Class of 2012 Abstract / Specific Aims: Health disparities are contributing to differences in access to healthcare and health outcomes among diverse groups in the United States. Causes of health disparities are multifactorial. One approach to minimize health inequalities is through educating future health care professionals. The purpose of this review is to identify and describe approaches for developing health disparities curriculum for health professions programs in the United States. Methods: A systematic review was conducted in April of 2012 to identify articles describing medical and nursing school curricula, educational courses, and activities focusing on health disparities in the United States. The search was conducted by utilizing Medline PubMed database. Articles describing a specific educational course/curriculum in health disparities in medical and nursing undergraduate or graduate programs were included in the review. The review did not take into account continuing education programs. All articles describing educational programs focus on healthcare disparities in the United States. Main Results: The search identified 153 articles focusing on specific health disparities curricula or education programs. Out of those articles 30 were included in the analysis. Results are pending. Conclusions: Anticipated results will aid in identifying successful and effective health disparities curricula for health professions programs in the United States.

During the 1970's a variety of special educational programs were set up for adult Aboriginal people. In general these programs were designed to meet the needs of people who for a variety of reasons, were at an educational or social disadvantage in comparison to the rest of the Australian population. The Djwani project stood out in sharp contrast to these other programs. This project was designed to serve Aboriginal people who had demonstrated their ability to cope with tertiary education,and who were likely to be able to occupy important positions in Aboriginal Affairs. The Djwani project aimed to maximise beginning tertiary qualifications for the professions that the students intended to enter, and pr pare them to operate in positions of leadership. This was to be achieved by an upgrading tertiary program, coupled with a field experience system. The project was operated at the Canberra College of Advanced Education in the later part of the 1970's. It was discontinued in 1978. This document is a report of an evaluative study carried out during the operation of the Djwani project. It provides a framework in which the administration and activities associated with the project can be, recorded and examined. This study of the Djwani project, is escentially a case study of the project, which also uses a number of evaluative deviceses developed by the author in other situations. This study examines the activities of the actual Djwani project, it does not attempt to provide longitudinal information on the students after they leave the project. It does however attempt to compare the project with other adult educational projects mounted for Aborigines, and to appraise the projects value in Aboriginal Affairs in general.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2001. / Title from PDF t.p.

The problem with which this study is concerned is that of determining the specific stated factors that influenced Nigerian adults to participate in adult basic educational programs of the Nigerian Baptist Convention which lead to the first-school-leaving-certificate. The purpose of the study was to identify and examine the factors that influence Nigerian adults to participate in the adult basic and certificate educational programs of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, and to make recommendations for program improvements based on these findings. The data for this study were collected from questionnaires which included demographic information about the participants and a list of reasons for educational participation and needs-met statements. Questionnaire items were rated on a five-point scale. The researcher mailed 600 questionnaires to both adult basic and certificate education students in the adult education programs of the Nigerian Baptist Convention in Ibadan, Nigeria. The basic education group responded to 126 questionnaires, while the certificate groups responded to 122 questionnaires.

The principal investigator (PI) for this study analyzed mean scores on the National Counselor Examination (NCE) of students from CACREP accredited and non- CACREP accredited programs. Data was provided by the National Board of Certified Counselors, Inc., for a total of ten examination administrations across six years. The fourteen variables examined in the study consisted of the eight common-core knowledge domains identified in CACREP standards, the five counselor work behavior areas identified by NBCC via periodic job analysis of counseling practice, and one overall or total score on the NCE. NCE mean scores of students from CACREP accredited programs were higher than NCE mean scores of students from non-CACREP accredited programs on all variables across all ten NCE administrations. Data seem to indicate that students from CACREP accredited programs perform significantly better on the NCE than students from non-CACREP accredited programs, in all fourteen variables. Sample size was large, totaling 9707, so the PI calculated effect sizes using Cohen's d for each variable to aid interpretation of statistical significance. Five variables had large effect sizes of .70 or higher. The higher effect size statistics were associated with the counselor work behavior areas, with the highest effect size (.85) associated with the overall, or total, score on the NCE. Statistically significant results in the counselor work behavior areas, in the presence of large effect size statistics, may represent reasonably good support for CACREP accredited programs' superiority in developing overall counselor clinical skills and knowledge beyond simply content knowledge. Additionally, the large effect size of the Total Score variable might be interpreted to indicate that student knowledge gained from CACREP accredited programs is superior to student knowledge gained from non-CACREP accredited programs.

