To address students’ academic and behavioral needs, schools are held accountable for implementing effective evidence–based interventions. An important relationship exists between implementation fidelity and the effectiveness of interventions. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify and evaluate the evidence of interventions to improve the implementation fidelity of academic interventions and to evaluate the quality of the existing research with a focus on the quality of the research on the most successful interventions. A total of 13 studies met the inclusion criteria. Each study was coded based on a quality of evidence coding protocol and the findings were then reviewed and synthesized. The results show that performance feedback was the most used and successful intervention for increasing implementation fidelity of an academic intervention. Professional development and teacher training were other interventions that were implemented to improve implementation fidelity. These results are summarized and implications for school-based practice are discussed. With such few studies that met the inclusion criteria, there is a need for more research in this area.

Evidence-based interventions address a specific context, and because of this narrowed specificity, there may not be sufficient research to determine whether it will work in a specific context or with a specific population of students. This is a limitation of the empirically supported interventions in the field of special education. Compared to other fields (e.g., health care), research in the field of special education is still emerging. Some areas are researched far more than others. As an example, this issue is focused specifically on arts and education. Although many would argue this is an important topic that should be addressed in schools and a content area students with disabilities should have access to, there is limited research in this area. On the other hand, other academic interventions to support students with disabilities, such as reading strategies, are well researched [...]

Cervical cancer is the most common human papilloma virus (HPV) -associated cancer and is the second leading cause of death in the world. Vaccination against HPV is essential to reduce the incidence of HPV and subsequent morbidity and mortality. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 79 million Americans are currently infected with HPV. The site for this DNP project was a 163-bed facility with inpatient and outpatient services in the southern United States. The vaccination rate at the site was 48%. The facility lacked educational interventions to prepare and remind providers to offer HPV vaccine. The purpose of this DNP project was to address a significant gap by increasing clinician knowledge through the development of educational materials, the design and implementation of training sessions for staff, and the development of protocols that require providers to offer the vaccine to every eligible patient and to call the patient and remind them of appointments for vaccine injections. The academic center for evidence-based practice star model was used to translate knowledge into nursing practice to improve outcomes change. For this project, a panel of 10 experts from the facility was formed to conduct a formative and summative evaluation of the educational materials and protocols. The findings of the study showed an acceptance of the plan suggesting the importance of the educational materials and the educational process to increase HPV vaccination rates, which can thereby reduce death and disease associated with HPV through the empowerment of the clinicians to provide necessary and appropriate care.

With the high prevalence of mental health disorders among children, there is a growing need for effective mental health interventions that will enhance overall wellness and functioning while meeting the developmental needs of children (Stagman & Cooper, 2010). In addition, there are increasing demands from policymakers, managed-care organizations, and educators to implement evidence-based interventions (EBIs), or treatments that are supported by strong research (Kratochwill & Shernoff, 2004). One treatment that shows promise as an effective, developmentally-appropriate intervention that meets the mental health needs of children is play therapy (Bratton, Ray, Rhine, & Jones, 2005; Landreth, 2002; Ray, 2011). Although results of play therapy studies have shown some significance in improving a variety of issues for children, the body of research has been criticized, primarily due to inconsistent or inconclusive results across studies or compromised research designs and methods (Phillips, 1985; 2010; Read, Hunter, & McMillan, 1999). In addition, the field also lacks differentiation among various theoretical play therapy approaches across the research base (Phillips, 2010). To address these gaps in the literature, this study utilized a strong research design to examine the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) on the challenging behaviors of three kindergarten students. A single-case multiple baseline design was used to maintain a high level of control with rigorous data collection methods (Kennedy, 2005; Ray and Schottelkorb, 2010). Research methods were designed to meet the What Works Clearinghouse pilot standards for single-case designs, which use stringent criteria in evaluating quality of research (U.S. Department of Education, 2014). The integrity of the CCPT intervention was assessed to ensure accurate implementation. Results from direct observational data suggested a relationship between CCPT and the improvement of classroom behaviors. In contrast to direct observational data, teacher ratings did not indicate improvements in behavior. Ratings by parents yielded significant results for improving behaviors at home. This study made valuable contributions to the literature by utilizing a strong research design and demonstrating promising findings for CCPT. Practical implications include using as few as eight sessions of CCPT as a behavioral intervention at school and engaging in ongoing teacher consultation to supplement CCPT.

