Variations in Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultural Orientation and the Protective Factors that Contribute to Resilience: Comparisons from Jamaica, Rwanda, and the United States

Problem Despite the advancement in resilience research, and although mental health professionals are encouraged to become culturally competent, it is still unclear how I/C cultural orientation influence various protective factors that contribute to resilience. Individualists emphasize independence and autonomy while collectivists emphasize interdependence and in-group consensus (Hofstede, 1991; Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Therefore, it is expected that the protective factors that promote resilience will also operate differently for individualists as compared to collectivists (Triandis, 1995). Yet, mental health practitioners have very little information available to them to guide their intervention efforts with individualists and collectivists. When practitioners work with individuals who have experienced trauma, it is necessary that intervention strategies are aligned with clients’ subjective cultural orientation in order to prevent further injury to clients (Allen & Smith, 2015) and best promote positive outcomes. Therefore, this study was expected to clarify which protective factors are influential for individualists as compared to collectivists. Method This study employed a descriptive, non-experimental, correlational, online survey research methodology to collect quantitative data. Snowball sampling was employed to recruit participants from Jamaica, Rwanda, and the U.S. The Class Climate survey link was distributed via email invitations, postings on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn), and a posting on one professional organization’s web page. Participants were required to be 18 years or older, residing in Jamaica, Rwanda, or the U.S. (natives only), and having experienced a traumatic life event. A demographics questionnaire collected relevant demographic characteristics of the sample. The Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire (TLEQ) measured lifetime experience of trauma. The Cultural Orientation Scale (COS) measured normative and evaluative cultural orientation. The Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-25 (CD-RISC-25) spirituality scale measured resilience as a process (assessed multi-level protective factors). The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) measured resilience as an outcome (bouncing back). Results Measures of participants’ evaluative cultural orientation (ECO) showed that mostly collectivists were included in the samples from the U.S. and Jamaica. Rwanda was excluded due to unreliable ECO. Therefore, hypothesis testing was conducted only using collectivists from Jamaica and the U.S. Pearson correlation analysis showed that there was a small but significant relationship between ECO and some protective factors. ECO had the strongest correlation with spirituality. However, ECO was not significantly related to outcome resilience (BRS). Spirituality and perception of self were higher among Jamaicans than Americans. There was no difference between Jamaicans and Americans in their ability to bounce back (resilience as measured by the BRS). Perception of self was the only significant predictor of bouncing back among Jamaicans. Perception of self, social competence, social resources (inversely related), and family cohesion were significant predictors of bouncing back among Americans. Spirituality was not a significant predictor of bouncing back for either Jamaicans or Americans. Additionally, when spirituality was included in the standard regression analysis, family cohesion was no longer a significant predictor of bouncing back among Americans. Conclusions The findings showed that making assumptions about individuals’ cultural orientation and the protective factors that are likely to be most salient based on their country of residence alone can lead to erroneous and potentially harmful clinical interventions and research practices. The study’s exploration of resilience as both a process and an outcome helped to shed further light on potential best-practice for clinical interventions and future resilience research

Cultural Connections, Conservation, and Chicagoland: The Road to Calumet Voices at the Field Museum of Natural History, 1984–2023

Between 2018 and 2023, eighteen regional historical societies, community organizations, and native nations collaboratively co-curated Calumet Voices, National Stories, a traveling exhibition telling the environmental, industrial, and social history of the Calumet region from southeast Chicago to northwest Indiana. The Field Museum in Chicago served as a key partner, and the project has been praised both for focusing attention on the region and for its collaborative curation model. I examine how a large natural history museum came to share authority with unconventional partners, contextualizing the networks that created Calumet Voices within longer institutional and intellectual histories. The Field pivoted between strategies of community engagement, biodiversity conservation, local heritage, and exhibition development to engage with Chicagoland from the 1980s to the present. I trace how the museum built both capacity and motivation to bring Calumet Voices within the scope of its mission. As museums increasingly turn to these techniques to tell stories of environmental justice and diverse communities, Calumet Voices offers a case study to historicize collaborative curation

