Aboriginal perceptions of social and emotional wellbeing programs: A systematic review of literature assessing social and emotional wellbeing programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians perspectives

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have been targets of social and emotional wellbeing programs for many years. However, the few health-care programs and services that are evaluated rarely provide insight into the participants' perspectives of program success or failure. This systematic review assessed 33 social and emotional wellbeing programs across Australia to better understand what Aboriginal community members think about the programs and how they could be improved. Results highlighted the interesting and valuable insights provided by Aboriginal participants, including what kinds of program activities and approaches are most suitable, what program characteristics are successful or desired, and their experiences of wellbeing change before and after program participation. They likewise voiced opinions about poorly received programs, culturally inappropriate services and negative experiences. This review highlighted how health and wellbeing programs must better engage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients to ensure that services are culturally safe, holistic, integrate appropriate staffing, include culturally relevant activities and value patient/participant experiences. These findings have significant implications for the health and wellbeing sector; specifically, research, policy, program design and implementation, evaluation methods, and self-determination.     

Early Childhood Teachers' Perspectives on Social-Emotional Competence and Learning in Urban Classrooms

The promotion of social-emotional competence and implementation of social-emotional learning programs have increased substantially in schools; however, little is known about teachers' perceptions of such programs. This qualitative study explored early childhood (3 to 8 years old) teachers' perceptions of classroom-based social-emotional learning programs for young, urban-dwelling children. A focus of the study included learning what teachers believe were the critical components and challenges of such programs. Five themes emerged from the content analysis: responsibility, curricula/program design, contextual relevance, support, and barriers. The findings from this study are discussed with regard to educational policy implications about social-emotional learning curricula and programs, especially those implemented in urban schools.     

Inside the Black Box: Assessing and Improving Quality in Youth Programs

Over the past decade, structured programming for children and youth during the non-school hours has expanded exponentially. A confluence of recent research studies and program evaluations backs the publicly perceived notion that after-school programs can positively influence important developmental and learning outcomes. The rapid expansion of the field and the potential of programs to contribute to child and youth development have made defining what high quality programs look like and learning how to improve program quality key challenges facing the field. This paper describes what is known about the relation between youth program quality and youth developmental outcomes, summarizes different quality assessment tools being used in the field, and discusses how such tools are being used to drive systemic quality improvement efforts.     

Rebuild or Relocate? Resilience and Postdisaster Decision‐Making After Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy struck the east coast of the United States on October 29, 2012, devastating communities in its path. In the aftermath, New York implemented a home buyout program designed to facilitate the permanent relocation of residents out of areas considered to be at risk for future hazards. While home buyout programs are becoming popular as policy tools for disaster mitigation, little is known about what factors influence homeowners to participate in or reject these programs. This study used mixed methods to assess the relationship between community resilience and the relocation decision in two heavily damaged communities in which the majority of residents made different decisions regarding whether or not to pursue a buyout. The sample was composed of residents from Oakwood Beach and Rockaway Park, both working‐class communities in New York City, who participated via a community survey (N = 133) and/or in‐depth interviews (N = 28). Results suggested that community resilience moderated the relationship between community of residence and the buyout decision, leading to opposite responses on the buyout decision. Contextual community factors, including the history of natural disasters, local cultural norms, and sense of place, were instrumental in explaining these different responses. Implications for disaster policy are discussed.     

Middle School Teachers' Perceptions of Computer-Assisted Reading Intervention Programs

Middle schools often turn to computer-assisted reading intervention programs to improve student reading. The questions guiding this study are (a) in what ways are computer-assisted reading intervention programs utilized, and (b) what are teachers' perceptions about these intervention programs? Nineteen secondary reading teachers were interviewed regarding their perceptions of one of three programs. Emerging themes fell into three major categories: teaching experiences, program use, and technology. Findings focused on the need for programs to engage students in actual reading, to move instruction beyond a decoding focus, to provide books that match student interests, and to increase motivation to read.     

