Check, Connect, Expect (CCE) is a secondary tier behavioral intervention for at-risk students who require targeted behavioral support in addition to school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports. A full-time coach in the CCE intervention provided behavioral supports including daily check-in and check-out procedures, as well as targeted social skills instruction. This study extended CCE to a self-contained elementary school for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Twenty-two students participated in the 17-week study that involved a four week baseline phase, followed by a 13-week intervention phase. The following research questions were addressed: (a) How did CCE affect student behavior?; (b) How did CCE affect student weekly academic engagement?; (c) How did CCE affect student weekly math calculation and oral reading fluency growth?; (d) How did severity of behavior predict student response to CCE?; (e) How did function maintaining the behavior predict student response to CCE?; (f) How did relationship strength with the coach predict student response to CCE?; and (g) How socially valid was CCE for teachers, paraprofessionals, and students? Two growth curve models were used to analyze the academic and behavioral data. Overall, students displayed significant behavioral growth during the intervention phase and positive growth in the areas of academic engagement and achievement. Severity of behavior, function, and relationship strength were not significant predictors of student response to the CCE intervention. Future directions, limitations, and implications for practice are discussed.

No description available.

IMPACT (Integrated Management of Physician-Delivered Alcohol Care for Tuberculosis patients) is a randomized, controlled effectiveness trial based in Tomsk, Russia, that assesses the effect of oral naltrexone and brief behavioral counseling on tuberculosis outcomes and alcohol use in 200 patients. Tuberculosis physicians without addiction experience delivered interventions as part of routine care over a 6-month period, focusing on alcohol intake reduction to support successful tuberculosis treatment. We describe design, training, and fidelity monitoring using a Russian and American team of physicians, bilingual coders, and supervisors. Culturally appropriate adaptations, limitations, and implications for future trials are discussed. The clinical trial identification number is NCT00675961. Funding came from the National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse.

IMPACT (Integrated Management of Physician-Delivered Alcohol Care for Tuberculosis patients) is a randomized, controlled effectiveness trial based in Tomsk, Russia, that assesses the effect of oral naltrexone and brief behavioral counseling on tuberculosis outcomes and alcohol use in 200 patients. Tuberculosis physicians without addiction experience delivered interventions as part of routine care over a 6-month period, focusing on alcohol intake reduction to support successful tuberculosis treatment. We describe design, training, and fidelity monitoring using a Russian and American team of physicians, bilingual coders, and supervisors. Culturally appropriate adaptations, limitations, and implications for future trials are discussed. The clinical trial identification number is NCT00675961. Funding came from the National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse.

No description available.

With the increase in the prevalence rate of children with autism in the U.S. there is a growing need for empirically based treatments to address the many deficits that children with autism manifest. Social Stories™ is one such treatment that has grown in popularity to address social deficits in children with autism. However, no meta-analysis done in recent years has found Social Stories™ to be an effective treatment, stating weak and inconsistent research methodologies as one of the primary issues in the studies examined. The current study sought to examine the use of Social Stories™ using best practice research standards for single subject design. A total of 4 elementary aged students with a special education eligibility of autism participated in the study. Results of the study revealed an increase in pro-social skills for all 4 participants and a promising future for further Social Story™ research and the quest to recognize it as an effective, empirically based treatment for children with autism. Furthermore, teachers reported that they found Social Stories™ to be an effective, feasible intervention, that helped them to better understand their students’ social deficits.

The participants in this study were referred by the teacher or the teacher support team for a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and development of a positive behavior support plan to address disruptive behavior and academic skills deficits. Therefore, the purpose of Experiment I was to examine the ability of FBA procedures to identify students with reading difficulty who demonstrated problem behavior potentially maintained by escape from academic demands. Each environmental variable introduced during the brief functional analysis was manipulated via a multiple element design (Cooper, Wacker, Sasso, Reimers, & Donn, 1990; Derby et al., 1992; Northup et al., 1991). Experiment II sought to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of the Reading to Read (RTR) intervention package in addressing the oral reading fluency and comprehension deficits of referred elementary students. Experiment II also examined the generalized effects of the reading intervention on reducing the identified escapemaintained problem behaviors (i.e., off-task) during the reading class. For Experiment II, a multiple baseline (MBL) across participants design was used to evaluate the impact of the RTR intervention on addressing both academic and problem behaviors (e.g., identified on the FAIR-T). Results from descriptive and functional analysis procedures in Experiment I revealed that all of the participants were performing at least one grade level below expectations in regarding to reading fluency. In addition, all of the participants exhibited more off-task behavior during the difficult task demand versus the easy task demand conditions of the brief functional analysis. The participants also obtained lower scores on comprehension questions during the difficult task demand versus the easy task demand conditions. This pattern of responding suggested the off-task behavior was potentially maintained by escape from academic demands in reading. Results from Experiment II revealed that all participants increased their oral reading fluency levels on intervention probes in comparison to the baseline levels. In addition to the increase in oral reading fluency, there was an increase in their percentage of correct responses in reading comprehension when compared to baseline data. In regards to generalization reading probes, all of the participants evidenced overall increases in their reading skills in comparison to baseline data. In fact, all of the participants increased from frustrational to near mastery levels. Finally, results from Experiment II revealed that all participants’ experienced reduction in their off-task behavior while partaking in the RTR intervention in comparison to baseline levels. This notable decrease extended throughout the study for all participants. Overall, the present results revealed that the RTR intervention was effective in addressing the reading fluency and comprehension deficits of identified students. In addition, remediation of reading skills appeared to have assisted in the reduction of social problem behavior performed during reading instruction in the general education classroom. Important implications for practice and inclusion of the procedures used in this study within applied settings are discussed. In addition, important limitations and considerations for future research are outlined.