This study was designed to measure the effectiveness of accreditation standards (specifically, CACREP Standards for counselor education programs) on the development of counseling skills. A measure of counseling skill (The Counselor Rating Form-Short Version) was used to measure the counseling skills of counselor trainees from various masters programs. These students were enrolled in a doctoral program in counselor education and were taking their first semester practicum. A T-Test of Independent Means revealed that the student counselors from CACREP accredited masters programs scored significantly higher on the CRF-S than did students from non CACREP accredited programs. These students generally had higher levels of counseling skill as judged by this measure. Given the convenience of the sample and its size, results must be analyzed carefully. These results do, however, seem to suggest the necessity of further study. There are several conclusions that may be reasonably drawn from these results. The emphasis that the CACREP Standards place on the supervised experience may account for the difference in skill levels between the two groups. Prior research and student self-report support this theory. The fact that these requirements are daunting to unaccredited programs suggests a gap in experiential learning between the two groups.

The main purpose of the study is to describe the developmental story of one of the larger university cooperative education programs in the United States to provide the evidence of outcomes and to utilize selected elements of the program in other colleges and universities. The study utilizes historical methodology with a descriptive approach to investigate and analyze the program's establishment, its development of staffing, organization, students, employers, funding, and its evaluation by using primary and secondary sources, annual reports, federal grant request proposals, evaluation reports, and the on-campus newspaper. The information for this study was also gathered through personal interviews with previous and present staff members of the program. The study shows that the program was established in the dean of students' office, but in order to get more support from the faculty, the program was moved to the academic affairs office. As a result of the academic support by the faculty, the program expanded. The findings show that the federal grant, Title VIII, contributed significantly to the initiation and growth of the program. The investigator observes that the director's leadership and the staff members' commitment to the program were two of the most important factors in the continued growth of the program. Strong commitment by the chief executive officer of the institution has also been a strong factor in the continuous growth of the program. The study indicates that close affiliation with professional organizations has benefited the program by influencing the development of quality and effective, diverse employers. The results show that the cooperative program significantly aided the students, institutions, and employers annually by placing approximately 1,200 students in their major-related working places.

Os pressupostos da teoria de avaliação de programas orientada ao consumidor estabelecem que o avaliador tem que identificar os resultados dos programas e seus valores sob a perspectiva das necessidades dos usuários. A avaliação deve ajudar os usuários a escolher entre programas concorrentes por meio de informações. Tendo por base esse arcabouço teórico, o objetivo geral desta pesquisa foi analisar as variáveis de avaliação de programas de especialização prevalecentes segundo a visão de especialistas que são aderentes aos modelos de decisão e de avaliação dos participantes. Concluiu-se que as melhores práticas de avaliação educacional sobre qualidade atendem às necessidades dos alunos no processo de decisão por programa de especialização para executivos a cursar e na avaliação dos programas em curso no contexto brasileiro. Essa constatação foi possível por meio do estudo das hipóteses da pesquisa, com a análise dos resultados da técnica Delphi, entrevistas e aplicação de questionários. Os constructos identificados na teoria de avaliação educacional e levantados na aplicação da técnica Delphi são internos (Corpo Docente, Qualidade das Disciplinas, Perfil da Turma, Infra-Estrutura, Biblioteca, Estudos de Casos, Gestão do Programa, Forma de Ingresso e Monografia) e externos (Reputação, Mercado de Trabalho, Análise de Valor, Classificação em Rankings, Satisfação do Empregador, Internacionalização e Custo). Especialistas, administradores de programas e professores criticam os rankings de melhores instituições de ensino, mas admitem que ainda dão visibilidade e credibilidade ao programa na percepção de alunos e empregadores. O desenvolvimento, a aplicação, os objetivos e os benefícios da avaliação educacional não são completamente compreendidos pelos interessados em programas de especialização. Esse fato é justificado pela carência de recursos no país para a formação específica na área e pouca produção científica sobre o assunto. O grande número de programas de especialização para executivos foi considerado prejudicial à qualidade percebida pelos empregadores e alunos, e causador da confusão entre programas lato e stricto sensus. Administradores de programas, professores, alunos, empregadores e especialistas atribuíram importância elevada aos constructos Reputação, Corpo Docente e Qualidade