Program analysis using the client oriented cost outcome system.

The client oriented cost outcome system has been under development in Pennsylvania community and hospital programs since 1972. The system builds upon the behavioral and decision data generated with or on behalf of consumers. Flexibility for local program system design is permitted if the procedures of consumer intake, review, and termination document each consumer's (a) problems, resources, and goals, (b) overall functioning level in their ordinary community, and (c) services intended and rendered as related to (a), above. While the system's primary application is in providing feedback for local program quality assurance and evaluation procedures, aggregation of data permits program planning and evaluation at county, state, and federal levels in terms of (a) client demographic or diagnostic characteristics, and (b) program service characteristics and objectives.     

Examining the link between program implementation and behavior outcomes in the lifestyle education for activity program (LEAP)

Lifestyle Education for Activity Program (LEAP) was a comprehensive, school-based intervention designed to promote physical activity in high school girls. The intervention focused on changes in instructional practices and the school environment to affect personal, social, and environmental factors related to physical activity. Multiple process evaluation tools and an organizational assessment tool were developed to monitor program implementation from a framework called the LEAP essential elements, which characterized complete and acceptable intervention delivery; secular trends were also monitored. Using process data, LEAP intervention schools were categorized into low- and high-implementing groups and compared with control schools on nine essential elements assessed at the organizational level. The Wilcoxon scores test revealed that low- and high-implementing intervention, and control schools differed significantly on two of nine administrator-reported organizational-level components: having a physical activity team and having a faculty-staff health promotion program. A mixed-model analysis of covariance indicated that, compared to control schools, a greater percentage of girls in high-implementing schools reported engaging in vigorous physical activity. Process evaluation can be used to understand the relationship between level of implementation and successful program outcome.     

Evaluation of a measure of incidental legal risk behaviors in college students who use alcohol

The purpose of this study was to develop a new measure of incidental behaviors that put college students at increased risk of legal consequences while using alcohol, the Legal Risk Behaviors while using Alcohol (LRBA) scale. Two hundred and twenty one college students who used alcohol were recruited to complete an online study about their use of alcohol, specific behaviors engaged in while using alcohol, and associated consequences. Analyses revealed that the 19-item LRBA consisted of three factors--"Risky Behaviors," "Protective Behaviors," and "Private Settings." Analyses suggested that the LRBA had adequate test-retest reliability and internal consistency. Initial results indicate that the LRBA may be a useful measure to help us better understand what behaviors college student engage in that increase their risk for experiencing a legal encounter.     

Gender differences in the enactment of sociosexuality: an examination of implicit social motives, sexual fantasies, coercive sexual attitudes, and aggressive sexual behavior

An unrestricted sociosexual orientation (the endorsement of casual sex) has been found to correlate with undesirable behaviors and personality characteristics more so in men than in women. Using a community sample of men and women, we investigated the correlations between sociosexuality and behaviors, motives, attitudes, and fantasies related to sexual aggression. Participants (n = 168; ages 21-45) completed self-report measures of sociosexual orientation, sexual conservatism, rape myth acceptance, adversarial sexual beliefs, attitudes toward women, sexual behaviors, and perpetration of sexual aggression. Participants also wrote five brief stories that were scored for power and affiliation-intimacy motives and two sexual fantasies that were coded for the theme of dominance. For both men and women, an unrestricted sociosexual orientation was correlated with behavioral items indicating earlier life experiences with sex, a greater number of lifetime sex partners, and more frequent sexual activity. For men, an unrestricted sociosexual orientation was linked with higher levels of rape myth acceptance and adversarial sexual beliefs; more conservative attitudes toward women; higher levels of power motivation and lower levels of affiliation-intimacy motivation; and past use of sexual aggression. For women, an unrestricted sociosexual orientation was associated with sexual fantasies of dominance and lower levels of sexual conservatism.     

Child advocacy: a dialogue of inclusion

This paper is a case study that illustrates how privilegingchildren's voices in conversations has assisted our work withchildren who have witnessed domestic violence. Using the ChildCrisis Team in Auckland, New Zealand as case study, we arguethat as an inclusive practice child advocacy seeks to positionchildren as active participants in the community developmentprocess rather than the passive recipients of adult hopes anddreams. To break the cycle of violence in the home, children'sexperiences and knowledge should be enabled to enter the spacefor the production of strategies and actions that enhance thecreation of safe home environments, by incorporating their voicesthrough respectful practice by professionals working in theareas of domestic violence and child protection.     

Comparison of Standard Radiological Risk Models and Using RESRAD to Derive Generic Risk-Based Area Factors for Final Status Surveys

The RESidual RADioactivity (RESRAD) computer code has been used for years to calculate carcinogenic risk and radiological dose from exposure to radionuclides. The basic ingestion, inhalation, and direct gamma intake equations used by RESRAD, Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund (RAGS), and the Soil Screening Guidance for Radionuclides (SSG) are similar and can produce similar results, but there are some notable differences. Of particular interest is the fact that RESRAD incorporates sophisticated environmental transport models. Associated environmental parameters allow risk assessors to consider, among other variables, the size (i.e., surface area) of the contaminated zone, a variable not typically addressed quantitatively under the RAGS/SSG paradigm. Considering the similarities between basic RESRAD, RAGS, and SSG intake equations and given the broad acceptance of RESRAD, it stands to reason that RESRAD-derived area factors may be used to supplement RAGS/SSG human health risk calculations. This would allow risk assessors to retrofit existing results or otherwise modify standard RAGS/SSG equations for use in site closeout planning under the Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM), given a key component of the MARSSIM method is the consideration of small areas of elevated activity or "hot spots" through the use of area factors.