From Isolation to Connection: Empathy, Prosocial Behavior, and Posttraumatic Growth After Pregnancy Loss

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between prosocial behaviors, empathy, and positive psychological change in women who have experienced pregnancy loss. Women who had experienced miscarriage or stillbirth ( n = 291) were recruited via social media and completed an online survey that assessed their engagement in in-person or online prosocial behavior, empathy, and posttraumatic growth (PTG). Loss context factors and demographics were also collected. The results indicated that women who engage in in-person prosocial behavior, such as volunteering, report higher levels of PTG compared to those who do not volunteer at all or only volunteer online. A weak positive relationship was found between PTG and empathy. Findings suggest that encouraging clients to engage in in-person volunteering may foster their experience of growth. Future research is needed to further explore the timing of the volunteering in relation to PTG as well as empathy and PTG.

The mediating/moderating role of cultural context factors on self-care practices among those living with diabetes in rural Appalachia

Background The aim of this study was to examine whether cultural factors, such as religiosity and social support, mediate/moderate the relationship between personal/psychosocial factors and T2DM self-care in a rural Appalachian community. Methods Regression models were utilized to assess for mediation and moderation. Multilevel linear mixed effects models and GEE-type logistic regression models were fit for continuous (social support, self-care) and binary (religiosity) outcomes, respectively. Results The results indicated that cultural context factors (religiosity and social support) can mediate/moderate the relationship between psychosocial factors and T2DM self-care. Specifically, after adjusting for demographic variables, the findings suggested that social support may moderate the effect of depressive symptoms and stress on self-care. Religiosity may moderate the effect of distress on self-care, and empowerment was a predictor of self-care but was not mediated/moderated by the assessed cultural context factors. When considering health status, religiosity was a moderately significant predictor of self-care and may mediate the relationship between perceived health status and T2DM self-care. Conclusions This study represents the first known research to examine cultural assets and diabetes self-care practices among a community-based sample of Appalachian adults. We echo calls to increase the evidence on social support and religiosity and other contextual factors among this highly affected population. Trial registration US National Library of Science identifier NCT03474731. Registered March 23, 2018, www.clinicaltrials.gov.

Sustainable Development for the Open Secondary School Policy in Korea: The Approach of Historical Institutionalism

This literature overview analyzes policy shifts in the Open Secondary School (hereafter “OSS”) in Korea, and it applies historical institutionalism to make policy proposals. The research questions are as follows: What are the structural, institutional, and actor context factors that facilitate and constrain changes in the OSS Policy (hereafter “OSSP”)? What is the interaction among the structural, institutional, and actor context factors that facilitate and constrain changes in the OSSP? Historical institutionalism was used as a theoretical framework. This included an “integrated approach of structure, institutions, and actor levels” and the “view of gradual change”. This study constructed the four criteria to serve as a basis of this analysis: structural, institutional, and actor context factors, and policy shift path factor. The analysis results showed that these four factors facilitated changes in policy. In addition, the structural, institutional, and actor context factors interacted with each other to facilitate or constrain policy shift path changes. In this study, it was also determined that the OSS should be presented as a sustainable and acceptable model in the era of COVID-19, thereby improving the quality of education.

Counseling Parents of Special Children: Insight from Resilient Parents

Resilience is the ability to “bounce back” from adversity. Resilience research shifts our focus from the stress response to coping response. ‘Human agency’ takes center stage, which can be understood as making choices and taking actions intentionally. Defining resilience, as the ability of individuals to navigate their way to psychological, social, cultural, and physical resources in a culturally meaningful way to sustain their wellbeing, will be more meaningful in the Indian context. Factors leading to parental resilience are explored in the context of Indian society, with specific reference to Mumbai city, where the research has been done. This chapter summarizes the factors that both hinder and favor resilience and discusses the role of counselors in this process.

Public Value Co-Creation in Living Labs—Results from Three Case Studies

Living Labs—innovation units established to introduce new methods and approaches into public sector organizations—have received a lot of attention as methods for experimentation and open innovation practices in public sector organizations. However, little is known so far about how they co-create public value and which conditions influence these co-creation practices. Therefore, the research questions are: which organizational factors influence the process of public value co-creation and which outcomes and values are produced as a result? The research questions were answered by employing a qualitative research approach conducting semi-structured interviews with employees and participants of three living labs in Germany and Austria. The results show top-level support and lab leadership as the most important context factors. Living labs produce tangible and intangible outcomes. The tangible outcomes are the products developed within the lab, and the intangible outcomes are created by the interaction between the lab’s participants. The main contributions are twofold: first, context factors are identified that lead to the success of co-creation processes within living labs. Second, the study contributes to the literature on public value because it is shown that participation in living labs itself leads to added value in addition to the tangible and intangible outcomes.