Getting Things Done: The Science behind Stress-Free Productivity

Allen (2001) proposed the “Getting Things Done” (GTD) method for personal productivity enhancement, and reduction of the stress caused by information overload. This paper argues that recent insights in psychology and cognitive science support and extend GTD’s recommendations. We first summarize GTD with the help of a flowchart. We then review the theories of situated, embodied and distributed cognition that purport to explain how the brain processes information and plans actions in the real world. The conclusion is that the brain heavily relies on the environment, to function as an external memory, a trigger for actions, and a source of affordances, disturbances and feedback. We then show how these principles are practically implemented in GTD, with its focus on organizing tasks into “actionable” external memories, and on opportunistic, situation-dependent execution. Finally, we propose an extension of GTD to support collaborative work, inspired by the concept of stigmergy

Sustainable consumption: towards action and impact. : International scientific conference November 6th-8th 2011, Hamburg - European Green Capital 2011, Germany: abstract volume

This volume contains the abstracts of all oral and poster presentations of the international scientific conference „Sustainable Consumption – Towards Action and Impact“ held in Hamburg (Germany) on November 6th-8th 2011. This unique conference aims to promote a comprehensive academic discourse on issues concerning sustainable consumption and brings together scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines. In modern societies, private consumption is a multifaceted and ambivalent phenomenon: it is a ubiquitous social practice and an economic driving force, yet at the same time, its consequences are in conflict with important social and environmental sustainability goals. Finding paths towards “sustainable consumption” has therefore become a major political issue. In order to properly understand the challenge of “sustainable consumption”, identify unsustainable patterns of consumption and bring forward the necessary innovations, a collaborative effort of researchers from different disciplines is needed

The development of the professional accreditation of conservator-restorers: a form of professional systems architecture.

The Professional Accreditation of Conservator-Restorers (PACR) is a practice-based professional qualifying framework developed by three United Kingdom associations representing practitioners in the conservation of cultural heritage. The author acted as project consultant for the development and implementation of PACR. To date, the PACR project has consisted of three cycles. The first established the basic principles of the framework through background research and consultation, and produced and trialled a provisional scheme. The second put the scheme into operation, gathered feedback, and made operational improvements. The third gathered further feedback from implementation, and included a small-scale evaluation to gauge initial impact and identify strategic issues. PACR represents a successful initiative by a small occupation to establish a robust and potentially respected credential, reinforcing its claim to be a credible profession. It has prompted a need for greater clarity about the nature and boundaries of the profession and routes into it, and is being followed up by work with the aim of creating a single conservation institute. Beyond conservation, it raises issues of access, qualification and continuing development that are relevant to other professions and professionalising occupations. As a practice-based assessment system it also offers some learning points relevant to the design and operation of UK National and Scottish Vocational Qualifications. The PACR project illustrates a form of systems architecture in which a structure is developed to set the parameters for future action. It has provided a vehicle for the author's development as a systems architect in the educational field, and contributed to his commitment to a particular style of consultancy, based on realisation systems and on development work as a source of knowledge and authority. This approach is well suited to a wide range of applications, ranging from learner support systems through to areas such as national qualification frameworks and lifelong learning policy

Cross-cultural interfaces: hybridization of HRM practices of MNCs in developing countries and emerging economies

The present study examines hybrid human resources management (HRM) practices of multinational companies (MNCs) operating in developing countries (DCEEs) and the outcomes of this hybridization in terms of local employees' perceptions of appropriate and effective HRM practices. With the increased investment of Western industrialized world to DCEEs, managing HR in MNCs becomes an issue of critical importance (Jackson, 2004a). However, to balance the incompatible demands of being locally responsive while preserving global integration is a challenging task for HRM managers in MNCs (Horwitz, (Camoche, & Chew, 2002) and this challenging task eventually leads to adoption of hybrid models. Not only the description of the process of the hybridization of HRM practices but also its outcomes are missing in the literature. According to Jackson (2004b), the effects of HRM hybridization must be examined with a specific focus on their effectiveness and appropriateness both at the organizational and individual levels. The objectives of this study are to a) contribute to the literature by examining perceived outcomes of so-called 'Western' cultural influences in the context of HRM in DCEEs, and b) contribute to practice by providing feedback to HRM practitioners, especially in MNCs, about how to implement HRM in particular cultural and institutional contexts to increase their appropriateness and effectiveness. In a concurrent mixed-method design with a pragmatic approach, both quantitative and qualitative data were triangulated. Quantitative data collected from snowball samples of employees working in MNCs in Turkey and Romania through a large scale survey revealed a significant relationship between socio-cultural values and preferred HRM practices. Values rather than institutional contextual variables revealed to be stronger predictors of understanding HRM in context. Results further revealed that as the discrepancy between preferred and actual HRM decreases, it was perceived more appropriate and effective, which, in turn, lead to higher organizational commitment (OC) and lower turnover intention through mediation of higher person-organization (PO) fit. Furthermore, not only did the structural equation modeling findings establish the validity of the constructs of HRM hybridity, appropriateness and effectiveness (i.e., measurement model), they also supported the link between hybridity and positive employee attitudes, mediated by HRM appropriateness and effectiveness (i.e., structural model). Qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews from employees in two case MNCs in Turkey and Romania also revealed the influence of various factors including cultural values and higher institutions on the implementation of HRM as well as its hybridization process. Findings complementing quantitative data as well as theoretical and practical contributions of the present research, its limitations, and future research avenues were also presented