What We Know—and Don't Know—About Preventing Child Maltreatment

Abstract

Although child maltreatment is routinely acknowledged as a serious social problem, it remains widespread, raising questions about how prevention efforts can be improved. Following a review of theory and research relevant to prevention programming, the two dominant models of child abuse prevention-child empowerment and parent education-are examined, emphasizing both those factors that appear to contribute to program success (e.g., early intervention, sufficient time commitments, cultural sensitivity) and weaknesses in current efforts (e.g., poor implementation). Although underutilized, broader social and system-level reforms, including social policy and media initiatives, hold promise for prevention. Ways in which to leverage these tools are explored. Additional research is urged to explore assumptions on which programs are based, as well as to conduct more rigorous evaluation of current programs. The article concludes that a sustained commitment to prevention efforts aimed at child abuse and neglect is required.     

Treatment approaches and offending behavior programs: Some critical issues

This paper discusses what is known about effective methods of program delivery in offender rehabilitation programs and how this impacts on the integrity of correctional programs. Drawing on literature from both psychotherapy and adult education, it is concluded that collaborative and client-centred approaches are likely to be associated with the highest levels of effectiveness, and that there is a need to support these methods of delivery through the development of practice guidelines that can be used by both program providers and supervisors.     

Traditional vs. Alternative Teacher Preparation Programs: A Meta-Analysis

A meta-analysis is presented of the academic achievement effects on students taught by teachers from alternative teacher preparation (ATP) programs, compared to students taught by teachers from traditional teacher preparation (TTP) programs. The literature has indicated mixed results on the student-level academic outcomes of ATP programs. Findings from this meta-analysis indicate an overall statistically significant, yet small, difference in ATP and TTP programs (g?=?0.03; 95% CI?=?0.01, 0.04, p?=?0.001), with the mean achievement of students who had ATP teachers was about 0.03 standard deviations above that of students who had TTP teachers. Further, there were differences in student achievement by type of ATP program, school level, and academic subject area. These results, as well as implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Virtual reality applications to agoraphobia: a protocol.

Recently, educators and instructional designers have focused on the development and implementation of virtual learning environments that effectively combine theoretical and applied knowledge to teach university students. One of the trusts of the Psychology Virtual Teaching Laboratory in collaboration with the IXTLI observatory is to develop dissemination programs to promote the insertion of virtual reality (VR) technologies applied to rehabilitation in their clinical practice. This paper describes the development of (1) agoraphobia VR learning objects to be use as a teaching support tools in class and (2) a multimedia teaching program that incorporate digital video and VR scenarios address to students in the field of mental health. Promotion among professors and students about the use of this technology will allow us to initiate research in our country as well as to validate contextualized applications for our culture, therefore contributing with new advances in this field.     

Description of a Community Involvement Program for Persons with Special Needs

This article describes an extensive community involvement program which is intended to: (1) provide year-round social and recreational opportunities for persons with special needs; (2) support and empower families of these persons; and (3)facilitate community awareness and knowledge about persons with special needs in the Fort Knox (KY) community and region. Initially, the background and context of program development is presented, followed by analysis of need for the progrma, and then delineation of guiding principles which have provided programmatic focus. Next, central program elements are outlined to demonstrate its complexity, integrity, and replicability. Finally, a discussion of the program's implications for other communities is provided.     

The Importance of Program Evaluation: How Can it be Applied to Diverse Genetics Education Settings?

The role of a genetic counselor often entails providing education to patient, community and/or health professional groups. While counseling supervision assists genetic counselors to be reflective about their clinical work and to enhance clinical skills, evaluation is a rather analogous process in the provision of education. Program evaluation of education activities can be applied to provide information about the needs of the target group (needs assessment), the delivery of the program (process evaluation) as well as determining the extent to which the education activity has met its intended aims (summative evaluation). Evaluation assists the educator to assess the impact of their program and provides an evidence base about genetics education. Although program evaluation can be a complex activity, the tools are ones that can be used by individuals to evaluate single or simple education activities. The components of evaluation are discussed with reference to genetic counseling practice and three very different examples of actual evaluations are provided to illustrate the diversity of evaluation strategy and programs to which it can be applied.     

