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Montessoris perspective on citizenship education

Climate Adaptation in the Northern Netherlands

The Northern Netherlands is like many delta’s prone to a wide range of climate change effects. Given the region its long history with floods and adaptation, there are numerous initiatives to be found that tried to battle these effects. As part of the Climate Adaptation Week Groningen, an inventory was made of these initiatives. The most inspiring ones were coined ‘best practices’, and analysed in order to learn lessons. A distinction was made between 4 regional landscape types. The first consists of the coastline itself, where the effects of the rising sea level begin to show. The second covers the farmlands near the coastlines, where challenges such as salinisation and the loss of biodiversity prevail. A third landscape covers the historically compact cities, which have to deal with rising temperatures and heavy rainfall in increasingly limited spaces. The fourth and final landscape comprises the wetlands surrounding the cities, where the natural capacity to retain and store rainwater is undermined by its agriculture usage. Most of these challenges form a risk for maintaining a liveable region. The best practices that were collected show a diverse set of innovations and experiments, both on small and large scales. Three main characteristics could be distinguished that illustrate trends in climate adaptation practices. First, many best practices were aimed at restoring and embracing the natural capacity of the different landscapes, giving more and more room for the building with nature concept as part of building resilience. Second, climate adaptation is seldomly focussed on as the sole function of a spatial intervention, and is almost always part of integrated plans in which biodiversity, agriculture, recreation or other themes are prolonged with it. A third and last characteristic shows that many projects embed a strong focus on the historical context of places as a source of inspiration and cultural identity. The best practices show how different ways of adapting are emerging and can inspire planners across the world.

Optimizing palliative care education nationwide: a practice example from The Netherlands

Every healthcare professional (HCP) in the Netherlands is expected to provide palliative care based on their initial education. This requires national consensus and clarity on the quality and goals of palliative care education and accessible education opportunities nationwide. These requirements were not met in the Netherlands, posing a major obstacle to improving the organization and delivery of palliative care. Therefore, a program, Optimizing Education and Training in Palliative Care (O2PZ), was established to improve palliative care education on a national level.

Moderators of the longitudinal relationship between the perceived physical environment and outside play in children

Objectives: Promoting unstructured outside play is a promising vehicle to increase children’s physical activity (PA). This study investigates if factors of the social environment moderate the relationship between the perceived physical environment and outside play. Study design: 1875 parents from the KOALA Birth Cohort Study reported on their child’s outside play around age five years, and 1516 parents around age seven years. Linear mixed model analyses were performed to evaluate (moderating) relationships among factors of the social environment (parenting influences and social capital), the perceived physical environment, and outside play at age five and seven. Season was entered as a random factor in these analyses. Results: Accessibility of PA facilities, positive parental attitude towards PA and social capital were associated with more outside play, while parental concern and restriction of screen time were related with less outside play. We found two significant interactions; both involving parent perceived responsibility towards child PA participation. Conclusion: Although we found a limited number of interactions, this study demonstrated that the impact of the perceived physical environment may differ across levels of parent responsibility.

On the Two-sided Assessment of the Working Alliance

This study presents the development of the Working Alliance of Mandated Clients Inventory (WAMCI). The goal of the WAMCI is to measure positive and negative factors of the working alliance from two perspectives: the probationer and the probation officer (PO) in the Dutch context. Data from 302 probationers and 267 POs of all three probation services in the Netherlands were used. Based on two existing and validated instruments and with the addition of supplemental items specific for the Dutch probation context, this new inventory was developed to capture the Dutch and European practice. An initial psychometric evaluation was conducted with this new inventory. A principal components analysis and a structural equation analysis led to a four-factor solution that provided the best fit for the PO and the probationer versions of the WAMCI. The internal consistency of the established scales Trust, Bond and Goal-Restrictions was sufficient, but the internal consistency of the established scale Reactance was not satisfactory. The construct validity of the WAMCI was supported by correlations with other constructs. Higher scores on the WAMCI were related to higher scores on general relationship satisfaction. The Goals-Restrictions subscale was moderately associated with a measure of internal motivation.

Motives of Internet uses: Crosscultural Perspectives 'the US, the Netherlands, and South Korea

The aim of this study was to understand the motives for using the Internet, and its associations with users' attitudes, social values, and relational involvement. Also, this study attempted to crossculturally compare the difference in the pattern of motives and the associations among three countries ' the US, the Netherlands, and S. Korea. The design of methods was based on examination and revision of uses and gratification approach toward Internet users. Findings from factor analysis revealed that information seeking and Self-Improvement were the dominant and common reasons for using the Internet across three countries. The differences in the composition of motives in each country were also reported. Strong correlations across countries were found between all the motives and satisfaction of the Internet. Expectation and positive evaluation of the Internet were also important attitudes associated with Internet use motives. Postmaterialist value showed strong association with motives of information seeking and Self-Improvement. Community involvement was significantly associated with Internet use motives in Korean users.