Weighing the Success of a National Alzheimer's Disease Service Demonstration

Summary

As the need for long-term care services within the United States has grown dramatically, Congress has consistently deflected the primary responsibility for such care to state governments, local organizations, and, ultimately, the family. This paper examines the impact of the Alzheimer's Disease Demonstration Grants to States (ADDGS) program, a small federally funded initiative within the context of this trend. Although the demonstration can be deemed a huge success relative to the goals of creating new services for an underserved target population, questions are raised about the merits of the program relative to the exploding need for an effective network of long-term care services.     

Mixed‐Method Evaluation of Continuing Professional Development: Applications in Cultural Competence Training

Continuing professional development has been identified as an important tool for advancing the competence of social workers, yet outcomes of professional development are conventionally evaluated using methods that cannot provide trustworthy information about program effectiveness. This paper suggests that innovations in social research can be applied to strengthen the evaluation of educational outcomes from continuing professional development. The benefits of designing a mixed‐method evaluation of educational interventions are explored by reviewing the experience of implementing a cultural competence continuing professional development workshop series in Toronto, Canada. Review of the process demonstrates that the combination of methods results in a richer data set that can answer questions about both the process of the learning experience, and the effect that training has on professional practice.     

我国高等教育亟待加强逻辑与批判性思维训练——以南京地区部分高校教学计划为例

在当前大学本科教学的课程设置中,逻辑学的开课覆盖面偏窄、覆盖率偏低,甚至空缺,缺乏对学生批判性思维的培养和训练。另一方面,却是社会需求日益增加,在升学和求职考试中,对逻辑知识、批判性思维能力的考查日益加重。各高校应该加强逻辑学课程教学,改变这种学与用、供和需脱节的现状,提高大学生逻辑思维能力。     

The frequency of Mislabelled chemicals from commercial suppliers

This essay provides an analysis of conflicts of interest (COIs) that arise in university relationships with private industry and articulates the concept of an "institutional" COI. It compares personal and institutional COIs in order to shed some light on the difficulties universities face in managing their own COIs. The essay discusses some proposed strategies for responding to institutional COIs, such as developing independent boards to monitor and oversee the university's COIs, building firewalls between various parts of the university to prevent financial interests from affecting university functions, creating independent research institutes, and prohibiting some types of university investments.     

The early home environment and developmental outcomes for young children in the child welfare system

The quality of the early home environment is predictive of young children's subsequent cognitive, academic, and behavioral functioning. Limited research has focused on the effects of the early caregiving environment on the functioning of young children involved with the child welfare system. This study investigated the influence of children's home environments (i.e., number of children in the home, number of moves the child experienced, level of cognitive stimulation, and level of emotional support) during the first 2 years of life on their preschool developmental outcomes (i.e., cognition, language, social skills, and behavior problems).As anticipated, a high-quality early home environment promoted the well-being of preschool children who had entered the child welfare system as infants. Children who lived with greater numbers of children incurred more compromised cognitive, language, behavioral, and social outcomes. No significant associations emerged between the total number of placements and developmental outcomes; children who remained in the same home during infancy (typically the birth family home) had more compromised developmental outcomes in every domain except behavioral problems.Both cognitive stimulation and emotional support in the home predicted higher cognitive and language scores, decreased behavioral problems, and increased social skills. Early out-of-home placement and lack of emotional support interacted to predict children's behavioral problems. These findings are considered in the context of extant research and policy relevant to young children in the child welfare system.     

Maltreatment prevention through early childhood intervention: A confirmatory evaluation of the Chicago Child-Parent Center preschool program

Increased recognition of the consequences associated with child maltreatment has led to greater emphasis on its prevention. Promising maltreatment prevention strategies have been identified, but research continues to suffer from methodological limitations and a narrow focus on select prevention models. This investigation uses data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study to examine mediating mechanisms that link the Chicago Child-Parent Center preschool program to a reduction in overall child maltreatment and, more specifically, child neglect. We use structural equation modeling to test child, family, and school measures hypothesized to mediate the effects of CPC participation on maltreatment and neglect. Results indicate that a substantial proportion of the program's impacts can be accounted for by family support processes, including increased parent involvement in school and maternal educational attainment as well as decreased family problems. The CPC program's association with reduced school mobility and increased attendance in higher-quality schools also significantly mediated its effects on maltreatment and neglect. Further, a decrease in troublemaking behavior contributed modestly to mediating the program's association with maltreatment but not neglect. We discuss the implications of these results for the field of maltreatment prevention.     

The context of program implementation and evaluation: A pilot study of interorganizational differences to improve child welfare reform efforts

This article contributes to the growing literature on evaluation and implementation science by examining the interaction between staff perceptions of organizational strength with perceptions and indicators of program fidelity. As part of a pilot project related to the evaluation of the Family to Family initiative, a survey was distributed to employees within two urban child welfare agencies with a total of 410 respondents across both sites, for a combined response rate of 72.2%. Survey results were analyzed both in terms or respondents' perception of their agency as well as in relation to measures of program performance and workload. Multivariate models show that organizational indicators are the most significant and positive predictors of perceived program implementation. Specifically, staff who positively perceived the availability of information within their agency also believed that the programs were well implemented in their agency. These findings suggest that as the value of program changes are articulated within an organization, the implementation of the initiative is perceived to improve.     

创新视野下的“卓越工程师教育培养计划”

为提高工程教育人才培养质量,国家启动实施了"卓越工程师教育培养计划"。"卓越计划"从培养理念、培养模式、培养机制和培养制度等方面对工程教育人才培养进行了全面的创新。"卓越计划"的实施不仅对提高整个工程教育人才培养质量有重要意义,对推动整个高等教育人才培养模式改革、提高高等教育整体质量也有着十分重要的意义。     

Evaluation plan of the 6for6 research skills program for rural and remote physicians

Overwhelming issues and barriers often prevent rural and remote physicians (RRPs) from pursuing the many socially accountable research questions they encounter on a daily basis. Although research training programs can empower RRPs to rise to these challenges, there is a lack of evidence on how they should be developed and refined. At Memorial University, a faculty development program (FDP) called 6for6 has been helping RRPs surmount their research quagmires and engage in scholarship since 2014. After an initial three-year (2014-17) pilot, we prepared a detailed plan to evaluate the 6for6 research FDP for RRPs and inform future years of delivery. Using a modified Delphi method and participatory action model a group of program team members, stakeholders and evaluation experts developed an evaluation plan including a logic model and an evaluation matrix addressing five key themes. To our knowledge, this is the first evaluation plan for a research-focused FDP targeting RRPs. While this plan was developed specifically for the 6for6 FDP, our approach to its development may be useful to any institution interested in evaluating an FDP with limited resources.     

312经络锻炼法对函授学员高血压病的疗效研究

目的 研究312经络锻炼法（简称312）以函授班形式教学,对原发性高血压病近、中期疗效追踪及相关机理。方法 40例函授班学员有高血压病者,进行教、学、练、督导312,自身对照分组。于312前及后第1,3,6,12个月分别观察其症状、体征、血压、用药、疗效等指标的变化,数据综合分析总结;并与以往面授班者作比较。结果 ①血压：40例于312后1,3,6个月与312前比较各均有显著性差异,P〈0.01（图1、表1）。②疗效：症状其他指标,用药指标等相应地有所好转。312后1,3,6个月显效率逐渐递增,各分别为18%,35%,42.5%;总有效率各为95%,97%,100%;无效率各分别为5%,2.5%,0%,呈逐渐递减趋势,（表2）。③本文函授班血压和疗效结果与以往面授班者比较,完全等同。结论 312函授班对高血压病有良好效果。