Search Results (1,932)

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is often recommended to help autistic individuals develop needed skills, and as such, Board-Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) should be prepared to assist minimally verbal individuals to learn how to communicate. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) can be a helpful tool to assist communication for these individuals. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods study, including a survey with Likert-type and open-answer questions and a semi-structured interview, was conducted to learn if BCBAs are receiving training on AAC systems and where they are obtaining AAC-related professional development. The survey and interview also inquired about collaboration with other professionals regarding the use of AAC systems. The survey was analyzed using descriptive statistics, and the interview transcripts and open-response questions were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. The analysis of the survey answers, open-ended responses, and thematic analysis of the interviews indicated a familiarity with PECS, but participants differed in their knowledge of high-tech AAC. It was also indicated that BCBAs generally wanted more AAC training with a behavioral focus. Future research is needed to understand behavior analysts’ training needs and create effective training. Full article

Temporary foster placements and recent European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Supreme Court decisions on Article 8 raise questions about how child welfare services (CWS) balance reunification goals and children’s need for stability. This study examines how CWS managers conceptualise the right to family life and mobilise these constructions when negotiating temporality and contact. Drawing on a social constructivist perspective and critical discursive psychology (CDP), I analysed 19 semi-structured interviews with 15 managers from across Norway using a three-step CDP procedure. Four interpretative repertoires emerged: an expanded rights repertoire that broadens notions of family and child participation; a legal guidance repertoire that treats ECtHR and Supreme Court rulings as resources legitimising reunification; a juridical pressure repertoire describing how legal expectations constrain professional judgement and can lead to increased contact despite welfare concerns; and a temporality and stability repertoire that emphasises tensions between presumptions of temporariness and attachment-based arguments for permanence. The findings suggest that legal texts function as negotiable discursive resources that both empower and constrain practice, creating ethical and practical dilemmas for managers. Full article

Construction supply chains (CSCs) are increasingly exposed to material shortages, demand fluctuations, logistics disruptions, and inter-organizational coordination failures. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers new opportunities to improve construction supply chain resilience (CSCR) by strengthening prediction, information processing, and collaborative decision-making. However, the mechanisms through which AI capabilities enhance CSCR remain insufficiently understood. Drawing on organizational information processing theory (OIPT) and dynamic capabilities theory (DCT), this study examines whether AI capabilities affect proactive and reactive CSCR directly or indirectly through three dimensions of supply chain integration (SCI): operational, information, and relational integration. It further compares the relative strengths of these pathways. This research adopts an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. In the quantitative phase, 353 valid questionnaires from construction professionals in China were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews with 15 experts, alongside three real-world cases, were utilized to interpret the quantitative findings and identify contextual boundary conditions. The results demonstrate that AI capabilities have significant positive effects on both proactive CSCR (β = 0.140, p < 0.01) and reactive CSCR (β = 0.116, p < 0.05). Furthermore, AI capabilities significantly promote operational integration (β = 0.299, p < 0.001), information integration (β = 0.361, p < 0.001), and relational integration (β = 0.227, p < 0.001), which in turn enhance both resilience dimensions. Notably, information integration is an important aspect of proactive resilience (β = 0.290, p < 0.001), while operational integration is crucial for reactive resilience (β = 0.274, p < 0.001). The qualitative findings further indicate that environmental uncertainty, technical readiness, and top management support condition the effectiveness of AI-enabled SCI. Theoretically, grounded in OIPT and DCT, this study clarifies the pathways through which AI affects CSCR and the contextual conditions shaping these effects, thereby advancing the analytical framework for AI-driven resilience. Practically, it delivers tiered implementation guidance for construction stakeholders to deploy AI tools for layered integration, thereby specifically enhancing both pre-disruption proactive risk prevention and post-shock reactive recovery capacities. Full article

Background/Objectives: The aim of the study is to determine factors that affect informal caregivers’ ability to care for older migrants with dementia, with a broad aim of providing a framework for improving regional formal support. We used patient journey mapping as a method to identify experiences of informal caregivers. Methods: The study took place in three phases. In the first phase, the content of the patient journey was outlined, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 informal caregivers of people with dementia and a migrant background. In the second phase, results of the interviews were discussed in workshops with professionals. In the third phase, professionals worked together on a plan for improving care and support. Results: Besides positive experiences with care and support, informal caregivers expressed the need for knowledge and training, timely information as well as practical culturally sensitive care and support. Professionals expressed a need for more knowledge of culturally sensitive issues and conversation techniques. They also indicated the need for more integrated care and the ability to offer practical solutions for informal caregivers. As a final result, a multidisciplinary programme on improving knowledge, information for clients, informal caregivers and professionals, use of key figures, culturally sensitive support, a multidisciplinary care path and education for future professionals was launched for the region. Conclusions: A patient journey is a valuable method to pinpoint problems and needs of informal caregivers as well as professionals. It provides a foundation for multidisciplinary communication and collaboration to improve care and support. Full article