This applied research project responds to a critical problem in health and development: how to effectively translate our research evidence to the communities with and for whom we work in order to stimulate successful, sustainable health promotion activities and social change. The tangible product of this research is a handbook for health and outreach workers from immigrant communities from the Horn of Africa living in Toronto. The handbook is a resource which will be used as a starting point for the generation of community-based health initiatives, in this case, HIV/AIDS prevention programs. The research applies a conceptual approach which emphasizes participatory action research theory and methodology, and equitable, transcontextual research partnerships. It uses a model which merges both scientific evidence and experiential (ethnographic) evidence of risk and vulnerability to create new understandings on which to base the development of health programs. Stories, grounded in ethnographic evidence, are at the heart of the research strategy. The handbook is an example of experimental ethnographic writing: dialogue is used to communicate research evidence, health, and skills information; and a number of personal narrative:s have been constructed as resources to help health workers generate dialogue on issues of risk and vulnerability, and begin a process of reflection and action. In a larger context, the lessons learned as this work is implemented and evaluated in the community will contribute to the knowledge of intervention science. The research also serves as an example of ethical anthropology and raises for discussion ethnography's future project at the tum of the century. With attention to how anthropologists represent their work, 'moral ethnography' can serve a larger human project, helping us better understand what it is to be human and stimulating moral conversations about how we want to live. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

An experimental, randomized, control-group, pretest-postest design was employed in this study to examine the efficacy of the use of two short-term group counseling interventions employing Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy with at-risk adolescents in changing their beliefs, altering their attitude toward school, and moderating behaviors that are problematic in an educational setting. Forty-eight subjects were included in this study from an alternative evening high school setting and were assessed in the initial stage of treatment using The Idea Inventory and The Majoribanks Attitude-To-School Inventory. The School Social Behavior Scale was employed at this beginning point to observe these students by teachers and administrators with regard to social competence and anti-social behaviors. Subjects were selected from a pool of regularly attending students in an alternative high school program and randomly assigned to three groups, one employing REBT concepts and techniques alone, one using REBT concepts and techniques in conjunction with the therapeutic board game, Let's Get Rational, and a control group. The treatment and control group designations were also randomly assigned to the counseling groups. Ten weekly 50 minute group counseling sessions were conducted by two master's level counselors employing the tenets of REBT with adolescents. Group participants had the opportunity to learn new interpersonal skills and behaviors that may be helpful to them in staying in school. At the conclusion of the 10 week treatment group sessions, the subjects in the three groups were re-assessed employing the same instruments mentioned before to determine if the activities in the group sessions made significant differences in the rational thinking, attitude to school, and school social behaviors of these at-risk students in an alternative setting. Data were analyzed using descritpive statistics in addition to a factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) to measure the pretest and posttest performance and understanding of the subjects. Results revealed that the differences in the scores of the treatment groups were significant the REBT group employing the game, Let's Get Rational, contributing to students learning and understanding of the tenets of REBT at the .05 alpha level on the four dependent variables. There were no significant differences between genders regarding the four dependent variables, and there was a lack of a significant interaction between the intervention approach taken and the gender of the group member. There was no significant interaction between the gender of the subject and the treatment group placement. The results from both REBT groups support the efficacy of using the tenets of REBT with school aged populations who are at risk for failure. Appropriate conclusions and recommendations based upon the study findings were made. Implications for secondary school counselors and those counselors working with at-risk students were delineated. / Ed. D.

yes / This briefing paper reports on research exploring ten detailed case studies of livelihoods-oriented interventions operating in Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda and Lesotho. As a proxy for best practice, these interventions were analysed through an audit of sustainable livelihood `principles¿. This revealed general lessons about both the practical opportunities and challenges for employing sustainable livelihoods approaches to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development interventions and also about the changing format of development interventions. / Department for International Development.