 which had a low attendance rate (23.9%), none of the leaders had participated in CHAP sessions. Qualitative analysis showed that tenants who did not attend CHAP sessions (or other activities in the building) generally preferred to avoid conflicts, retaliation and gossip and did not want to get involved in clans and politics within the buildings. Conclusion: In order to increase attendance at CHAP sessions among residents of subsidized housings for seniors, we identified 4 potential strategies: increase participant confidentiality; deploy community peer-networks to enhance recruitment; pair attendants to ensure their future participation; intervene through an opinion leader or through bridging individuals.

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RETA: Lincoln School Staff Social Network Questionnaire Longitudinal Study, 2007-2008

ICPSR Data Holdings ◽

10.3886/icpsr33583 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

James Spillane ◽

Penelope Peterson ◽

Miriam Sherin ◽

Stephen Fisher ◽

Spyridon Konstantopoulos

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

Longitudinal Study ◽

School Staff

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Finding the Balance Between Collaboration and Autonomy Among School Nurses in Interactions With Schools

The Journal of School Nursing ◽

10.1177/1059840520918924 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 105984052091892

Author(s):

Arnfinn Helleve ◽

Unni Vere Midthassel ◽

Roger Andre Federici

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Interviews ◽

School Nurses ◽

Barriers And Facilitators ◽

Personal Relationships ◽

School Staff ◽

National Guidelines ◽

Personnel Recruitment ◽

Personal Relations ◽

Negative Impacts ◽

Over Time

In Norway, new national guidelines for school service emphasize the importance of establishing structured collaboration with schools. Nevertheless, few studies have explored the characteristics of such collaboration. The purpose of the present study is to explore how principals, teachers, and school nurses collaborate and to identify barriers and facilitators of structured collaboration. The study is based on 46 qualitative interviews conducted in five Norwegian municipalities in 2018 and 2019. The results reveal that school nurses are highly valued among the school staff but collaborations between teachers and school nurses varied both within and between schools, often for arbitrary reasons such as personal relations and office locations at schools. Personal relationships built over time as well as regular meetings, seemed to foster stronger collaboration, while discontinuity in personnel, recruitment difficulties, and sick and maternity leaves were frequently reported factors that seemed to have negative impacts on collaboration.

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Breaking Up Isn’t Hard to Do: Exploring the Dissolution of Teachers’ and School Leaders’ Work-Related Ties

Educational Administration Quarterly ◽

10.1177/0013161x17696557 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 53 (4) ◽

pp. 616-648 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

James P. Spillane ◽

Matthew Shirrell

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

School Leadership ◽

School Leaders ◽

Network Models ◽

Organizational Level ◽

School Staff ◽

Leadership Positions ◽

Individual Level ◽

Work Related ◽

The Individual

Purpose: School leaders are central to the development of work-related ties among school staff. Although prior work has examined the predictors of the presence of work-related ties, little is known about the breakup or dissolution of ties among school staff. This study examines the extent of tie dissolution among school staff, as well as both the individual- and organizational-level predictors of the breakup of ties. Research Methods: This study uses social network analysis of 4 years of survey data from 14 elementary schools in one suburban U.S. district. Social network models predict the likelihood of the breakup of a tie between school staff in three types of networks: close colleague networks, and instructional advice networks in mathematics and language arts. Findings: Work-related ties between school staff dissolve at high rates from year to year, and ties that dissolve generally do not re-form. Aspects of the formal school organization—particularly changing grade levels and losing leadership positions—predict the breakup of ties, while individual-level factors such as commitment to the school, perceptions of school leadership, and beliefs about instruction generally do not predict tie dissolution. Implications for Research and Practice: School leaders should carefully consider grade reassignments and changes in leadership positions, as these changes strongly predict the breakup of ties between school staff. School leaders should also invest in the promotion and maintenance of cross-grade ties after changes to grade-level assignments.

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ICT as an instrument for social and emotional ageing. A qualitative study with older adults with cognitive impairments

Tijdschrift voor Gerontologie en Geriatrie ◽

10.36613/tgg.1875-6832/2020.03.04 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Social Network ◽

Cognitive Impairments ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Older Person ◽

Emotional Wellbeing ◽

Social And Emotional ◽

Perception Of Control ◽

The Social ◽

Insight Into

Inspired by theories from the field of social and emotional aging, we studied the use of ICTs by older adults with cognitive impairments. By means of qualitative interviews (N=30) with older adults with cognitive impairments and their relatives, we got a detailed picture of the role of ICTs in their daily lives. First, our data showed that older adults with cognitive impairments used ICTs to enhance their social and emotional wellbeing. This involved social interaction, feelings of belongingness, and engagement in hobbies and regular daily activities. Second, our research provided insight into the strategies applied when ICT use became too difficult, with a considerable role for the social network. When the network offered help upon request or proactively encouraged the older person, this increased the perception of control. This also applied to the indirect use of ICTs, when someone from the social network operated the devices. Denying the older person the use of ICTs undermined the perception of control. The findings provide insight into how the potential of ICT can be exploited for this target group. We end the paper with practical recommendations.

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The Collective Agency of Language Teachers under the Scheme of Research Excellence: Using a social network approach

Círculo de lingüística aplicada a la comunicación ◽

10.5209/clac.71992 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 84 ◽

pp. 13-25

Author(s):

Jian Tao ◽

Ke Zhao ◽

Xiuwen Chen

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Methodological Approach ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Collective Agency ◽

Chinese University ◽

Complementary Resources ◽

Social Network Approach ◽

Development Of Language

This study adopted social network analysis (SNA) as a theoretical framework and methodological approach to understand the collective agency of a multilingual team of eight language teachers during their research practice in a Chinese university. As being guided by SNA that focuses on identifying social relationships and their impact, we used questionnaires and qualitative interviews to collect data and examine the emergence of collective agency. The data analysis revealed that the participants broke linguistic boundaries and engaged in cross-linguistic interactions. The findings further suggest that they offered complementary resources and emotional support for each other at individual, subgroup and group level. Based on the findings, this paper proposes a multi-layered understanding of collective agency to advance our knowledge of how to sustain collective agency. The findings point to the importance of addressing social interactions and relations in the emergence and enhancement of collective agency, so as to facilitate the professional development of language teachers.

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Who Is Connected with Whom? A Social Network Analysis of Institutional Interactions in the European CCA and DRR Landscape

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12031275 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 1275 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Eleni Karali ◽

Dragana Bojovic ◽

Gabriela Michalek ◽

Carlo Giupponi ◽

Reimund Schwarze

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Cluster Analysis ◽

Social Network ◽

Social Network Analysis ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Climate Adaptation ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

Vision Statements ◽

European Climate

Communication and collaboration are critical for designing and implementing responses to climate change impacts and related disasters. This acknowledgement has increased interest in understanding social and institutional networks for climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR). In this study, we used Social Network Analysis (SNA) to explore institutional interactions within and across the communities of the aforementioned domains in Europe. Firstly, we investigated the type and intensity of interactions. We calculated SNA metrics to assess the roles of different actors and applied cluster analysis to identify actors with similar patterns of connections. SNA showed that communication is often more intensive within the two communities, while collaboration is frequent around topics related to both CCA and DRR. Cluster analysis revealed that actors tied with DRR were more closely connected, while actors tied with CCA and those with mixed connections showed no obvious clustering affinity. The European Climate Adaptation Platform, Climate-ADAPT, had the highest value for various SNA metrics, reflecting its popularity in the network and its potential for enhancing interactions among its actors. Finally, SNA was complemented by qualitative interviews, which emphasised the importance of connecting CCA and DRR in organisational mission and vision statements.

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