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Results for “Program Effectiveness”

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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

A self-advocacy plan for high school students with learning disabilities: a comparative case study analysis of students', teachers', and parents' perceptions of program effects.

This qualitative study examined immediate perceived effects of a self-advocacy plan for students with learning disabilities (LD) in a 4-year comprehensive high school. The study's design was based on information-processing theory and qualitative research techniques, such as participant/observation and interviews. Subjects were 15 ninth- and tenth-grade students with LD, their parents, and their resource teachers. Participants responded to standardized open-ended interview questions upon completing the first step of the Self-Advocacy Plan. The study suggests that the Self-Advocacy Plan is an effective program increasing students' awareness of the vocational and academic services they qualify for, clarifying their perceptions of their roles as learners and individuals with LD, increasing their understanding of LD as a condition that has certain general characteristics, and developing their awareness of career and educational opportunities. The study provides suggestions for future self-advocacy research and for special educators who wish to design programs for students with LD incorporating the concepts of psychosocial development of the individual, information-processing theory, and self-advocacy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Bicultural training: a cost-effective program.

The effects of a bicultural training program in easing adjustment to the work world were studied on new graduate nurses working in eight medical center hospitals. Data from that study are used to examine program costs per new graduate-head nurse dyad. The cost effectiveness of the bicultural program is illustrated by comparing program costs with savings resulting from decreased turnover among new graduates who receive bicultural training. The mean time and cost estimates for the program may be used by others to determine cost effectiveness of bicultural training in their own institutions.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMed1999

Helping children adjust--a Tri-Ministry Study: II. Program effects.

This report describes program effects of the Tri-Ministry Study a school-based, longitudinal trial carried out over a 5-year period to assess the effectiveness of classwide social skills training (SS), partner reading (RE), and a combination of both (SS & RE) to reduce maladjustment among children in the primary division (up to grade 3) of Ontario schools. It also places these effects in the context of other school-based prevention studies and discusses them in view of important methodological and programmatic issues. The incremental effects attributable to the intervention programs were small and sporadic. There were statistically significant increases in prosocial behaviour observed in the playgrounds of intervention schools with no differentiation by program type. Furthermore, there was some evidence--a reduction in teacher and parent-rated externalising problems--that the combination of SS & RE and SS alone may have had modest beneficial effects. A review of nine other school-based studies, which evaluated universally delivered mental health prevention programs in general populations of students, revealed similar mixed results. There are both methodologic and programmatic issues implicated in the weak findings that have been reported to date. These issues need to be addressed to advance knowledge about the potential impact of mental-health prevention initiatives delivered universally through school-based programs. A companion paper gives the specific details on the programs, randomisation of schools, selection of subjects, measurements, and analysis.

Child↗
PubMed1983

Identifying effective components of alcohol abuse prevention programs: effects of fear appeals, message style, and source expertise.

Despite the importance of alcohol abuse prevention programs, the effectiveness of many components of these programs has not been demonstrated empirically. An experiment tested the efficacy of three components of many prevention programs: fear appeals, one- versus two-sided message style, and the expertise of the source. The persuasive impact of this information was examined on 113 ninth-grade students' intentions to abstain from drinking alcohol while they are teenagers. The results reveal that fear appeals are successful in strengthening students' intentions to refrain from drinking. Implications are discussed for implementing these principles and for designing future investigations of alcohol abuse prevention programs.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The contribution of social science research to population policy and family planning program effectiveness.

Social science research has made important contributions to population policy and to the effectiveness of family planning programs. Social science concepts, theories, and methods potentially are relevant to all aspects of reproductive behavior, including actual fertility, proximate variables, and desired family size. Social science research also contributes to the understanding of the social, economic, and political institutions that potentially affect, either directly or indirectly, the whole biosocial reproductive system and family planning programs. At least as important as its specific theories and findings is the role of social science in testing how to adapt such knowledge to distinctive national and local cultural circumstances of family planning programs. A central point is that carefully monitored pilot projects are desirable before launching full-scale national programs, as well as being continuing resources for program development. The research on early programs in Asia has been important, because those programs encountered and overcame some of the presumed obstacles to new programs.

Asia↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Family planning program effects on the fertility of low-income U.S. women.

Under rigorous statistical controls, it has been shown that the larger the proportion of lower SES women enrolled in organized family planning programs, the lower their fertility. Program effects independent of other social, economic and cultural factors were shown for lower SES whites and blacks, and for most age groups. The potential of a fully implemented program to reduce fertility differentials between upper and lower SES groups was assessed, using 1969-1970 fertility rates and the estimates of 1969 program impact. Although we believe that the program's impact has increased in magnitude over time, even these estimates from an early point in U.S. program development provide impressive documentation that the program reduces fertility in the subpopulation served by the program, and, by implication, that there is a genuine need for organized family planning services, even in an industrialized nation like the United States. If there were no need, there could be no program effect. The family planning program was one of the major new health and social programs introduced in the mid-1960s. This study shows that, far from failing, the program was succeeding very well in attaining its objectives. The program works because it gives women of lower socioeconomic status access to modern and effective methods of contraception that they would not otherwise have. As a result, the rates of unwanted and mistimed pregnancy of patients are lower than those of comparable women who lack access to organized clinic programs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Are social-psychological smoking prevention programs effective? The Waterloo study.

