The intent of this study was to determine whether implementation of the Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) model, that has proven successful in psychiatric settings, was equally effective in reducing restrictive practices in public school settings. Many peer-reviewed, published reports suggest that educators are poorly prepared to manage the extremely challenging behaviors of aggression and non-compliance, which are common in students classified with an emotional disturbance (ED). Too often educators rely on ineffective, potentially harmful interventions such as seclusion and restraint, which adversely impact students as well as staff. The nonrandom sample was comprised of students enrolled in two segregated special education schools located in large communities in northwestern Pennsylvania. The enrollment was 69 students in School A and 26 students in School B. The schools serve students, kindergarten through twelfth grade. All students were evaluated and classified as ED by their referring home school district as per Chapter 14 Regulations of the Pennsylvania Department of Education and received one-hundred percent of their special education program in this restrictive school-based environment. This study used a quasi-experimental, pre-test-post-test research design and used two separate existing electronic data sources to test for relationships between the implementation of the CPS model and identified variables (standardized measures of externalizing maladaptive behaviors, incidents of aggression, noncompliance, and disruption, as well as incidents and duration of seclusion and restraint). The analyses included frequency comparisons, a series of Wilcoxon Signed Rank Tests, a series of dependent samples T-tests, and two-way repeated measures analyses of variance. Implementation of the model reduced the incidents of aggression, noncompliance, and disruption, as well as incidents and duration of seclusion and restraint. However, only one of the schools in the study demonstrated a statistically significant reduction of aggression incidents and the use of restraint procedures. The results suggest that when implemented with fidelity, the research-based CPS model is a promising, preventative behavior approach for students classified with ED in a segregated special education school. / School of Education / Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program for Education Leaders (IDPEL) / EdD / Dissertation

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to examine the disruption risk resolution process in supply chains; specifically, to assess how risk attributes impact the approach firms select to resolve risks and the associated final outcomes. We propose that high magnitude risks are positively associated with mutually beneficial problem resolution; on the other hand, low likelihood risks have the opposite effect, they are negatively associated with mutually beneficial resolution. Our conceptual contribution lies in our articulation of the mechanisms though which risk magnitude and risk likelihood impact mutual problem resolution. We posit that high magnitude risks and low likelihood (uncommon) risks mobilize the social network of actors, triggering vigilant monitoring for risks, communication among actors and across firm boundaries, and resource sharing and coordination which facilitate collaborative problem solving and mutual resolutions. These mobilization mechanisms help supply chain partners to overcome the challenges of complexity and allow for information and resource flows among actors and between firms. Our statistical analysis demonstrates that the impact of risk attributes on mutual problem solutions is fully mediated by timely problem identification and collaborative problem solving.

Aggressive or explosive behaviors in children typically occur within the context of a variety of psychiatric diagnoses and pose additional challenges when children present with histories of abuse. These behaviors are often interpreted as deliberate or noncompliant and management of these extreme behaviors often results in locked seclusion in most inpatient psychiatric settings. Locked seclusion remains controversial at best and raises legal and ethical issues regarding its safe and therapeutic use. <br>This retrospective quantitative study evaluated the effectiveness of the Collaborative Problem-Solving (CPS) approach as a less restrictive behavioral intervention on an inpatient child psychiatric unit with children ages 5-12 years that introduced the CPS approach during a nine month performance improvement project from July 1, 2006 - March 31, 2007. This study sought to determine what variables, if any, impacted the use of locked seclusion before, during, and after CPS implementation and whether children with histories of abuse were placed in locked seclusion at a significantly different rate relative to admissions of children who did not have histories of abuse. Erik Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development served as the theoretical framework.<br>The closed medical record review involved 197 admissions and 167 children. All data were analyzed in two parts: the entire nine month period of 197 admissions and by time period, based on when the CPS intervention was introduced and implemented on the unit. <br>Length of stay was the only variable statistically significant during the nine month period (n=197) and third time period of January -March 2007 (n=65) when CPS was fully implemented and assessed. This finding suggests that a child's longer length of stay may have had a relationship with being placed in locked seclusion. When length of stay was controlled as an influence with history of abuse, the variable of interest for this study, children with histories of abuse for the nine month period were not significantly more likely of being placed in locked seclusion than children without histories of abuse; for the third time period, they were found to be almost eight times less likely of being placed in locked seclusion with an odds ratio of 7.81.<br>Although these findings suggest a favorable response to the CPS approach and that behaviors associated with traumatized children were normalized to that of their peer group, the results must be considered with caution. There were many limitations to the initial project and any inferred success with abused children and the CPS approach is based on statistical outcomes only. Other variables not measured or controlled must be considered as potential influences that may have impacted these outcomes. As such, future research evaluating CPS effectiveness with traumatized children is recommended. / School of Nursing; / Nursing / PhD; / Dissertation;

