Fighting the flu: developing sustained community resilience and preparedness.

PubMed

Paton, Douglas; Parkes, Bruce; Daly, Michele; Smith, Leigh

2008-10-01

A pandemic will impose considerable demands on communities over a period of several weeks; thus, people must develop means to facilitate their resilience in such an event. This article describes the development and testing of a model to inform public education strategies to facilitate the sustained adoption of the preparedness and protective measures that underpin community resilience. The model is derived from the premise that decisions to act reflect how people interpret information to make it meaningful to them. The model describes how this outcome reflects the interaction among personal beliefs about preparing, community characteristics influencing how risk beliefs and risk management strategies are developed, and the relationship between the community and health information sources. It highlights a need to distinguish those who decide not to prepare from those who accept a need to prepare but need guidance. Implications for developing pandemic public education and risk communication programs are discussed.

Introducing a multimedia course to enhance health professionals' skills to facilitate communities of practice.

PubMed

Jakubec, Sonya L; Parboosingh, John; Colvin, Barbara

2014-01-01

Scholarship about communities of practice (COP) is uncovering evidence that interactivity between community members contributes to improvement in practice. Leadership and facilitation are crucial elements of successful COP implementation. The purpose of this paper is to describe an innovative COP facilitator's course and report on the experiences of participants in the first course. In response to this need and emerging evidence, an on-line COP facilitator's course was developed and implemented in Alberta, Canada, in 2011. This course included a home-based COP practicum, introductory face-to-face session, an on-line discussion board moderated by faculty and on-line learning modules. Evaluation of the course was formalized in a qualitative study incorporating content analysis of postings, semi-structured interviews of successful participants and narrative responses to questions in a post course survey. A total of 15 of 22 participants perceived they acquired basic knowledge about community facilitation by completing the self-learning modules and assignments. Many did not establish home-based COP and only partially participated in the interactive components of the course. Six participants successfully completed the course by establishing home-based COP and actively participating in the social and interactive components of the course. They perceived they met course objectives and greatly benefited from participation in the course, in particular when they pushed themselves to facilitate in new and different ways, and when they were actively engaged with their home-based COP where they could practice and receive feedback. While the main reasons why participants dropped out or failed to complete all course components were reported, the experiences and perceptions of six participants who successfully completed all course components form the major part of the evaluation of the course and hence introduce bias. A more in depth analysis of why learners are reluctant to engage

Developing facilitation skills--a narrative.

PubMed

Newton, Jennifer M

2003-07-01

Effective facilitation has been identified in the literature as one of three elements, along with context and evidence, that have a dynamic and coexisting relationship to enable the successful uptake of evidence into practice. This paper presents an overview of the concept of facilitation within the context of practice development, ahead of a personal and professional reflective account of a 'developing facilitator'. In the summer of 2001, the author was instrumental in organising the first Practice Development School in Melbourne. Thrown in at the deep end, she found herself co-facilitating with an experienced practice developer from the United Kingdom. Having never facilitated in the arena of an action learning group, nor worked in the field of practice development, there was initially a sense of impending overload and drowning in the new knowledge and skills that needed to be acquired. Drawing upon the work of narrative inquiry the author shares her experiences in the anticipation that in telling her story it will assist others in their journey of becoming a facilitator.

Community Development: A 4-H Intern Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scheneman, C. Stephen

State progress reports on the 4-H/Community Development program, a 1973 nationwide Federally sponsored program facilitating youth in community decision-making processes, indicate that the program appears to be evolving into a viable and integral part of the total 4-H program. Although the report describes unique program features of various States,…

The Community Mentorship Program: Providing Community-Engagement Opportunities for Early-Stage Clinical and Translational Scientists to Facilitate Research Translation

PubMed Central

Patino, Cecilia M.; Kubicek, Katrina; Robles, Marisela; Kiger, Holly; Dzekov, Jeanne

2016-01-01

Problem A goal of the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC-CTSI) at the University of Southern California (USC) and Children's Hospital Los Angeles is to train early-stage clinical translational scientists (CTSs) to conduct research that improves the health of diverse communities. This goal aligns well with the Institute of Medicine's recommendations emphasizing community engagement in biomedical research that facilitates research translation. The Community Mentorship Program (CMP), created to complement community-engaged research (CER) didactics, matches CTSs with community mentors who help CTSs identify and complete community-engaged experiences that inform their research. Approach The CMP was piloted in 2013-2015 by the SC-CTSI Workforce Development and Community-Engagement cores. The CMP team matched three CTSs (assistant professors pursuing mentored career development awards, two with CER experience) with mentors at community-based organizations (CBOs) aligned with their research interests. Each mentor–mentee pair signed a memorandum of understanding. The CMP team checked in regularly, monitoring progress and addressing challenges in CTSs’ completion of their community-engaged experience. Outcomes All pairs completed at least one community-engaged activity informing the CTS's research. In exit interviews, the CTSs and CBO mentors expressed satisfaction with the program and stated they would continue to work together. The CTSs reported the program provided opportunities to develop networks outside academia, build trust within the community, and receive feedback and learn from individuals in communities affected by their research. Next Steps The CMP will be expanded to include all eligible early-career CTSs and promoted for use in similar settings outside the SC-CTSI. PMID:27508342

The Community Mentorship Program: Providing Community-Engagement Opportunities for Early-Stage Clinical and Translational Scientists to Facilitate Research Translation.

PubMed

Patino, Cecilia M; Kubicek, Katrina; Robles, Marisela; Kiger, Holly; Dzekov, Jeanne

2017-02-01

A goal of the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC-CTSI) at the University of Southern California and Children's Hospital Los Angeles is to train early-stage clinical and translational scientists (CTSs) to conduct research that improves the health of diverse communities. This goal aligns well with the Institute of Medicine's recommendations emphasizing community engagement in biomedical research that facilitates research translation. The Community Mentorship Program (CMP), created to complement community-engaged research didactics, matches CTSs with community mentors who help them identify and complete community-engaged experiences that inform their research. The CMP was piloted in 2013-2015 by the SC-CTSI Workforce Development and Community Engagement cores. The CMP team matched three CTSs (assistant professors pursuing mentored career development awards) with mentors at community-based organizations (CBOs) aligned with their research interests. Each mentor-mentee pair signed a memorandum of understanding. The CMP team checked in regularly, monitoring progress and addressing challenges in CTSs' completion of their community-engaged experience. Each pair completed at least one community-engaged activity informing the CTS's research. In exit interviews, the CTSs and CBO mentors expressed satisfaction with the program and stated that they would continue to work together. The CTSs reported that the program provided opportunities to develop networks outside academia, build trust within the community, and receive feedback and learn from individuals in communities affected by their research. The CMP will be expanded to include all eligible early-career CTSs and promoted for use in similar settings outside the SC-CTSI.

Developing Accessible Cyberinfrastructure-Enabled Knowledge Communities in the National Disability Community: Theory, Practice, and Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myhill, William N.; Cogburn, Derrick L.; Samant, Deepti

2008-01-01

Since publication of the Atkins Commission report 2003, the national scientific community has placed significant emphasis on developing cyberinfrastructure-enabled knowledge communities, which are designed to facilitate enhanced efficiency and collaboration in geographically distributed networks of researchers. This article suggests that the new…

Barriers and Facilitators to Engaging Communities in Gender-Based Violence Prevention following a Natural Disaster

PubMed Central

Sloand, Elizabeth; Killion, Cheryl; Gary, Faye A.; Dennis, Betty; Glass, Nancy; Hassan, Mona; Campbell, Doris W.; Callwood, Gloria B

2016-01-01

Humanitarian workers in disaster settings report a dramatic increase in gender-based violence (GBV). This was true after the 2010 Haiti earthquake when women and girls lost the relative security of their homes and families. Researchers from the United States Virgin Islands and the United States mainland responded by collaborating with Haitian colleagues to develop GBV-focused strategies. To start, the research team performed a situational analysis to insure that the project was culturally, ethically, and logistically appropriate. The aim of this paper is to describe how the situational analysis framework helped the researchers effectively approach this community. Using post-earthquake Haiti as an exemplar, we identify key steps, barriers, and facilitators to undertaking a situational analysis. Barriers included logistics, infrastructure, language and community factors. Facilitators included established experts, organizations and agencies. Researchers in such circumstances need to be respectful of community members as experts and patient with local environmental and cultural conditions. PMID:26548685

Barriers and Facilitators to Engaging Communities in Gender-Based Violence Prevention following a Natural Disaster.

PubMed

Sloand, Elizabeth; Killion, Cheryl; Gary, Faye A; Dennis, Betty; Glass, Nancy; Hassan, Mona; Campbell, Doris W; Callwood, Gloria B

2015-11-01

Humanitarian workers in disaster settings report a dramatic increase in gender-based violence (GBV). This was true after the 2010 Haiti earthquake when women and girls lost the relative security of their homes and families. Researchers from the United States Virgin Islands and the United States mainland responded by collaborating with Haitian colleagues to develop GBV-focused strategies. To start, the research team performed a situational analysis to insure that the project was culturally, ethically, and logistically appropriate. The aim of this paper is to describe how the situational analysis framework helped the researchers effectively approach this community. Using post-earthquake Haiti as an exemplar, we identify key steps, barriers, and facilitators to undertaking a situational analysis. Barriers included logistics, infrastructure, language and community factors. Facilitators included established experts, organizations and agencies. Researchers in such circumstances need to be respectful of community members as experts and patient with local environmental and cultural conditions.

Using Technology to Facilitate Collaboration in Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)

PubMed Central

Jessell, Lauren; Smith, Vivian; Jemal, Alexis; Windsor, Liliane

2017-01-01

This study explores the use of Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) technologies, by way of a computer-based system called iCohere. This system was used to facilitate collaboration conducting Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). Data was gathered from 13 members of a Community Collaborative Board (CCB). Analysis revealed that iCohere served the following functions: facilitating communication, providing a depository for information and resource sharing, and allowing for remote meeting attendance. Results indicated that while iCohere was useful in performing these functions, less expensive technologies had the potential to achieve similar goals if properly implemented. Implications for future research on CSCW systems and CBPR are discussed. PMID:29056871

A qualitative inquiry into the development and facilitation of a science education learning community through participation in an online graduate program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Callihan, Laurie Ann Perryman

This study is a qualitative inquiry considering the development and facilitation of a science education community of practice according to the definition of Wenger (1998, 1999) through participation in the graduate online science education program (GOSEP) Master's Degree track. Three research questions were considered: (1) In what ways do interactions within the GOSEP community of practice impact development of the teacher/student from outsider to novice to apprentice to master (Wenger, 1999)? (2) In what ways does personal development impact the community of practice? (3) In what ways do the interactions of professors with students impact the development of a community of practice in the GOSEP? The qualitative research frame was Integral Methodological Pluralism along with a hermeneutical approach to textual analysis and an autoethnographic viewpoint. The participants included seven students and two professors from the GOSEP. Data analyzed was in situ Blackboard(TM) and other online venues from classes dating Fall 2007 through Summer 2009 as well as semi-structured interviews, follow-ups, and member-check surveys. Results supported the assertions that (1) a community of practice (CoP) existed in the GOSEP, (2) the CoP assisted individual learning and growth from apprentice to novice to master, (3) that the CoP was most healthy and supported apprentice to master growth when a diversity of adult developmental levels existed in the group, and (4) the interactions of the professors in allowing the students to take on master roles and limiting their own control within the CoP contributed to the healthy development of students from apprentice to novice to master. Implications of this research suggest that the CoP model of online learning is effective and productive in allowing students to gain experience and knowledge in the skills, background knowledge, theory, and practice of becoming masters in the practice for which the community is designed to study. Future

Peer Facilitators as Border Crossers in Community Service Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chesler, Mark A.; Ford, Kristie A.; Galura, Joseph A.; Charbeneau, Jessica M.

2006-01-01

Community service learning offers students the opportunity to cross socially constructed and epistemological borders of power and privilege, allowing them to come into contact with groups of people who are different from themselves and to learn in different ways. Peer facilitators, undergraduate student instructional leaders who guide others…

Community health development: a strategy for reinventing America's health care system one community at a time.

PubMed

Felix, Michael R J; Burdine, James N; Wendel, Monica L; Alaniz, Angie

2010-04-01

The purpose of this article is to propose a set of ideas for reinventing America's health care system, one community at a time. Community health development is proposed as a strategy and approach to population health improvement, the ultimate goal of health care reform. The practice of community health development, particularly the partnership approach, provides guidance about how this approach might be employed as a national health care reform strategy. Examples of two communities successfully using the partnership approach illustrate the methods described. Six specific recommendations for policy makers and public administrators in the new administration resulting from our experience with community health development are presented. First, adopt and apply community health development (CHD) as the American approach for facilitating population health improvement and building community capacity. Second, the partnership approach should be promoted as a model for communities to use in implementing CHD. Third, make the community-level the focus for planning, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining a full continuum of health and human services. Fourth, formally recognize the social determinants of health as a key component of a new population/community health status model and as a public policy driver for health care reform, marketplace issues, and population health status improvement at all levels of society. Fifth is a call for a national strategy for the recruitment, training, education, and support of individuals to facilitate this community movement. Sixth, Congress and the Obama Administration adopt and apply CHD as a national strategy and utilize American community-based experiences to bring about a national plan.

Facilitating advance care planning in community palliative care: conversation starters across the client journey.

PubMed

Blackford, Jeanine; Street, Annette F

2013-03-01

This paper describes the development of a tool for palliative care nurses to initiate and facilitate advance care planning (ACP) conversations in community palliative care practice. Seven community palliative care services located across Australia participated in a multi-site action research project. Data included participant observation, individual and focus group interviews with palliative care health professionals, and medical record audit. A directed content analysis used a pre-established palliative care practice framework of referral, admission, ongoing management, and terminal/discharge care. From this framework a Conversation Starter Tool for ACP was developed. The Tool was then used in orientation and continuing nurse education programmes. It provided palliative care nurses the opportunity to introduce and progress ACP conversations.

Strategy community development based on local resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meirinawati; Prabawati, I.; Pradana, G. W.

2018-01-01

The problem of progressing regions is not far from economic problems and is often caused by the inability of the regions in response to changes in economic conditions that occur, so the need for community development programs implemented to solve various problems. Improved community effort required with the real conditions and needs of each region. Community development based on local resources process is very important, because it is an increase in human resource capability in the optimal utilization of local resource potential. In this case a strategy is needed in community development based on local resources. The community development strategy are as follows:(1) “Eight Line Equalization Plus” which explains the urgency of rural industrialization, (2) the construction of the village will be more successful when combining strategies are tailored to regional conditions, (3) the escort are positioning themselves as the Planner, supervisor, information giver, motivator, facilitator, connecting at once evaluators.

Unpacking the Roles of the Facilitator in Higher Education Professional Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Margalef, Leonor; Pareja Roblin, Natalie

2016-01-01

Facilitators are central for the success of professional learning communities (PLCs). Yet, their specific roles in supporting teacher learning remain still largely underexplored. To address this gap, the current multiple case study examines the roles of 4 university PLC facilitators, the strategies they used to support teacher learning, and the…

Communities of Practice: Professional Development Through Fostering Connections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ali, N. A.; Raftery, C.; Shackleford, R.; Nelson, A.; Turney, D.

2015-11-01

A community of practice is a group of people informally bound together by shared expertise and passion for a joint enterprise. Through facilitated discussion, we will share best practices and research about communities of practice, and explore how they evolve as they grow. The target audience for this Special Interest Group session is Education and Public Outreach professionals who are interested in using communities of practice as a way to support the professional development of their audiences. This session will be of interest to people who want to learn more about communities of practice as well as those who are currently coordinating similar efforts. Participants will have the opportunity to share their challenges and success, as well as gain new ideas for the planning, implementation, and expansion of efforts. This session will be facilitated by the coordinators of NASA's SMD Heliophysics EPO Forum online community of practice for middle and high school science teachers.