Recent evaluations of smoking prevention programs have suggested considerable promise for curricula emphasizing resistance of social influences. The present study extends these evaluations by addressing key methodological limitations in previous work. Twenty-two matched schools were randomized to experimental and control conditions. Grade 6 students received a 6-week core curriculum, plus additional sessions through Grades 7 and 8. Questionnaires, and saliva samples to validate self-reported smoking behavior, were collected at five times over the 2-year study period. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses examined program impact for five levels of initial smoking experience, ranging from "never smoker" through regular, weekly smoker. Significant program effects were documented, most clearly for those having some experience with smoking before the program began and for those with smoking peer and family models. This study provides the methodologically most rigorous test to date of social influence programs for smoking prevention and documents for the first time significant effects for those at high risk for smoking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Planning for program effectiveness in quality assurance.

Quality assurance programs are now a fact of life in health care institutions, yet the effectiveness of these programs in improving care is unproven. Reports of quality assurance activities rarely discuss "remedy implementation" or the outcome of such attempts. Effectiveness does not flow naturally from sound methodology or documentation but is the most challenging part of the program. This article examines reasons for this difficulty, and the authors recommend strategies for improving problem resolution and increasing the influence of the program in the organization. They urge attention to program implementation and emphasize active participation by clinicians, patients, administration, and staff. This broad representation promotes examination of a wide range of patient care issues as well as medical audits, allows the program to enlist support for change, and enables the program to anticipate and make timely contributions to the decisions of policymaking groups.

Health Facilities↗
PubMed1993

Canadian Human Specimen Bank: an emerging Great Lakes health effects program.

Plans for establishing a Canadian human specimen bank as part of the Great Lakes Health Effects program initiated by the Environmental Health Directorate, Health and Welfare Canada, have been under consideration since 1990. This presentation delineates the program rationale, our objectives in establishing the bank and the progress we have made to-date in achieving our goal. This paper is intended to be a planning document.

Canada↗
PubMed1990

The measurement of outcomes in the assessment of educational program effectiveness.

Postsecondary accrediting agencies recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation, including the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), are required to evaluate educational program effectiveness by determining that institutions and programs document the achievement of their students and graduates in verifiable and consistent ways, indicating that institutional and program purposes are met. For the assessment of medical education programs this represents a departure from the traditional method of inferring quality from institutional compliance with standards for program organization and function. In the new assessment calculus, success is measured as the integrated product of the outcomes, the indicators of achievement that medical schools already are collecting from many sources, for instance, data on premedical achievement and attributes, medical school performance, graduate education ratings and test results, specialty certification, licensure, and practice. Although a recent LCME enquiry showed that 80% of U.S. medical schools were collecting outcome data on students and graduates, there was a lack of coherence and system, little integrated analysis, rare longitudinal study, and limited use of the information to evaluate and revise the curriculum or to validate admissions, promotion, and graduation criteria. The longitudinal study of the quantified results of educational programs need not resurrect old controversies about the linkage between learning in medical school and the quality of doctors' later practice. The purpose of examining outcomes is to gain sharper focus on the achievement of distinctive institutional goals, to facilitate program improvement and renewal, and to better assure the competence of graduates within the boundaries of achievement that schools have drawn as their educational objectives.

Accreditation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluating the program effects of a radio drama about AIDS in Zambia.

This study describes an approach to the analysis of data that is designed to isolate program effects for evaluations and applies that approach to a program in Zambia designed to disseminate AIDS information. Evidence is considered that a radio drama broadcast for nine months had an impact on knowledge and behavior related to AIDS among Bemba speakers in northern Zambia. Using results from large sample surveys (1,600 men and women), conducted before and after the drama was broadcast, the analyses compare changes in knowledge and behavior in those most likely and least likely to have listened to the broadcast. While the population as a whole had improved its knowledge substantially, and some people reported having reduced risky behavior, attributing these changes to the program itself was not possible.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1995

In search of effective programs to address students' emotional distress and behavioral problems. Part I: Defining the problem.