Enhancing Family Communication: Examining the Impact of a Therapeutic Wilderness Program for Struggling Teens and Parents

Every year approximately 130 families participate in Intercept, a program for struggling teens and their families at the Voyageur Outward Bound School, because they are concerned about the loss of trust, poor communication, and/or other high-risk behaviors they are experiencing with their children. Though families hope for improvements in family functioning, little research has been done on the impact of this type of program on the parent/child relationship or how families function once they leave the program. This phenomenological study collected qualitative data from nine families to determine what positive relationship outcomes emerged between parent(s) and their adolescent child post-program, as well as what aspects of the program curriculum were helpful in improving the parent/child relationship. Results showed that communication among family members improved as a result of participation in the Outward Bound program, and families reported utilizing new skills they had learned, including the use of time-outs, improved listening, and other assertive communication tools. Families reported that the parent/child conference at the end of the program was the most helpful aspect of the Intercept curriculum for improving the parent/child relationship. Implications for family therapy include support for therapeutic wilderness programs as a viable intervention for families of high-risk teens struggling with communication.     

Engaging families as experts: collaborative family program development

This article presents the collaborative family program development (CFPD) model, a collaborative research-based approach to creating community-based programs for families. In this approach, families are viewed as experts on the nature of their challenges and on what they desire in a program. This approach is particularly useful in developing programs for families who have experienced social oppression and who may have been reluctant to participate in programs created for them by professionals without their consultation. In contrast, when professionals adopt the stance of respectful learners, families respond by actively engaging in the program development research and in the program created from it. This article describes the nature and complexities of a collaborative program development stance, the unique contribution to community-based program development offered by a family systems focus, and the 10 steps in the CFPD approach. These 10 steps guide movement from initiating the project and forming collaborative professional partnerships to engaging cultural consultants; conducting in-depth research to understand the problems, resources, contexts, and recommendations from the perspective of families who will receive the program and from the perspective of front-line professionals working with these families; transforming research findings into program contents and formats; and implementing, evaluating, revising, and replicating the program. The approach is illustrated by a program called Fresh Start for Families, developed and replicated for families in New York City who are homeless and attempting to move from welfare to work.     

Preparing children to cope with earthquakes: Building emotional competence

Natural disasters, including earthquakes, can have a traumatic impact on children's psychological wellbeing and development. The efficacy of interventions aimed at enhancing children's socio-emotional learning has been documented in the literature. At the same time, these techniques are the key for training children for possible future disasters by enhancing their knowledge about behavioural preparedness and emotional competence. However, research on evidence-based training programs on earthquakes combining digital and traditional activities is scarce. We tested the efficacy of a 10-unit training program for primary school children, developed within the Emotional Prevention and Earthquakes in Primary School (PrEmT) project. The program aimed at increasing knowledge of and metacognition about earthquakes, safety behaviours, emotions, and coping strategies, through digital (using the web-application HEMOT^®, Helmet for EMOTions, developed ad-hoc) and traditional activities (completing paper-and-pencil tasks). The participants were 548 second and fourth-graders from Italian schools. They were divided into an experimental group (participating in the training program) and a control group. Both groups participated in pretests and posttests to evaluate changes in their knowledge of training-related contents. For ethical reasons, we also measured children's wellbeing. Generalized linear mixed models indicated an improvement in the experimental group's knowledge and metacognition about earthquakes, safety behaviours, emotions, and coping strategies after the training program, compared to the control group. Children's general wellbeing did not deteriorate during participation in the project. The results documented the efficacy of the evidence-based training program developed within the PrEmT project. The program provides a preventive method for enhancing earthquake-related resilience that could be generalized to other kinds of disasters.     

