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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the different features of social skills and outline a hierarchy of social skills model.

This paper draws on clinical work over 25 years and presents the results of research using a hierarchical approach to developing social skills.

Social skills interventions delivered according to a hierarchy of social skills (self-awareness and self-esteem; body language; conversational skills; friendship skills; assertiveness) are effective in improving social skills.

Effective assessment should determine which skills to start with. Intervention should involve the environment, peers and a variety of direct instructional approaches to maximise the potential for success and generalisation into everyday life.

This paper provides an overview of social skills and social competence, stresses the importance of good assessment to target the start point for intervention and emphasises the need to involve others to maximise success and generalisation.

Developments in the technology of electronic transmission of information are rapidly transforming the tools available to the general public for gathering information about current events. Direct access to news and retrieval of bibliographic information pertaining to traditional printed news sources are a daily reality for a growing number of individuals, on the job, at home, through personal computer terminals or at libraries. The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics of electronic databases providing access to news, as well as applications of these tools to various library settings.

Recent research on graduate students’ diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) socialization found that graduate colleges play a role in supporting graduate students’ DEI professional development (Perez et al., 2020), but more studies are needed about how graduate colleges facilitate DEI socialization. One graduate college at a large, selective, research-intensive, public university in the Midwestern US created a graduate certificate for professional development in DEI to expand graduate students’ capacities to contribute to inclusion and equity in higher education. The purpose of this multi-method program evaluation is to assess whether the certificate program created significant learning about DEI and developed intercultural competence among graduate students.

The authors rely on multiple methods to evaluate the impact of the professional development DEI certificate. First, the authors used the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) pre and postassessment to measure the growth of participants in the first three years of the program. Second, the authors designed a reflection tool to assess significant learning after each component of the program. Finally, we conducted focus groups with graduates of the program to understand what program components were most valuable for DEI-related significant learning.

The authors found that the DEI professional development program increased students’ intercultural competence as measured by the IDI. Students reported perceptions of significant learning in every domain of learning we assessed using a self-reflection tool and in focus groups.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that demonstrates how graduate colleges contribute to DEI socialization by preparing graduate students to interact across differences and contribute to inclusive climates both within and beyond academe.

Develops an original 12‐step management of technology protocol and applies it to 51 applications which range from Du Pont’s failure in Nylon to the Single Online Trade Exchange for Auto Parts procurement by GM, Ford, Daimler‐Chrysler and Renault‐Nissan. Provides many case studies with regards to the adoption of technology and describes seven chief technology officer characteristics. Discusses common errors when companies invest in technology and considers the probabilities of success. Provides 175 questions and answers to reinforce the concepts introduced. States that this substantial journal is aimed primarily at the present and potential chief technology officer to assist their survival and success in national and international markets.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptually explore building a culture of excellence from the ground up as well as evolving a current culture to one more focused on excellence.

This study reviewed extant research related to organizational cultures and cultures of excellence that have implications for building or evolving into these types of cultures.

The findings of this study suggest that the “people side” of organizations is crucial to forming a culture of excellence. Specific people-oriented considerations to forming such a culture include leveraging leaders and understanding other influences including diversity as well as external aspects. Changing culture must occur at the assumptions (and not just artifacts) level. Furthermore, there are many barriers to building a culture of excellence, many of which are also related to an organization’s people.

A qualitative grounded theory approach whereby researchers asked organizational members to define “culture of excellence” could help build a clearer model for the formation of cultures of excellence. Quantitative approaches should also test how successful the influencers, noted in this study are in creating cultures of excellence. This study’s conceptual links between cultures of excellence and performance should also be tested empirically.

This paper provides practitioners insight into the importance of culture and considerations for how to change an organizational culture.

This paper advocates for the importance of social considerations in the workplace regarding creating a culture of excellence.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first that discusses creating a culture of excellence. Furthermore, it is one of only a handful of articles that links people to excellence.

The purpose of this study is to assess if the new community-enhanced rehabilitation team reduced anxiety and readmissions in service users discharged from an inpatient rehabilitation setting.

The study used both qualitative and quantitative methodology. Service user’s anxiety level was measured before being discharged and at the end of the Community Enhanced Rehabilitation Team (CERT) transition intervention. Six service users were interviewed to gain further understanding of their experiences of anxiety.

Findings showed the anxiety score was significantly lower (M = 1.5, 95% CI [0.051,2.99], t(20) = 2.159, p = 0.043) following the CERT intervention (M = 8.6, SD = 6.4) compared to before (M = 10.1, SD = 7.0). No service user receiving the CERT intervention was readmitted to hospital within 12 weeks of discharge from the inpatient setting, compared to three service users (15% of those discharged) who were discharged to other community services.

Community rehabilitation pathways would benefit from having interventions to aid patient transitions from inpatient to the community. The National Health Service (NHS) trusts develop community rehabilitation teams as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and they should consider including transitional support as part of their model.

It is recommended that as NHS trusts design and implement community mental health teams, they should consider including transition support as part of their model.