This article discusses the prevalence and seriousness of emotional difficulties and behavioral problems in students, with a special focus on high school students and the obstacles they encounter when addressing these problems. The educational, psychological, and medical literature which addressed the problem over the past five years was evaluated, and 22 references were selected. It was determined that the lack of consensus on the terms used to describe the problem prevented accurate assessment of its prevalence. However, one fifth to one third of the students were found to be affected, leading to serious educational, psychosocial, and economic difficulties--and more are likely to be affected in the 1990s. Since the school and mental health systems have not been entirely successful in addressing the problem, adolescents' patterns of seeking help indicate that peer support groups can be part of the solution. It was concluded that the enormity of the problem requires a low-cost gate-keeping mechanism to facilitate early identification and intervention. Thus, school peer-support programs, if proven effective, may complement traditional mental health services in addressing adolescents' emotional distress and behavioral problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Childhood tuberculosis in Alabama: epidemiology of disease and indicators of program effectiveness, 1983 to 1993.

An 11-year review of childhood tuberculosis in Alabama was made in order to define indicators of program effectiveness in interrupting community transmission. Minority (nonwhite) children, 96% of whom were black, had the highest risk of disease (odds ratio, 5.5; 95% confidence interval, 3.9, 7.7). Of 171 cases, 71% (n = 122) occurred in blacks and 2% (n = 3) occurred in Asian-Pacific islanders. Age 0 to 4 years (107 of 171) compared with age 5 to 14 years (64 of 171) was an additional risk factor for the development of tuberculosis (odds ratio, 3.4; 95% confidence interval 2.5, 4.7)), whereas gender was not. Males accounted for 49% of cases (83 of 171). During the period 1983 to 1993 there was no trend of increasing or decreasing numbers among child cases (trend test P = 0.94) despite significant changes by year. The purified protein derivative test had a 9% (8 of 89) false negative rate and was significantly more likely to be negative in children younger than 1 year (4 of 12 vs. 4 of 77; P = 0.01). During the 2-year interval 1992 to 1993, 19% of cases were thought to be preventable. We believe that the PPD skin test is useful and an improved contact investigation is essential to preventing childhood tuberculosis. Miniepidemics of transmission of tuberculosis from adults to a large group of children partially explain the observed disease pattern.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome educational program: effects on adolescents' knowledge and attitudes.

Although many schools are presenting acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) education programs for adolescents, few have evaluated the effects of the programs. The effects of two different types of program presentation, a lecture or a film, were compared to a no-program condition. Students who received the lecture demonstrated significantly greater knowledge gains than either of the other two groups. The lecture group's greater gain was maintained at the 1-month follow-up, although all three groups showed a decline in knowledge scores from posttest to follow-up. Both educational programs significantly increased students' positive attitudes toward patients with AIDS; there were no differences between the two groups. Positive attitudes decreased equally for both groups from posttest to follow-up, although these scores remained significantly more positive than the pretest scores. Students in both treatment groups showed a slight increase in positive attitudes toward practicing preventive behaviors following the programs, but those attitude scores returned to baseline levels at follow-up. Although educational programs increase knowledge and positive attitudes toward patients with AIDS, they do not appear to have a positive effect on attitudes toward practicing preventive behaviors. More intensive programs may be necessary to encourage behavioral changes.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Suggested new directions for research for the second phase of Health Canada's Great Lakes Health Effects Program: conclusions from a workshop.

Health Canada sponsored a workshop on March 1-3, 1994, in Aylmer, Québec. The objectives of the workshop were to present the research findings of the department's five-year Great Lakes Health Effects program, to identify key conclusions from the research, and to define future research priorities. About one hundred researchers from various disciplines such as monitoring, exposure, general toxicology, carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, reproduction, teratology, neurotoxicology, immunotoxicology, risk perception, and environmental sociology participated in the workshop. Future objectives, to be achieved by the year 2000, were recommended by the participants for the second phase of the Great Lakes program. These included: obtaining additional monitoring data on fish, wildlife, wild birds' eggs, water, and sediment for the "critical" contaminants in the Great Lakes; establishing a human tissue bank to assess trends in the levels of such contaminants in humans; using models to assess human exposure to these contaminants from various biota; identifying groups that are highly exposed to the chemicals in the Great Lakes; identifying individuals who are overly sensitive to chemicals in the Great Lakes; increasing research on the influence of environmental contaminants on male fertility; continuing work on mixtures of the critical contaminants as well as on individual contaminants, and increasing research on the changes in public perception, values, attitudes, and behavior as a consequence of environmental pollution.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Program effectiveness of a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed adolescent females as measured by exit personality tests.

This study examines whether there are any significant differences in the Jessness Inventory psychological profiles between adolescent females who have successfully completed a treatment program at a residential treatment center and adolescent females of similar socioeconomic backgrounds and age who have not exhibited overt evidence of psychological problems. A significant difference was found in the mean scores on several of the scales. Implications as to the meaning of these differences and program effectiveness are discussed.

Adolescent↗