Community Integration of Persons with Psychiatric Disabilities in Supportive Independent Housing: A Conceptual Model and Methodological Considerations

Despite the consensus regarding community integration as a major goal of mental health policy and the emergence of supportive independent housing as a critical component of community mental health services, mental health services research has not examined the extent to which housing and service characteristics are associated with community integration of persons with psychiatric disabilities in supportive independent housing. The main goal of this paper is to propose a conceptual model of factors influencing community integration which takes into account the differential configuration of housing setting and support structure in supportive independent housing. The conceptual model encompasses a multidimensional conceptualization of community integration and considers an array of housing and service characteristics that are potentially relevant determinants of community integration. Based on the proposed model, this paper outlines the methodological considerations for future research with regard to measurement, research designs, and statistical models

Distributed Work Display: A Representation for Analyzing Enacted Distributed Operational Work

Distributed work is becoming increasingly common, but existing approaches to supporting it focus almost entirely on routine, anticipated processes at the expense of understanding how human actors interact to resolve unanticipated obstacles and misunderstandings. This paper describes the Distributed Work Display, a representation of work as enacted that can support analysts and designers in creating the necessary support for effective distributed operational work. The tool emphasizes the information needed to understand the process of articulation (Corbin and Strauss 1993) or working things out. This representation makes explicit “who knows what, when, where, and how.” The use of DWD is illustrated with an example from logistics operations in the US Navy. DWD is compared to other display mechanisms used in practice: email listings, transcripts, and activity diagrams. Based on this comparison we identify the potential value of DWD for analysis of distributed work and design of systems to support that work

Nonlinear Acceleration of Sequential Fully Implicit (SFI) Method for Coupled Flow and Transport in Porous Media

The sequential fully implicit (SFI) method was introduced along with the development of the multiscale finite volume (MSFV) framework, and has received considerable attention in recent years. Each time step for SFI consists of an outer loop to solve the coupled system, in which there is one inner Newton loop to implicitly solve the pressure equation and another loop to implicitly solve the transport equations. Limited research has been conducted that deals with the outer coupling level to investigate the convergence performance. In this paper we extend the basic SFI method with several nonlinear acceleration techniques for improving the outer-loop convergence. Specifically, we consider numerical relaxation, quasi-Newton (QN) and Anderson acceleration (AA) methods. The acceleration techniques are adapted and studied for the first time within the context of SFI for coupled flow and transport in porous media. We reveal that the iterative form of SFI is equivalent to a nonlinear block Gauss-Seidel (BGS) process. The effectiveness of the acceleration techniques is demonstrated using several challenging examples. The results show that the basic SFI method is quite inefficient, suffering from slow convergence or even convergence failure. In order to better understand the behaviors of SFI, we carry out detailed analysis on the coupling mechanisms between the sub-problems. Compared with the basic SFI method, superior convergence performance is achieved by the acceleration techniques, which can resolve the convergence difficulties associated with various types of coupling effects. We show across a wide range of flow conditions that the acceleration techniques can stabilize the iterative process, and largely reduce the outer iteration count

Preparing for Death and Being Ready to Live.: A Lübeck Burgher’s Testamentary Bequests to Religious Institutions in Turku

The article examines the will made by the Lübeck merchant Hinrik Hoveman in 1545. The objective of the article is two-fold: firstly, to provide a full edition of the will included in FMU entry 2960, which has not been edited in its entirety. Secondly, to make an analysis of the will against its contemporary context. Hinrik Hoveman's religious bequests are in focus and what these tell about his social position, origin, and religiosity. The article demonstrates how wills provide important insight into the religious life on locations, such as Turku, where other sources are absent

A Housing First Model for Youth and its Relation to Social Integration

The present study explored how a Housing First for Youth intervention, working from an empowerment theory approach, influences the social integration of youth experiencing homelessness. This was done by contrasting between groups of individuals who either did or did not receive the intervention. The sample consisted of 86 youth in the city of Ottawa between the ages of 17-24 who were randomized into the intervention (n=44) or treatment as usual group (n=42). Quantitative data from baseline and 6-month follow-up were analyzed using the Community Integration Scale (CIS) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Repeated measures ANOVA revealed an effect for time but not by study group in the MSPSS subscales and the CIS psychological subscale, but this effect disappeared when controlling for the country of birth variable. Baseline narrative interviews (n=20), which occurred during the first 13.5 months of the program, were analyzed for emergent themes related to social integration. Findings from narrative interviews demonstrated the complex ways youth exiting homelessness experience social integration including the importance of social support and feelings of membership, and a lack of knowledge of resources in the community to support physical integration. By using a mixed-methods approach, study findings revealed that a greater emphasis on social support and addressing knowledge gaps on how to integrate physically into the community may be beneficial for the first year after youth exit homelessness due to the tendency for feelings of isolation and loneliness to occur during this time period. Future implications for the study include following the effects of the intervention on social integration over the 2-year mark due to the nature of social integration, which is not a rapid or linear process