Community Engagement Grants: Assessing the Impact of University Funding and Engagements

While university-community partnerships have become a common practice for many universities, little empirical evidence is available exploring the impact of such partnerships for either the community partners or the university. This project collected data from a series of university-community engagement grants funded by Virginia Commonwealth University to understand the importance and consequences of its funding for the community partners, the university, the faculty, and the community members involved with the projects. Characteristics of the funded projects contributing to positive and continued engagement were identified. Differences in outcomes as identified by the university partner and the community partners were also identified

The Multiple Meanings of Domestic Violence: A Constructivist Inquiry

Spurred by the work of the Battered Women\u27s Movement, domestic violence has been responded to since it emerged as a problem in the 1970s. At first the response was providing places for victims to stay and recover from the violence while also providing opportunities for consciousness raising and empowerment work. As domestic violence became a more recognized problem, policies were created and enacted to end the problem. Through the 1980s and 1990s, changes in federal policies in regards to domestic violence were incorporated. The criminal justice system began incorporating such policies as mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution policies as well as using batterer intervention programs (BIPs) to provide services to those accused of domestic violence charges.In Virginia, domestic violence advocates, batterer intervention program service providers and members of the criminal justice system worked together to create coordinated community responses with the stated goals of safety for domestic violence victims and accountability for perpetrators of domestic violence. The coordination, however, seemed to be fraught with difficulties, as domestic violence advocates, BIP providers, and the criminal justice system continued to struggle with the implementation of the standards. It seemed that although all three groups were able to agree upon the goals of accountability and safety, there were underlying issues of difference that were not being considered.The participants of this inquiry had congruent understandings of the term domestic violence; however their understandings of the social problem domestic violence were quite different. Because the way a social problem is understood influences policy as it is created, implemented, and experienced, it is important to strive for clarity concerning the social problem to which the policy is responding.This inquiry is an exploration of the multiple understandings of the social problem domestic violence as understood by those who participated in the inquiry. The tentative findings, or lessons learned, are not to be understood as generalizable findings, but as the unique, co-created understandings of the multiple meanings of the social problem domestic violence as understood by the participants and the inquirer

‘Culture’, ‘Context’, School Leadership and Entrepreneurialism: Evidence from Sixteen Countries

In the face of ongoing school budget cuts, increasing student numbers and national educational policy environments that demand more from schools, like it or not, school leaders are being forced to be much more market-oriented in their thinking and ways of being than at any other time before. A school is an important site for social development, and in some communities in some countries, there may be only one school in an entire community. Nevertheless, as countries continue to grapple with reduced government funding on education, many schools risk the threat of closure. And,aseducationconsumers(parents)andusers(students)demandmoreandbettervalueandresults from schools, competition between schools have simultaneously increased. Thus, the environment in which school leaders’ work is requiring and fostering entrepreneurial leadership. The findings reported in this paper, derive from a larger sixteen country, five continent study of 61 school leaders on the “Nature of School Leadership”. The main conclusions presented in this paper are that, male and female school leaders approach entrepreneurial in very different ways; “national culture” and “national context” significantly influences and shape the work, and thus the attitudes and behaviours of school leaders, who must embrace entrepreneurialism as an essential skill, and a response to changes in school funding arrangements, and the changing role of education in national educational policy agendas

The experience of intimate partner violence among older women: A narrative review

Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a significant public health issue globally. It has serious physical and psychological health consequences as well huge economic and social costs. With an ageing population globally, it is important to understand how older women experience IPV. We present a narrative review of 48 studies exploring IPV in women aged ≥45 years, focusing on: (1) prevalence of IPV; (2) factors associated with IPV; (3) impact of IPV; (4) responses to IPV; (5) IPV interventions; and (6) key populations. Although we found significant gaps in the literature and an inconsistency in definitions, data suggest that IPV is commonly experienced by older women (lifetime prevalence 16.5%–54.5%), but that their age and life transitions mean that they may experience abuse differently to younger women. They also face unique barriers to accessing help, such as disability and dependence on their partners. We recommend commissioning services that are specifically tailored to meet their needs. Professionals working in frontline services where older women are commonly seen should be trained to identify and respond to IPV appropriately