Crying wolf? Australian adolescents’ perceptions of the ambiguity of visible indicators of mental health and authenticity of mental illness

Young people’s perspectives about mental health concepts shape both their interactions with sufferers of mental illness and their actions related to their own mental health. The current study employed a cross-sectional qualitative design to explore how adolescents (aged 12–18 years) speak about mental health and illness in order to gain insight into young people’s perceptions and experiences and contribute to shaping approaches to policy and practice. When discussing mental health concepts and appropriate behaviours toward sufferers of mental illness, adolescents conveyed a sense of acceptance and understanding of the potential complexity and severity of mental health problems. In contrast, when discussing mental health in the context of their own lives, a stronger sense of scepticism was conveyed, with students expressing difficulty with the lack of visible markers of mental health and confusion determining authenticity in the mental health states conveyed by their peers. Interestingly, adolescents interviewed commonly conveyed the notion that young people may exaggerate or “fake” a mental illness for personal gain. Adolescent perceptions of mental health and illness hold practical implications for policy and school-based programs aimed at improving mental health knowledge, attitudes and behaviours among youth.     

Protégés’ and mentors’ reactions to participating in formal mentoring programs: A qualitative investigation

Mentors and protégés from two formal mentoring programs were interviewed about the benefits associated with program participation, problems encountered in the program, and recommendations for program improvements. The most commonly reported benefits for protégés included learning, coaching, career planning, and psychosocial support. Mentors most frequently reported learning, developing a personal relationship, personal gratification, and enhanced managerial skills. Both groups identified a range of problems including mentor-protégé mismatches, scheduling difficulties, and geographic distance. Unique problems were also identified, including mentor neglect (by protégés), unmet expectations (by protégés), structural separation from the mentor (by protégés), and feelings of personal inadequacy (by mentors). Finally, suggestions for program improvement were identified such as clearer communication of program objectives, better matching, targeted participation in the program, and better program monitoring. Findings are discussed in terms of what we currently know about informal mentoring and implications for mentoring theory. Suggestions for mentoring practice are also discussed.     

A Methodologically Pragmatist Approach to Development Ethics

This paper suggests that lessons from the field of environmental ethics and sociological perspectives on knowledge are important tools for rethinking what type of ethical analysis is needed for building up further the field of development ethics and, more generally, for addressing some of the most fundamental ethical problems related to global poverty and development. The paper argues for a methodologically pragmatist approach to development ethics that focuses on the interplay between facts, values, concepts and practices. It views development ethics as a hybrid between a public moral–political philosophy and a public conception of social science. Ethical analyses of poverty and development must lead to fundamental changes in the ways knowledge is produced and justified and must challenge the dominance of global institutions and orthodox economics as the single sources of expert knowledge for development. Two of the main tasks of ethical analysis is to provide tools for the formulation of alternative knowledge for development centred on the equal moral worth of all human beings, and to influence global policy making as well as multilateral institutions' goals and policies. The last section of the paper argues that Amartya Sen's version of the Capability Approach is already methodologically pragmatist and points to some convergence between Sen's work and John Dewey's. Further sociological and methodologically pragmatist analysis of the approach is needed to assess the ways in which it is influencing debates on human development and leading to policy changes, and the possible distortions it suffers when adopted by multilateral agencies and policy makers.     

Adoption vs. parenting decisions among pregnant adolescents

The choice of adoption is rare among pregnant adolescents. This exploratory study used regression analyses to ascertain which demographic, social, and intervention variables were related to this decision. The adolescents with mothers who favored adoption and/or had few parenting peer models were more likely to choose adoption. Age, knowledge of peers who had chosen adoption, grades in school, level of involvement in a comprehensive adolescent pregnancy program, and participation in individual therapy or Decision-Making Group were not significantly related to the decision. Decision-Making Group is a once-a-week therapy session that focuses on adoption vs. parenting decisions for pregnant adolescents. Eighty-seven percent of the adolescents who participated in these sessions found them helpful. The policy implications for adolescent pregnancy programs are explored.