People with severe and enduring mental health difficulties who have been in an inpatient rehabilitation setting would benefit from community transitional support. This study suggests that such support helps reduce anxiety and readmission.

Community rehabilitation teams are currently being developed across the NHS as part of the NHS long-term plan. These teams are new, and as such, there is a dearth of information regarding their effectiveness. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to evaluate outcomes in these new teams.

The purpose of this chapter is to analyse the interplay between fathers’ perceptions of the workplace and how they enact fatherhood. Data were derived from qualitative in-depth interviews with seven elite, professional fathers employed at multinational manufacturing corporations in Detroit, Michigan. Fathers are highly educated, have a significant income and all but one have wives in the paid labour market. This study shows how the persistence of the ideal worker norm and penalties for using work-family policies (WFP) perpetuate the gendered division of paid and unpaid work. First, fathers who are ideal workers are rewarded; fathers who do not face criticism and obstacles to promotions. Second, management and supervisor’s discretion results in uneven access to WFP, penalizing fathers for asking and preventing most from using them. Third, fathers express desire to be ‘involved’, but their engagement is largely visible fatherhood.

This study extends our theoretical understandings of work, WFP and fatherhood from a distinct departure point – the elite fathers highlighted here have been parenting for at least three years, and live and work in circumstances that seemingly would allow them to disrupt normative expectations of work and family. The United States provides a unique backdrop to examine the navigation of competing work and family demands because reconciliation is largely left to employees and their families. Public and individual company policies are not enough; there must be a corresponding supportive family-friendly culture – supervisor support and penalty-free WFP – to disrupt gendered work and family.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the predispositional hypothesis related to the “rescue personality” and the mental health of firefighter recruits.

This study compared responses to a written set of personality and mental health measures between firefighter recruits and non-rescue comparison participants – individually matched based on age, gender, ethnicity, and marital status. Data analysis involved statistical one-way between subjects analyses of variance complemented with epidemiological paired odds ratio calculations.

The results indicated that firefighter recruits self-reported as less open to experience, less neurotic, and less Type A. They also self-reported as less likely to report somatization, hostility, and posttraumatic stress symptomatology than comparison participants. Recruits were higher in extraversion and conscientiousness, but indicated no differences in perceptions of risk or sensation-seeking behaviour.

The present study contributes to the literature on firefighter recruits and provides some initial data regarding personality of those attracted to the fire services, as well as information about the mental health of firefighters prior to service. Mitchell’s “rescue personality” was partly supported and evidence was provided suggesting that new recruits have strong self-perceived mental health.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Aboriginal) people are overrepresented in Australian prisons, where they experience complex health needs. A model of care was designed to respond to the broad needs of the Aboriginal prisoner population within the nine adult prisons across South Australia. The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods and findings of the Model of Care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Prisoner Health and Wellbeing for South Australia.

The project used a qualitative mixed-method approach, including a rapid review of relevant literature, stakeholder consultations and key stakeholder workshop. The project was overseen by a Stakeholder Reference Group, which met monthly to ensure that the specific needs of project partners, stakeholders and Aboriginal communities were appropriately incorporated into the planning and management of the project and to facilitate access to relevant information and key informants.

The model of care for Aboriginal prisoner health and wellbeing is designed to be holistic, person-centred and underpinned by the provision of culturally appropriate care. It recognises that Aboriginal prisoners are members of communities both inside and outside of prison. It notes the unique needs of remanded and sentenced prisoners and differing needs by gender.

Supporting the health and wellbeing of Indigenous prison populations can improve health outcomes, community health and reduce recidivism.

Only one other model of care for Aboriginal prisoner health exists in Australia, an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation-initiated in-reach model of care in one prison in one jurisdiction. The South Australian model of care presents principles that are applicable across all jurisdictions and provides a framework that could be adapted to support Indigenous peoples in diverse prison settings.

This paper aims to understand the relationship between family togetherness and consumption. This is important given the inherent tension permeating discourses of family consumption and a lack of a critical understanding about how togetherness is experienced, expressed and performed. The Nintendo Wii and Wii gaming were explicitly chosen to engage in a more nuanced understanding and to provide a route to access families in their natural consumption habitat.

An interpretive ethnographic methodology was utilised to investigate family consumption in context and used in conjunction with the biographical narrative interpretive method to capture reflective and detailed informants’ consumption experiences. Holistic content analysis was used to interpret and aid thematic development.

Opportunities for idealised family togetherness afforded by the Wii still appeal to family members. Idealised family togetherness is accessed through collective, “proper” Wii gaming but is ultimately unsustainable. Importantly, the authors see that relational togetherness and bonding is also possible, and as such, the lived experience, expression and performance of family togetherness are not prescriptive.

Family togetherness is a useful and important lens through which to understand the dynamic relationship between family, consumption and the marketplace. The authors suggest that current conceptualisations of togetherness are too idealised and prescriptive and should be open to critical rethinking and engagement by both academics and industry practitioners to communicate with and about families and to explore how to be part of relevant and meaningful family conversations.