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has been rapidly integrated into higher education, yet current studies largely rely on quantitative frameworks that capture initial adoption, leaving university EFL teachers’ motivational evolution for continued use of GenAI underexplored. To address this gap, this longitudinal qualitative study explores the motivational evolution and psychological need experience of 15 university EFL teachers’continued use of GenAI grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Data were collected through two rounds of semi-structured interviews over one year and analyzed in NVivo 11 PLUS. Our findings reveal a dynamic evolution of motivation from external regulation to value identification and professional identity integration. Crucially, need satisfaction and need frustration provide important psychological foundations for teachers’ motivation internalization. Notably, while need satisfaction directly facilitates university EFL teachers’ continued use of GenAI, need frustration can actually act as a potential catalyst that facilitates EFL teachers to form long-term continued use of GenAI through iterative reflection and instructional adjustment. This study extends the application of SDT within the GenAI education context, indicating that university EFL teachers’ continued use of GenAI is not merely a process of technology adoption, but also a process of professional growth and professional identity integration. The results provided preliminary implications for teacher professional development, GenAI design and education policy. Full article

This study identifies two stage-specific configurations of CLIL teacher well-being in Andalusia: an ecology of proximity in Primary Education and a disciplinary-departmental ecology in Secondary Education. Drawing on 14 semi-structured interviews with seven Primary and seven Secondary teachers, the study used a deductive–inductive ecological analysis combining within-case, cross-case, cross-stage, and subsystem-coupling procedures in QDA Miner. Participants described professional well-being not merely as a subjective psychological state but in terms of professional viability: the perceived ecological enactability of pedagogically legitimate and sustainable practice. Primary teachers’ accounts foregrounded sustained pupil contact, tutorial responsibility, family expectations, classroom routines, and adaptation for younger learners. Secondary teachers’ accounts foregrounded subject specialisation, departmental organisation, heterogeneous language proficiency, assessment ambiguity, and the Primary–Secondary transition. Across both stages, participants described compensatory overfunctioning—additional care, coordination, material redesign, translation, and assessment work undertaken to keep CLIL operational when implementation conditions were perceived as insufficient. Protected coordination time, stage-specific training, shared assessment frameworks, appropriate materials, and transition structures emerged as potential regulatory leverage points. The study advances a phase-sensitive systems interpretation of teacher well-being by identifying a fast balancing loop of frontline adaptation and a slower reinforcing stabilisation trap through which restored continuity may conceal persistent underprovision. Full article

Introduction: Long COVID-19 is a complex and multifaceted condition characterized by persistent and fluctuating symptoms extending beyond the acute phase of infection. Aim: To explore the health and support experiences of the Spanish population living with long COVID-19. Methodology: A qualitative study with an interpretative phenomenological approach was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted over 10 months (2023–2024) across 17 Spanish provinces. The sample included 36 participants. Results: Participants reported persistent and fluctuating symptoms that severely limited daily functioning and generated anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic distress. Chronic fatigue and cognitive impairment affected social participation and work performance, frequently leading to absenteeism and job loss. Delayed diagnosis limited professional knowledge, and perceived lack of credibility contributed to dissatisfaction with healthcare services. Family members and patient associations were key sources of emotional and practical support. Conclusions: Long COVID-19 has a multidimensional impact that requires a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach. Participants’ narratives reveal how underestimation of symptoms, delayed diagnosis, social stigma, limited healthcare and social support, additional family burdens, and disrupted work and social routines create complexity in care and challenge existing health and economic systems. Full article

