Using pretesting to ensure your messages and materials are on strategy.

Pretesting is an important demonstration of understanding consumers' wants and preferences. This evolving, data-driven process provides opportunity for ensuring time, effort, and valuable resources are not wasted. The purpose of this article is to clarify the process of pretesting, why one should pretest, common mistakes, and pretesting on a shoestring budget.

The use of portfolios in coordinated school health programs: benefits and challenges to implementation.

BACKGROUND: Coordinated school health programs (CSHP) frequently struggle with how to adequately evaluate implementation. The CSHP framework provides flexibility in how it is implemented; however, this flexibility makes it a challenge to effectively evaluate. Portfolios have been used as a technique for evaluating progress and achievement. This article describes the development and implementation of a CSHP portfolio and examines the perceptions of school personnel who have used CSHP portfolios. METHODS: This study employed content analysis and key informant interviews. Two elementary, 4 middle, and 2 high schools in Florida participated. RESULTS: Portfolios (N = 5) contained rich descriptions and program artifacts documenting each school's CSHP goals and activities. Key informant interviews (N = 14) revealed that school personnel found value in completing CSHP portfolios. CSHP portfolios were described as helpful in assessing progress, facilitating transition with new members, and building support for their efforts. Barriers to portfolio development included lack of time, money, and human resources. CONCLUSIONS: This study found the use of portfolios in documenting the implementation of the CSHP feasible and useful for school personnel. Portfolios provide a rich description of CSHP activities that may not be apparent through traditional program reports used for evaluation. As portfolios continue to be used in implementing CSHP, they may be viewed as a best process for CSHP implementation and a key element in the evaluation of CSHP.

Prevention Research Centers: contributions to updating the public health workforce through training.

Because public health is a continually evolving field, it is essential to provide ample training opportunities for public health professionals. As a natural outgrowth of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Prevention Research Centers Program, training courses of many types have been developed for public health practitioners working in the field. This article describes three of the Prevention Research Center training program offerings: Evidence-Based Public Health, Physical Activity and Public Health for Practitioners, and Social Marketing. These courses illustrate the commitment of the Prevention Research Centers Program to helping create a better trained public health workforce, thereby enhancing the likelihood of improving public health.

Cigarette use in 6th through 10th grade: the Sarasota County Demonstration Project.

OBJECTIVES: To identify factors associated with cigarette smoking in the 6th-grade through 10th-grade youth population of Sarasota County, Florida. METHODS: A closed-ended, quantitative survey was completed by 2004 youth and used to extract population-specific data on the correlates of cigarette use. RESULTS: A range of factors influence cigarette use including self-efficacy to refuse offers of cigarettes, perceived emotional benefits, and perceived maternal disapproval of smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Results underscore the need for multiple-component interventions. This study is unique in that it represents population-specific research in which community partners are using the findings to develop community-specific prevention marketing interventions.

California school board members' perceptions of factors influencing school nutrition policy.

Enactment and enforcement of school nutrition policies represent key components in adolescent overweight and obesity prevention. This study determined: 1) California school board members' attitudes, perceptions, and motivations related to enactment of policies that support healthy eating in schools; and 2) barriers to adopting school policies that support healthy eating. To understand board members' decision-making process, key informant interviews were conducted and a survey was administered to 404 school board members. Though school board members care about the well-being of pupils, competing priorities limit the extent to which nutrition issues get addressed at board meetings. Members' decisions center primarily around academic achievement issues, yet they are interested in nutrition's overall impact on children's health and academic achievement.

Randomized trial of two e-learning programs for oral health students on secondary prevention of eating disorders.