Clinical skill development for community pharmacists.

PubMed

Barnette, D J; Murphy, C M; Carter, B L

1996-09-01

The importance of establishing clinical pharmacy services in the community cannot be understated in light of current challenges to the traditional dispensing role as the primary service of the community pharmacist. Advancements in automated dispensing technology and declining prescription fee reimbursement are rapidly forcing pharmacists to seek alternative sources of revenue. Providing pharmaceutical care is a viable option to increase customer loyalty job satisfaction, and reimbursement. To support the development of clinical services, academic institutions are forming partnerships with individual community practitioners to overcome perceived educational and training barriers. The authors describe the design and development of two unique clinical skill development programs at the University of Illinois at Chicago. This paper also outlines the patient focused services that the participants have established upon completing the training. These programs successfully enhanced participants' therapeutic knowledge base and facilitated development of the clinical skills necessary for direct patient care.

Professional development using student-led, community-based activities.

PubMed

Martin, Ashley E; Cunningham, Stacey C; Magnus, Jeanette H

2011-01-01

As a community health education center affiliated with an academic institution, we recognize that by investing in the professional development of our students, we not only maximize our own outcomes but those of our students as well. Our project, Creating Community Connections, was developed to aid the work of our Center in characterizing the evolving community landscape following Hurricane Katrina while providing opportunities for students to engage in experiential learning. Students in the project could gain skills in program planning and community assessment, as well as leadership and communications. Twenty-three students worked on the project during its 2 years, developing data collection tools, organizing and conducting key informant interviews, facilitating focus groups and community forums, managing data, and summarizing project findings for community presentations. Participation in this project allowed our students to grow as public health leaders and researchers while gaining a greater appreciation for community collaboration.

Facilitating HIV testing, care and treatment for orphans and vulnerable children aged five years and younger through community-based early childhood development playcentres in rural Zimbabwe.

PubMed

Patel, Diana; Matyanga, Priscilla; Nyamundaya, Tichaona; Chimedza, Delia; Webb, Karen; Engelsmann, Barbara

2012-07-11

Early diagnosis of children living with HIV is a prerequisite for accessing timely paediatric HIV care and treatment services and for optimizing treatment outcomes. Testing of HIV-exposed infants at 6 weeks and later is part of the national prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV programme in Zimbabwe, but many opportunities to test infants and children are being missed. Early childhood development (ECD) playcentres can act as an entry point providing multiple health and social services for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) under 5 years, including facilitating access to HIV treatment and care. Sixteen rural community-based, community-run ECD playcentres were established to provide health, nutritional and psychosocial support for OVC aged 5 years and younger exposed to or living with HIV, coupled with family support groups (FSGs) for their families/caregivers. These centres were located in close proximity to health centres giving access to nurse-led monitoring of 697 OVC and their caregivers. Community mobilisers identified OVC within the community, supported their registration process and followed up defaulters. Records profiling each child's attendance, development and health status (including illness episodes), vaccinations and HIV status were compiled at the playcentres and regularly reviewed, updated and acted upon by nurse supervisors. Through FSGs, community cadres and a range of officers from local services established linkages and built the capacity of parents/caregivers and communities to provide protection, aid psychosocial development and facilitate referral for treatment and support. Available data as of September 2011 for 16 rural centres indicate that 58.8% (n=410) of the 697 children attending the centres were tested for HIV; 18% (n=74) tested positive and were initiated on antibiotic prophylaxis. All those deemed eligible for antiretroviral therapy were commenced on treatment and adherence was monitored. This community

Facilitating Cognitive Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwebel, Milton

1985-01-01

Human cognition research is shifting away from the importance of IQ and is emphasizing the stimulation and acceleration of a child's mental development. The emerging field of instructional psychology is trying to facilitate cognitive development. Current experimental programs--a university-school project in Belgium and a family project in…

The Art and Science of Leadership in Learning Environments: Facilitating a Professional Learning Community across Districts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hands, Catherine; Guzar, Katlyn; Rodrigue, Anne

2015-01-01

A professional learning community (PLC) is one of the most promising strategies for effecting change in educational practices to improve academic achievement and wellbeing for all students. The PLC facilitator's role in developing and leading blended (online and face-to-face) PLCs with members from Ontario's school districts was examined through a…

Promotores Comunitarios: sus aportes y difficultades (Community Facilitators: Their Contributions and Difficulties.) Occasional Paper No. 4.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brouwer, Jani; Martinic, Sergio

The Bernard van Leer Foundation sponsors nontraditional, nonschool programs designed to improve the chances that preschoolers will enroll in school. In these programs and other informal education efforts, the community facilitator plays an important role. Typically, the facilitator is a member of the community who works without remuneration as a…

Developing the Developers: Supporting and Researching the Learning of Professional Development Facilitators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perry, Emily; Boylan, Mark

2018-01-01

Research on teacher professional development is extensive but there are fewer studies about the practitioners who facilitate professional development. Here we report on a pilot programme for professional development facilitators rooted in a cycle of action research. Informed by a categorisation of professional knowledge and skills of facilitators,…

Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide: learning and behavioural outcomes of a training-of-trainers model to facilitate grassroots community health education to address Indigenous youth suicide prevention.

PubMed

Wexler, Lisa; Trout, Lucas; Rataj, Suzanne; Kirk, Tanya; Moto, Roberta; McEachern, Diane

2017-01-01

Alaska Native (AN) youth suicide remains a substantial and recalcitrant health disparity, especially in rural/remote communities. Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide (PC CARES) is a community health intervention that responds to the need for culturally responsive and evidence-supported prevention practice, using a grassroots approach to spark multilevel and community-based efforts for suicide prevention. This paper describes theoretical and practical considerations of the approach, and assesses the feasibility and preliminary learning and behavioural outcomes of the training-of-trainers model. It details the training of a first cohort of intervention facilitators in Northwest Alaska (NWA). Thirty-two people from 11 NWA village communities completed the PC CARES facilitator training, preparing them to implement the intervention in their home communities. Facilitator pre-post surveys focused on readiness to facilitate, a group quiz assessed participants' understanding of relevant research evidence, and practice facilitation exercises demonstrated competency. Curriculum fidelity and accuracy scores were calculated using audio recordings from learning circles conducted by facilitators in their home communities. Facilitator reflections describe the successes of the model and identify several areas for improvement. As of March 2017, 20 of the 32 trained facilitators in 10 of the 11 participating villages have hosted 54 LCs, with a total of 309 unique community members. Coding of these LCs by 2 independent raters indicate acceptable levels of fidelity and accurate dissemination of research evidence by facilitators. Facilitator reflections were positive overall, suggesting PC CARES is feasible, acceptable and potentially impactful as a way to translate research to practice in under-resourced, rural AN communities. PC CARES represents a practical community education and mobilisation approach to Indigenous youth suicide prevention that displays

Bounded Community: Designing and Facilitating Learning Communities in Formal Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Brent G.; Ludwig-Hardman, Stacey; Thornam, Christine L.; Dunlap, Joanna C.

2004-01-01

Learning communities can emerge spontaneously when people find common learning goals and pursue projects and tasks together in pursuit of those goals. "Bounded" learning communities (BLCs) are groups that form within a structured teaching or training setting, typically a course. Unlike spontaneous communities, BLCs develop in direct response to…

"Facing Our Fears": Using facilitated film viewings to engage communities in HIV research involving MSM in Kenya.

PubMed

Kombo, Bernadette; Sariola, Salla; Gichuru, Evanson; Molyneux, Sassy; Sanders, Eduard J; van der Elst, Elise

2017-01-01

Kenya is a generally homophobic country where homosexuality is criminalised and people who engage in same sex sexuality face stigma and discrimination. In 2013, we developed a 16 min documentary entitled " Facing Our Fears " that aimed at sharing information on how and why men who have sex with men (MSM) are involved in on-going KEMRI HIV prevention research, and associated community engagement. To consider the film's usefulness as a communication tool, and its perceived security risks in case the film was publicly released, we conducted nine facilitated viewings with 122 individuals representing seven different stakeholder groups. The documentary was seen as a strong visual communication tool with potential to reduce stigma related to homosexuality, and facilitated film viewings were identified as platforms with potential to support open dialogue about HIV research involving MSM. Despite the potential, there were concerns over possible risks to LGBT communities and those working with them following public release. We opted-giving emphasis to the "do no harm" principle-to use the film only in facilitated settings where audience knowledge and attitudes can be carefully considered and discussed. The results highlight the importance of carefully assessing the range of possible impacts when using visuals in community engagement.

The Ignorant Facilitator: Education, Politics and Theatre in Co-Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lev-Aladgem, Shulamith

2015-01-01

This article discusses the book "The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation" by the French philosopher, Jacques Rancière. Its intention is to study the potential contribution of this text to the discourse of applied theatre (theatre in co-communities) in general, and the role of the facilitator in particular. It…

Elements Affecting the Development of Professional Learning Communities in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaap, Harmen; de Bruijn, Elly

2018-01-01

This article focuses on the development of professional learning communities (PLCs), which are communities within schools, composed of voluntary participating teachers facilitated by school principals with a specific task to accomplish as part of a larger innovation project. Four PLCs were observed during 3 years by using questionnaires and…

Primary care physicians’ perspectives on facilitating older patients’ access to community support services

PubMed Central

Ploeg, Jenny; Denton, Margaret; Hutchison, Brian; McAiney, Carrie; Moore, Ainsley; Brazil, Kevin; Tindale, Joseph; Lam, Annie

2017-01-01

Abstract Objective To understand how family physicians facilitate older patients’ access to community support services (CSSs) and to identify similarities and differences across primary health care (PHC) models. Design Qualitative, multiple-case study design using semistructured interviews. Setting Four models of PHC delivery, specifically 2 family health teams (FHTs), 4 non-FHTs family health organizations, 4 fee-for-service practices, and 2 community health centres in urban Ontario. Participants Purposeful sampling of 23 family physicians in solo and small and large group practices within the 4 models of PHC. Methods A multiple-case study approach was used. Semistructured interviews were conducted and data were analyzed using within- and cross-case analysis. Case study tactics to ensure study rigour included memos and an audit trail, investigator triangulation, and the use of multiple, rather than single, case studies. Main findings Three main themes were identified: consulting and communicating with the health care team to create linkages; linking patients and families to CSSs; and relying on out-of-date resources and ineffective search strategies for information on CSSs. All participants worked with their team members; however, those in FHTs and community health centres generally had a broader range of health care providers available to assist them. Physicians relied on home-care case managers to help make linkages to CSSs. Physicians recommended the development of an easily searchable, online database containing available CSSs. Conclusion This study shows the importance of interprofessional teamwork in primary care settings to facilitate linkages of older patients to CSSs. The study also provides insight into the strategies physicians use to link older persons to CSSs and their recommendations for change. This understanding can be used to develop resources and approaches to better support physicians in making appropriate linkages to CSSs. PMID:28115458

Barriers and facilitators to diabetes self-management: perspectives of older community dwellers and health professionals in China.

PubMed

Shen, Huixia; Edwards, Helen; Courtney, Mary; McDowell, Jan; Wei, Juan

2013-12-01

Little is known about self-management among people with Type 2 diabetes living in mainland China. Understanding the experiences of this target population is needed to provide socioculturally relevant education to effectively promote self-management. The aim of this study was to explore perceived barriers and facilitators to diabetes self-management for both older community dwellers and health professionals in China. Four focus groups, two for older people with diabetes and two for health professionals, were conducted. All participants were purposively sampled from two communities in Shanghai, China. Six barriers were identified: overdependence on but dislike of western medicine, family role expectations, cuisine culture, lack of trustworthy information sources, deficits in communication between clients and health professionals, and restriction of reimbursement regulations. Facilitators included family and peer support, good relationships with health professionals, simple and practical instruction and a favourable community environment. The findings provide valuable information for diabetes self-management intervention development in China, and have implications for programmes tailored to populations in similar sociocultural circumstances. © 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Preparing Facilitators From Community-Based Organizations for Evidence-Based Intervention Training in Second Life

PubMed Central

Valladares, Angel Felix; Tschannen, Dana; Villarruel, Antonia Maria

2014-01-01

Background A major barrier to the use and scale-up of evidence-based interventions are challenges related to training and capacity building. A cost-effective and highly interactive multi-user virtual environment, Second Life (SL) is a promising alternative for comprehensive face-to-face facilitator training. Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of using SL to train facilitators from community-based organizations to use ¡Cuídate! (Take Care of Yourself), one of the few evidence-based interventions developed and tested with Latino youth to reduce sexual risk behaviors. Methods We recruited 35 participants from community-based organizations throughout the United States to participate in the SL ¡Cuídate! Training of Facilitators. Preparation to use SL consisted of four phases: (1) recruitment and computer capacity screening, (2) enrollment, (3) orientation to the SL program, and (4) technical support throughout the synchronous training sessions. Technical difficulties, the associated cause, and the mitigation strategy implemented were recorded during each session. Participants completed evaluations including perceptions of self-efficacy and confidence to complete the necessary skills to participate in SL training. Results Overall, participants reported high levels of self-efficacy for all skills necessary to participate in SL training. Based on an 11-point scale (0-10), self-efficacy to download and access the software was rated the highest: mean 8.29 (SD 2.19). Interacting with items in SL had the lowest mean score: mean 7.49 (SD 2.89). The majority of technical difficulties experienced by participants were related to inadequate Internet connections or computer malfunctions. Conclusions Our findings support the feasibility of using SL for the ¡Cuídate! Training of Facilitators. The process used in this study to prepare participants to use SL can be used as a basis for other evidence-based intervention training in SL. This study is

Preparing facilitators from community-based organizations for evidence-based intervention training in Second Life.