das Disciplinas. Para a avaliação educacional, o Custo foi considerado o de menor importância por especialistas, administradores de programas, professores e alunos. Entretanto, o mesmo constructo teve importância significativa para alunos no momento de escolha por um programa de especialização a cursar. Os constructos Monografia e Forma de Ingresso foram considerados de pouca importância pelos respondentes tanto para a avaliação educacional quanto para o modelo de decisão por programa de especialização a cursar. A hipótese de que os professores percebem mais valor nos constructos internos do que os alunos, administradores de programas e empregadores não foi aceita como verdadeira. A segunda hipótese, que sugeriu que especialistas percebem mais valor nos constructos internos do que alunos, administradores de programas e empregadores não foi aceita como verdadeira. A terceira hipótese sugeriu que os alunos percebem mais valor nos constructos externos do que professores, administradores de programas e especialistas. Constatou-se que os alunos percebem mais valor ao Mercado de Trabalho, Classificação em Rankings, Custo e Reputação para avaliação educacional do que os professores. A quarta hipótese sugeriu que os empregadores percebem mais valor nos constructos externos do que especialistas e professores, mas nenhuma diferença significativa foi apontada pelos testes. A quinta hipótese (alunos ingressantes percebem mais valor nos constructos externos do que nos internos para o modelo de decisão por programa de especialização a cursar) e a sexta (alunos percebem mais valor nos constructos internos do que nos externos para a avaliação educacional) não foram aceitas, pois nenhuma diferença significativa foi identificada entre as médias dos constructos. / The assumptions pertaining to consumer oriented program evaluation theory establish that the evaluator must identify the programs results and their values under the perspective of users necessities. The evaluation must help users choose between competitor programs with information. Based on this theoretical framework, this research aimed at analyzing specialization program evaluations variables that prevail under the specialists points of view that are sticking to the participants models of decision and of evaluation. The conclusion is that the best practices of quality education evaluation attend the students necessities to choose one executive specialization program to follow and to performance program evaluation in Brazils context. This conclusion was possible with the study of researchs suppositions, with the analysis of Delphis results, interviews and questionnaires. The elements identified by education evaluation theory and raised with Delphi are internal (Teaching Staff, Quality of Disciplines, Students Profile, Infrastructure, Library, Case Studies, Programs Management, Selection of Students and Monograph) and external (Reputation, Labor Market, Value Analysis, Classification in Rankings, Employers Satisfaction, Internationalization and Cost). Specialists, programs managers and teachers criticize the best schools rankings, but they admit that rankings give visibility and credibility to the program under the perceptions of students and employers. The development, the application, the objectives and the benefits of education evaluation are not completely understood by the specialization programs users. This fact is justified by the lack of resources in Brazil addressed to education research on evaluation and lack of scientific production. The great number of existing executive specialization programs was considered harmful to the quality perceived by employers and students, and responsible for the confusion between lato and stricto sensu programs. Programs managers, teachers, students, employers and specialists attributed high importance to Reputation, Teaching Staff and Quality of Disciplines. For the education evaluation, Cost received the smallest importance from specialists, programs managers, teachers and students. However, Cost had significant importance to students at the moment of choosing a specialization program to follow. Monograph and Selection of Students were considered little important to both education evaluation and to the decision model used to choose a specialization program to follow. The supposition that suggested that teachers attribute more value to internal elements than students, programs managers and employers was not accepted. The second supposition, that suggested that specialists attribute more value to internal elements than students, programs managers and employers was not accepted. The third supposition suggested that students attribute more value to external elements than teachers, programs managers and specialists. It was proved that students attribute more value to Labor Market, Classification in Rankings, Cost and Reputation than teachers to education evaluation. The fourth supposition suggested that employers attribute more value to external elements than specialists and teachers, but it was no found significant difference during the tests. The fifth supposition (new students attribute more value to external elements than to internal elements to the decision model used to choose a specialization program to follow) and the sixth supposition (students attribute more value to internal elements than to external elements to education evaluation) were not accepted, because it was not found significant difference between elements means.

