Predicting mental well-being in assisted living communities : the roles of social capital and the built environment.

Along the continuum of poor to good health, mental well-being refers to the positive state of being. Mental well-being connotes the ability to manage stress, maintain independence, and is indicative of happiness and improved quality of life. Mental well-being is critical to overall health throughout the lifespan, but it is of particular importance in the context of healthy aging since older adults are more likely to experience compromised mental health. Existing research has identified factors that reduce the risk of poor mental health outcomes: the built environment and individual and community social capital are associated with overall health status and the incidence of mental illness. This study explores the relationship between these variables and mental wellness, currently a gap in the literature. This dissertation assessed the roles of social capital and the built environment on promoting and maintaining positive mental health, specifically for assisted living residents. The study utilized a quantitative design to determine if built environment quality, community social capital and individual social connectedness were predictive of mental well-being. Site audits were used to assess built environment quality surrounding twelve assisted living facilities in Greater Louisville. Of these twelve sites, six authorized individual interviews with their residents, and subsequently 76 individuals were surveyed. Social connectedness explained about 15% of the variance in mental well-being. For older adults, knowing people who can provide them with resources or favors is predictive of increased happiness and enhanced mental well-being. Although built environment quality did not emerge as a meaningful variable for predicting mental well-being, social connectedness and social capital explained about 27% of the variance in mental well-being. In addition to the resources they may know, increased perceptions of community trust and reciprocity are associated with increased mental well-being for older adults. In this regard, social capital and social connectedness are important predictors of mental wellness for older adults residing in assisted living communities. Beyond reducing the risk of illness, this study demonstrates that social capital and social connectedness are associated with mental wellness. In light of this, assisted living communities should evaluate the impact of their activities and programmatic offerings on resident social capital. Every effort should be made to help residents maintain their pre-existing community ties as well as forge new relationships

End of One Way

Describes the role of three South Minneapolis community-based organizations. Demonstrates how the organizations form partnerships and share leadership with their communities. Explores a set of themes derived from each example of community engagement

The Gap Between Informational Goals and the Duty to Gather Information: Challenging Piecemealed Review under the Washington State Environmental Policy Act

In 1971, Washington enacted the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), which requires agencies to make a threshold determination of whether a project is likely to significantly affect the environment and, where such impacts are likely, to produce an environmental impact statement (EIS). One problem faced in implementing the goals of SEPA is the practice of piecemealing. Part I of this Article introduces the piecemeal problem by describing three common piecemeal situations. The first situation occurs when a project proposal is divided into such small parts that the environmental impacts from each individual part appear insignificant and the impact from the sum of the parts is ignored. The second situation arises when a project proposal is properly divided into phases of construction, but earlier phases avoid the speculative study of environmental impacts accumulating with later phases, and later phases are drawn narrowly to avoid study of the cumulative impacts from earlier phases. The final piecemeal situation arises when environmental review of land use legislation is deferred based on promises of site-specific review for projects subject to the proposed scheme, but project proponents subsequently disclaim responsibility for assessing the cumulative environmental impacts from that legislation. Part II will then demonstrate the legislative and regulatory intent that environmental impacts be examined in a thorough and comprehensive manner and confirm this requirement of comprehensive review with a brief examination of case law that establishes a prohibition against piecemealed review. After Parts I and II establish that the piecemeal problem should not exist, Part III will proceed to discuss the source of the continuing piecemeal problem, specifically addressing the continuing confusion in the application of two independent regulatory standards purporting to restrict piecemealed review—cumulative impact analysis and project connectivity. Part IV examines in detail the judicial confusion over the interpretation of these standards under both SEPA and its federal counterpart, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Having established that the interpretive confusion is unwarranted, Part V then considers whether practical concerns may justify the piecemeal loophole and concludes that such concerns are inimical to the purposes underlying SEPA. Finally, Part VI of this essay examines supplementary environmental studies as a potential, but questionable, solution to the piecemealing problem

The Evolution of Transport Networks

Between 1900 and 2000, the length of paved roads in the United States increased from 240 km to 6,400,000 km (Peat 2002, BTS 2002) with virtually 100% of the U.S. population having almost immediate access to paved roadways. Similarly, in 1830 there were 37 km of railroad in the United States, but by 1920 total track mileage had increased more than ten-thousand times to 416,000 km miles, however since then, rail track mileage has shrunk to about 272,000 km (Garrison 1996, BTS 2002). The growth (and decline) of transport networks obviously affects the social and economic activities that a region can support; yet the dynamics of how such growth occurs is one of the least understood areas in transport, geography, and regional science. This is revealed time and again in the long-range planning efforts of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), where transport network changes are treated exclusively as the result of top-down decision-making. Changes to the transport network are rather the result of numerous small decisions (and some large ones) by property owners, firms, developers, towns, cities, counties, state department of transport districts, MPOs, and states in response to market conditions and policy initiatives. Understanding how markets and policies translate into facilities on the ground is essential for scientific understanding and improving forecasting, planning, policy-making, and evaluation.Transportation Network Growth, Transportation-Land Use Interaction, Markov Chain

Treatment of Choice or A Last Resort? A Review of Residential Mental Health Placements For Children and Adolescents

