No description available.

Objective: A collaborative campus-community partnership program provided the framework for an intervention to reduce motor vehicle accident fatalities along a rural Appalachian highway. Students from public health, nursing and medicine worked with community members to identify the problem and plan the strategy to address it. Methods: An inquiry-based learning model proved to be an appropriate approach to engage student teams with community leaders in identifying and resolving health needs. Inquiry-based strategies place students in guided learning situations where their investigations lead to working solutions. The inquiry-based model matched the curricular objectives of the Community Partnership Program (CPP) more closely than the classroom oriented problem-based learning approach. Implementation: In the spring of 1994, students, along with citizens and officials of a rural Appalachian county, initiated a community-based prevention project focused on reducing deaths from motor vehicle accidents employing the principles of an inquiry-based learning model. Discussion: This project effectively demonstrates the role that students can play in mobilizing diverse elements of the community to address identified health and safety concerns. It provides an illustration that a longitudinal, community-based, service-learning approach to health professions education is beneficial to both student learners and communities. Conclusions: Through the use of inquiry-based learning methods, students gained real life experience in applied principles of health statistics, epidemiology, community organization, health risk communication, health education planning and program implementation. Outcomes of the project included a measurable reduction in automobile-related fatalities and the initiation by the state department of transportation of a series of investigations expected to pave the way for physical improvements to the roadway.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

During the last decade there has been a renewed focus on improving the instruction of children at risk for not learning to read well and ways to effectively involve their parents to enhance their children's reading achievement. This focus has particularly centered on how programs of school, family, and community partnerships can be organized to improve schools and enable all families to support children's reading and literacy skills (Epstein et al, 2002-2009). This study examined the extent to which the reading achievement of African American male learners improves with school, family, and community partnerships. The sample consisted of fourth grade African American males from the Tidewater region of Virginia who were enrolled in Title 1 schools that participate in the National Network of School Partnerships. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between school, family, and community partnerships and the reading achievement of the African American male. Second, the study identified which type of parental involvement significantly influenced the reading achievement of African American males. Third, the study identified parental involvement activities that significantly influenced the reading achievement of the African American male learner. Teachers and administrators were surveyed using an instrument adapted from Epstein's School, Family, and Community Partnership Survey, The Virginia Standards of Learning reading and language arts assessments provided data for reading achievement of fourth grade African American males. Data analysis revealed no significant differences in promising practices and the reading achievement of fourth grade African American males. An ANOVA showed a significant difference between principals and teachers in their ratings of the importance of Type 6 activities, collaborating with the community. A correlation was found between Type 3 parental involvement activities of volunteering and the reading achievement of fourth grade African American males. An ANOVA showed a significant difference between principals and teachers in their ratings of Teacher Reports of School Program Type 4 (Learning at Home). Significant differences were found between principals and teachers in their ratings of Teacher Reports of Total School Program to Involve Families. A correlation between teacher estimates of parents' involvement and the mean SOL English score for African American male fourth grade students was found. / Ed. D.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Physiotherapy services for disabled children and their families have conventionally been received at a hospital or school for children with special educational needs in the main towns and cities of South Africa. Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) programmes were proposed and established as an additional approach to Institutional-Based Rehabilitation to address the need for accessible resources for these families. In this study the author evaluated two CBR programmes for disabled children and their main caregivers in two separate low socioeconomic peri-urban areas of Cape Town. The programme, a weekly group meeting, included physiotherapy interventions to assist the development and functional abilities of the children by means of activities that the caregivers could include in daily home care. They handled their own children following demonstrations and correction of handling skills by the author. The majority of the caregivers were mothers. Their children, less than 13 years old, were severely intellectually impaired. Some with concomitant physical disabilities. The author implemented the interventions of the CBR programme and she required to understand the impact on the particpants in a study using qualiative research methods. In the pilot programme the attendant members were individually interviewed, after her withdrawal, for their opinions of the outcomes. Evaluation documentation.ofjheir children and CBR programme records were related to the caregivers' responses. From the pilot study experiences the author felt that additional methods of data collection would result in a greater understanding of the impacts of the interventions. Expanded methods of research were utilised in the study of the second group. During the interventions at group meetings the author used field notes to record observations. Participant observation allowed the author to analysis the responses of the participants. Focus group interviews assisted in understanding external factors influencing the participants as well as their needs. Individual interviews, after the closure of the CBR programme, allowed the participants to express their views of the interventions. Documentation of the individual evaluation of each child was related to the views expressed by the caregivers. Common meanings and themes were explored in the analysis of the various data collected. Analysis revealed that interventions of education and training for the caregivers improved their knowledge and understanding of the impairments and disability of their children. The children benefited functionally from their families increased skills and knowledge. Through discussion with other families at group meetings, the caregivers had an understanding of other disabilities in children and developmental outcomes possible for their own child. The caregivers were more confident to address the negative perceptions of disability in their communities. It is recommended that physiotherapists implementing any interventions for disabled children should ensure that the caregivers are partners in planning and selection of interventions and that their needs are addressed. Community participation in Community-Based Rehabilitation programmes was required for the participants to become self-reliant and solve their own needs as well as for the programme to be sustainable. This was demonstrated in only one of the programmes.

No description available.