The purpose of this study was to test whether an interactive, web-based training program is more effective than an existing, flat-text, e-learning program at improving oral health students' knowledge, motivation, and self-efficacy to address signs of disordered eating behaviors with patients. Eighteen oral health classes of dental and dental hygiene students were randomized to either the Intervention (interactive program; n=259) or Alternative (existing program; n=58) conditions. Hierarchical linear modeling assessed for posttest differences between groups while controlling for baseline measures. Improvement among Intervention participants was superior to those who completed the Alternative program for three of the six outcomes: benefits/barriers, self-efficacy, and skills-based knowledge (effect sizes ranging from 0.43 to 0.87). This study thus suggests that interactive training programs may be better than flat-text e-learning programs for improving the skills-based knowledge and self-efficacy necessary for behavior change.

Developing and pretesting case studies in dental and dental hygiene education: using the diffusion of innovations model.

Case-based learning offers exposure to clinical situations that health professions students may not encounter in their training. The purposes of this study were to apply the Diffusion of Innovations conceptual framework to 1) identify characteristics of case studies that would increase their adoption among dental and dental hygiene faculty members and 2) develop and pretest interactive web-based case studies on sensitive oral-systemic health issues. The formative study spanned two phases using mixed methods (Phase 1: eight focus groups and four interviews; Phase 2: ten interviews and satisfaction surveys). Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data revealed the following positive attributes of the developed case studies: relative advantage of active learning and modeling; compatibility with a variety of courses; observability of case-related knowledge and skills; independent learning; and modifiability for use with other oral-systemic health issues. These positive attributes are expected to increase the likelihood that dental and dental hygiene faculty members will adopt the developed case study once it is available for use. The themes identified in this study could be applied to the development of future case studies and may provide broader insight that might prove useful for exploring differences in case study use across dental and dental hygiene curricula.

Factors for increasing adoption of e-courses among dental and dental hygiene faculty members.

The incorporation of web-based learning into the dental curriculum has been consistently recommended in the literature on reform in dental education. There has been growing support for web-based learning in dental and dental hygiene education as demonstrated by deans' identifying this as a planned curricular innovation. The purpose of our study was to explore characteristics of e-courses that may serve to increase adoption among dental and dental hygiene faculty members. Eight ninety-minute focus groups (three dental; five dental hygiene) were conducted with dental (n=27) and dental hygiene (n=23) faculty members from six academic institutions. The resulting data were analyzed to identify two overarching themes and associated subthemes with regard to benefits and barriers influencing adoption of e-courses. A working conceptual framework, based on the Diffusion of Innovations, was developed from these themes to understand the characteristics that may influence the rate of adoption of e-courses among dental and dental hygiene faculty members. Analysis of the data revealed four main adoption barriers: 1) low perceived relative advantage to faculty members; 2) low compatibility with current curriculum; 3) high perceived time commitment; and 4) complexity of e-course development. This exploratory assessment identifies leverage points for facilitating the adoption and sustainability of e-courses in dental and dental hygiene education.

Development and evaluation of a web-based training program for oral health care providers on secondary prevention of eating disorders.

Although oral health care providers (OHP) are key in the secondary prevention of eating disorders (ED), the majority are not engaged in assessment, referral, and case management. This innovative pilot project developed and evaluated a web-based training program for dental and dental hygiene students and providers on the secondary prevention of ED. The intervention combined didactic and skill-based objectives to train OHP on ED and its oral health effects, OHP roles, skills in identifying the oral signs of ED, communication, treatment, and referral. Using a convenience sample of OHP (n=66), a pre-/post-test evaluated short-term outcomes and user satisfaction. Results revealed statistically significant improvements in self-efficacy (p<.001); knowledge of oral manifestations from restrictive behaviors (p<.001) and purging behaviors (p<.001); knowledge of oral treatment options (p<.001); and attitudes towards the secondary prevention of ED (p<.001). Most participants strongly agreed or agreed that the program provided more information (89 percent) and resources (89 percent) about the secondary prevention of ED than were currently available; 91 percent strongly agreed or agreed that they would access this program for information regarding the secondary prevention of ED. This pilot project provides unique training in the clinical evaluation, patient approach, referral, and oral treatment that takes a multidisciplinary approach to address ED.