Os pressupostos da teoria de avaliação de programas orientada ao consumidor estabelecem que o avaliador tem que identificar os resultados dos programas e seus valores sob a perspectiva das necessidades dos usuários. A avaliação deve ajudar os usuários a escolher entre programas concorrentes por meio de informações. Tendo por base esse arcabouço teórico, o objetivo geral desta pesquisa foi analisar as variáveis de avaliação de programas de especialização prevalecentes segundo a visão de especialistas que são aderentes aos modelos de decisão e de avaliação dos participantes. Concluiu-se que as melhores práticas de avaliação educacional sobre qualidade atendem às necessidades dos alunos no processo de decisão por programa de especialização para executivos a cursar e na avaliação dos programas em curso no contexto brasileiro. Essa constatação foi possível por meio do estudo das hipóteses da pesquisa, com a análise dos resultados da técnica Delphi, entrevistas e aplicação de questionários. Os constructos identificados na teoria de avaliação educacional e levantados na aplicação da técnica Delphi são internos (Corpo Docente, Qualidade das Disciplinas, Perfil da Turma, Infra-Estrutura, Biblioteca, Estudos de Casos, Gestão do Programa, Forma de Ingresso e Monografia) e externos (Reputação, Mercado de Trabalho, Análise de Valor, Classificação em Rankings, Satisfação do Empregador, Internacionalização e Custo). Especialistas, administradores de programas e professores criticam os rankings de melhores instituições de ensino, mas admitem que ainda dão visibilidade e credibilidade ao programa na percepção de alunos e empregadores. O desenvolvimento, a aplicação, os objetivos e os benefícios da avaliação educacional não são completamente compreendidos pelos interessados em programas de especialização. Esse fato é justificado pela carência de recursos no país para a formação específica na área e pouca produção científica sobre o assunto. O grande número de programas de especialização para executivos foi considerado prejudicial à qualidade percebida pelos empregadores e alunos, e causador da confusão entre programas lato e stricto sensus. Administradores de programas, professores, alunos, empregadores e especialistas atribuíram importância elevada aos constructos Reputação, Corpo Docente e Qualidade das Disciplinas. Para a avaliação educacional, o Custo foi considerado o de menor importância por especialistas, administradores de programas, professores e alunos. Entretanto, o mesmo constructo teve importância significativa para alunos no momento de escolha por um programa de especialização a cursar. Os constructos Monografia e Forma de Ingresso foram considerados de pouca importância pelos respondentes tanto para a avaliação educacional quanto para o modelo de decisão por programa de especialização a cursar. A hipótese de que os professores percebem mais valor nos constructos internos do que os alunos, administradores de programas e empregadores não foi aceita como verdadeira. A segunda hipótese, que sugeriu que especialistas percebem mais valor nos constructos internos do que alunos, administradores de programas e empregadores não foi aceita como verdadeira. A terceira hipótese sugeriu que os alunos percebem mais valor nos constructos externos do que professores, administradores de programas e especialistas. Constatou-se que os alunos percebem mais valor ao Mercado de Trabalho, Classificação em Rankings, Custo e Reputação para avaliação educacional do que os professores. A quarta hipótese sugeriu que os empregadores percebem mais valor nos constructos externos do que especialistas e professores, mas nenhuma diferença significativa foi apontada pelos testes. A quinta hipótese (alunos ingressantes percebem mais valor nos constructos externos do que nos internos para o modelo de decisão por programa de especialização a cursar) e a sexta (alunos percebem mais valor nos constructos internos do que nos externos para a avaliação educacional) não foram aceitas, pois nenhuma diferença significativa foi identificada entre as médias dos constructos. / The assumptions pertaining to consumer oriented program evaluation theory establish that the evaluator must identify the programs results and their values under the perspective of users necessities. The evaluation must help users choose between competitor programs with information. Based on this theoretical framework, this research aimed at analyzing specialization program evaluations variables that prevail under the specialists points of view that are sticking to the participants models of decision and of evaluation. The conclusion is that the best practices of quality education evaluation attend the students necessities to choose one executive specialization program to follow and to performance program evaluation in Brazils context. This conclusion was possible with the study of researchs suppositions, with the analysis of Delphis results, interviews and questionnaires. The elements identified by education evaluation theory and raised with Delphi are internal (Teaching Staff, Quality of Disciplines, Students Profile, Infrastructure, Library, Case Studies, Programs Management, Selection of Students and Monograph) and external (Reputation, Labor Market, Value Analysis, Classification in Rankings, Employers Satisfaction, Internationalization and Cost). Specialists, programs managers and teachers criticize the best schools rankings, but they admit that rankings give visibility and credibility to the program under the perceptions of students and employers. The development, the application, the objectives and the benefits of education evaluation are not completely understood by the specialization programs users. This fact is justified by the lack of resources in Brazil addressed to education research on evaluation and lack of scientific production. The great number of existing executive specialization programs was considered harmful to