PubMed

Valladares, Angel Felix; Aebersold, Michelle; Tschannen, Dana; Villarruel, Antonia Maria

2014-09-30

A major barrier to the use and scale-up of evidence-based interventions are challenges related to training and capacity building. A cost-effective and highly interactive multi-user virtual environment, Second Life (SL) is a promising alternative for comprehensive face-to-face facilitator training. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of using SL to train facilitators from community-based organizations to use ¡Cuídate! (Take Care of Yourself), one of the few evidence-based interventions developed and tested with Latino youth to reduce sexual risk behaviors. We recruited 35 participants from community-based organizations throughout the United States to participate in the SL ¡Cuídate! Training of Facilitators. Preparation to use SL consisted of four phases: (1) recruitment and computer capacity screening, (2) enrollment, (3) orientation to the SL program, and (4) technical support throughout the synchronous training sessions. Technical difficulties, the associated cause, and the mitigation strategy implemented were recorded during each session. Participants completed evaluations including perceptions of self-efficacy and confidence to complete the necessary skills to participate in SL training. Overall, participants reported high levels of self-efficacy for all skills necessary to participate in SL training. Based on an 11-point scale (0-10), self-efficacy to download and access the software was rated the highest: mean 8.29 (SD 2.19). Interacting with items in SL had the lowest mean score: mean 7.49 (SD 2.89). The majority of technical difficulties experienced by participants were related to inadequate Internet connections or computer malfunctions. Our findings support the feasibility of using SL for the ¡Cuídate! Training of Facilitators. The process used in this study to prepare participants to use SL can be used as a basis for other evidence-based intervention training in SL. This study is an important contribution to developing cost

Confronting barriers and recognizing opportunities: Developing effective community-based environmental monitoring programs to meet the needs of Aboriginal communities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McKay, Ariana J., E-mail: ariana.mckay@outlook.com; Johnson, Chris J., E-mail: chris.johnson@unbc.ca

Aboriginal communities can be negatively affected by resource development, but often they do not have a full opportunity to participate in project review and the resulting monitoring and mitigation activities. Cumulative impacts of resource development are also typically neglected in monitoring protocols that focus on a limited number of environmental values, rather than adopting a long-term, holistic view of development over time and space. Community-based environmental monitoring (CBEM) is emerging as a way to meaningfully include local Aboriginal citizens in the decision-making process as well as the assessment of the long-term impacts of the development of natural resources. We exploredmore » opportunities and barriers for developing CBEM programs that meet the needs of small and rural Aboriginal communities that are faced with the rapid and wide-spread development of natural resources. We conducted interviews with a local Aboriginal community, and natural resource management practitioners who could provide perspectives on the application of CBEM to resource management in north-central British Columbia, Canada. Results demonstrate that CBEM offers a locally adapted and culturally appropriate approach to facilitate the participation of Aboriginal communities in natural resource decision making and management. The interpretation of the specific role and purpose of CBEM differed among participants, depending on their objectives for and concerns about natural resource development. However, all parties were consistent in viewing CBEM as an effective method for engaging in dialogue, cooperation, and tracking environmental change. The development or improvement of CBEM programs should consider the efficacy of monitoring protocols, social cohesion and relationships, ability to inform decision-making, and effectiveness of CBEM for the members of the community. - Highlights: • We explored how to develop effective CBEM with a focus on Aboriginal communities. • We

“Facing Our Fears”: Using facilitated film viewings to engage communities in HIV research involving MSM in Kenya

PubMed Central

Kombo, Bernadette; Sariola, Salla; Gichuru, Evanson; Molyneux, Sassy; Sanders, Eduard J.; van der Elst, Elise

2017-01-01

Abstract Kenya is a generally homophobic country where homosexuality is criminalised and people who engage in same sex sexuality face stigma and discrimination. In 2013, we developed a 16 min documentary entitled “Facing Our Fears” that aimed at sharing information on how and why men who have sex with men (MSM) are involved in on-going KEMRI HIV prevention research, and associated community engagement. To consider the film’s usefulness as a communication tool, and its perceived security risks in case the film was publicly released, we conducted nine facilitated viewings with 122 individuals representing seven different stakeholder groups. The documentary was seen as a strong visual communication tool with potential to reduce stigma related to homosexuality, and facilitated film viewings were identified as platforms with potential to support open dialogue about HIV research involving MSM. Despite the potential, there were concerns over possible risks to LGBT communities and those working with them following public release. We opted—giving emphasis to the “do no harm” principle—to use the film only in facilitated settings where audience knowledge and attitudes can be carefully considered and discussed. The results highlight the importance of carefully assessing the range of possible impacts when using visuals in community engagement. PMID:28670602

Facilitating Wellness in Urban-Dwelling, Low-Income Older Adults Through Community Mobility: A Mixed-Methods Study.

PubMed

Mulry, Claire M; Papetti, Christina; De Martinis, Julian; Ravinsky, Mark

Community participation is integral to wellness. This study examined the outcomes of Let's Go, a program designed to facilitate community participation of urban-dwelling, low-income older adults. Fifty-two older adults participated in a mixed-methods, single-group pretest-posttest study. The Impact on Participation and Autonomy Questionnaire, participant surveys, and semistructured interviews were used to evaluate self-reported participation in community-based occupations, confidence, isolation, frequency of community trips, autonomy outdoors, and satisfaction with social life and relationships. Significant improvement was found in participation, confidence, frequency of community trips, autonomy outdoors, and satisfaction with social life and relationships at 4 wk and 6 mo. Qualitative themes were decreased isolation, importance of peer and community support, increased knowledge of mobility options, and a shift from fear to confidence. Community mobility programming can facilitate the participation of marginalized older adults in community-based occupations. Copyright © 2017 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Delegation of Authority Under the Community Environmental Response Facilitation Act (CERFA) - Decision Memorandum

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This memorandum concerns how the Office of Enforcement (OE) proposed that two new authorities under the Community Environmental Response Facilitation Act (CERFA) be delegated to the Regional Administrators.

Competition and facilitation structure plant communities under nurse tree canopies in extremely stressful environments.

PubMed

Al-Namazi, Ali A; El-Bana, Magdy I; Bonser, Stephen P

2017-04-01

Nurse plant facilitation in stressful environments can produce an environment with relatively low stress under its canopy. These nurse plants may produce the conditions promoting intense competition between coexisting species under the canopy, and canopies may establish stress gradients, where stress increases toward the edge of the canopy. Competition and facilitation on these stress gradients may control species distributions in the communities under canopies. We tested the following predictions: (1) interactions between understory species shift from competition to facilitation in habitats experiencing increasing stress from the center to the edge of canopy of a nurse plant, and (2) species distributions in understory communities are controlled by competitive interactions at the center of canopy, and facilitation at the edge of the canopy. We tested these predictions using a neighbor removal experiment under nurse trees growing in arid environments. Established individuals of each of four of the most common herbaceous species in the understory were used in the experiment. Two species were more frequent in the center of the canopy, and two species were more frequent at the edge of the canopy. Established individuals of each species were subjected to neighbor removal or control treatments in both canopy center and edge habitats. We found a shift from competitive to facilitative interactions from the center to the edge of the canopy. The shift in the effect of neighbors on the target species can help to explain species distributions in these canopies. Canopy-dominant species only perform well in the presence of neighbors in the edge microhabitat. Competition from canopy-dominant species can also limit the performance of edge-dominant species in the canopy microhabitat. The shift from competition to facilitation under nurse plant canopies can structure the understory communities in extremely stressful environments.

Community organizing network for environmental health: using a community health development approach to increase community capacity around reduction of environmental triggers.

PubMed

Parker, Edith A; Chung, Lynna K; Israel, Barbara A; Reyes, Angela; Wilkins, Donele

2010-04-01

The Community Organizing Network for Environmental Health (CONEH), a project of Community Action Against Asthma, used a community health development approach to improve children's asthma-related health through increasing the community's capacity to reduce physical and social environmental triggers for asthma. Three community organizers were hired to work with community groups and residents in neighborhoods in Detroit on the priority areas of air quality, housing, and citizen involvement in the environmental project and policy decision-making. As part of the evaluation of the CONEH project, 20 one-on-one semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted between August and November 2005 involving steering committee members, staff members, and key community organization staff and/or community members. Using data from the evaluation of the CONEH project, this article identifies the dimensions of community capacity that were enhanced as part of a CBPR community health development approach to reducing physical and social environmental triggers associated with childhood asthma and the factors that facilitated or inhibited the enhancement of community capacity.

Community-Based Facilitated Enrollment: Meeting Uninsured New Yorkers Where They Are.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawler, Kate; Costello, Anne Marie

2005-01-01

In 1998, Governor Pataki and New York legislators created one of the country's most innovative programs for enrolling uninsured children and teens in public health insurance. Launched in 2000, the facilitated enrollment program uses community-based organizations and health plans to find and enroll "hard-to-reach" New Yorkers who have historically…

Community Organizing Network for Environmental Health: Using a Community Health Development Approach to Increase Community Capacity around Reduction of Environmental Triggers

PubMed Central

Chung, Lynna K.; Israel, Barbara A.; Reyes, Angela; Wilkins, Donele

2010-01-01

The Community Organizing Network for Environmental Health (CONEH), a project of Community Action Against Asthma, used a community health development approach to improve children’s asthma-related health through increasing the community’s capacity to reduce physical and social environmental triggers for asthma. Three community organizers were hired to work with community groups and residents in neighborhoods in Detroit on the priority areas of air quality, housing, and citizen involvement in the environmental project and policy decision-making. As part of the evaluation of the CONEH project, 20 one-on-one semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted between August and November 2005 involving steering committee members, staff members, and key community organization staff and/or community members. Using data from the evaluation of the CONEH project, this article identifies the dimensions of community capacity that were enhanced as part of a CBPR community health development approach to reducing physical and social environmental triggers associated with childhood asthma and the factors that facilitated or inhibited the enhancement of community capacity. PMID:20306137

Engaging Institutional Review Boards in Developing a Brief, Community-Responsive Human Subjects Training for Community Partners.

PubMed

Calzo, Jerel P; Bogart, Laura M; Francis, Evelyn; Kornetsky, Susan Z; Winkler, Sabune J; Kaberry, Julie

2016-01-01

Engaging community partners as co-investigators in community-based participatory research (CBPR) requires certification in the rules, ethics, and principles governing research. Despite developments in making human research protection trainings more convenient and standardized (eg, self-paced Internet modules), time constraints and the structure of the content (which may favor academic audiences) may hinder the training of community partners. This paper is motivated by a case example in which academic and community partners, and stakeholders of a community-based organization actively engaged the leadership of a pediatric hospital-based institutional review board (IRB) in implementing a brief, community-responsive human subjects training session. A 2-hour, discussion-based human subjects training was developed via collaborations between the IRB and the community and academic partners. Interviews with trainees and facilitators after the training were used to evaluate its acceptability and possible future applications. Local IRBs have the potential to assist community partners in building sufficient knowledge of human subjects research protections to engage in specific projects, thereby expediting the progress of vital research to address community needs. We propose the need for developing truncated human subjects education materials to train and certify community partners, and creating formally organized entities within academic and medical institutions that specialize in community-based research to guide the development and implementation of alternative human subjects training certification opportunities for community partners.

Re-Framing Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure Documents to Facilitate the Transformation of Service-Learning Pedagogy to Community-Engaged Scholarship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leugers, Rebecca; Whalen, Tina; Couch, Sarah; King, Elizabeth; Prendeville, JoAnne

2009-01-01

In the College of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Cincinnati, John Kotter's eight stage model of organizational change was utilized as a template by faculty while focusing efforts on facilitating community-engaged scholarship. The Kotter model proved to be a beneficial tool when developing a framework for transforming service-learning…

The contributions of community learning centres (CLCs) to personal and community development in Myanmar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le, Ai Tam Pham

2018-05-01

Community learning centres (CLCs) have been widely established in the Asia-Pacific region as locally managed institutions that offer non-formal educational opportunities and community development activities. Myanmar officially has more than 3,000 centres, which is one of the highest numbers in the region. This article examines the operation of CLCs and their contributions to personal and community development in Padaung, Myanmar. The author's research is based on six weeks of fieldwork in Myanmar for data collection including semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and informal conversations. Her findings suggest that CLCs can contribute to the improvement of both individuals' quality of life and communities' social capital, which facilitates mutually beneficial collective action. The findings also support the conclusion that CLCs can provide additional educational opportunities beyond the formal system, especially for adults and members of rural communities, e.g. farmers. However, due to constraints in terms of budget, implementing capacity and socio-economic factors, the outreach of CLC activities is still somewhat limited and has yet to reach its full potential.

Barriers and facilitators to recovering from e-prescribing errors in community pharmacies.

PubMed

Odukoya, Olufunmilola K; Stone, Jamie A; Chui, Michelle A

2015-01-01

To explore barriers and facilitators to recovery from e-prescribing errors in community pharmacies and to explore practical solutions for work system redesign to ensure successful recovery from errors. Cross-sectional qualitative design using direct observations, interviews, and focus groups. Five community pharmacies in Wisconsin. 13 pharmacists and 14 pharmacy technicians. Observational field notes and transcribed interviews and focus groups were subjected to thematic analysis guided by the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) work system and patient safety model. Barriers and facilitators to recovering from e-prescription errors in community pharmacies. Organizational factors, such as communication, training, teamwork, and staffing levels, play an important role in recovering from e-prescription errors. Other factors that could positively or negatively affect recovery of e-prescription errors include level of experience, knowledge of the pharmacy personnel, availability or usability of tools and technology, interruptions and time pressure when performing tasks, and noise in the physical environment. The SEIPS model sheds light on key factors that may influence recovery from e-prescribing errors in pharmacies, including the environment, teamwork, communication, technology, tasks, and other organizational variables. To be successful in recovering from e-prescribing errors, pharmacies must provide the appropriate working conditions that support recovery from errors.

Primary Care Trusts involving the community: is community development the way forward?

PubMed

Crowley, Philip; Green, Judith; Freake, Debbie; Drinkwater, Chris

2002-01-01

Patient and user involvement is central to current government thinking on the NHS. More comprehensive approaches to organised community participation and community development have received less support and examples of effective and genuine participation in key areas such as primary care decision-making are rare. The initiative described in this paper was established in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1995 to promote community participation in decision-making about local health services. It has particular relevance to current concerns about addressing social exclusion and tackling health inequalities since it operates in an area of social disadvantage with a significant black and ethnic minority population (6 percent). This case study is based on an independent evaluation which used multiple research methods, including interviews, questionnaire surveys and direct observation, to assess the project's practice and impact. Describes a community development approach to public participation. An emphasis on inclusive practices has facilitated meaningful involvement of minority groups such as ethnic minority residents and those with disabilities who tend to be marginalised in public debate. Argues that the project has made a significant impact on the ways in which local health services are planned and delivered

Engaging Institutional Review Boards in Developing a Brief, Community-Responsive Human Subjects Training for Community Partners

PubMed Central

Calzo, Jerel P.; Bogart, Laura M.; Francis, Evelyn; Kornetsky, Susan Z.; Winkler, Sabune J.; Kaberry, Julie M.

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND Engaging community partners as co-investigators in community-based participatory research (CBPR) requires certification in the rules, ethics, and principles governing research. Despite developments in making human research protection trainings more convenient and standardized (e.g., self-paced Internet modules), time constraints and the structure of the content (which may favor academic audiences) may hinder the training of community partners. OBJECTIVES This paper is motivated by a case example in which academic and community partners, and stakeholders of a community-based organization actively engaged the leadership of a pediatric hospital-based Institutional Review Board (IRB) in implementing a brief, community-responsive human subjects training session. METHODS A two hour, discussion-based human subjects training was developed via collaborations between the IRB and the community and academic partners. Interviews with trainees and facilitators after the training were used to evaluate its acceptability and possible future applications. CONCLUSIONS Local Institutional Review Boards have the potential to assist community partners in building sufficient knowledge of human subjects research protections to engage in specific projects, thereby expediting the progress of vital research to address community needs. We propose the need for developing truncated human subjects education materials to train and certify community partners, and creating formally organized entities within academic and medical institutions that specialize in community-based research to guide the development and implementation of alternative human subjects training certification opportunities for community partners. PMID:28230554

Exploiting the Use of Social Networking to Facilitate Collaboration in the Scientific Community

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Coppock, Edrick G.

The goal of this project was to exploit social networking to facilitate scientific collaboration. The project objective was to research and identify scientific collaboration styles that are best served by social networking applications and to model the most effective social networking applications to substantiate how social networking can support scientific collaboration. To achieve this goal and objective, the project was to develop an understanding of the types of collaborations conducted by scientific researchers, through classification, data analysis and identification of unique collaboration requirements. Another technical objective in support of this goal was to understand the current state of technology inmore » collaboration tools. In order to test hypotheses about which social networking applications effectively support scientific collaboration the project was to create a prototype scientific collaboration system. The ultimate goal for testing the hypotheses and research of the project was to refine the prototype into a functional application that could effectively facilitate and grow collaboration within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research community.« less

Barriers and facilitators to childhood obesity prevention among culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in Victoria, Australia.

