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Introduction: Shortened hospital stays have shifted the burden of care for older adults to community, informal (ie, family, caregiver) and formal post-acute care and services, highlighting the need for effective post-hospital stay services and programs. As there is a dearth of information related to community-based, slow-stream rehabilitation program models for older adults transitioning from hospital to home in the Canadian context, the paper describes a mixed methods evaluation of such a program.Materials and Methods: A mixed methods program evaluation, with process- and outcome-related elements, included 1) review and analysis of program documents; 2) observations to examine fidelity. Observation data were coded and summarized using descriptive statistics. Coded information and data were compared to document review data; 3) quantitative assessment of pre-post changes in physical, social, and psychological outcome measure and instrument scores using descriptive statistics, paired t-tests and confidence intervals (p = 0.05); and 4) exploration of acceptability through interviews and focus groups with 41 of the older adult participants and 17 family caregivers. Thematic analysis was used to examine focus group and interview transcripts.Results: Observational data indicated alignment with the program document information overall. Statistically and clinically significant positive trends in improvement for physical outcome measure scores were observed (6-minute Walk Test, Life Space Assessment, Short Physical Performance Battery, Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity). Participants and family caregivers identified several positives and benefits of the program, ie, improvement in physical, social and mental well-being, decreased caregiver burden; and areas for improvement ie, need for more information about the program prior to enrollment and individualization, several of which aligned with the observation and quantitative data.Discussion/Conclusion: This mixed methods program evaluation provided a detailed description of a community-based, slow-stream rehabilitation program for older adults who are transitioning to home post-hospital stay and its participants. Evidence of program fidelity, acceptability, and positive trends in improvement in physical outcome measure scores were found. Information about program strengths and areas for improvement can be used by stakeholders to inform program refinement and enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from communication infrastructure theory, I propose a methodological and analytical intervention for the smart city and related initiatives: a community-driven approach to urban data-driven governance. This approach contends that data-related actors increasingly act as key storytelling agents within urban governance, given the rise of datafication. Moreover, it emphasizes the importance of an alternative storytelling network, positing the local storytelling network as a key—yet often minimally visible—set of experts and storytellers that can activate data-driven change and overcome extant gaps in dominant, “limited” versions of the smart city. As such, I spotlight two counterdata projects as prototypes for this intervention. In all, I argue it is imperative that urban governance explores this framework to incorporate, and design with, a wider range of local actors and knowledge in mind: not only to address critiques but, more so, to build more inclusive models in the public interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late spring and summer of 2020, a local build-your-own salad restaurant chain, along with many mid-size corporations and local non-profit organizations, sent an e-mail statement in response to the death of George Floyd by the police. Different from corporations and large institutions, these businesses and organizations — what we collectively term the “salad group” within our sample — associated their product or service (ranging from salads to yoga mats to chocolate) with the project of creating a more local, socially just, and inclusive community. A thematic analysis of 81 crowdsourced organization e-mail messages identified the use of both internal and external appeals for action, although organizations chiefly focused on their internal actions. Our analysis revealed that these e-mails primarily offered solutions that invited or highlighted Black participation in their business enterprises. We describe such statements as salad solidarity, a genre of promotion that simultaneously appeals to consumers and social change. Indeed, the framing of possible external responses as tied to consumer choice — and internal responses as tied to a company’s growth and reach — do not directly address the structural problems that spurred these e-mail campaigns. Consequently, such corporate and digital messaging of social movements provokes questions about the commercialization of political movements and the value that language and digital tools hold in building solidarity. We conclude with observations on how e-mails, and digital platforms more broadly, can and cannot facilitate political change, from the analytical lens of racial capitalism. These findings have broader implications for the study of corporate-social responsibility, networked social movements, and mediated communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]