Globally competent leadership : comparison between U.S. American and mainland Chinese conceptualization of effective leadership

This project was conducted with the objective of measuring differences between U.S. American and Chinese preferences for specific leadership characteristics and behaviors. An online survey was administered to U.S. American and Chinese nationals working in U.S.-based multinational corporations (MNCs). Respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they considered 112 characteristics or behaviors to contribute to or inhibit effective leadership. The data were statistically analyzed to measure variances in how the two samples responded to each item, and to provide insight into what characteristics or behaviors contribute to or inhibit effective leadership in China and in the U.S. The research findings were compared with cross-cultural/intercultural leadership literature, in particular the global leadership and organizational behavior effectiveness project (GLOBE). Several of the findings of this study are similar to those previous research projects conducted on U.S. and Chinese people. Specifically, charismatic and team oriented leadership, which previous research suggests are universal facilitators of effective leadership, were found to facilitate effective leadership. Additionally, many of the individual leader attributes found to facilitate effective leadership in the U.S and China respectively, were also reported to do so in this study. However, the findings also suggest that Chinese orientation towards uncertainty may be weakening, whereas the U.S. data provide a moderate level of support that suggests that the U.S. orientation along the in-group collectivism dimension is strengthening. Unfortunately, due to an unexpectedly small sample size, the findings of this project are limited in their utility. This project did, however, provide invaluable insight into the process of leadership research in China that will inform the design and further define the scope of the second phase of the research

Globally competent leadership : comparison between U.S. American and mainland Chinese conceptualization of effective leadership

This project was conducted with the objective of measuring differences between U.S. American and Chinese preferences for specific leadership characteristics and behaviors. An online survey was administered to U.S. American and Chinese nationals working in U.S.-based multinational corporations (MNCs). Respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they considered 112 characteristics or behaviors to contribute to or inhibit effective leadership. The data were statistically analyzed to measure variances in how the two samples responded to each item, and to provide insight into what characteristics or behaviors contribute to or inhibit effective leadership in China and in the U.S. The research findings were compared with cross-cultural/intercultural leadership literature, in particular the global leadership and organizational behavior effectiveness project (GLOBE). Several of the findings of this study are similar to those previous research projects conducted on U.S. and Chinese people. Specifically, charismatic and team oriented leadership, which previous research suggests are universal facilitators of effective leadership, were found to facilitate effective leadership. Additionally, many of the individual leader attributes found to facilitate effective leadership in the U.S and China respectively, were also reported to do so in this study. However, the findings also suggest that Chinese orientation towards uncertainty may be weakening, whereas the U.S. data provide a moderate level of support that suggests that the U.S. orientation along the in-group collectivism dimension is strengthening. Unfortunately, due to an unexpectedly small sample size, the findings of this project are limited in their utility. This project did, however, provide invaluable insight into the process of leadership research in China that will inform the design and further define the scope of the second phase of the research

The Journey Project: a case study in providing health information to mitigate health disparities

The Journey Project, part of the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries' Social Work Information Specialist in Context Fellowship, was designed to merge social work and consumer health librarianship skills in order to improve the provision of health information to patients. A resource notebook was created encompassing the many dimensions of cancer health information. A social work informationist distributed the notebooks and provided individualized consultations with respect to patients' health information needs. Areas of congruence as well as key differences between social work and consumer health librarianship emerged during the course of the project. Merging the two professions into the role of a social work informationist increased the ability to attend holistically to clients' health information needs

Information prescriptions: a barrier to fulfillment*

Objectives: The aim of this project was to identify and compare physician-perceived versus patient-experienced barriers to filling information prescriptions