Background: The transition towards a more sustainable global economy requires meaningful changes in the way organisations purchase products across industrial value chains. Whilst extensive research has explored sustainable consumption within the business-to-consumer (B2C) space, comparatively little research has examined the antecedents of sustainable purchasing intent within business-to-business (B2B) environments. Existing literature has predominantly focused on individual behavioural determinants, and has under-explored the organisational, informational and product-level antecedents that shape sustainable purchasing decisions within industrial contexts. Objectives: This research explores the antecedents of sustainable purchasing intent within the chemical and ingredients value chain, and develops a novel integrated framework, the Business-to-Business Sustainable Buying Behaviour (B2B-SBB) Model, capable of explaining sustainable purchasing intent within the B2B setting. Methods: An abductive, mixed-methods, single-case study design was adopted, set within the customer base of a global chemical and ingredient distributor. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with purchasing professionals across six end-market segments, and a quantitative survey generated 57 complete responses from a global customer base. Qualitative data were analysed through thematic analysis, and quantitative data through descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon Signed Rank testing. Results: The findings indicate that organisational antecedents, including buying centre process and responsibilities, corporate sustainability commitments, and information flow, exert materially greater influence on B2B sustainable purchasing intent than individual behavioural antecedents. Product sustainability claim variables emerge as a distinct and material antecedent, with a strong and statistically significant preference for third-party assured claims over self-declared claims. A structural value–action gap is also observed between publicly stated sustainability commitments and observed purchasing behaviour. Conclusions: The findings indicate that sustainable purchasing intent within the B2B chemical value chain is best understood through an integrated framework combining individual, organisational, environmental, product sustainability and information-flow antecedents. The proposed B2B-SBB Model provides such a framework, and offers both theoretical extension of existing scholarship and practical application for organisations seeking to accelerate the adoption of more sustainable products within industrial value chains. Full article

Background: This study investigates information-flow and logistics coordination challenges in Saudi Arabian construction projects within the context of ongoing national infrastructure developments, severe climatic conditions, and evolving labor regulations. Methods: Utilizing the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) framework, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 construction professionals spanning site-level engineers, logistics managers, project executives, and material suppliers over an extended 20-month monitoring period (March 2024–October 2025). Data were analyzed using thematic coding and mapped across the SCOR domains. Results: The findings reveal that logistics vulnerabilities stem predominantly from systemic information-sharing deficiencies, fragmented digital workflows, and weak stakeholder integration rather than standalone material constraints. Operational disruptions across Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, and Return are compounded by region-specific barriers including extreme thermal stress, migrant labor turnover, and high administrative fees for reverse logistics. Conclusions: To address these challenges, the study formulates a tiered, context-adjusted deployment framework for digital integration (BIM, IoT, and real-time tracking) tailored for both large infrastructure schemes and small-to-medium contractors. Staged implementation pathways and policy recommendations are provided to enhance supply chain resilience. Full article

Transnational Education (TNE) at the university level is commonly evaluated through visible pedagogical and institutional mechanisms, including quality assurance, curriculum alignment, and degree legitimacy. Less attention has been given to the socio-cultural conditions through which faculty experience power in Joint Venture Universities (JVUs). This article examines power distance as a lived institutional practice at an anonymised Sino-British JVU in mainland China, drawing on 32 semi-structured faculty interviews, as part of a wider paired-site qualitative study. The interview schedule was informed by Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Compass. Interviews were analysed inductively, with Hofstede used experimentally as a sensitising analytical framework rather than as a measure of national culture. This article presents findings on the power distance dimension and identifies four organisational themes—authority, hierarchy, inequality, and networks—which are presented as finding-led groupings rather than formal sub-dimensions of Hofstede’s power distance. Faculty described and perceived power as an everyday professional experience shaped by control over teaching, regulation, and institutional direction; chains of command and indirect disagreement; inequalities in voice, promotion, favouritism, funding, language, and gender; and informal networks affecting access, visibility, and professional boundaries. These accounts indicate that power is produced through the intersection of Chinese regulatory conditions, institutional centralisation, professional status, and informal relational norms. The article argues that greater attention to these relations is essential for understanding faculty voice, autonomy, and value cohesion in Sino-British TNE partnerships, and thus offers leadership recommendations towards strengthening cross-cultural value cohesion. Full article

This study addresses the need to establish precise variables to assess subjective urban vulnerability, moving beyond the strictly one-dimensional or perceptual–environmental measurements regularly applied in the study of this territorial reality. Following an initial theoretical proposal, a thematic content analysis of semi-structured interviews was conducted with stakeholders who carry out their professional activity in vulnerable neighborhoods. The diagnostic questionnaire was evaluated through a three-round Delphi process by a multidisciplinary panel of experts from the Spanish university system. The results definitively validated 32 indicators, distributed across three dimensions of subjective urban vulnerability: physical space of the neighborhood (16), social identity (8), and social cohesion (8). In conclusion, this framework provides researchers in the field of territorial science and public managers with a validated, precise instrument for designing interventions tailored to the psychosocial complexity of vulnerable neighborhoods, in the Spanish and European context, improving the understanding and management of these spaces. Full article