School climate is a construct frequently explored in educational research (Lee, Cornell, Gregory, & Fan, 2011; Wang & Degol, 2016) and is associated positive several outcomes including with improved student-teacher relationships (Croninger & Lee, 2001) and reduced school dropout risk (Jia, Konold, & Cornell, 2016). Unfortunately, emerging research indicates that racial differences in schools’ penal practices may be negatively coupled with Black students’ experience of a supportive school climate (Bottiani, Bradshaw, & Mendelson, 2017). Black students are disproportionately subjected to exclusionary disciplinary practices (e.g., suspensions and expulsions) in the learning environment (Fenning & Rose, 2007) and Black girls disproportionally encounter more adverse disciplinary outcomes in their educational setting (National Black Women’s Justice Institute, 2018) relative to their White peers (Blake, Butler, Lewis, & Darensbourg, 2011; Crenshaw, Ocen, & Nanda, 2015; Epstein, Blake, & González, 2017; Hines-Datiri & Carter Andrews, 2017). Persistent use of punitive practices may hinder Black girls’ racial identity, academic, and social-emotional development in the classroom (Chavous, Rivas-Drake, Smalls, Griffin, & Cogburn, 2008; Leath, Mathews, Harrison, & Chavous, 2019) and consequently detrimentally impact their school climate. Researchers have called for evidence-based and culturally relevant interventions that promote positive academic outcomes for Black girls (Jones et al., 2018). However, evidence-based interventions are dependent on the use of empirically supported assessments with diverse student groups (Pendergast et al., 2017). Evidence-based assessments are necessary to identify students’ needs in the educational setting and provide baseline data that allow for the evaluation of intervention effectiveness. Moreover, school climate assessments for Black girls may facilitate the development of evidence-based interventions for Black girls - who are disproportionally disciplined and may be at risk of experiencing a negative school climate. This study investigated the structural validity and reliability of scores from a school climate measurement tool. The study examined measurement invariance of the Student Connection Survey, with a specific focus on Black girls’ scores. Results indicated the Student Connection Survey is represented by five-latent factors and is equivalent between Black and White middle school girls. Implications, strengths, limitations, and future research directions are discussed. / School Psychology

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are chronic and pervasive developmental disorders; children with ASDs require more multidisciplinary services than children with other developmental, behavioral, and emotional disorders (Kogan et al., 2008). Little research has been done on the practices and perspectives of the professionals providing services to children with ASDs. Evidence-based practice (combining use of evidence-based interventions [EBIs], family-centered care [FCC] respecting patient/family values, and clinical expertise) leads to the best outcomes for children with ASDs (APA Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice, 2006). The aim of this study was to assess the extent to which psychological constructs (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control) within the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) are helpful for understanding the behavior of professionals in regards to two areas of evidence-based practice: recommending and/or providing EBIs and using a FCC approach to care with children with ASDs. Professionals (N=709) providing direct services to children with ASDs were recruited from different disciplines (Education, Medicine/Nursing, Occupational and Physical Therapy, Psychology, Social Work, Speech Language Pathology/Audiology) and were asked to fill out an Internet or paper survey including measures on TPB constructs and EBI and FCC behavior. Participants were recruited from a convenience Internet sample and a stratified random sample of online provider listings (from professional and autism-specific organizations). Professionals’ attitudes and familiarity with EBIs significantly predicted their self-reported recommendation and provision of EBIs in the positive direction. Professionals’ attitudes, perceived-behavioral control, and years in practice significantly predicted self-reported use of an FCC approach with children with ASDs in the positive direction. There was a trend for explicit training on EBI or FCC to predict professionals’ behavior, but these findings did not reach conventional levels of significance. Subjective norms did not significantly predict EBI or FCC behavior. Discipline membership did not moderate the relationship between TPB and EBI and FCC self-reported behavior measures. The TPB is a useful framework for better understanding professionals’ evidence-based practice behavior. This study sheds light on practices and perspectives of professionals working with children with ASDs and highlights areas for future research and training with this population.

The present study examined the effectiveness of a shared storybook reading intervention in increasing children’s early numeracy and early literacy skills through a multiple baseline single case design. Four parent-child dyads were included in the study, and children’s early numeracy and early literacy skills were measured using the eNumeracy Early Math Assessments and the Preschool Early Literacy Indicators, respectively. The study also measured mathematical dialogue to determine if an increase in children’s early numeracy skills is due to the intervention and not other confounding variables. Finally, the study measured intervention integrity, and parent ratings of social validity. Results of the study indicated that parent-child mathematical dialogue increased for three participants and could not be calculated for the fourth participant due to attrition. Visual analysis and hierarchical linear modeling results indicated no statistically significant early numeracy or literacy outcomes across participants. A masked visual analysis indicated that there was an observable difference in children’s scores on the eNumeracy Ordinal Position measures, but none of the other outcome measures. Additionally, the majority of parents were able to implement the intervention with integrity and all parents reported high levels of social validity. The findings of this study show that the parent directed shared mathematical storybook reading intervention was effective in increasing mathematical dialogue between parents and children. Future studies should examine the impact of shared mathematical storybook reading interventions on discrete early numeracy and literacy skills specifically targeted during the book reading interventions.

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Utilizing a mixed methods approach in assessing cities and metropolitan areas with the highest rates of breast cancer disparities in African-American communities, this study presents the Affiliate perspective of the Susan G. Komen non-profit organization in combination with available socioeconomic data and academic literature. Analyzed through an anthropological lens, qualitative and quantitative data illuminate the lived experiences and dynamic circumstances in which breast cancer disparities are disproportionately experienced in 21 of the nation’s populations of African-Americans. Two main recommendations arose from this research: prioritization of granting to activities such as patient navigation, usage of patient narrative messaging, community-based participatory research methods of program development and implementation, mobile mammography delivery, usage of lay health educators, and self-advocacy education to alleviate barriers to healthcare and supplementation of the current educational activities of the Komen Affiliates through program sharing and leverage of current assets with consideration of current Affiliate capacity. These recommendations may help in alleviating breast cancer disparities present in African-American communities with the highest levels of disparities in the nation.