Challenges and Opportunities of Evidence Use in Practice in Australian Children's Development Programs.

This paper explores the role of evidence and its use in a cluster of Australian community-based child development programs. The paper draws on findings from a 2016-2017 study commissioned by a not-for-profit organization to review their programs' alignment with government evidence-based program expectations. Cunningham and Duffee's (2009) evidence-based practice style typology is utilized to examine how different purposes of use drive styles of and approaches to evidence sourcing, application, and reporting. Perspectives on what constitutes evidence and how such evidence is valued, used, and reported can vary considerably between individual programs, irrespective of enforced standards and expectations. It is argued that a single-dimensional approach to program evidence-based evaluation and reporting is not appropriate and potentially damaging in contexts where community-based programs have different purposes, structures, cultures, and intentions. Given a program's particular evidence-use style, evidence-based criteria, processes, and reporting requirements should be matched accordingly.

El cambio conceptual de dos maestras en relación con la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la lengua oral a través de un asesoramiento: un estudio de casos / The conceptual change of two teachers in relation to the teaching and learning of oral language through an assessment: a case study

En este trabajo presentamos los resultados de una investigación en la que han participado 4 maestras: 2 de educación infantil y 2 de educación primaria. Se ha llevado a cabo un asesoramiento utilizando la metodología conversacional a una maestra de cada nivel educativo con el objetivo de promover un cambio conceptual en relación con la representación sobre los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje de la lengua oral. Durante un periodo de 4 meses las 2 maestras del grupo experimental participaron en 4 reuniones de asesoramiento con algunos de los investigadores. Además se realizó un grupo de discusión con las 2 maestras del grupo experimental y del grupo control antes del asesoramiento y otro una vez finalizado este. Se elaboró un instrumento ad hoc para analizar las reuniones de asesoramiento y los grupos de discusión. Los resultados indican que las maestras del grupo experimental progresan desde una visión de la lengua oral centrada en aspectos de forma y contenido, y desde la consideración de los factores madurativos como principales responsables del aprendizaje de la lengua oral, hacia una conceptualización que otorga una importancia fundamental a los aspectos de uso del lenguaje, a la interacción social y a las estrategias que utilizan las maestras en clase como factores explicativos de la competencia oral de los alumnos (AU)

We present the results of a research project in which 4 teachers (2 kindergarten and 2 primary school teachers) took part. A counselling process using conversational methodology was carried out with one teacher from each setting to promote a conceptual change in the teachers’ representation of oral language teaching and learning processes. During a 4-month period, the 2 teachers in the experimental group participated in 2 counselling meetings with some of the researchers. We also carried out a focus group with all four teachers before and after the meetings. An ad hoc instrument was designed to analyze the meetings and the focus groups. The results show that teachers in the experimental group progressed from a conception focused on formal and content-based aspects of oral language to a conception that stresses language use, social interaction, and the strategies employed by teachers in class as explanatory factors for pupils’ oral language competence (AU)

Youth therapeutic alliance in intensive treatment settings.

Therapeutic alliance (TA), the helping relationship that develops between a client and clinician, has received little attention in child treatment studies until recently, though it is the factor found to be most predictive of clinical outcomes. Furthermore, TA is cited as one of the most important components to effective therapy according to practicing clinicians. This study examines the TA that develops between teacher/counselors and children in 2 settings, a partial hospital/day school and a wilderness camp. An important finding in this study is the lack of relationship between the teacher/counselor's view of TA and the youth's view. Moreover, this correlation does not improve according to how long the counselors have known or have treated the youth. The implications of this and other findings are discussed.

Alaska Youth Initiative: the dream, the reality.

Many states have been interested in revising their systems of care for young people. The Alaska Youth Initiative (AYI) attempted to improve the system of care by providing community-based, individualized services to youths who would otherwise be institutionalized outside the state. Major policy changes included emphasis on local service provision, individualized services, unconditional care, and coordination of services. The AYI's performance on its original goals is mixed. Complications in implementation arose from lack of provider training, conflict over coordination at the state level, and difficulty in individualizing programs. Although significant successes have occurred, administrators could improve the implementation of similar types of programs by making specific plans to address concerns of various stakeholders, providing fiscal incentives for cooperation for state workers, and providing ongoing training in both clinical and administrative areas.

