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Classical definitions of motivation typically involve two main components: direction and activation. Motivated behavior is directed toward or away from particular stimuli (i.e., appetitive and aversive motivation). Furthermore, activational aspects of motivation refer to the observation that motivated behavior is characterized by substantial activity, vigor, persistence, and exertion of effort in both the initiation and maintenance of behavior. Although separate neural systems direct organisms toward distinct motivational stimuli (e.g., food, water, sex), there appears to be a common circuitry regulating behavioral activation and the exertion of effort. Mesolimbic dopamine is one of the brain systems mediating activational aspects of motivation and exertion of effort. This system integrates aspects of motivation and motor control functions involved in the instigation of action. Research on the neurobiology of effort has contributed to our understanding of the pathophysiology of neurological and psychiatric disorders that are characterized by motivational dysfunction.

Since the 1994 regime change many South African public libraries have been destroyed by the communities they were serving which raises questions about how communities perceive these libraries. With the loss of activist library organizations, few insights are gained from activists or critical librarianship on how to respond. In this context, the chapter examines public library social inclusion and poverty alleviation initiatives, and government conditional grants to public libraries.

Using a transformative paradigm, a qualitative approach and thematic analysis, the chapter examines recent literature on public libraries and social inclusion, and local annual and parliamentary reports. A mini-survey yields case study material.

The findings augment the scarce store of recent evidence on South African public libraries. Most provinces had built new libraries, upgraded others, and installed information and communication infrastructure to enhance access. Problems included governance, fund wastage, and staffing. The libraries have great potential to improve their relevance for local communities.

The poor survey response rate and lack of a comprehensive national database on public libraries limits the research. Annual reports are uneven in comprehensiveness, making comparison difficult.

The chapter recommends (i) creating a national information system to monitor service delivery via the grants and enable rigorous investigation of their impact and (ii) increased government support for public library social inclusion initiatives.

First hand evidence from local librarians and official reports demonstrates the grants’ effect on public library promotion of social inclusion and shows what is possible in a situation of historical inequities.

This chapter introduces a model for school libraries in Scotland, based on best practices as identified in the literature, and on five case studies undertaken in schools, two in the United States and three in Scotland. The research design was qualitative, and used grounded theory and multiple case study methods. The model represents an ideal set of circumstances for school libraries in Scotland, highlighting the interconnected web of influences that affect the success of a school library in meeting professional standards. These influences primarily fall in three areas: the school librarian, the school environment, and the professional support available to the librarian. The school librarian is the primary leader of the school library program, but factors in these other two areas can provide opportunities and barriers that can help or hinder the success of the library service. For instance, the findings suggest that school-based factors such as curriculum, scheduling, technology facilities, and staffing can have significant influence over the access the librarian has to teachers and students. Our model includes all three areas in describing a set of circumstances that would allow a school library program to thrive and meet the highest professional standards.

This chapter seeks to explore the nature of and motivations for cross-generational relationships, and to examine how these relationships structure, limit and enable access to schooling for youth in Ndola (Zambia). Amidst increasing HIV infection rates and decreasing economic opportunity, youth experiences in and outside of school provide information about the impact of macro-level influences, particularly global economic trends and the HIV/AIDS pandemic, on the lives of these young women. Utilizing qualitative methods that seek to explore the lived realities of Zambian youth, this study examines perceptions of the phenomenon of “sugar daddies” and how they are seen to effect educational access and opportunity for young women. Although the study finds that young women are finding ways to cope with being enmeshed in a context characterized by severe economic decline and an extensive HIV/AIDS crisis, the strategy of securing a “sugar daddy” is one that may result in deadly infection and social isolation. Furthermore, policymakers in Zambia can and should take the opportunity to rethink austerity measures and hostility to social spending as well as the content of public health education.

In recent years, a wide range of psychosocial health interventions have been implemented among military service members and their families. However, there are questions over the evaluative rigor of these interventions. We conducted a systematic review of this literature, rating each relevant study (k = 111) on five evaluative rigor scales (type of control group, approach to participant assignment, outcome quality, number of measurement time points, and follow-up distality). The most frequently coded values on three of the five scales (control group type, participant assignment, and follow-up distality) were those indicating the lowest level of operationally defined rigor. Logistic regression results indicate that the evaluative rigor of intervention studies has largely remained consistent over time, with exceptions indicating that rigor has decreased. Analyses among seven military sub-populations indicate that interventions conducted among soldiers completing basic training, soldiers returning from combat deployment, and combat veterans have had, on average, the greatest evaluative rigor. However, variability in mean scores across evaluative rigor scales within sub-populations highlights the unique methodological hurdles common to different military settings. Recommendations for better standardizing the intervention evaluation process are discussed.

In the previous chapter, I introduced you to trauma-informed servant leadership as a unique approach that can be used to operationalise many of the ideas of the trauma-informed approaches in the literature. In this chapter, I build on this work by illustrating how we can extend this model of trauma-informed servant leadership to supervision in order to reduce burnout and secondary trauma in health and social care employees. The literature informs us that not only do employees in this sector have high rates of their own traumas, but secondary trauma is also prevalent in such organisations. An overview of the supervision and secondary trauma literature is briefly provided, followed by a description of how the trauma-informed servant leadership model can be used by supervisors, in conjunction with a supervisor model of servant leadership, to mitigate against these stressful experiences in organisations. Again this chapter not only builds on recommendations from the trauma-informed literature as it pertains to recognising that employees suffer their own personal traumas but I also take a multicultural approach to supervision in the final section of the chapter, thereby operationalising the diversity/multicultural principle in TIA.