The Boundary-spanning Role of Democratic Learning Communities: Implementing the IDEALS

This multi-case study investigates characteristics and practices in schools that expand the traditional boundaries of school leadership and transform schools into democratic learning communities based on the level of implementation of the IDEALS framework. This investigation serves as a modus to illuminate democratic processes that change schools and address the needs of the students, not the needs of the adults in the system. A sample of five purposefully selected high schools, from the Midwest USA, was utilized. The schools serve Grade 9—12 students, but vary in size, residential area and socioeconomic status of the students. This study illuminates some of the challenges and strategies that facilitate or impede the process of creating more democratic schools that expand the boundaries of inquiry and discourse to include a broader range of community stakeholders and that respect and embrace issues of equity.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

The Influences of Human Communication on Health Outcomes

This article examines the many assertions made in the health communication literature about the importance of communication as an essential process in promoting effective health care. If these assertions are true, then researchers should be able to demonstrate the ways in which communication influences the accomplishment of health care goals—how communication influences health outcomes. The links between health communication and health outcomes are examined, as well as the health outcomes literature. The authors propose a conceptual model of the role of communication in achieving advantageous outcomes in health care and health promotion based on the systems transformation model. The model can serve as a template for both guiding research on communication and health outcomes and for directing the health communication activities of interdependent participants in the modern health care system to promote desired health outcomes in health care/health promotion efforts.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

The Application of Self-Determination Theory to Eating Disorders

In this article, the role of self-determination theory (SDT) is applied to eating disorders. SDT posits that individuals revolve around three specific innate psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. For an individual to function at an optimal level of growth and integration to establish social development and personal well-being, all three needs must be met. The conclusion of this analysis is that general self-determination may create a buffer for women against the sociocultural pressures to maintain a thin ideal body. The level of self-determination and the type of motivation play an intricate role in how an individual copes with body dissatisfaction. We also include a section on the implications of this analysis for social work and mental health practitioners. As such, we explain training or intervention techniques that practitioners could use when treating clients with eating disorders. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC