This exploratory enquiry into the effectiveness of an in-patient psychotherapy program measured the changes in mood and anxiety symptoms, difficulty with emotion regulation, and dispositional mindfulness in a clinical population with diverse psychiatric morbidity. Participants were 53 adults (74.5% female, mean age = 35 years) who participated in a 4-week in-patient psychotherapy program offering a variety of interventions, including mindfulness skills training, and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-psychosocial skills training. Program input data, demographic variables, psychiatric morbidity, and medication on discharge were tracked. There was an average improvement of 29.86 ± 20.56 on the Mood and Anxiety Symptoms Questionnaire-D30 and 12.43 ± 17.75 on the Difficulty with Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form, indicating an improvement in mood and anxiety symptoms and emotion regulation post-intervention. There was an average improvement of 17.6 ± 23.66 on the Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire, indicating an increase in dispositional mindfulness post-intervention.

No description available.

Universal Newborn Hearing Screenings have largely been successful since the National Institute if Health Consensus Development recommended, in 1996, that all infants should receive a newborn hearing screening prior to hospital discharge. Currently, the implementation of newborn hearing screening programs is varied across states and hospitals in the U.S. Due to this high variability, it is the responsibility of each individual hospital to formulate and consistently maintain a protocol for their newborn hearing screening program. This can create a great burden among hospitals as they must obtain the appropriate equipment, as well as employ and train screeners. However, national medical groups may be utilized to alleviate this burden. These medical groups supply the equipment, and more importantly, employ and train the screeners. This not only alleviates the burden on hospitals, but also provides a degree of standardization across newborn hearing screening programs which may reduce lost-to-follow-up statistics. Hospitals who do not utilize a national medical group may not have the expertise to formulate a comprehensive newborn hearing screening protocol. Our study is interested in examining if birthing hospitals that utilize a national medical group have more standardized medical protocols and have better (lower) lost-to-follow-up statistics. A survey was administered to current universal newborn hearing screeners employed at five hospitals across the eastern region of Tennessee. The survey examined various aspects of a typical newborn hearing screening program including training protocols and requirements, screening equipment, data recording and tracking, and methods of delivery of test results. In our presentation, we will be sharing the results of this study and interpret the data in light of determining best practices for newborn hearing screenings.

No description available.

This mixed methods study was designed for two purposes: (1) to provide district and campus leaders data about the effectiveness of how the studied district's READ 180 and System 44 literacy intervention programs were implemented, and (2) to assess the programs' impact on student outcomes to determine whether the district was meeting literacy goals and if recommendations identified in the previous program evaluation report were addressed. Archival de-identified student achievement data and focus group interviews comprised gathered data. Although quantitative data show some growth from both programs since the prior program evaluation, the programs failed to meet the 2018-2019 intended outcome of at least 70% of participating students meeting expected Lexile growth except for READ 180 participants at four elementary and six secondary campuses. System 44 participants failed to meet the district's intended outcome at any campus level. Data showed that placement of elementary English learner (EL) students in both literacy programs was disproportionate to the district's EL population. System 44 students with an EL indicator had a negative correlation with growth in Lexile score, indicating that ELs are not being served well by this program. Qualitative data presented little evidence that the 2017-2018 program evaluation recommendations were effectively implemented. Emerged themes related to monitoring and controlling program processes by district and campus leaders were perceived fidelity, data alignment, and immutable factors. Both quantitative and qualitative data highlighted areas in which program fidelity was lower than expected; therefore, district administrators were not able to achieve the intended purpose of the programs.

No description available.

