Biomedical subjects

J H McLeod

Publications and source records attributed to J H McLeod.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

An evaluation of prototype school-based peer counseling program.

This study reports short-term outcome evaluation results of a school-based peer counseling (PRC) program as implemented by North Forsyth High School during January 1990-February 1991. The PRC program is evaluated in terms of: 1) the content of the program as evaluated by the PRC trainees; 2) the quality of the PRC instructor as perceived by these trainees; 3) several instrumental objectives deduced from the PRC training program; and 4) the degree to which the program was able to reach other students at North Forsyth during the time the PRC was in operation. In the absence of a control group, the treatment effect of the program is determined in terms of individual growth curve models. Through the multiple evaluation designs employed in this research, it has been learned that a significantly larger proportion of students in the PRC group had more favorable attitude toward the content of the PRC program when compared to the content of what they learned from their regular school curricula. Furthermore, a significantly larger proportion of students in the PRC program reported more favorable attitude toward their instructor than their regular school teachers. The PRC program was able to elicit an improvement of trainee self-esteem (p less than .01) and their social values (p less than .05) between pre and post of the Peer Training Evaluation Instrument. In terms of client access, 18.4 percent of the totality of potential clients at North Forsyth have been reached through sixty-one peer counselors sanctioned by the school.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

A short-term outcome evaluation of the "I'm Special" drug abuse prevention program: a revisit using SCAT inventory.

In the previous evaluation of "I'm Special" (ISP) drug abuse prevention/education program, the long-term impact was reported. The current study examines the short-term outcome of the ISP to establish a conceptual link between what has been observed longitudinally to the short-term outcome. The evaluation instrument used is children's Self-Concept Attitudinal (SCAT) Inventory. Subjects are the third grade students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg public schools located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The evaluation design employed is before and after-measurement without a control group. In the absence of a control group, the treatment effect of the ISP is estimated on the basis of individual growth curve models. Through the study, it has been learned that the ISP was able to generate positive changes along six attitudinal dimensions included in the SCAT Inventory. The six scales have shown close relationships to student performance at school: student-teacher relationship; self-esteem, attitude toward school, basic social values, advanced social values, and the perception of family cohesiveness. Of these, the first four scales have shown statistical significance at the .05 level. It is estimated that the ISP is capable of generating a significant amount of positive attitudinal changes on a short-term basis with a time span of about four months between pre- and posttests. These findings are consistent with the conclusions obtained from the longitudinal study where student alcohol and other drug using behavior and other related student problem behaviors were significantly lower among the ISP recipients than non-recipients of the program.

Child↗

PubMed1989

An outcome evaluation of refusal skills program as a drug abuse prevention strategy.

In recent years successful strategies developed in the antismoking campaign became the basis for widely publicized and federally endorsed antidrug "Just Say No" programs. Similarly, many refusal skills programs have been introduced as a new strategy in adolescent drug abuse prevention. However, none of these programs have been evaluated. While employing a typical refusal skills program entitled "WHOA! A Great Way To Say NO," the effectiveness of the program was examined. Through this outcome evaluation, it has been learned that the program was not able to impact on the "high-risk" attitudinal syndromes that are closely related to student drug involvement. Unexpectedly, a significantly larger proportion of students in the program felt it was more difficult to say "No" at the time of the posttest than during the time of the pretest. This seems to suggest that the program participants became more attentive to the issues surrounding saying "No" or, perhaps, were more sensitized to the whole issue involving saying "No," thereby making it more difficult for them to say "No" during the posttest period.

Assertiveness↗