The scholarship on Chinese womanhood has highlighted a split female subjectivity and fostered an enduring image of Chinese women as victims. Going beyond this image, the current study sought to explore how Chinese female doctors construct a polyphonic individual selfhood through flexible practices of coordination and adjustment on the continuum between work and family commitments. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 female physicians working at a private hospital in Shanghai. Analysis of the data revealed that these professional women presented themselves as individuals striving for career development who also had to address gender stereotypes in their workplaces. Based on our findings, we argue that female medical workers in China shape an inclusive notion of the gendered self by mediating work and family commitments and integrating them into a polyphonic form of subjectivity. Full article

Spiritual care is central to palliative care. It helps patients nearing the end of life to maintain a sense of meaning, hope, and dignity, while alleviating existential anxiety and emotional distress as they face death. This study analyzes spiritual care practice in palliative care in China. It explores how religion supports spiritual healing by adapting and reconfiguring localized rituals. These adaptations are particularly important where overt religious expression and formal rituals are hard to include in healthcare settings. Based on semi-structured interviews with 14 professional carers in Shanghai, this paper examines how religious resources are translated into spiritual care in the Chinese healthcare context and analyzes the mechanisms behind their therapeutic effects. Research finds, first, that spiritual care in Chinese palliative care is not usually labeled as “spirituality” but is more often called “psychological care.” Second, religion in practice has not disappeared; instead, it has moved from public ritual and belief to the private sphere. Its roles (providing meaning, reconciling relationships, and supporting the transition from life to death) are transformed into care practices such as life reviews, the “Si Dao Ren Sheng” (the “Four Themes of Life”: expressing gratitude, offering an apology, expressing love, and saying farewell), family support, body donation, and end-of-life planning. Third, these therapeutic practices are effective not because of religious dogma, sacred stories, or explanations of the afterlife, but because they reconnect the patient to the “past–present–future.” Looking to the past, life reviews help patients integrate their narratives and affirm self-worth. In the present, repairing family relationships and expressing emotions help patients feel seen, accompanied, and needed. Looking to the future, end-of-life planning and the assignment of responsibilities give patients some control and peace of mind. Based on the thematic analysis, this paper therefore inductively constructs a “past–present–future” model of meaning-making in Chinese spiritual healing. Drawing on the Chinese cases examined, it offers a theoretical contribution to the global study of spiritual care. Full article

Botanical tourism is a growing niche within nature-based travel, yet little is known about tourists who travel specifically to observe plants in their natural habitats. This study addresses this gap by examining the travel motivations of international botanical tourists visiting Turkey through the push–pull framework. A qualitative approach was adopted, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 56 tourists recruited through a specialist botanical tour operator. Reflexive thematic analysis identified six push factors: biophilia and nature centrality, psychological escape, plant passion and identity, knowledge seeking, transformative experience, and ethical reflection. Five pull factors were also identified: professional guides, endemism, natural landscapes, seasonality, and remoteness and authenticity. The findings show that botanical tourism is an identity-based and knowledge-oriented form of travel in which personal motivations are closely linked to ecological destination attributes. The study extends push–pull theory and offers practical implications for guide training, endemic-route design, phenology-based itineraries, and conservation-sensitive tourism management. Full article

Interdisciplinary dialogue between religion and psychoanalysis has long been regarded as an important approach to addressing modern psychological suffering. Erich Fromm sought to integrate Zen Buddhist practice with psychoanalytic reflections on integration of the unconscious, self-awareness, and personality, proposing a framework that links spiritual cultivation with psychological growth. However, this framework’s explanatory power and limitations in the contemporary Chinese context remain insufficiently explored through empirical research. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 14 Chinese Zen practitioners in China, this study employs thematic analysis to examine their practices, psychological changes, and understandings of the relationship between Zen and mental health. Most participants regarded Zen practice as a long-term process involving cognitive reorientation, emotional regulation, and behavioral transformation, broadly resonant with Fromm’s integrative framework. However, the framework should not be treated as a directly applicable model of psychological intervention, as its practical relevance depends on sustained cultivation, community support, situated understanding, and clear professional and ethical boundaries. These qualitative findings underline potential risks when Zen cultural resources are introduced into contemporary mental health services, including decontextualization, instrumentalization, and an orientation toward immediate results. Therefore, within clearly defined ethical boundaries, a limited and responsible form of collaboration between Zen teachers and mental health professionals may be worth further exploration. Full article