PubMed

Cyril, Sheila; Nicholson, Jan M; Agho, Kingsley; Polonsky, Michael; Renzaho, Andre M

2017-06-01

Childhood obesity is rising among culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) groups who show poor engagement in obesity prevention initiatives. We examined the barriers and facilitators to the engagement of CALD communities in obesity prevention initiatives. We used the nominal group technique to collect data from 39 participants from Vietnamese, Burmese, African, Afghani and Indian origins living in disadvantaged areas of Victoria, Australia. Data analysis revealed ranked priorities for barriers and facilitators for CALD community engagement in obesity prevention initiatives. CALD parents identified key barriers as being: competing priorities in the post-migration settlement phase; language, cultural and program accessibility barriers; low levels of food and health literacy; junk food advertisement targeting children; and lack of mandatory weight checks for schoolchildren. Key facilitators emerged as: bicultural playgroup leaders; ethnic community groups; and school-based healthy lunch box initiatives. This study has identified several policy recommendations including: the implementation of robust food taxation policies; consistent control of food advertising targeting children; improving CALD health literacy using bicultural workers; and matching health promotional materials with CALD community literacy levels. Implications for Public Health: These recommendations can directly influence public health policy to improve the engagement of CALD communities in obesity prevention services and ultimately reduce the widening obesity disparities in Australia. © 2017 The Authors.

Developing the Autism Model of Implementation for Autism spectrum disorder community providers: study protocol

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Currently, 1 out of 88 children are diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and the estimated cost for treatment services is $126 billion annually. Typically, ASD community providers (ASD-CPs) provide services to children with any severity of ASD symptoms using a combination of various treatment paradigms, some with an evidence-base and some without. When evidence-based practices (EBPs) are successfully implemented by ASD-CPs, they can result in positive outcomes. Despite this promise, EBPs are often implemented unsuccessfully and other treatments used by ASD-CPs lack supportive evidence, especially for school-age children with ASD. While it is not well understood why ASD-CPs are not implementing EBPs, organizational and individual characteristics likely play a role. As a response to this need and to improve the lives of children with ASD and their families, this study aims to develop and test the feasibility and acceptability of the Autism Model of Implementation (AMI) to support the implementation of EBPs by ASD-CPs. Methods/design An academic-community collaboration developed to partner with ASD-CPs will facilitate the development of the AMI, a process specifically for use by ASD community-based agencies. Using a mixed methods approach, the project will assess agency and individual factors likely to facilitate or hinder implementing EBPs in this context; develop the AMI to address identified barriers and facilitators; and pilot test the AMI to examine its feasibility and acceptability using a specific EBP to treat anxiety disorders in school-age children with ASD. Discussion The AMI will represent a data-informed approach to facilitate implementation of EBPs by ASD-CPs by providing an implementation model specifically developed for this context. This study is designed to address the real-world implications of EBP implementation in ASD community-based agencies. In doing so, the AMI will help to provide children with ASD the best and most

An interagency collaboration to facilitate development of filovirus medical countermeasures.

PubMed

Kilgore, Nicole; Nuzum, Edwin O

2012-10-19

The Filovirus Animal Non-Clinical Group (FANG) is a US interdepartmental and interagency group established to support and facilitate the advanced development of filovirus Medical Countermeasures (MCM), both vaccines and therapeutics. It is co-led by one representative from the Department of Defense (DoD), the first author, and one from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the second author. The FANG membership includes operational level program staff and Subject Matter Experts (SME) from performing organizations as well as scientific staff and program managers from DoD and HHS funding and regulatory agencies. Focus areas include animal models, assays, reagents, product manufacture and characterization, and other interagency product development issues that will support Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensure of safe and effective filovirus MCMs. The FANG continues to develop strategies to address broadly applicable and interagency product development challenges relevant to filovirus MCM development. This paper summarizes FANG structure and accomplishments and is meant to heighten community awareness of this government-led collaborative effort.

Development of the Community Health Improvement Navigator Database of Interventions.

PubMed

Roy, Brita; Stanojevich, Joel; Stange, Paul; Jiwani, Nafisa; King, Raymond; Koo, Denise

2016-02-26

With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the requirements for hospitals to achieve tax-exempt status include performing a triennial community health needs assessment and developing a plan to address identified needs. To address community health needs, multisector collaborative efforts to improve both health care and non-health care determinants of health outcomes have been the most effective and sustainable. In 2015, CDC released the Community Health Improvement Navigator to facilitate the development of these efforts. This report describes the development of the database of interventions included in the Community Health Improvement Navigator. The database of interventions allows the user to easily search for multisector, collaborative, evidence-based interventions to address the underlying causes of the greatest morbidity and mortality in the United States: tobacco use and exposure, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.

Development of the Community Health Improvement Navigator Database of Interventions

PubMed Central

Roy, Brita; Stanojevich, Joel; Stange, Paul; Jiwani, Nafisa; King, Raymond; Koo, Denise

2016-01-01

Summary With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the requirements for hospitals to achieve tax-exempt status include performing a triennial community health needs assessment and developing a plan to address identified needs. To address community health needs, multisector collaborative efforts to improve both health care and non–health care determinants of health outcomes have been the most effective and sustainable. In 2015, CDC released the Community Health Improvement Navigator to facilitate the development of these efforts. This report describes the development of the database of interventions included in the Community Health Improvement Navigator. The database of interventions allows the user to easily search for multisector, collaborative, evidence-based interventions to address the underlying causes of the greatest morbidity and mortality in the United States: tobacco use and exposure, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. PMID:26917110

Developing Communication Access Standards to Maximize Community Inclusion for People with Communication Support Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Solarsh, Barbara; Johnson, Hilary

2017-01-01

People with communication support needs experience barriers that limit their social inclusion in society. A community approach such as "communication access" that targets changing attitudes, skills, and resources may assist in facilitating community participation. The authors describe the development of communication access from 2008 in…

Facilitation of Adult Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boydell, Tom

2016-01-01

Taking an autobiographical approach, I tell the story of my experiences facilitating adult development, in a polytechnic and as a management consultant. I relate these to a developmental framework of Modes of Being and Learning that I created and elaborated with colleagues. I connect this picture with a number of related models, theories,…

Community Environmental Response Facilitation Act (CERFA) Report, Sacramento Army Depot, Sacramento, California

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-04-01

Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System CERFA Community Environmental Response Facilitation Act CORTESE State-designated hazardous...waste cleanup sites DESCOM U.S. Army Depot Systems Command DTSC Department of Toxic Substance Control EMD Environmental Management Division EPA U.S...Environmental Protection Agency ERNS Emergency Response Notification system FFA Federal Facility Agreement FINDS Facility index system HWCSA Hazardous

Identifying Barriers and Facilitators at Affect Community Pharmacists' Ability to Engage Children in Medication Counseling: A Pilot Study

PubMed Central

Alexander, Dayna S.; Schleiden, Loren J.; Carpenter, Delesha M.

2017-01-01

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to describe the barriers and facilitators that influence community pharmacists' ability to provide medication counseling to pediatric patients. METHODS Semistructured interviews (n = 16) were conducted with pharmacy staff at 3 community pharmacies in 2 Eastern states. The interview guide elicited pharmacy staff experiences interacting with children and their perceived barriers and facilitators to providing medication counseling. Transcripts were reviewed for accuracy and a codebook was developed for data analysis. NVivo 10 was used for content analysis and identifying relevant themes. RESULTS Ten pharmacists and 6 pharmacy technicians were interviewed. Most participants were female (69%), aged 30 to 49 years (56%), with ≥5 years of pharmacy practice experience. Eight themes emerged as barriers to pharmacists' engaging children in medication counseling, the most prevalent being the child's absence during medication pickup, the child appearing to be distracted or uninterested, and having an unconducive pharmacy environment. Pharmacy staff noted 7 common facilitators to engaging children, most importantly, availability of demonstrative and interactive devices/technology, pharmacist demeanor and communication approach, and having child-friendly educational materials. CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest that pharmacy personnel are rarely able to engage children in medication counseling because of the patient's absence during medication pickup; however, having child-friendly materials could facilitate interactions when the child is present. These findings can inform programs and interventions aimed at addressing the barriers pharmacists encounter while educating children about safe and appropriate use of medicines. PMID:29290741

The Evaluation of Facilitation Process in Building Community Capacity about OVOP Concept in Kenjeran Coastal Area, Surabaya

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Handayeni, K. D. M. E.; Santoso, E. B.; Siswanto, V. K.

2017-07-01

The concept of One Village One Product (OVOP) is an approach to the development potential of the area in the region to produce products that can compete in the global market, while still having unique characteristics of the area. Bulak District is one of the Kenjeran coastal area in Surabaya, Indonesia. Bulak District has had a great potential of marine products, but still contribute greatly in improving the people's welfare. Total activities of SMEs in the District of Bulak quite a lot, but the resulting product unknown to the wider community and the global marketplace. Activity of facilitation for SMEs society do to build community capacity in the implementation of the concept of OVOP. Based on the results of the evaluation assistance through Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test result an increased understanding of the community regarding to the five subjects related OVOP concept. There are six factors to note in mentoring activities that need to be considered for the sustainability of community capacity building programs on OVOP.

A Qualitative Examination of Health Barriers and Facilitators Among African American Mothers in a Subsidized Housing Community.

PubMed

Cotter, Elizabeth W; Hamilton, Natia S; Kelly, Nichole R; Harney, Megan B; Greene, LaShaun; White, Kelly A; Mazzeo, Suzanne E

2016-09-01

Although African American families are at particular risk for obesity and its associated health comorbidities, few interventions have directly targeted low-income members of this group living in subsidized public housing. Using a consensual qualitative research approach, we conducted 11 interviews with African American mothers living in two public housing communities to enhance understanding of their perceived barriers and facilitators to health. Five primary domains emerged, including barriers (access, financial, personal, and neighborhood concerns), resources (personal and community), current behaviors (diet, physical activity, and program participation), definition of health (mental well-being, physical well-being, and health behaviors), and needs/interests in programming (health behavior-specific programs, non-health-related programs, child-focused programming, and qualities of programs and their leaders). Results demonstrate the complex interaction among social, environmental, and personal factors on health behaviors for this priority population, and highlight the need for community members' involvement in the development of community-based obesity prevention programming. © 2016 Society for Public Health Education.

Animal Research Practices and Doctoral Student Identity Development in a Scientific Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holley, Karri

2009-01-01

This article examines doctoral student identity development in regard to engagement with research practices. Using animal research as a contextual lens, it considers how students develop an identity congruent to their perception of the community which facilitates their social and cognitive activities. The shared, interpretive understanding among…

Training the Foot Soldiers of Inquiry: Development and Evaluation of a Graduate Teaching Assistant Learning Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linenberger, Kimberly; Slade, Michael C.; Addis, Elizabeth A.; Elliott, Emily R.; Mynhardt, Glené; Raker, Jeffrey R.

2014-01-01

As part of a Howard Hughes Program for Innovation in Science Education grant at Iowa State University, a series of interdisciplinary graduate teaching assistant learning communities (TALC) were developed. The purpose of these communities was to create an environment to facilitate teaching assistants' pedagogical development and training to enhance…

Community-Based Health Programmes: Role Perceptions and Experiences of Female Peer Facilitators in Mumbai's Urban Slums

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alcock, Glyn A.; More, Neena Shah; Patil, Sarita; Porel, Maya; Vaidya, Leena; Osrin, David

2009-01-01

Community-based initiatives have become a popular approach to addressing the health needs of underserved populations, in both low- and higher-income countries. This article presents findings from a study of female peer facilitators involved in a community-based maternal and newborn health intervention in urban slum areas of Mumbai. Using…

The Unity Council at 40: a pioneering community development and service organization (1967-2007).

PubMed

Orozco, Gabriel; Schwartz, Sara L; Austin, Michael J

2011-01-01

The Spanish Speaking Unity Council (Unity Council) is a community development nonprofit organization that was established in 1964, during the civil rights movement, by a group of community members who wanted to ensure the political representation of the Latino community. Over its 45-year history, the Unity Council has grown into a $12 million community development organization that delivers a range of programming, including social services and employment training as well as facilitating the development and support of local businesses, low-income housing, and neighborhood improvement activities. The history of the agency presents the multiple challenges and rewards associated with development in an underserved community and an example of the important role that leadership plays in the growth of a nonprofit.

Trophic facilitation or limitation? Comparative effects of pumas and black bears on the scavenger community.

PubMed

Allen, Maximilian L; Elbroch, L Mark; Wilmers, Christopher C; Wittmer, Heiko U

2014-01-01

Scavenging is a widespread behaviour and an important process influencing food webs and ecological communities. Large carnivores facilitate the movement of energy across trophic levels through the scavenging and decomposition of their killed prey, but competition with large carnivores is also likely to constrain acquisition of carrion by scavengers. We used an experimental approach based on motion-triggered video cameras at black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) carcasses to measure the comparative influences of two large carnivores in the facilitation and limitation of carrion acquisition by scavengers. We found that pumas (Puma concolor) and black bears (Ursus americanus) had different effects on their ecological communities. Pumas, as a top-level predator, facilitated the consumption of carrion by scavengers, despite significantly reducing their observed sum feeding times (165.7 min ± 21.2 SE at puma kills 264.3 min ± 30.1 SE at control carcasses). In contrast, black bears, as the dominant scavenger in the system, limited consumption of carrion by scavengers as evidenced by the observed reduction of scavenger species richness recorded at carcasses where they were present (mean = 2.33 ± 0.28 SE), compared to where they were absent (mean = 3.28 ± 0.23 SE). Black bears also had large negative effects on scavenger sum feeding times (88.5 min ± 19.8 SE at carcasses where bears were present, 372.3 min ± 50.0 SE at carcasses where bears were absent). In addition, we found that pumas and black bears both increased the nestedness (a higher level of order among species present) of the scavenger community. Our results suggest that scavengers have species-specific adaptions to exploit carrion despite large carnivores, and that large carnivores influence the structure and composition of scavenger communities. The interactions between large carnivores and scavengers should be considered in future studies of food webs and ecological communities.

Applying Community Engagement to Disaster Planning: Developing the Vision and Design for the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Initiative

PubMed Central

Tang, Jennifer; Lizaola, Elizabeth; Jones, Felica; Brown, Arleen; Stayton, Alix; Williams, Malcolm; Chandra, Anita; Eisenman, David; Fogleman, Stella; Plough, Alonzo

2013-01-01

Community resilience (CR) is a priority for preparedness, but few models exist. A steering council used community-partnered participatory research to support workgroups in developing CR action plans and hosted forums for input to design a pilot demonstration of implementing CR versus enhanced individual preparedness toolkits. Qualitative data describe how stakeholders viewed CR, how toolkits were developed, and demonstration design evolution. Stakeholders viewed community engagement as facilitating partnerships to implement CR programs when appropriately supported by policy and CR resources. Community engagement exercises clarified motivations and informed action plans (e.g., including vulnerable populations). Community input identified barriers (e.g., trust in government) and CR-building strategies. A CR toolkit and demonstration comparing its implementation with individual preparedness were codeveloped. Community-partnered participatory research was a useful framework to plan a CR initiative through knowledge exchange. PMID:23678916

Media literacy and remote community development in Eastern Indonesia Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aras, M.

2018-03-01

This study focused on media literacy phenomenon and educational development of remote communities in the eastern Indonesia region. Therefore, this study used the qualitative approach. The research was done by using direct observation and depth-interview. The research results showed that (1) the media literacy phenomenon of remote community in eastern Indonesia region was apprehensive. This was due to lack of access to information or media exposure through print media, electronic media, and social media. Therefore, the implication was the education awareness of the local community. The media literacy community has a strong relation with public awareness in improving education, and (2) the role of media in the development as facilitators or means of socialization to convey messages related to sustainable development programs in Indonesia. The current media phenomenon had become a necessity, without the exception of the remote communities. The development of an area was also characterized by the increasing education of its citizen and media became one of supporting factors that can motivate the citizen in gaining knowledge. It meant that media literacy community has strong relationships with people awareness in increasing their education. The more media literate, the more people have an awareness of self-development and their region development. Therefore, in the future, there will be no more remote areas because the media network has reached all areas.