Residential treatment is often regarded as a treatment of ‘last resort’ and, increasingly, residential treatment programs are being asked to address the needs of very troubled children and adolescents. This paper is an effort to summarize what is currently known about the effects of residential treatment for children and adolescents. The review is organized into two sections: studies of the effectiveness of group home residential treatment and studies of the effectiveness of residential treatment delivered in residential treatment centres. In both areas, we attempt to identify trends within treatment, as well as patterns found in the literature that characterize post residential treatment adaptation. We also discuss several additional factors that appear to share a relationship with residential treatment outcomes crossing both short-term and long-term trends. We conclude our review with suggestions for future directions in residential treatment for children and adolescents

The Gap Between Informational Goals and the Duty to Gather Information: Challenging Piecemealed Review under the Washington State Environmental Policy Act

In 1971, Washington enacted the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), which requires agencies to make a threshold determination of whether a project is likely to significantly affect the environment and, where such impacts are likely, to produce an environmental impact statement (EIS). One problem faced in implementing the goals of SEPA is the practice of piecemealing. Part I of this Article introduces the piecemeal problem by describing three common piecemeal situations. The first situation occurs when a project proposal is divided into such small parts that the environmental impacts from each individual part appear insignificant and the impact from the sum of the parts is ignored. The second situation arises when a project proposal is properly divided into phases of construction, but earlier phases avoid the speculative study of environmental impacts accumulating with later phases, and later phases are drawn narrowly to avoid study of the cumulative impacts from earlier phases. The final piecemeal situation arises when environmental review of land use legislation is deferred based on promises of site-specific review for projects subject to the proposed scheme, but project proponents subsequently disclaim responsibility for assessing the cumulative environmental impacts from that legislation. Part II will then demonstrate the legislative and regulatory intent that environmental impacts be examined in a thorough and comprehensive manner and confirm this requirement of comprehensive review with a brief examination of case law that establishes a prohibition against piecemealed review. After Parts I and II establish that the piecemeal problem should not exist, Part III will proceed to discuss the source of the continuing piecemeal problem, specifically addressing the continuing confusion in the application of two independent regulatory standards purporting to restrict piecemealed review—cumulative impact analysis and project connectivity. Part IV examines in detail the judicial confusion over the interpretation of these standards under both SEPA and its federal counterpart, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Having established that the interpretive confusion is unwarranted, Part V then considers whether practical concerns may justify the piecemeal loophole and concludes that such concerns are inimical to the purposes underlying SEPA. Finally, Part VI of this essay examines supplementary environmental studies as a potential, but questionable, solution to the piecemealing problem

Human experience in the natural and built environment : implications for research policy and practice

22nd IAPS conference. Edited book of abstracts. 427 pp. University of Strathclyde, Sheffield and West of Scotland Publication. ISBN: 978-0-94-764988-3

A comprehensive review of industrial symbiosis

Industrial symbiosis, which allows entities and companies that traditionally be separated, to cooperate among them in the sharing of resources, contributes to the increase of sustainability with environmental, economic and social benefits. Examples of industrial symbiosis have grown over the years with increasing geographic dispersion. Thus, through a comprehensive review of previous studies, this work aims to trace the trend of industrial symbiosis research and to map the existing case studies around the world, with a critical analysis of its impact. The analysis of the 584 selected publications allowed tracing the evolution of these according to their content and the type of article, as well as its distribution by journals. Based on the literature review, the main lines for research in industrial symbiosis are assessed, as well as an updated study of the published case studies is provided with emphasis on the location, type of industry and employed methodologies. Several challenges are then identified for future research. The results reveal the number of articles on industrial symbiosis has greatly increased since 2007 and China is the country with the largest number of publications and cases of industrial symbiosis, followed by the United States. The methods for quantifying impacts and analysing industrial symbiosis networks were the most widely used. The analysis of the published case studies allowed an overview of the industrial symbiosis in the world and showed that the potential for application is enormous, both in developed countries and in countries with developing economies, and although the most present economic activities in the synergies are associated with the manufacturing sector, the possibilities of industrial symbiosis are not restricted to these activities nor to the number of entities involved. The symbioses between industry and the surrounding community also have great potential for development with numerous advantages for both parties.publishe

Supporting evidence-based adaptation decision-making in the Australian Capital Territory: a synthesis of climate change adaptation research

This research synthesis provides policy-makers and practitioners with an understanding of the building blocks for effective adaptation decision-making, as evidenced through the NCCARF research program. It synthesised a portfolio of adaptation research for each Australian state and territory and addressing the complex relationships between research and policy development.   Each state and territory synthesis report directs users to research relevant identified priorities. Authored by Jennifer Cane, Laura Cacho, Nicolas Dircks and Peter Steele

Measuring Community Strength and Social Capital

In 2001/02 five case study communities in both metropolitan and regional urban locations in Australia were chosen as test sites to develop measures of community strength on four domains: natural capital; produced economic capital; human capital; and social and institutional capital. Secondary data sources were used to develop measures on the first three domains. For the fourth domain?social and institutional capital?primary data collection was undertaken through sample surveys of households. A structured approach was devised. This involved developing a survey instrument using scaled items relating to four elements: formal norms; informal norms; formal structures; and informal structures?which embrace the concepts of trust, reciprocity, bonds, bridges, links and networks in the interaction of individuals with their community inherent in the notion social capital. Exploratory principal components analysis was used to identify factors that measure those aspects of social and institutional capital, with confirmatory analysis conducted using Cronbach?s Alpha. This enabled the construction of four primary scales and 15 sub-scales as a tool for measuring social and institutional capital. Further analyses reveals that two measures?anomie and perceived quality of life and wellbeing?relate to certain primary scales of social capital.