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The purposes of this qualitative study were to determine the contribution of 4-H experiences to leadership life skill development of college-level 4-H alumni and to determine the effect of those skills on collegiate alumni’s desire to continue involvement in 4-H. The research methods included semi-structured interviews. Major findings of the study noted that the interviewees’ 4-H experiences positively contributed to leadership life skill development, closely following the pattern of the four essential elements which serve as the foundation of 4-H programming. Also identified was a strong desire of college-level 4-H alumni to continue their participation with 4-H. Recommendations include specifically targeting this generation of alumni for greater utilization because of their strong desire to stay connected.

This paper provides a brief overview of research, knowledge and practice regarding Asperger's syndrome, an autistic spectrum disorder that has only recently been acknowledged by clinicians. The paper reviews our knowledge of the degree and nature of the impairments of social understanding of such individuals, especially their problems with making and keeping friends, perception of social and emotional cues, understanding and management of emotions, and ability to recognise the thoughts and feelings of others. Difficulties with communication and conversation skills are explained, as well as the person's tendency to develop areas of expertise and special interests. People with Asperger's syndrome have an unusual profile of cognitive abilities; some have signs of movement disturbance and some are extraordinarily perceptive of sensory experiences. The prevalence and aetiology of Asperger's syndrome are discussed briefly.

This paper aims to explore the pertinent issues, barriers and pitfalls of intergenerational communication in business families during their leadership succession period.

Building on relational leadership theory, the paper makes use of an action research approach using a qualitative single case study to investigate communication barriers and pitfalls in business transition.

Through action research, interventions were taken in the underlying case, which increased the consciousness, as well as the personal and social competencies of the business family. Thus, business families stuck in ambivalent entanglement understand their underlying motives and needs within the change process, get into closer contact with their emotional barriers and communication hindrances, which is a prerequisite for any change, and break the succession iceberg phenomenon.

Future research should undertake multiple case studies to validate and/or modify the qualitative methods used in this action research to increase the validity and generalizability of the findings.

Given the large number of business families in transition, our study shows the beneficial effects action research might have on business families’ communication behavior along a change process. The findings might help other business families to understand the value of action research for such underlying challenges and decrease communication barriers.

This is one of the few studies to have addressed intergenerational communication of business families using an action research approach.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how pregnant women with type 1 diabetes integrate new information technology (IT) into their health management activities, using activity theory as an analytical framework.

The research is a multiple case design, based on interviews with 15 women with type 1 diabetes who were pregnant, considering pregnancy, or had recently given birth. A thematic analysis, sensitised by activity theory, was used to analyse the data.

Health management in this setting involves negotiations and contradictions across boundaries of interacting activities. Participants play an active role in managing their health and using new IT tools in particular ways to support their health management. Using new technologies creates both opportunities and challenges. IT-enabled healthcare devices and other information systems open up new treatment possibilities, but also generate new contradictions between interacting activity systems.

The research was conducted with a small sample in a specific context of health management. Further research is needed to extend the findings to other contexts.

Healthcare providers need to accommodate a bottom-up approach to the adoption and use of new technologies in settings where empowered patients play an active role in managing their health.

The findings highlight opportunities to further develop activity theory to accommodate the central role that individuals play in resolving inherent contradictions and achieving alignment between multiple interacting activity systems when incorporating new IT tools into health management activities.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

The paper introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and audiovisual material examining library instruction and information literacy.

Information is provided about each source, and the paper discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

The purpose of this study is to construct the first short-term financial distress prediction model for the Spanish banking sector.

The concept of financial distress covers a range of different types of financial problems, in addition to bankruptcy, which is not common in the sector. The methodology used to predict financial problems was artificial neural networks using traditional financial variables according to the capital, assets, management, earnings, liquidity and sensibility system, as well as a series of macroeconomic variables, the impact of which has been proven in a number of studies.

The results obtained show that artificial neural networks are a highly suitable method for studying financial distress in Spanish credit institutions and for predicting all cases in which an entity has short-term financial problems.

This is the first work that tries to build a model of artificial neural networks to predict the financial distress in the Spanish banking system, grouping under the concept of financial distress, apart from bankruptcy, other financial problems that affect the viability of these entities.

Several studies have used secondary data sources in order to learn about outcomes for adults who have been in contact with the care system in childhood. This article discusses two of the large‐scale longitudinal datasets in the UK that are available to researchers and which include information on adults who were looked after in childhood: The National Child Developmental Study (NCDS) and The British Cohort Study (BCS70). These databases are considered to be among the best sources available to investigate long‐term outcomes for looked‐after children in the UK. This article describes these databases and the use made of them by researchers exploring the life chances of looked‐after children. It also identifies the advantages as well as the limitations of these datasets and presents implications for this field of research.

The purpose of this paper is to inquiry dietary behavior and the physical and mental health status of food pantry users to better understand issues related to food insecurity and to explore predictors of intentions for self-sufficiency.

The authors randomly surveyed 12 food pantries (151 consumers) sponsored by the North Texas Food Bank in USA, regarding dietary behavior, health status, reasons for food pantry use, satisfaction with services provided, and self-sufficient behavior and support.

About 37 percent of survey participants would expect to continue using food pantry services for one or more years. Reasons for food pantry use included low job earnings, unemployment, poor health, and disability. Over 83 percent of them were either overweight or obese, and over half (57 percent) of them had moderate or severe mental disorder symptoms that warrant examination by healthcare practitioners. On average, their health-related quality of life was lower than the general population. Participants’ physical health was significantly correlated with work intention. The hierarchical regression model predicting work intention had a large effect size.

This research has highlighted the importance of improving food pantry consumers’ health and self-sufficiency in order to live sufficiently and healthily.

Community health practitioners need to help food banks address the needs beyond hunger to focus on the larger ramification of food insecurity such as self-sufficiency and health-related quality of life.

This work extends the existing studies focused on food insecurity, and it will enable the collaborations among food banks, social workers, vocational rehabilitation counselors, and public health practitioners.

The article describes the Five Dimensions of Person‐Centredness, an evaluation tool developed specifically to explore supported living and inclusion‐orientated organisations. It explores some of the learning gained from using the evaluation process with four organisations in Scotland, and includes identification of common themes that make the difference when personalising support.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the neglect of girls in care who come into conflict with the law, arguing that a gender-neutral approach in this area risks further marginalising an already vulnerable population.

A critical review of the literature and current policy climate is undertaken to explore what is known about the experiences of females in the justice system, as well as knowledge gaps.

Evidence on the prevalence and nature of offending by girls in care is limited. However, as looked after children, girls may be more likely to have their own behaviour unnecessarily criminalised. Whilst females and males share some prior experiences of victimisation and trauma, girls also have distinct needs and may be assessed and managed by state care and control systems in very different ways.

The paper is not based on primary research and does not present a systematic review of the literature.

The need to listen to girls and young women, and a far greater recognition of backgrounds of trauma must underpin future policy and practice. Diversion from the formal criminal justice system wherever possible is also a key goal to aspire to.

This paper focuses on the specific experiences of females. It calls for a gender-sensitive, trauma-informed approach to working with girls and women from the care system who come into conflict with the law, and questions the value of criminalising those whom the state previously deemed to be in need of welfare and support.