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The analysis presented here is based upon interviews conducted with 34 women in Maryland in 1997, one year after the passage of the PRA of 1996, or welfare reform. To locate participants, I distributed fliers to educational and community centers asking for single women raising children and receiving aid who would be willing to share their experiences with welfare. I offered to compensate participants $15 for their time in participating in the interviews. After several initial interviewees were chosen from these sites, other respondents were located using an informal snowball sample.

This paper aims to describe and evaluate the impact of a compassion-focused therapy (CFT) group for adults with intellectual disabilities (ID).

People with ID are commonly subjected to stigmatising experiences that can contribute to feelings of shame. CFT targets shame and self-criticism by helping people to cultivate self-compassion. There is evidence to suggest that CFT can be meaningfully adapted for people with ID. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected using a mixed-methods design, aiming to gain a rich evaluation of the CFT group. Eight adults with ID were referred by their local community psychology team. An 11-week group protocol was based on materials from previous research. The protocol included the development of a “compassion box”, aiming to make CFT concepts more concrete and tangible. Questionnaires measuring psychological distress, self-compassion and negative social comparisons were completed pre- and post-group. Feedback from participants and carers were collated and facilitators’ observations were recorded.

Questionnaire findings were mixed, and some participants found the measures difficult to understand. Participants’ qualitative feedback and facilitators’ observations suggested that the group created feelings of safety and connectedness whilst facilitating engagement and action with shame and self-criticism. Several participants highlighted the usefulness of the ‘”compassion box”, although some barriers were noted.

This paper provides a rich description of how group CFT can be adapted to meet the needs of adults with ID and is the first study of its kind, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to evaluate the incorporation of the “compassion box”.

Respect for people with dementia and their involvement in service planning is explored, based on selected research publications and policy papers, mainly from the Department of Health and the Alzheimer's Society. This article supports the inclusion of people with dementia care in service planning as part of person‐centred care. Necessary adjustments to research methods and ethics committee procedures for gaining informed consent are discussed, as is the importance of ethical policy formation and implementation, in order to achieve person‐centred care. This will ensure a high degree of active involvement by people with dementia, enhancing self‐respect and responding to the needs of this often marginalised population.

Key to successfully addressing the ongoing transitions being experienced in the care home sector is a transformation of the workforce. This is required in order to respond appropriately to the increasing dependency of older people moving into care homes. This article considers the policy framework surrounding the provision of care services in England and reviews the relevant research into the workforce and the changes needed if the sector is to meet the needs of vulnerable older people living in care homes. Building on present policy and practice, consideration is given to how this change could be achieved.

Rigid environments, those with exceptionally strong cultural and traditional barriers to change, present unique challenges for institutional entrepreneurs attempting to initiate change. We utilize such a setting to examine what support mechanisms, both individual and contextual, have been utilized when attempting change in rigid environments. We examine the case of successful and unsuccessful attempts to make golf more inclusive to women. Our research supports the claim that rigid environments require more complex combinations of support mechanisms than other settings, illustrating the importance of institutions in both enabling and constraining change in such settings.

As states and districts increasingly focus on school leadership training programs, one less discussed yet vital component is the support mechanisms that can accelerate school leadership performance. This chapter highlights the unique school coaching model developed by NYC Leadership Academy (Leadership Academy), a national organization focused on improving student outcomes through effective leadership practice. Using a standards-based, facilitative approach to coaching early-career leaders in high-need schools, the Leadership Academy has developed a rigorous process for training and developing a cadre of coaches to provide intensive coaching support to school leaders that focuses on strengthening their leadership performance. The chapter discusses the methods and results of the Leadership Academy’s coaching model for the 139 principals leading high-need schools as part of the U.S. Department of Education’s School Leadership Program (SLP) and offers insights into school leadership coaching as a distinct professional practice in education.