Developing strategic systems supporting communities of practice in the Georgia Department of Transportation.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-12-01

This study is designed to explore strategies through which the Georgia Department of : Transportation (GDOT) can develop communities of practice to help employees facilitate critical : exchanges of knowledge, support organizational learning, and ulti...

Using Wikis to Develop Collaborative Communities in an Environmental Chemistry Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pence, Laura E.; Pence, Harry E.

2015-01-01

Group construction of wikis in an environmental chemistry course provided an effective framework for students to develop and to manage collaborative communities, characterized by interactive projects designed to deepen learning. A sequence of assignments facilitated improvement of the students' wiki construction and editing skills and these…

An Interagency Collaboration to Facilitate Development of Filovirus Medical Countermeasures

PubMed Central

Kilgore, Nicole; Nuzum, Edwin O.

2012-01-01

The Filovirus Animal Non-Clinical Group (FANG) is a US interdepartmental and interagency group established to support and facilitate the advanced development of filovirus Medical Countermeasures (MCM), both vaccines and therapeutics. It is co-led by one representative from the Department of Defense (DoD), the first author, and one from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the second author. The FANG membership includes operational level program staff and Subject Matter Experts (SME) from performing organizations as well as scientific staff and program managers from DoD and HHS funding and regulatory agencies. Focus areas include animal models, assays, reagents, product manufacture and characterization, and other interagency product development issues that will support Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensure of safe and effective filovirus MCMs. The FANG continues to develop strategies to address broadly applicable and interagency product development challenges relevant to filovirus MCM development. This paper summarizes FANG structure and accomplishments and is meant to heighten community awareness of this government-led collaborative effort. PMID:23202465

Community Learning Is Community Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plested, Julian; Dale, Lesley

2001-01-01

A British project to develop a learning community had to overcome challenges of trust, lack of participation by young men, and the tendency to be led by funding. Project lessons include the following: community learning is community development; providers are co-learners; and information technology is an inspirer and an equalizer. (SK)

The role of community conversations in facilitating local HIV competence: case study from rural Zimbabwe

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background This paper examines the potential for community conversations to strengthen positive responses to HIV in resource-poor environments. Community conversations are an intervention method through which local people work with a facilitator to collectively identify local strengths and challenges and brainstorm potential strategies for solving local problems. Methods We conducted 18 community conversations (with six groups at three points in time) with a total of 77 participants in rural Zimbabwe (20% HIV positive). Participants were invited to reflect on how they were responding to the challenges of HIV, both as individuals and in community groups, and to think of ways to better support openness about HIV, kindness towards people living with HIV and greater community uptake of HIV prevention and treatment. Results Community conversations contributed to local HIV competence through (1) enabling participants to brainstorm concrete action plans for responding to HIV, (2) providing a forum to develop a sense of common purpose in relation to implementing these, (3) encouraging and challenging participants to overcome fear, denial and passivity, (4) providing an opportunity for participants to move from seeing themselves as passive recipients of information to active problem solvers, and (5) reducing silence and stigma surrounding HIV. Conclusions Our discussion cautions that community conversations, while holding great potential to help communities recognize their potential strengths and capacities for responding more effectively to HIV, are not a magic bullet. Poverty, poor harvests and political instability frustrated and limited many participants’ efforts to put their plans into action. On the other hand, support from outside the community, in this case the increasing availability of antiretroviral treatment, played a vital role in enabling communities to challenge stigma and envision new, more positive, ways of responding to the epidemic. PMID:23590640

The role of community conversations in facilitating local HIV competence: case study from rural Zimbabwe.

PubMed

Campbell, Catherine; Nhamo, Mercy; Scott, Kerry; Madanhire, Claudius; Nyamukapa, Constance; Skovdal, Morten; Gregson, Simon

2013-04-17

This paper examines the potential for community conversations to strengthen positive responses to HIV in resource-poor environments. Community conversations are an intervention method through which local people work with a facilitator to collectively identify local strengths and challenges and brainstorm potential strategies for solving local problems. We conducted 18 community conversations (with six groups at three points in time) with a total of 77 participants in rural Zimbabwe (20% HIV positive). Participants were invited to reflect on how they were responding to the challenges of HIV, both as individuals and in community groups, and to think of ways to better support openness about HIV, kindness towards people living with HIV and greater community uptake of HIV prevention and treatment. Community conversations contributed to local HIV competence through (1) enabling participants to brainstorm concrete action plans for responding to HIV, (2) providing a forum to develop a sense of common purpose in relation to implementing these, (3) encouraging and challenging participants to overcome fear, denial and passivity, (4) providing an opportunity for participants to move from seeing themselves as passive recipients of information to active problem solvers, and (5) reducing silence and stigma surrounding HIV. Our discussion cautions that community conversations, while holding great potential to help communities recognize their potential strengths and capacities for responding more effectively to HIV, are not a magic bullet. Poverty, poor harvests and political instability frustrated and limited many participants' efforts to put their plans into action. On the other hand, support from outside the community, in this case the increasing availability of antiretroviral treatment, played a vital role in enabling communities to challenge stigma and envision new, more positive, ways of responding to the epidemic.

Public Marketing: An Alternative Policy Decision-Making Idea for Small Cities. Community Development Research Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyers, James; And Others

The concept of public marketing presents a strategy for the systems approach to community development that would facilitate the community decision making process via improved communication. Basic aspects of the social marketing process include: (1) product policy; (2) channels of distribution; (3) pricing (perceived price vs quality and quantity…

Development of an interprofessional lean facilitator assessment scale.

PubMed

Bravo-Sanchez, Cindy; Dorazio, Vincent; Denmark, Robert; Heuer, Albert J; Parrott, J Scott

2018-05-01

High reliability is important for optimising quality and safety in healthcare organisations. Reliability efforts include interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) and Lean quality/process improvement strategies, which require skilful facilitation. Currently, no validated Lean facilitator assessment tool for interprofessional collaboration exists. This article describes the development and pilot evaluation of such a tool; the Interprofessional Lean Facilitator Assessment Scale (ILFAS), which measures both technical and 'soft' skills, which have not been measured in other instruments. The ILFAS was developed using methodologies and principles from Lean/Shingo, IPCP, metacognition research and Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains. A panel of experts confirmed the initial face validity of the instrument. Researchers independently assessed five facilitators, during six Lean sessions. Analysis included quantitative evaluation of rater agreement. Overall inter-rater agreement of the assessment of facilitator performance was high (92%), and discrepancies in the agreement statistics were analysed. Face and content validity were further established, and usability was evaluated, through primary stakeholder post-pilot feedback, uncovering minor concerns, leading to tool revision. The ILFAS appears comprehensive in the assessment of facilitator knowledge, skills, abilities, and may be useful in the discrimination between facilitators of different skill levels. Further study is needed to explore instrument performance and validity.

Emergence of an Israel faith-based community organization facilitating live donor kidney transplantation.

PubMed

Wasser, Walter G; Boner, Geoffrey; Koslowsky, Meni; Lazar, Adi

2018-06-07

The 2014 Consensus Conference on Best Practices in Living Kidney Donations recognized live donor kidney transplantation as the best treatment for late-stage kidney disease, yielding superior graft and patient survival, improved quality of life, fewer requirements for dialysis and increased cost-effectiveness compared to deceased donor kidney transplantation. Yet in spite of the excellent results of living kidney donation, the annual number of living kidney donors is declining in many countries, including the United States. In Israel, a non-profit organization, Matnat Chaim ("Gift of Life" in Hebrew), a faith-based initiative, has emerged as a major force for arranging living donor kidney transplantation mainly by facilitating altruistic living unrelated donor transplantation. A retrospective review of the records of live kidney donations facilitated by the Matnat Chaim organization and referred to Israel transplant centers, since the organization's inception in 2009, was performed and compared to published data from the Israel Ministry of Health. Matnat Chaim has facilitated 494 live kidney donations since its founding in February 2009 until the end of 2017. Of the 124 live kidney transplants performed in 2016, 111 (90%) were shown to be altruistic and unrelated. This large number of donations was associated with a doubling of the total number of kidney transplantations, performed in Israel (data published by the Israel Ministry of Health). The success of an Israel community organization in the promotion of kidney transplantation may serve as a model for other religious and non-religious communities worldwide.

Leadership Development Through Peer-Facilitated Simulation in Nursing Education.

PubMed

Brown, Karen M; Rode, Jennifer L

2018-01-01

Baccalaureate nursing graduates must possess leadership skills, yet few opportunities exist to cultivate leadership abilities in a clinical environment. Peer-facilitated learning may increase the leadership skills of competence, self-confidence, self-reflection, and role modeling. Facilitating human patient simulation provides opportunities to develop leadership skills. With faculty supervision, senior baccalaureate students led small-group simulation experiences with sophomore and junior peers and then conducted subsequent debriefings. Quantitative and qualitative descriptive data allowed evaluation of students' satisfaction with this teaching innovation and whether the experience affected students' desire to take on leadership roles. Students expressed satisfaction with the peer-facilitated simulation experience and confidence in mastering the content while developing necessary skills for practice. Peer-facilitated simulation provides an opportunity for leadership development and learning. Study results can inform the development of nursing curricula to best develop the leadership skills of nursing students. [J Nurs Educ. 2018;57(1):53-57.]. Copyright 2018, SLACK Incorporated.

Working with Toronto neighbourhoods toward developing indicators of community capacity.

PubMed

Jackson, Suzanne F; Cleverly, Shelley; Poland, Blake; Burman, David; Edwards, Richard; Robertson, Ann

2003-12-01

Often the goal of health and social development agencies is to assess communities and work with them to improve community capacity. Particularly for health promoters working in community settings and to ensure consistency in the definition of health promotion, the evaluation of health promotion programmes should be based on strengths and assets, yet existing information for planning and evaluation purposes usually focuses on problems and deficits. A model and definition of community capacity, grounded in community experience and focusing on strengths and assets, was developed following a 4-year, multi-site, qualitative, action research project in four Toronto neighbourhoods. There was significant community involvement in the four Community Advisory Committees, one for each study site. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews and focus groups were conducted with 161 residents and agency workers identified by the Community Advisory Committees. The data were analyzed with the assistance of NUDIST software. Thematic analysis was undertaken in two stages: (i) within each site and (ii) across sites, with the latter serving as the basis for the development of indicators of community capacity. This paper presents a summary of the research, the model and the proposed indicators. The model locates talents and skills of community members in a larger context of socioenvironmental conditions, both inside and outside the community, which can act to enable or constrain the expression of these talents and skills. The significance of the indicators of community capacity proposed in the study is that they focus on identifying and measuring the facilitating and constraining socioenvironmental conditions.

Facilitating the development of a county health coverage plan with data from a community-based health survey.

PubMed

Kruger, Daniel J; Hamacher, Linda; Strugar-Fritsch, Donna; Shirey, Lauren; Renda, Emily; Zimmerman, Marc A

2010-07-01

Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) has the twin goals of generating data and shaping policy decisions, yet examples that combine these goals are scarce in the literature. We describe how a community-based survey was created and used to help develop a county health plan. The Genesee Health Plan (GHP), a community-initiated non-profit organization, provides primary care, prescription drugs, and specialty care to uninsured, low-income adults through a network of independent physicians, clinics, and hospital systems. As part of an advocacy effort, GHP supporters used results from the Speak to Your Health! Community Survey to gain financial and political support for GHP. Our study, which used CBPR principles, was created by the community, local health department, and university partners. As a result, Genesee County became one of the first counties in the United States to make basic health care available to nearly all of its uninsured, low-income adults.

Facilitators for the development and implementation of health promoting policy and programs - a scoping review at the local community level.

PubMed

Weiss, Daniel; Lillefjell, Monica; Magnus, Eva

2016-02-11

Health promotion, with a focus on multidimensional upstream factors and an ecological, life-course approach, is establishing itself as the guiding philosophy for addressing public health. Action at the political and programmatic level on the Social Determinants of Health has proven effective for promoting and building public health at all levels but has been particularly evident at the national and international levels - due in large part to available documents and guidelines. Although research and experience establish that health promotion is most effective when settings-based, the development of health promoting policies and programs at the local level is still difficult. This study intended to investigate available knowledge on the development and implementation of health promoting policies and programs at the local level and identify factors most important for facilitating capacity building and outcome achievement. We used a scoping review in order to review the current literature on local policy development and program implementation. Keywords were chosen based on results of a previous literature review. A total of 53 articles were divided into two categories: policy and implementation. Critical analysis was conducted for each article and a summary assembled. Data was charted with specific focus on the aims of the study, data acquisition, key theories/concepts/frameworks used, outcome measures, results, and conclusions. The articles included in this study primarily focused on discussing factors that facilitate the development of health promoting policy and the implementation of health promotion programs. Most significant facilitators included: collaborative decision-making, agreement of objectives and goals, local planning and action, effective leadership, building and maintaining trust, availability of resources, a dynamic approach, a realistic time-frame, and trained and knowledgeable staff. Within each of these important facilitating factors, various

To explore the efficacy of community rehabilitation for facilitating daily function among patients with mental illness.

PubMed

Cheng, Jui-Fen; Chen, Chung-Ying; Lin, Mei-Chu; Huang, Xuan-Yi

2018-04-17

To explore the efficacy of community rehabilitation for facilitating daily function among patients with mental illness. A quasi-experimental design was used. Two hundred and sixty-four participants completed a daily living function scale questionnaire and provided disease-related information. Community rehabilitation was shown to be efficient in helping to stabilize mental illness and enhance daily function. Daily function had a significant and positive correlation with disease stability. Community rehabilitation for patients with mental illness can effectively stabilize and prevent disability among those with mental illness. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Facilitating earlier transfer of care from acute stroke services into the community.

PubMed

Robinson, Jennifer

This article outlines an initiative to reduce length of stay for stroke patients within an acute hospital and to facilitate earlier transfer of care. Existing care provision was remodelled and expanded to deliver stroke care to patients within a community bed-based intermediate care facility or intermediate care at home. This new model of care has improved the delivery of rehabilitation through alternative and innovative ways of addressing service delivery that meet the needs of the patients.

Blogging through the Music Student Teaching Experience: Developing Virtual Communities of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitzpatrick, Kate R.

2014-01-01

Within educational settings, well-developed web-based social networking technologies such as interactive weblogs (blogs) can serve to effectively facilitate and mediate interactions among members of a "community of practice" (Chong, 2008; Wenger, White, & Smith, 2009). The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of an…

Developing Native School Boards: Facilitators and Impediments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isherwood, Geoffrey B.

1997-01-01

Effective strategies for assisting Canadian Native communities to develop school boards included encouraging an unhurried adaptive learning process, providing guidance to achieve consensus, and allowing for an incubation period. Impediments to development included community members' avoidance of leadership roles, cross-cultural misunderstandings,…

Facilitators and barriers to social and community participation following spinal cord injury.

PubMed

Barclay, Linda; McDonald, Rachael; Lentin, Primrose; Bourke-Taylor, Helen

2016-02-01

One of the factors known to contribute to a 'good life' following an acquired disability is making connections with others, often achieved through participation in activities outside the home. The majority of outcomes research following SCI has focussed on impairments and activity limitations with less emphasis on participation. This paper reports part of a larger study that explored the experience and meaning of social and community participation following SCI. The research question guiding the part of the study reported in this paper was: What are the facilitators and barriers to social and community participation following acquired SCI? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 adults with traumatically acquired spinal cord injury living in the community. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Three main themes and 11 subthemes were identified. The main themes were: Resources and environmental accessibility impact social participation; other people influence community engagement; health issues affect social participation. Adequate financial resources and social support (from friends and family, and from peer mentors) were found to assist social participation, while the physical environment, unsupportive social attitudes and mental health issues were identified as barriers to community participation. This study contributes to the evidence base regarding outcomes following SCI. Enabling engagement in meaningful activities in the community must be at the forefront of occupational therapy intervention, both at an individual client level and through advocacy and policy involvement, to improve the quality of life of people with SCI living in the community. © 2015 Occupational Therapy Australia.