In this study, we examined the structural validity of the Secondary Transition Fidelity Assessment (STFA), a measure of secondary schools’ use of programs and practices demonstrated by research to lead to meaningful college and career outcomes for all students, including students at-risk for or with disabilities, and students from diverse backgrounds. Drawing from evidence-based practices endorsed by the National Technical Assistance Center for Transition and the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division on Career Development and Transition, the instrument development and refinement process was iterative and involved collecting stakeholder feedback and pilot testing. Responses from a national sample of educators (N = 1,515) were subject to an exploratory factor analysis resulting in five measurable factors: (a) Adolescent Engagement, (b) Inclusive and Tiered Instruction, (c) School-Family Collaboration, (d) District-Community Collaboration, and (e) Professional Capacity. The 5-factor model was subject to a confirmatory factor analysis which resulted in good model fit. Invariance testing on the basis of geographical region strengthened validity evidence and showed a high level of variability with regard to implementing evidence-based transition services. Findings highlight the need for consistent and regular use of a robust, self-assessment fidelity measure of transition service implementation to support all students’ transition to college and career.

Traditional horse 4-H programs develop life skills and knowledge in youth. Horseless horse programs lack evaluation for the same benefits. This study evaluated and compared four horseless and seven traditional horse participants from Washington County 4-H in Utah for gains in horse knowledge and development of 10 life skills that are commonly found in 4-H curriculum today: leadership, teamwork, self-responsibility, personal safety, problem solving, decision making, critical thinking, goal setting, communication, and concern for others. The researcher conducted interviews to learn about life skill experiences of the horse program participants and discover what barriers prevented horseless youth from participating in traditional 4-H horse clubs. Participants also took a short knowledge quiz and a demographic survey. Money was identified as the most common reason horseless participants don’t have access to a horse and cannot participate in the traditional 4-H horse program. When compared, traditional horse youth showed greater life skill development and knowledge gain than horseless participants. Recommendations for future research into horseless programming included using other forms of research to evaluate the program further and identifying life skills for a statewide horseless curriculum.

This project study addressed the problem of bullying, victimization, and the awareness of these activities at a public suburban middle school in Northwest Georgia. The study school implemented the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) in 2009, yet had not evaluated the program to identify whether or not it met its goals after 1 year of implementation. Using a quasiexperimental, goal-free program evaluation, the research questions explored whether or not the OBPP succeeded in reducing the student reported rates of bullying and victimization while also increasing awareness of such activities. A Mann Whitney U test was utilized for analysis due to violations of normality and homoscedasticity in the data. The quantitative sequence consisted of descriptive analyses of archived student data from the pre- and postimplementation (N = 346 and 137, respectively) Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ) administration. Results indicated an increase, though not statistically significant, in student reporting of victimization and awareness and a statistically significant increase in rates of bullying. Results in the evaluation report supported continued OBPP implementation with anticipation that implementing more than 1 year should yield a decrease in student reported rates of bullying and victimization and increase in awareness of what constitutes these activities. The project study could lead to positive social change by increasing awareness of bullying in the learning community and reducing the number of reported incidents of bullying and victimization.

Child maltreatment is a public health problem directly linked to poor outcomes across the lifespan, including chronic health conditions and even death. The local population served by the agency in which the project took place experienced an increase in reports of child maltreatment. Agency leadership identified deficiencies in parental knowledge about positive parenting practices as a contributing factor to the problem. To address the problem, the agency implemented a quality improvement evidence-based home visiting pilot initiative. The evaluation of that initiative was the purpose of this project. Bandura's social cognitive learning theory provided the theoretical framework for the project, and the logic model was used to facilitate the practice change in the facility. Evaluation was based on data extracted from the Family Support Program Outcome Survey (FSPOS) tool completed by all 22 program participants. Comprising 7 questions, the FSPOS was a validated and reliable tool and was used to assess the increase in participants' parental knowledge related to positive parenting practices before and after participation in the home visiting program. Survey results revealed that participation in the initiative increased participant knowledge. Using a 7-point Likert scale in which higher scores indicated higher levels of positive parenting practices, participant scores increased from M = 4.71 before participation to M = 6.60 after enrollment. The results reinforce the significance of the nursing profession in health promotion and disease prevention in communities. Findings of this project have the potential to promote positive social change by decreasing child maltreatment, which may reduce cost of care and improve quality of life across the lifespan.