Fostering cooperation in the European Union on skills, training and knowledge transfer in cultural heritage professions

Coordinadora junto a K. Gunthorpe, A. Limburg, N. Roche, E. SciacchitanoFor the first time, the Council of the European Union has invited a group of national experts to investigate skills, training and knowledge transfer in the heritage professions in Europe. The group was operational in 2017 and 2018 under the Work Plan for Culture 2015-2018, with the support of the European Commission. This report is intended to be a resource for the European Union (EU) to ensure the long-term sustainability of Europe’s cultural heritage. It aims to do this by contributing to the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 objective ‘to support the development of specialised skills and improve knowledge management and knowledge transfer in the cultural heritage sector, taking into account the implications of the digital shift’. It will also contribute to the European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage, launched by the European Commission with the aim of leaving a policy imprint beyond 2018.Depto. de Pintura y Conservación-RestauraciónFac. de Bellas ArtesTRUEComisión Europeapu

Practice-based conundrums and existentialist quandaries of a professional code of ethics

Ethical codes have long been considered indispensable tools in defining the proper conduct of counseling professionals. Revisions reflect the ideals of the industry to accommodate the evolving needs of clients and trends in treatment models, but the essence of the code is to convert principles befitting of the profession into concrete actions or considerations that abet professional decision-making. Acculturation into the profession involves ethics training intended to improve professionals’ ability to apply the code to situations that might arise in their practices, resulting in the most ethically appropriate action. However, such assumptions may be problematic. The idea of ethical competency and improvement in the code itself should be qualified to reflect the uncertainty of moral truths, including counselor training tailored to test competency, both before and during professional practice. In this article, the consideration that morals and ethics are distinct is spelled out and then challenged by drawing on Jean Paul Sartre’s existentialist critique of moral decision-making reality. In light of this critique and John Stuart Mill’s argument regarding the value of vigorous debate over philosophical ideas, suggestions are made regarding a potential approach to ethics competency education

Assessing sustainability of aquaculture development

Aquaculture, as an aquatic based economic activity, has risen from relative obscurity to a position of global recognition in just over two decades, and is forecast to become increasingly important in the next century. This growth, however, has been accompanied by increasing concerns over the environmental and social costs associated with the exploitation of the natural resource base on which it depends. This occurs in the broader context of increasing awareness of the finite capacity of the global system, and the need for development of more sustainable resource management regimes. The objective of the study is to examine if and how 'sustainability' can be brought into assessment for aquaculture development. The main concepts of sustainability are discussed, and key issues for assessment identified. The range of impacts associated with aquaculture development is reviewed, and broad categories of sectoral sustainability indicators proposed. Specific issues and assessment approaches are examined in three case studies, focusing on environment interactions, resource use assessment, and the rural development context, respectively. There follows a structured analysis of applicability of selected generic appraisal methods, concluding that while all may contribute, none is sufficiently broad to account for all sustainability perspectives. A more comprehensive framework for the assessment is therefore proposed, by which sustainability features of any system can be described, potential indicators and methods of assessment identified, and results communicated to the decision making process. This does not offer a definitive judgement on sustainability, but presents an holistic view, allowing explicit recognition of trade-offs involved between conflicting sustainability objectives. It is concluded that sufficient information is available for this approach to be developed and applied on a wider basis. Constraints to more sustainable development relate more to the social, political and economic environment than to problems of uncertainty in forecasting biological and physical systems

Sustainability in design: now! Challenges and opportunities for design research, education and practice in the XXI century

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