Tables have been used for working and studying for years, and people continue using tables to work with digital artifacts. Collaborative tabletop activities such as planning, designing, and scheduling are common on traditional tables, but digital tables still face a variety of design issues to facilitate doing the same tasks. For example, due to the high cost of digital tables, it is unclear how large a digital table must be to support collaborative problem solving. This thesis examines the impact of physical features, in particular the table size, on collaborative tasks. This research leverages findings of previous studies of traditional and digital tables, and focuses on exploring the interaction of table size and users’ seating arrangement in collaborative problem solving. An experimental study is used to observe the behaviors of two-member groups while doing problem-solving tasks. Two tasks, storytelling and travel planning, were selected for this study, and the experiments were performed on two traditional tables, one small and one large. Although working on digital and traditional tables differs, investigating the impact of physical features in traditional tables can help us better understand how these features interact with workspace awareness and external cognition factors during taskwork. In the empirical study, external cognitive behaviors of participants were deeply analyzed to understand how physical settings of the table and seating arrangement affect the way people manipulate artifacts in the table workspace. Collaborators passed through different stages of problem solving using varied strategies, and the data analysis revealed that they manipulated material on the tabletop for understanding, organizing and solution making through visual separation, cognitive tracing and piling. Table size, task type and user seating arrangement showed strong effects on the external cognition of collaborators. In particular, the accessibility of sufficient space on the table influenced how much users could distribute their materials to improve workspace awareness and cognitive tracing. On the other hand, lack of space or inaccessible space forced people to use the space above the table—by holding materials in their hands—or to pile materials to compensate for space limitations. The insights gained from this research inform design decisions regarding size and seating arrangement for tabletop workspaces. For cases in which there is insufficient space, design alternatives are recommended to improve accessibility to artifacts to compensate for space limitations. These solutions aim to enhance the external cognition of users when space is insufficient to work with artifacts in problem-solving tasks.

Tables have been used for working and studying for years, and people continue using tables to work with digital artifacts. Collaborative tabletop activities such as planning, designing, and scheduling are common on traditional tables, but digital tables still face a variety of design issues to facilitate doing the same tasks. For example, due to the high cost of digital tables, it is unclear how large a digital table must be to support collaborative problem solving. This thesis examines the impact of physical features, in particular the table size, on collaborative tasks. This research leverages findings of previous studies of traditional and digital tables, and focuses on exploring the interaction of table size and users’ seating arrangement in collaborative problem solving. An experimental study is used to observe the behaviors of two-member groups while doing problem-solving tasks. Two tasks, storytelling and travel planning, were selected for this study, and the experiments were performed on two traditional tables, one small and one large. Although working on digital and traditional tables differs, investigating the impact of physical features in traditional tables can help us better understand how these features interact with workspace awareness and external cognition factors during taskwork. In the empirical study, external cognitive behaviors of participants were deeply analyzed to understand how physical settings of the table and seating arrangement affect the way people manipulate artifacts in the table workspace. Collaborators passed through different stages of problem solving using varied strategies, and the data analysis revealed that they manipulated material on the tabletop for understanding, organizing and solution making through visual separation, cognitive tracing and piling. Table size, task type and user seating arrangement showed strong effects on the external cognition of collaborators. In particular, the accessibility of sufficient space on the table influenced how much users could distribute their materials to improve workspace awareness and cognitive tracing. On the other hand, lack of space or inaccessible space forced people to use the space above the table—by holding materials in their hands—or to pile materials to compensate for space limitations. The insights gained from this research inform design decisions regarding size and seating arrangement for tabletop workspaces. For cases in which there is insufficient space, design alternatives are recommended to improve accessibility to artifacts to compensate for space limitations. These solutions aim to enhance the external cognition of users when space is insufficient to work with artifacts in problem-solving tasks.