School-Community Partnerships in Rural Settings: Facilitating Positive Outcomes for Young Children Who Experience Maltreatment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartman, Sara L.; Stotts, Jenny; Ottley, Jennifer R.; Miller, Rebecca

2017-01-01

Challenging conditions put young children at risk for maltreatment around the world, including in rural, southeastern Ohio. To combat these situations, several strategies are helpful in facilitating positive outcomes for young children. Specifically, when community entities and local school professionals work together, there is a greater…

Facilitators and Barriers to Preparedness Partnerships: A Veterans Affairs Medical Center Perspective.

PubMed

Schmitz, Susan; Wyte-Lake, Tamar; Dobalian, Aram

2017-09-13

This study sought to understand facilitators and barriers faced by local US Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) emergency managers (EMs) when collaborating with non-VA entities. Twelve EMs participated in semi-structured interviews lasting 60 to 90 minutes discussing their collaboration with non-VAMC organizations. Sections of the interview transcripts concerning facilitators and barriers to collaboration were coded and analyzed. Common themes were organized into 2 categories: (1) internal (ie, factors affecting collaboration from within VAMCs or by VA policy) and (2) external (ie, interagency or interpersonal factors). Respondents reported a range of facilitators and barriers to collaboration with community-based agencies. Internal factors facilitating collaboration included items such as leadership support. An internal barrier example included lack of clarity surrounding the VAMC's role in community disaster response. External factors noted as facilitators included a shared goal across organizations while a noted barrier was a perception that potential partners viewed a VAMC partnership with skepticism. Federal institutions are important partners for the success of community disaster preparedness and response. Understanding the barriers that VAMCs confront, as well as potential facilitators to collaboration, should enhance the development of VAMC-community partnerships and improve community health resilience. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017; page 1 of 6).

Effective Developmental Math Instructional Practices That Facilitate Learning and Academic Success of Community College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Little, Pamela Hilson

2017-01-01

The purpose of the qualitative study was to discover instructional practices used by developmental math instructors that facilitate learning and academic success of students in developmental math courses at select community colleges in Alabama in order to generate improved instructional practices in the developmental education field. Emergent data…

Development of community plans to enhance survivorship from colorectal cancer: community-based participatory research in rural communities.

PubMed

Lengerich, Eugene J; Kluhsman, Brenda C; Bencivenga, Marcyann; Allen, Regina; Miele, Mary Beth; Farace, Elana

2007-09-01

In 2002, 10.4% of the 10 million persons alive who have ever been diagnosed with cancer had colorectal cancer (CRC). Barriers, such as distance, terrain, access to care and cultural differences, to CRC survivorship may be especially relevant in rural communities. We tested the hypothesis that teams from rural cancer coalitions and hospitals would develop a Community Plan (CP) to enhance CRC survivorship. We used community-based participatory research and the PRECEDE-PROCEED model to train teams from rural cancer coalitions and hospitals in Pennsylvania and New York. We measured knowledge at three points in time and tested the change with McNemar's test, corrected for multiple comparisons (p < 0.0167). We also conducted a qualitative review of the CP contents. Fourteen (93.3%) of the 15 coalitions or hospitals initially recruited to the study completed a CP. Knowledge in public health, sponsorship of A National Action Plan for Cancer Survivorship, and CRC survivorship and treatment increased. Teams identified perceived barriers and community assets. All teams planned to increase awareness of community assets and almost all planned to enhance treatment-related care and psychosocial care for the CRC survivor; 50% planned to enhance primary care and CRC screening. The study demonstrated the interest and ability of rural organizations to plan to enhance CRC survivorship, including linkage of CRC survivorship to primary care. Rural cancer coalitions and hospitals may be a vehicle to develop local action for A National Action Plan. Access to more comprehensive care for CRC cancer survivors in rural communities appears to be facilitated by the community-based initiative described and investigated in this study. Efforts such as these could be replicated in other rural communities and may impact the care and quality of life of survivors with many types of cancers. While access to health services may be increased through community-based initiatives, we still need to measure

Community Economic Development Strategies in Rural Washington: Toward a Synthesis of Natural and Social Capital

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crowe, Jessica A.

2006-01-01

Routes to economic development attract considerable attention in community and rural sociology. Social scientists draw increasingly on studies of social capital and environmental surroundings as they examine the factors that facilitate and inhibit economic development. However, few empirical analyses exist that analyze the impact of the…

Using a participatory approach to the development of a school-based physical activity policy in an Indigenous community.

PubMed

Hogan, Lindsay; García Bengoechea, Enrique; Salsberg, Jon; Jacobs, Judi; King, Morrison; Macaulay, Ann C

2014-12-01

This study is part of a larger community-based participatory research (CBPR) project to develop, implement, and evaluate the physical activity component of a school-based wellness policy. The policy intervention is being carried out by community stakeholders and academic researchers within the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project, a well-established health promotion organization in the Indigenous community of Kahnawake, Quebec. We explored how a group of stakeholders develop a school physical activity policy in a participatory manner, and examined factors serving as facilitators and barriers to the development process. This case study was guided by an interpretive description approach and draws upon data from documentary analysis and participant observation. A CBPR approach allowed academic researchers and community stakeholders to codevelop a physical activity policy that is both evidence-based and contextually appropriate. The development process was influenced by a variety of barriers and facilitators including working within existing structures, securing appropriate stakeholders, and school contextual factors. This research offers a process framework that others developing school-based wellness policies may use with appropriate modifications based on local environments. © 2014, American School Health Association.

Moving forward on facilitation research: response to changing environments and effects on the diversity, functioning and evolution of plant communities

PubMed Central

Soliveres, Santiago; Smit, Christian; Maestre, Fernando T.

2015-01-01

Once seen as anomalous, facilitative interactions among plants and their importance for community structure and functioning are now widely recognized. The growing body of modelling, descriptive and experimental studies on facilitation covers a wide variety of terrestrial and aquatic systems throughout the globe. However, the lack of a general body of theory linking facilitation among different types of organisms and biomes and their responses to environmental changes prevents further advances in our knowledge regarding the evolutionary and ecological implications of facilitation in plant communities. Moreover, insights gathered from alternative lines of inquiry may substantially improve our understanding of facilitation, but these have been largely neglected thus far. Despite over 15 years of research and debate on this topic, there is no consensus on the degree to which plant–plant interactions change predictably along environmental gradients (i.e. the stress-gradient hypothesis), and this hinders our ability to predict how plant–plant interactions may affect the response of plant communities to ongoing global environmental change. The existing controversies regarding the response of plant–plant interactions across environmental gradients can be reconciled when clearly considering and determining the species-specificity of the response, the functional or individual stress type, and the scale of interest (pairwise interactions or community-level response). Here, we introduce a theoretical framework to do this, supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence. We also discuss current gaps in our knowledge regarding how plant–plant interactions change along environmental gradients. These include the existence of thresholds in the amount of species-specific stress that a benefactor can alleviate, the linearity or non-linearity of the response of pairwise interactions across distance from the ecological optimum of the beneficiary, and the need to explore

Moving forward on facilitation research: response to changing environments and effects on the diversity, functioning and evolution of plant communities.

PubMed

Soliveres, Santiago; Smit, Christian; Maestre, Fernando T

2015-02-01

Once seen as anomalous, facilitative interactions among plants and their importance for community structure and functioning are now widely recognized. The growing body of modelling, descriptive and experimental studies on facilitation covers a wide variety of terrestrial and aquatic systems throughout the globe. However, the lack of a general body of theory linking facilitation among different types of organisms and biomes and their responses to environmental changes prevents further advances in our knowledge regarding the evolutionary and ecological implications of facilitation in plant communities. Moreover, insights gathered from alternative lines of inquiry may substantially improve our understanding of facilitation, but these have been largely neglected thus far. Despite over 15 years of research and debate on this topic, there is no consensus on the degree to which plant-plant interactions change predictably along environmental gradients (i.e. the stress-gradient hypothesis), and this hinders our ability to predict how plant-plant interactions may affect the response of plant communities to ongoing global environmental change. The existing controversies regarding the response of plant-plant interactions across environmental gradients can be reconciled when clearly considering and determining the species-specificity of the response, the functional or individual stress type, and the scale of interest (pairwise interactions or community-level response). Here, we introduce a theoretical framework to do this, supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence. We also discuss current gaps in our knowledge regarding how plant-plant interactions change along environmental gradients. These include the existence of thresholds in the amount of species-specific stress that a benefactor can alleviate, the linearity or non-linearity of the response of pairwise interactions across distance from the ecological optimum of the beneficiary, and the need to explore further how

Team Building. Baldor Electric Company. [Facilitator Guide and Participant Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saint Louis Community Coll., MO. Workplace Literacy Services Center.

This document contains the facilitator and participant guides for a course in team building that was developed by a community college for a St. Louis (Missouri) electric company. The facilitator's guide contains the transparency masters, outlines, learning activities, questionnaires, and other handouts required for two course sessions. The first…

Community College Program Planning: A Method to Measure and Meet Community Need

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perez-Vergara, Kelly; Lathrop, Rachel; Orlowski, Martin

2018-01-01

Offering academic programs that meet community need has long been a core mission of community colleges. However, determining which job skills and credentials are needed for employment in the community is challenging. In order to facilitate a holistic and community-based perspective, our 2-year community college developed a structured curricular…

Facilitators and Barriers to the Integration of Orally Educated Children and Youth with Hearing Loss into Their Families and Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eriks-Brophy, Alice; Durieux-Smith, Andree; Olds, Janet; Fitzpatrick, Elizabeth; Duquette, Cheryll; Whittingham, JoAnne

2007-01-01

Family and community interactions provide important opportunities for facilitating the integration of children and youth with hearing loss, yet these environments have received little research attention. In this study, facilitators and barriers to integration associated with the social milieus of young people with hearing loss were identified.…

Activating Community Health Center Patients in Developing Question-Formulation Skills: A Qualitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Wei-Hsin; Deen, Darwin; Rothstein, Dan; Santana, Luz; Gold, Marthe R.

2011-01-01

The authors developed and delivered a brief patient activation intervention (PAI) that sought to facilitate physician-patient communication. The intervention was designed to assist low-income, racial/ethnic minority users of community health centers in building skills and confidence asking questions. The PAI takes 8 to 10 minutes to deliver and…

Neophyte facilitator experiences of interprofessional education: implications for faculty development.

PubMed

Egan-Lee, Eileen; Baker, Lindsay; Tobin, Stasey; Hollenberg, Elisa; Dematteo, Dale; Reeves, Scott

2011-09-01

The facilitation of learners from different professional groups requires a range of interprofessional knowledge and skills (e.g. an understanding of possible sources of tension between professions) in addition to those that are more generic, such as how to manage a small group of learners. The development and delivery of interprofessional education (IPE) programs tends to rely on a small cohort of facilitators who have typically gained expertise through 'hands-on' involvement in facilitating IPE and through mentorship from more experienced colleagues. To avoid burn-out and to meet a growing demand for IPE, a larger number of facilitators are needed. However, empirical evidence regarding effective approaches to prepare for this type of work is limited. This article draws on data from a multiple case study of four IPE programs based in an urban setting in North America with a sample of neophyte facilitators and provides insight into their perceptions and experiences in preparing for and delivering IPE. Forty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted before (n = 20) and after (n = 21) program delivery with 21 facilitators. Findings indicated that despite participating in a three-fold faculty development strategy designed to support them in their IPE facilitation work, many felt unprepared and continued to have a poor conceptual understanding of core IPE and interprofessional collaboration principles, resulting in problematic implications (e.g. 'missed teachable moments') within their IPE programs. Findings from this study are discussed in relation to the IPE, faculty development and wider educational literature before implications are offered for the future delivery of interprofessional faculty development activities.

Development of the Tongan American Health Professionals Association: Sharing, Mentoring and Networking for Community Health.

PubMed

Tui'one, Vanessa; Tulua-Tata, Alisi; Hui, Brian; Tisnado, Diana M

Tongan-Americans face severe disparities in health including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Educational disparities also affect health opportunities and well-being, influencing health status and community capacity to address disparities. Few resources have been identified within the Tongan-American community to address these concerns. The Tongan American Health Professionals Association (TAHPA) was conceived to identify and develop health and health career resources for the Tongan community. Through TAHPA, the Tongan-American community is utilizing a community-empowerment approach to address disparities and well-being. TAHPA was formed in 2008 through the leadership of individuals with a vision of a healthier Tongan-American community. TAHPA's purpose was to inspire and empower the Tongan-American community by developing an organization of Tongan-American health care professionals and pre-professionals, celebrating their accomplishments, and providing resources and support for educational and career development. Founders gathered in small work groups in community settings to discuss health concerns, well-being and solutions. Key community members facilitated the process to establish goals and objectives. To date, 40 Tongan health professionals and pre-professionals have become members. TAHPA's vision and outreach processes have been developed. TAHPA's uniqueness and strength is that it is rooted in the community, created by the community to serve the community.

Successful Community Development Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Thomas G.

This paper sketches several successful community economic development programs that have implications for rural education. Case studies are used to discuss community characteristics that contribute to development success. In Virginia, a Community Certification Program offers statewide business recruitment services to communities that meet program…

Barriers and facilitators to implementing a patient-centered model of contraceptive provision in community health centers.

PubMed

Politi, Mary C; Estlund, Amy; Milne, Anne; Buckel, Christina M; Peipert, Jeffrey F; Madden, Tessa

2016-01-01

The Contraceptive CHOICE Project developed a patient-centered model for contraceptive provision including: (1) structured, evidence-based counseling; (2) staff and health care provider education; and (3) removal of barriers such as cost and multiple appointments to initiate contraception. In preparation for conducting a research study of the CHOICE model in three community health settings, we sought to identify potential barriers and facilitators to implementation. Using a semi-structured interview guide guided by a framework of implementation research, we conducted 31 qualitative interviews with female patients, staff, and health care providers assessing attitudes, beliefs, and barriers to receiving contraception. We also asked about current contraceptive provision and explored organizational practices relevant to implementing the CHOICE model. We used a grounded theory approach to identify major themes. Many participants felt that current contraceptive provision could be improved by the CHOICE model. Potential facilitators included agreement about the necessity for improved contraceptive knowledge among patients and staff; importance of patient-centered contraceptive counseling; and benefits to same-day insertion of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). Potential barriers included misconceptions about contraception held by staff and providers; resistance to new practices; costs associated with LARC; and scheduling challenges required for same-day insertion of LARC. In addition to staff and provider training, implementing a patient-centered model of contraceptive provision needs to be supplemented by strategies to manage patient and system-level barriers. Community health center staff, providers, and patients support patient-centered contraceptive counseling to improve contraception provision if organizations can address these barriers.