the quality perceived by employers and students, and responsible for the confusion between lato and stricto sensu programs. Programs managers, teachers, students, employers and specialists attributed high importance to Reputation, Teaching Staff and Quality of Disciplines. For the education evaluation, Cost received the smallest importance from specialists, programs managers, teachers and students. However, Cost had significant importance to students at the moment of choosing a specialization program to follow. Monograph and Selection of Students were considered little important to both education evaluation and to the decision model used to choose a specialization program to follow. The supposition that suggested that teachers attribute more value to internal elements than students, programs managers and employers was not accepted. The second supposition, that suggested that specialists attribute more value to internal elements than students, programs managers and employers was not accepted. The third supposition suggested that students attribute more value to external elements than teachers, programs managers and specialists. It was proved that students attribute more value to Labor Market, Classification in Rankings, Cost and Reputation than teachers to education evaluation. The fourth supposition suggested that employers attribute more value to external elements than specialists and teachers, but it was no found significant difference during the tests. The fifth supposition (new students attribute more value to external elements than to internal elements to the decision model used to choose a specialization program to follow) and the sixth supposition (students attribute more value to internal elements than to external elements to education evaluation) were not accepted, because it was not found significant difference between elements means.

This study undertook an evaluation of six alternative education programs provided by St Augustine's Education and Training in the Barwon region of Victoria. The impetus for the study has come from the staff of St Augustine's who bravely opened up their programs to closer scrutiny in order to gain a clearer understanding about the needs of the students attending their programs, the theoretical basis of their work and the outcomes of program intervention. A utilisation-focused approach was used and incorporated the following components: a needs analysis using a variety of measures to identify the characteristics of the students and to describe the experiences of students and parents, a qualitative process to articulate the model of psycho-education intervention and issues in service delivery and an impact evaluation to assess the effectiveness of intervention. There were 158 students aged between 6 and 15 years enrolled in programs over a two year period. The results of the needs analysis found that programs were appropriately targeting a marginalised and disadvantaged group of students that typically came from a low socioeconomic background, were significantly behind in their academic achievement, had poor adaptive functioning skills, exhibited a low level of social-emotional development (social-emotional competencies and negative attitudes towards learning) and a high level of psychopathology (mental health symptoms). Using the Survey of Student Assets (Bernard, 2002), the impact evaluation found that programs were successful in increasing the students' social-emotional capabilities and positive attitudes towards learning but did not impact significantly on the students' presenting mental health symptoms and adaptive functioning as measured by the Teachers Report Form (Achenbach and Rescoria, 2001). However, these results are to be interpreted with caution given the small sample sizes used in the analysis. Across the six programs it was found that a total of 89 students (56.3%) experienced a positive outcome destination immediately post-program and these students were maintained in, or transitioned back to mainstream school (n=71) or entered vocational training, education or employment (n= 18). Negative outcome destinations were experienced by 35 students (22.1 %) either because they were excluded (n=3), not engaged (n= 15) or withdrew from program (n= 17). At the end of the study, the remaining 25 students (15.8%) were either referred internally onto another program (n=16) or remained in program (n=9). In predicting outcome destinations, students with positive outcomes, were those that presented with less serious mental health symptoms, in particular they had lower rule-breaking and externalising scores on the Teachers Report Form at referral and a higher level of adaptive functioning in the area of 'working hard'. Students experiencing positive outcome destinations were also those that attended program regularly and for a fewer number of months and were involved in fewer critical incidents whilst attending. The qualitative process evaluation found that the model delivered was grounded in the principles of exemplary practice found in the psycho-educational literature and focused on building positive relationships and a sense of belonging, the provision of hands-on learning activities and rewarding individual achievement. Parents and students generally provided positive feedback however the theme analysis of staff, student and parent interviews and the case study scenarios did identify a number of critical areas to be addressed. These included clarifying the target group and the length and intensity of intervention, improving assessment, planning and transition processes, better collaboration with other services and mainstream schools, the on-site delivery of auxiliary services to meet specific student needs, work to better support and involve parents and to develop a sense of community across the school. A strategic planning process involving key stakeholders to systematically address these areas was recommended.