This study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the CPS model in the perspectives of special education discourse.The purpose of this study is to analyze how Ross Greenes way of describing students with challenging behavior in the CPS-model are interpreted by special education teachers and correlated with special education discourse. The studies questions are:•How does Ross Greene describe students with challenging behavior in the CPS-model?•How do special education teachers interpret these descriptions?•How do these descriptions correlative with perspectives of special education discourse?This study uses discourse theory as a framework, and Faircluoghs (1992, 2001) model which highlights how text, discursive practice and social practice altogether create social change as the method for the discourse analysis. Four special education teachers were interviewed and the ALSUP guide (Assessment of lagging skills and unsolved problems) and the Plan B Cheat Sheet, both important texts in the CPS model, were used for the discourse analysis.This study concludes that the categorical medical discourse is salient in CPS. It seems as this way of describing students with challenging behavior in the model has made a great impact on the special education teacher way of talking about the students. The pathogenic perspective dominates the discussions around the ALSUP-guide and the informants talk more about how to deal with students challenging behavior and solving their problems, than how to create a school organized for meeting all students learning needs by supporting teachers in their daily educational work. This creates dilemmas. The categorical way of describing the students seem to challenge teacher’s authoritarian way of describing students though, and that is considered by the informants in this study as a good thing. Plan B is a humanistic way of talking to students with challenging behavior and addresses both teachers and students concerns. It makes the special education teachers talk about students with challenging behavior from a relational perspective.The study implies that special education teachers need to be critical to the way they use models based on the medical discourse, so that their working practice includes both students, teachers and the school as a system with its norms and values.

No description available.

Syftet med studien var att utvärdera om samarbetsbaserad problemlösning (SBP) är ett effektivt verktyg för pedagoger att hjälpa elever som har bristande sociala, känslomässiga eller beteendemässiga färdigheter. Studien avsåg också undersöka om implementeringen av SBP hade någon ytterligare inverkan på pedagogernas arbete utöver det direkta arbetet med enskilda elever. Studien kastar också ljus över vilken betydelse relationen mellan lärare och elev har för elevers utveckling. Studien baseras på pedagogernas egna uppfattningar av vad implementeringen av SBP har bidragit till. För att utvärdera effekterna och upplevelserna av den samarbetsbaserade problemlösningsmodellen användes det standardiserade bedömningsinstrumentet, The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) samt en egen utformad kvalitativ enkät.   Resultatet av denna studie visar att pedagogerna upplever att SBP är ett effektivt verktyg för att hjälpa elever att utveckla bristande sociala, känslomässiga och beteendemässiga färdigheter. Implementeringen av SBP har dessutom bidragit till att pedagogerna har fått ett gemensamt språk och tankesätt samt samarbetar bättre med varandra. Pedagogerna har också fått ett mer salutogent synsätt. Tidigare fokuserade pedagogerna främst på vad eleverna inte kan, och nu ligger fokus på att finna lösningar. Implementeringen av SBP har vidare bidragit till ett ökat deltagande för eleverna, eleverna får göra sina röster hörda och blir lyssnade på i större utsträckning. / The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether collaborative problem solving (CPS) is an effective tool for educators to help students who are lacking social, emotional or behavioral skills. The study also aimed to examine whether the implementation had any further impact on teachers' work in addition to their direct work with individual students. The study sheds light on the significance of the relationship between teacher and student, when it comes to students' development. The study is based on teachers own perceptions of what the implementation has contributed to. This study's evaluation of the effects and experiences of the collaborative problem solving model used standardized assessment instruments, The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and a self -designed qualitative survey.   The results show that teachers perceive that CPS is an effective tool for helping students to develop lacking social, emotional and behavioral skills. The implementation of the CPS model has contributed to the educators' development of a common language and way of thinking, which has improved the overall collaboration at work. The teachers have also been given a more salutogenic approach. Previously the educators primarily focused on what students cannot do, and now they focus on finding solutions. The implementation of the CPS has further contributed to increased participation of the students, the students can make their voices heard and are being listened to more closely.