Service coordination in mental health systems for children, youth, and families: progress, problems, prospects.

The present article focuses on critical issues in the provision of service coordination to children and youth with serious emotional disabilities (SED) and their families, particularly those concerns most relevant to program organization and administration. Perspectives and issues gleaned from a review of evaluative data, focus group discussions with service coordinators and their supervisors, and clinical and administrative experience within a statewide SED initiative are considered in three areas: (1) roles, responsibilities, and relationships; (2) organizational context; and (3) training and supervision. Recommendations for enhancement of child, youth, and family mental health service coordination are provided.

Parents of children with chronic health impairments: a new approach to advocacy training.

Consumer advisory coalitions recognize the effectiveness of parents as advocates in obtaining services for their children with special health care needs. As a result, advocacy training programs for parents of children with developmental disabilities have become popular. Parents of children with chronic health conditions, who are not traditionally served through special education, find that they have concerns and needs not addressed by these advocacy training programs. This paper describes a unique program that targets these parents. A distinctive feature of this program is its focus on helping parents develop competency in utilizing communications skills to deal effectively with education and medical systems.

Decision making style and leadership patterns in nonprofit human service organizations.

The authors report on the adaptation of twelve nonprofit human service organizations. This analysis is part of a research project that entailed a comprehensive study of both the fiscal patterns and policy patterns of nonprofit organizations. Through the use of interviews in an exploratory descriptive design, several major patterns were identified concerning organizational adaptation. Three categories of events effected the adaptation of these organizations: executive staff turnover, program/service structure change and financial issues. The three industrial subsectors studied demonstrated unique patterns in these events. A reactive decision making style was the overwhelming choice of these organizations. Leadership was a phenomenon shared by CEOs and Boards of Directors. Resource dependency theory offers some explanation for the change that occurs in this cluster of organizations.

The development of a freestanding adolescent partial-hospitalization program in a multimodal integrated-service system for high-risk youth.

At Three Rivers Youth in Pittsburgh, a freestanding adolescent partial-hospitalization program is a primary force in a multimodal integrated-treatment system for high-risk youth. Three barriers encountered in the development of the program (utilization, integration with other components, and staffing) are discussed and strategies successful in overcoming these barriers are presented. Features of the program which are believed to contribute to its success are outlined, including scheduling, clinical structures, educational services, case management, and staffing. Case illustrations from clinical practice in the program are also offered.

A community-based program for juvenile firesetters.

In 1981 the Dallas Fire Department began a new program for juvenile firesetters. Based on an interview graphing technique that helps the juvenile firesetter to correlate triggering events with feelings leading to aggressive firesetting behavior, the program is staffed by fire department personnel who are trained by psychiatric faculty of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas. Comparisons with the city's previous program demonstrate the new program's effectiveness in preventing the recurrence of firesetting behavior as well as its cost-efficiency. Similar programs have been successfully adopted in Houston and Fort Worth.

The dynamics of interorganizational coordination.

A theory was developed on the creation, growth, and decline of relationships among organizations and was tested, using a longitudinal study of 95 dyadic relationships among child care and health organizations in Texas. Using LISREL V, the test of the theory showed that substantial revision of the model was required to explain the data adequately. When the model was revised, important new patterns were revealed in the development of interorganizational relationships over time: (1) Perceptions of dependence on others for resources spurs the development of interorganizational relationships. Resource dependence is a powerful direct determinant of communications, resource transactions, and consensus; (2) The growth of interorganizational relationships is fostered by frequent communications to formalize the relationship and build consensus about the terms of the relationship among the parties involved; (3) Monetary transactions and client referrals entail different patterns of coordination; and (4) Consensus among parties in an interorganizational relationship is both a positive outcome of initial resource dependence and communications and has a negative influence on subsequent perceptions of resource dependence.