Community Environmental Response Facilitation Act (CERFA) Report, Nike Battery Kansas City 30, Pleasant Hill, Missouri

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-04-01

environment . * A number of environmentally significant operation identified through Enhanced PA investigations have the potential to affect human health...and environment and represent areas requiring environmental evaluation. Additional investigation, such as sampling of a variety of media including...Best Available. Copy AD-A281 929 IIIIIIIIII•. Community Environmental Response Facilitation Act (CERFA) Report Nike Battery Kansas City 30 Pleasant

Barriers and Facilitators for Information Exchange during Over-The-Counter Consultations in Community Pharmacy: A Focus Group Study

PubMed Central

Seubert, Liza J; Boeni, Fabienne; Hattingh, Laetitia; Clifford, Rhonda M

2017-01-01

Consumers are confident managing minor ailments through self-care, often self-medicating from a range of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines available from community pharmacies. To minimise risks, pharmacy personnel endeavour to engage in a consultation when consumers present with OTC enquiries however they find consumers resistant. The aim was to determine stakeholder perspectives regarding barriers and facilitators for information exchange during OTC consultations in community pharmacies and to understand the elicited themes in behavioural terms. Focus groups were undertaken with community pharmacist, pharmacy assistant and consumer participants. Independent duplicate analysis of transcription data was conducted using inductive and framework methods. Eight focus groups involving 60 participants were conducted. Themes that emerged indicated consumers did not understand pharmacists’ professional role, they were less likely to exchange information if asking for a specific product than if asking about symptom treatment, and they wanted privacy. Consumers were confident to self-diagnose and did not understand OTC medicine risks. Pharmacy personnel felt a duty of care to ensure consumer safety, and that with experience communication skills developed to better engage consumers in consultations. They also identified the need for privacy. Consumers need education about community pharmacists’ role and responsibilities to motivate them to engage in OTC consultations. They also require privacy when doing so. PMID:29211054

Implementation of a mental health medication management intervention in Australian community pharmacies: Facilitators and challenges.

PubMed

Hattingh, H Laetitia; Kelly, Fiona; Fowler, Jane; Wheeler, Amanda J

Community pharmacists are in an ideal position to promote and provide mental health medication management services. However, formalised or structured pharmacy services to support consumers with mental health conditions are scarce. Australian mental health consumers indicated a need for targeted community pharmacy mental health services which presented an opportunity to develop an intervention that were integrated with remunerated professional services. The study aimed to pilot a mental health medication management intervention in Australian community pharmacies. Pharmacists worked in partnership with consumers, carers and mental health workers over three to six months to set and support achievement of individual goals related to medicines use, physical health and mental wellbeing. This paper provides a comparison of community pharmacies that successfully delivered the intervention with those that did not and identifies facilitators and challenges to service implementation. One hundred pharmacies opted to pilot the delivery of the intervention in three Australian states (Queensland, Western Australia and northern New South Wales). Of those, 55 successfully delivered the intervention (completers) whilst 45 were unsuccessful (non-completers). A mixed methods approach, including quantitative pharmacy surveys and qualitative semi-structured interviews, was used to gather data from participating pharmacies. Following intervention development, 142 pharmacists and 21 pharmacy support staff attended training workshops, received resource kits and ongoing support from consumer and pharmacist mentors throughout intervention implementation. Baseline quantitative data was collected from each pharmacy on staff profile, volume of medicines dispensed, the range of professional services delivered and relationships with health professionals. At the completion of the study participants were invited to complete an online exit survey and take part in a semi-structured interview that

Portal for Families Overcoming Neurodevelopmental Disorders (PFOND): Implementation of a Software Framework for Facilitated Community Website Creation by Nontechnical Volunteers.

PubMed

Ye, Xin Cynthia; Ng, Isaiah; Seid-Karbasi, Puya; Imam, Tuhina; Lee, Cheryl E; Chen, Shirley Yu; Herman, Adam; Sharma, Balraj; Johal, Gurinder; Gu, Bobby; Wasserman, Wyeth W

2013-08-06

The Portal for Families Overcoming Neurodevelopmental Disorders (PFOND) provides a structured Internet interface for the sharing of information with individuals struggling with the consequences of rare developmental disorders. Large disease-impacted communities can support fundraising organizations that disseminate Web-based information through elegant websites run by professional staff. Such quality resources for families challenged by rare disorders are infrequently produced and, when available, are often dependent upon the continued efforts of a single individual. The project endeavors to create an intuitive Web-based software system that allows a volunteer with limited technical computer skills to produce a useful rare disease website in a short time period. Such a system should provide access to emerging news and research findings, facilitate community participation, present summary information about the disorder, and allow for transient management by volunteers who are likely to change periodically. The prototype portal was implemented using the WordPress software system with both existing and customized supplementary plug-in software modules. Gamification scoring features were implemented in a module, allowing editors to measure progress. The system was installed on a Linux-based computer server, accessible across the Internet through standard Web browsers. A prototype PFOND system was implemented and tested. The prototype system features a structured organization with distinct partitions for background information, recent publications, and community discussions. The software design allows volunteer editors to create a themed website, implement a limited set of topic pages, and connect the software to dynamic RSS feeds providing information about recent news or advances. The prototype was assessed by a fraction of the disease sites developed (8 out of 27), including Aarskog-Scott syndrome, Aniridia, Adams-Oliver syndrome, Cat Eye syndrome, Kabuki syndrome

Portal for Families Overcoming Neurodevelopmental Disorders (PFOND): Implementation of a Software Framework for Facilitated Community Website Creation by Nontechnical Volunteers

PubMed Central

Imam, Tuhina; Lee, Cheryl E; Chen, Shirley Yu; Herman, Adam; Sharma, Balraj; Johal, Gurinder; Gu, Bobby

2013-01-01

Background The Portal for Families Overcoming Neurodevelopmental Disorders (PFOND) provides a structured Internet interface for the sharing of information with individuals struggling with the consequences of rare developmental disorders. Large disease-impacted communities can support fundraising organizations that disseminate Web-based information through elegant websites run by professional staff. Such quality resources for families challenged by rare disorders are infrequently produced and, when available, are often dependent upon the continued efforts of a single individual. Objective The project endeavors to create an intuitive Web-based software system that allows a volunteer with limited technical computer skills to produce a useful rare disease website in a short time period. Such a system should provide access to emerging news and research findings, facilitate community participation, present summary information about the disorder, and allow for transient management by volunteers who are likely to change periodically. Methods The prototype portal was implemented using the WordPress software system with both existing and customized supplementary plug-in software modules. Gamification scoring features were implemented in a module, allowing editors to measure progress. The system was installed on a Linux-based computer server, accessible across the Internet through standard Web browsers. Results A prototype PFOND system was implemented and tested. The prototype system features a structured organization with distinct partitions for background information, recent publications, and community discussions. The software design allows volunteer editors to create a themed website, implement a limited set of topic pages, and connect the software to dynamic RSS feeds providing information about recent news or advances. The prototype was assessed by a fraction of the disease sites developed (8 out of 27), including Aarskog-Scott syndrome, Aniridia, Adams-Oliver syndrome

Community Capacity Building and Sustainability: Outcomes of Community-Based Participatory Research

PubMed Central

Hacker, Karen; Tendulkar, Shalini A.; Rideout, Catlin; Bhuiya, Nazmim; Trinh-Shevrin, Chau; Savage, Clara P.; Grullon, Milagro; Strelnick, Hal; Leung, Carolyn; DiGirolamo, Ann

2013-01-01

Background For communities, the value of community-based participatory research (CBPR) is often manifested in the outcomes of increased capacity and sustainable adoption of evidence-based practices for social change. Educational opportunities that promote discourse between community and academic partners can help to advance CBPR and better define these outcomes. Objectives This paper describes a community–academic conference to develop shared definitions of community capacity building and sustainability related to CBPR and to identify obstacles and facilitators to both. Methods “Taking It to the Curbside: Engaging Communities to Create Sustainable Change for Health” was planned by five Clinical Translational Science Institutes and four community organizations. After a keynote presentation, breakout groups of community and academic members met to define community capacity building and sustainability, and to identify facilitators and barriers to achieving both. Groups were facilitated by researcher–community partner teams and conversations were recorded and transcribed. Qualitative analysis for thematic content was conducted by a subset of the planning committee. Results Important findings included learning that (1) the concepts of capacity and sustainability were considered interconnected; (2) partnership was perceived as both a facilitator and an outcome of CBPR; (3) sustainability was linked to “transfer of knowledge” from one generation to another within a community; and (4) capacity and sustainability were enhanced when goals were shared and health outcomes were achieved. Conclusions Community capacity building and sustainability are key outcomes of CBPR for communities. Co-learning opportunities that engage and mutually educate both community members and academics can be useful strategies for identifying meaningful strategies to achieve these outcomes. PMID:22982848

Becoming Music Teacher Educators: Learning from and with Each Other in a Professional Development Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pellegrino, Kristen; Sweet, Bridget; Derges Kastner, Julie; Russell, Heather A.; Reese, Jill

2014-01-01

During this heuristic phenomenological inquiry, we examined our lived experiences as five women (three doctoral students, two early career faculty) in the process of becoming music teacher educators participating in a year-long, online, group-facilitated professional development community (PDC). Data included recorded meetings via Skype, journal…

The Conversion of Social Capital into Community Development: an intervention in Australia's outback.

PubMed

Onyx, Jenny; Leonard, Rosemary

2010-01-01

The research presented in this article employed a deliberate intervention to mobilize social capital and then studied the dynamics of the way in which it influenced community development. Whether or not social capital is able to facilitate development depends on the specific context in which it occurs. Although the general context of this study was that of small rural towns in Australia's outback that are experiencing decline, each of the four towns studied had unique features which could influence the mobilization of social capital. Rural communities have the willingness and capacity to mobilize but whether this capacity is actualized may well depend on the presence of other mobilizing factors. Specifically the intervention study found that a structure needs to be in place which can take the initiative and work across the community - engaging a range of organizations. Second, the structure needs to be supported, but not controlled, by local government. Third, it needs the kind of social entrepreneurship that can sustain a community-wide vision and bring together the diverse groups within the community.

Development of a Mapped Diabetes Community Program Guide for a Safety Net Population

PubMed Central

Zallman, Leah; Ibekwe, Lynn; Thompson, Jennifer W.; Ross-Degnan, Dennis; Oken, Emily

2014-01-01

Purpose Enhancing linkages between patients and community programs is increasingly recognized as a method for improving physical activity, nutrition and weight management. Although interactive mapped community program guides may be beneficial, there remains a dearth of articles that describe the processes and practicalities of creating such guides. This article describes the development of an interactive, web-based mapped community program guide at a safety net institution and the lessons learned from that process. Conclusions This project demonstrated the feasibility of creating two maps – a program guide and a population health map. It also revealed some key challenges and lessons for future work in this area, particularly within safety-net institutions. Our work underscores the need for developing partnerships outside of the health care system and the importance of employing community-based participatory methods. In addition to facilitating improvements in individual wellness, mapping community programs also has the potential to improve population health management by healthcare delivery systems such as hospitals, health centers, or public health systems, including city and state departments of health. PMID:24752180

Professional Development For Community College Faculty: Lessons Learned From Intentional Mentoring Workshops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morris, A. R.; Charlevoix, D. J.

2016-12-01

The Geoscience Workforce Development Initiative at UNAVCO supports attracting, training, and professionally developing students, educators, and professionals in the geosciences. For the past 12 years, UNAVCO has managed the highly successful Research Experiences in Solid Earth Science for Students (RESESS) program, with the goal of increasing the diversity of students entering the geosciences. Beginning in 2015, UNAVCO added Geo-Launchpad (GLP), a summer research preparation internship for Colorado community college students to prepare them for independent research opportunities, facilitate career exploration in the geosciences, and provide community college faculty with professional development to facilitate effective mentoring of students. One core element of the Geo-Launchpad program is UNAVCO support for GLP faculty mentors. Each intern applies to the program with a faculty representative (mentor) from his or her home institution. This faculty mentor is engaged with the student throughout the summer via telephone, video chat, text message, or email. At the end of each of the past two summers, UNAVCO has hosted four GLP faculty mentors in Boulder for two days of professional development focused on intentional mentoring of students. Discussions focused on the distinction between mentoring and advising, and the array of career and professional opportunities available to students. Faculty mentors also met with the external evaluator during the mentor training and provided feedback on both their observations of their intern as well as the impact on their own professional experience. Initial outcomes include re-energizing the faculty mentors' commitment to teaching, as well as the opportunity for valuable networking activities. This presentation will focus on the ongoing efforts and outcomes of the novel faculty mentor professional development activities, and the impact these activities have on community college student engagement in the geosciences.

Developing and Testing Twelve-Step Facilitation for Adolescents with Substance Use Disorder: Manual Development and Preliminary Outcomes

PubMed Central

Kelly, John F.; Yeterian, Julie D.; Cristello, Julie V.; Kaminer, Yifrah; Kahler, Christopher W.; Timko, Christine

2016-01-01

Adolescent substance use disorder treatment programs are often based on the 12-step philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous and/or link adolescents to these free resources. Despite this, no studies have developed and rigorously tested a twelve-step facilitation (TSF) intervention for young people, leaving a significant evidence gap. This study describes the first systematic development of an outpatient adolescent TSF treatment. An integrated twelve-step facilitation (iTSF) treatment incorporated TSF, motivational enhancement therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy elements and was developed in an iterative manner with weekly feedback provided by 36 adolescents (M age 17 years [SD = 1.4]; 52.8% white) with DSM-IV substance use disorder recruited from the community. Assessments were conducted at baseline and at three and six months. Participants completed 6 of 10 sessions on average (8 participants completed all 10). Notable treatment developments were the inclusion of “in-services” led by Marijuana Anonymous members, including parents in a portion of individual sessions to provide a rationale for TSF, and use of a Socratic therapeutic interaction style. Acceptability and feasibility of the treatment were excellent (treatment satisfaction was 4.29 [SD = 0.59] out of 5). In keeping with TSF theory, the intervention substantially increased 12-step participation, and greater participation related to greater abstinence. iTSF is a replicable manualized treatment that can be implemented and tested in outpatient settings. Given the widespread compatibility of iTSF with the current adolescent treatment, if found efficacious, iTSF could be relatively easily adopted, implemented, and sustained and could provide an evidence-based option that could undergird current practice. PMID:27429548

Professional Learning Communities Facilitator's Guide for the What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guide: Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten through 3rd Grade. REL 2016-277

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kosanovich, Marcia; Foorman, Barbara

2016-01-01

The Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast developed a Professional Learning Community (PLC) Facilitators Guide to support educators in the implementation of recommendations from the What Works Clearinghouse's. The practice guide focuses on the foundational reading skills that enable students to read words, relate those words to their…

Microgravity: New opportunities to facilitate biotechnology development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Terry; Todd, Paul; Stodieck, Louis S.

1996-03-01

New opportunities exist to use the microgravity environment to facilitate biotechnology development. BioServe Space Technologies Center for the Commercial Development of Space offers access to microgravity environments for companies who wish to perform research or develop products in three specific life-science fields: Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research, Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Research, and Agricultural and Environmental Research. Examples of each include physiological testing of new pharmaceutical countermeasures against symptoms that are exaggerated in space flight, crystallization and testing of novel, precompetitive biopharmaceutical substances in a convection-free environment, and closed life-support system product development.

Facilitation for Professional Learning Community Conversations in Singapore

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salleh, Hairon

2016-01-01

Professional Learning Community (PLC) has steadily grown in importance over the last decade. The growing importance of PLCs lies in its potential to act as a lever for school-based curriculum development and innovation so as to provide diverse learning experiences to satisfy broader learning outcomes beyond academic achievements (e.g., the…

Community Development Services in the Community Junior College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Romine, Stephen

A survey was conducted through the Mountain-Plains Community College Leadership Program of the University of Colorado to: (1) ascertain the value of various activities that might be useful as part of a community development program; (2) determine the extent of community development services now being provided and the extent to which they should be…

Developing standards for an integrated approach to workplace facilitation for interprofessional teams in health and social care contexts: a Delphi study.

PubMed

Martin, Anne; Manley, Kim

2018-01-01

Integration of health and social care forms part of health and social care policy in many countries worldwide in response to changing health and social care needs. The World Health Organization's appeal for systems to manage the global epidemiologic transition advocates for provision of care that crosses boundaries between primary, community, hospital, and social care. However, the focus on structural and process changes has not yielded the full benefit of expected advances in care delivery. Facilitating practice in the workplace is a widely recognised cornerstone for developments in the delivery of health and social care as collaborative and inclusive relationships enable frontline staff to develop effective workplace cultures that influence whether transformational change is achieved and maintained. Workplace facilitation embraces a number of different purposes which may not independently lead to better quality of care or improved patient outcomes. Holistic workplace facilitation of learning, development, and improvement supports the integration remit across health and social care systems and avoids duplication of effort and waste of valuable resources. To date, no standards to guide the quality and effectiveness of integrated facilitation have been published. This study aimed to identify key elements constitute standards for an integrated approach to facilitating work-based learning, development, improvement, inquiry, knowledge translation, and innovation in health and social care contexts using a three rounds Delphi survey of facilitation experts from 10 countries. Consensus about priority elements was determined in the final round, following an iteration process that involved modifications to validate content. The findings helped to identify key qualities and skills facilitators need to support interprofessional teams to flourish and optimise performance. Further research could evaluate the impact of skilled integrated facilitation on health and social care

Involving Families and Communities in CSPAP Development Using Asset Mapping

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allar, Ishonté; Elliott, Eloise; Jones, Emily; Kristjansson, Alfgeir L.; Taliaferro, Andrea; Bulger, Sean M.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to asset mapping as a systematic approach to facilitating increased family and community involvement in comprehensive school physical activity programs (CSPAP). It includes a brief summary of the literature related to the importance of family and community in children's physical activity…

The Race that Precedes Coactivation: Development of Multisensory Facilitation in Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barutchu, Ayla; Crewther, David P.; Crewther, Sheila G.

2009-01-01

Rationale: The facilitating effect of multisensory integration on motor responses in adults is much larger than predicted by race-models and is in accordance with the idea of coactivation. However, the development of multisensory facilitation of endogenously driven motor processes and its relationship to the development of complex cognitive skills…

Facilitating Vocational Development Among Disadvantaged Inner-City Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamdani, Asma

1977-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the vocational development process of tenth-grade disadvantaged students can be facilitated through deliberate intervention in the form of supplementary learning experiences. (Author)

Community Report Card.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rural Development Service (USDA), Washington, DC.

Designed to facilitate rural development efforts, this pamphlet presents a grading key for ranking community factors in each of four key areas of progress as follows: (1) People Building (education, health services, cultural satisfaction, outreach to the disadvantaged, and leadership); (2) Community Facilities (housing, transportation, utilities,…

Development of Self-Report Measures of Social Attitudes that Act as Environmental Barriers and Facilitators for People with Disabilities

PubMed Central

Garcia, Sofia F.; Hahn, Elizabeth A.; Magasi, Susan; Lai, Jin-Shei; Semik, Patrick; Hammel, Joy; Heinemann, Allen W.

2014-01-01

Objective To describe the development of new self-report measures of social attitudes that act as environmental facilitators or barriers to the participation of people with disabilities in society. Design A mixed methods approach included a literature review; item classification, selection and writing; cognitive interviews and field testing with participants with spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic brain injury (TBI) or stroke; and rating scale analysis to evaluate initial psychometric properties. Setting General community. Participants Nine individuals with SCI, TBI or stroke participated in cognitive interviews; 305 community residents with those same conditions participated in field testing. Interventions None. Main Outcome Measure(s) Self-report item pool of social attitudes that act as facilitators or barriers to people with disabilities participating in society. Results An interdisciplinary team of experts classified 710 existing social environment items into content areas and wrote 32 new items. Additional qualitative item review included item refinement and winnowing of the pool prior to cognitive interviews and field testing 82 items. Field test data indicated that the pool satisfies a one-parameter item response theory measurement model and would be appropriate for development into a calibrated item bank. Conclusions Our qualitative item review process supported a social environment conceptual framework that includes both social support and social attitudes. We developed a new social attitudes self-report item pool. Calibration testing of that pool is underway with a larger sample in order to develop a social attitudes item bank for persons with disabilities. PMID:25045803

Barriers and facilitators for the implementation of an online clinical health community in addition to usual fertility care: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Aarts, Johanna W M; Faber, Marjan J; den Boogert, Anne G; Cohlen, Ben J; van der Linden, Paul J Q; Kremer, Jan A M; Nelen, Willianne L D M

2013-08-30

Online health communities are becoming more popular in health care. Patients and professionals can communicate with one another online, patients can find peer support, and professionals can use it as an additional information channel to their patients. However, the implementation of online health communities into daily practice is challenging. These challenges relate to the fact that patients need to be activated to (1) become a member (ie, subscription) and (2) participate actively within the community before any effect can be expected. Therefore, we aimed at answering 2 research questions: (1) what factors are associated with subscription to an online health community, and (2) which are associated with becoming an active participant within an online health community. To identify barriers and facilitators as perceived by patients for the implementation of an online health community. We performed a cross-sectional study. Three Dutch fertility clinics (2 IVF-licensed) offered their patients a secure online clinical health community through which clinicians can provide online information and patients can ask questions to the medical team or share experiences and find support from peers. We randomly selected and invited 278 men and women suffering from infertility and attending 1 of the participating clinics. Participants filled out a questionnaire about their background characteristics and current use of the online community. Possible barriers and facilitators were divided into 2 parts: (1) those for subscription to the community, and (2) those for active participation in the community. We performed 2 multivariate logistic regression analyses to calculate determinants for both subscription and active participation. Subscription appeared to be associated with patients' background characteristics (eg, gender, treatment phase), intervention-related facilitators (odds ratio [OR] 2.45, 95% CI 1.14-5.27), and patient-related barriers (OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.08-0.54), such as

GetHealthyHarlem.org: Developing a Web Platform for Health Promotion and Wellness Driven by and for the Harlem Community

PubMed Central

Khan, Sharib A.; Ancker, Jessica S.; Li, Jianhua; Kaufman, David; Hutchinson, Carly; Cohall, Alwyn; Kukafka, Rita

2009-01-01

GetHealthyHarlem.org is a community website developed on an open-source platform to facilitate collaborative development of health content through participatory action research (PAR) principles. The website was developed to enable the Harlem community to create a shared health and wellness knowledgebase, to enable discourse about local and culturally relevant health information, and to foster social connections between community members and health promotion organizations. The site is gaining active use with more than 9,500 unique site visits in the six months since going live in November, 2008. In ongoing research studies, we are using the website to explore how the PAR model can be applied to the development of a community health website. PMID:20351872

Linking Knowledge and Action: PRI's Community Consultant.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spencer, Gregory P.

Within the Partnership for Rural Improvement (PRI), community consultants operate within three complex sets of relationships: client groups, the organizational structure of PRI, and the local operational base. Community consultants are responsible for developing and facilitating rural development and for providing assistance in community and…

Development of a community-based diabetes and hypertension preventive program.

PubMed

Wang, C Y; Abbott, L J

1998-12-01

The purpose of this project was to develop rapport with a Chinese Community Association and then establish preventive diabetic and hypertension programs with the Chinese in Chinatown, Hawaii. Subjects were recruited from this Chinese Community Association. Two hundred Chinese responded to the invitation. Among these, 75 individuals had either Type 2 diabetes, hypertension or both. Thirty-six males and 39 females ranging in age from 51 years old to 96 years old (Mean = 71.76, SD = 9.58) participated. Surveys and educational programs were carried out in Chinese. Results were described in terms of quantitative measures (family support and health outcomes) and qualitative experiences (case studies). Eighty percent of participants had decreased their diastolic blood pressure from above 95 mmHg to below 90 mmHg and systolic blood pressure from above 155 mmHg to below 140 mmHg. Ninety-five (n = 71) percent of participants had maintained their glucose level within the 90 mg/dL to 150 mg/dL range with a mean reduction of 57.86 mg/dL in one year. The hardest thing for families was the glucose self-monitoring. Case studies suggested that open-minded active listening and persistence formed the basis for developing a culturally sensitive community-based self management program for chronic diseases. Collaboration among the community, public health nurses, and diabetes nurse educators facilitated the process of community education and health promotion.

Community Development Guide. "A Guide for Restructuring Community Development in Agricultural Education."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wagley, Leon A.; And Others

Information designed to acquaint teachers, teacher educators, and state supervisors of agricultural education with the concepts, roles, and procedures for developing a community development curriculum is presented in this guide. The first section is concerned with suggestions for restructuring materials relevant to teaching community development…

How NASA is building and sustaining a community of scientist-communicators through virtual technology, graphic facilitation and other community-building tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeWitt, S.; Bovaird, E.; Stewart, N.; Reaves, J.; Tenenbaum, L. F.; Betz, L.; Kuchner, M. J.; Dodson, K. E.; Miller, A.

2013-12-01

In 2013 NASA launched its first agency-wide effort to cultivate and support scientist-communicators. The multiple motivations behind this effort are complex and overlapping, and include a desire to connect the agency's workforce to its mission and to each other in the post-Space Shuttle era; a shift in how the agency and the world communicates about science; the current public perception of science and of NASA, and a desire to share the stories of the real people behind the agency's technical work. Leaders in the NASA science, communications and public outreach communities partnered with the agency's training and leadership development organization to: identify and fully characterize the need for training and development in science communication, experiment with various learning models, and invite early-adopter scientists to evaluate these models for future agency investment. Using virtual collaboration technology, graphic facilitation, and leadership development methods, we set out to create an environment where scientist-communicators can emerge and excel. First, we asked scientists from across the agency to identify their motivations, opportunities, barriers and areas of interest in science communication. Scientists identified a need to go beyond traditional media training, a need for continuous practice and peer feedback, and a need for agency incentives and sustained support for this kind of work. This community-driven approach also uncovered a serious need for communication support in the wake of diminishing resources for travel and conference attendance. As a first step, we offered a series of virtual learning events - highly collaborative working sessions for scientists to practice their communication technique, develop and apply new skills to real-world situations, and gain valuable feedback from external subject matter experts and fellow scientists from across the agency in a supportive environment. Scientists from ten NASA centers and a broad range of

Community Resource Development. A Community Education Guidebook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cassidy, Maureen; Cassidy, Frank

This book is intended as a practical guidebook for those involved in continuing education, in particular, and for the boards and staff of nonprofit organizations and community groups, in general. It is designed to show these individuals how to develop community resources when additional support is needed for community education. Specific…

Understanding facilitators and barriers to reengineering the clinical research enterprise in community-based practice settings.

PubMed

Kukafka, Rita; Allegrante, John P; Khan, Sharib; Bigger, J Thomas; Johnson, Stephen B

2013-09-01

Solutions are employed to support clinical research trial tasks in community-based practice settings. Using the IT Implementation Framework (ITIF), an integrative framework intended to guide the synthesis of theoretical perspectives for planning multi-level interventions to enhance IT use, we sought to understand the barriers and facilitators to clinical research in community-based practice settings preliminary to implementing new informatics solutions for improving clinical research infrastructure. The studies were conducted in practices within the Columbia University Clinical Trials Network. A mixed-method approach, including surveys, interviews, time-motion studies, and observations was used. The data collected, which incorporates predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors in IT use, were analyzed according to each phase of ITIF. Themes identified in the first phase of ITIF were 1) processes and tools to support clinical trial research and 2) clinical research peripheral to patient care processes. Not all of the problems under these themes were found to be amenable to IT solutions. Using the multi-level orientation of the ITIF, we set forth strategies beyond IT solutions that can have an impact on reengineering clinical research tasks in practice-based settings. Developing strategies to target enabling and reinforcing factors, which focus on organizational factors, and the motivation of the practice at large to use IT solutions to integrate clinical research tasks with patient care processes, is most challenging. The ITIF should be used to consider both IT and non-IT solutions concurrently for reengineering of clinical research in community-based practice settings. © 2013.

Using a CBT-Based Therapeutic Community Program to Facilitate Healthy Relationships among Military Veterans and Their Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rush-Ossenbeck, Marilyn; West-Olatunji, Cirecie

2014-01-01

The authors propose a CBT-based Therapeutic Community (TC) program designed to facilitate healthy relationships between military veterans and their families. In many military veteran families, there is a struggle to maintain a healthy and balanced life both outside and inside the household. This struggle affects both spouses and children and is…

Evaluating the engagement of universities in capacity building for sustainable development in local communities.

PubMed

Shiel, Chris; Leal Filho, Walter; do Paço, Arminda; Brandli, Luciana

2016-02-01

Universities have the potential to play a leading role in enabling communities to develop more sustainable ways of living and working however, sustainable communities may only emerge with facilitation, community learning and continual efforts to build their capacities. Elements of programme planning and evaluation on the one hand, and capacity building on the other, are needed. The latter entails approaches and processes that may contribute to community empowerment; universities may either lead such approaches, or be key partners in an endeavour to empower communities to address the challenges posed by the need for sustainable development. Although capacity building and the promotion of sustainable development locally, are on the agenda for universities who take seriously regional engagement, very little is published that illustrates or describes the various forms of activities that take place. Further, there is a paucity of studies that have evaluated the work performed by universities in building capacity for sustainable development at the local level. This paper is an attempt to address this need, and entails an empirical study based on a sample of universities in the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal and Brazil. The paper examines the extent to which capacity building for sustainable development is being undertaken, suggests the forms that this might take and evaluates some of the benefits for local communities. The paper concludes by reinforcing that universities have a critical role to play in community development; that role has to prioritise the sustainability agenda. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing facilitative responses to a nurse shrub at the community level: the example of Potentilla fruticosa in a sub-alpine grassland of northwest China.

PubMed

Xu, J; Michalet, R; Zhang, J-L; Wang, G; Chu, C-J; Xiao, S

2010-09-01

Biotic interaction studies have revealed a large discrepancy among experiments in target responses to the effects of neighbours, which may in part be due to both high species-specificity of plant responses and low number of target species used in experiments. Our aim was to assess facilitative responses at the community level and the role of both functional groups and ecological attributes of target species. In a sub-alpine grassland on the eastern Tibet plateau, we assessed growth responses of all species in the community to removal of a dominant shrub. We also measured changes in the main environmental variables. Species responses were analysed by functional group and in relation to their mean regional altitudinal distribution. All significant interactions were positive and affected one-third of the total species richness of the community. All functional groups were facilitated but forbs were less strongly facilitated than in the two other groups. High-alpine species were less strongly facilitated than low-sub-alpine species, but the strength of this relationship was weaker than that reported in previous work. There was evidence of a decrease in extreme temperatures below the canopy of the shrub but no variations in soil moisture. We conclude that the highly stressful conditions induced by the dry continental climate of the eastern Tibet plateau are a main driver of the exclusive dominance of positive interactions. Assessing interactive responses at the community level is likely to provide a useful tool to better understand the role of biotic interactions in community responses to environmental changes.

Cultivating a Doctoral Community of Inquiry and Practice: Designing and Facilitating Discussion Board Online Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hauser, Linda; Darrow, Rob

2013-01-01

This paper presents a promising and powerful approach used to cultivate a doctoral community of inquiry and practice and harness the intelligence, commitment, and energy of all of its members in a blended learning environment. The discussion board online learning community approach was developed to transform a traditional face-to-face doctoral…

Local government alcohol policy development: case studies in three New Zealand communities

PubMed Central

Maclennan, Brett; Kypri, Kypros; Room, Robin; Langley, John

2013-01-01

Aims Local alcohol policies can be effective in reducing alcohol-related harm. The aim of this study was to examine local government responses to alcohol-related problems and identify factors influencing their development and adoption of alcohol policy. Designsettings and participants Case studies were used to examine local government responses to alcohol problems in three New Zealand communities: a rural town, a provincial city and a metropolitan city. Newspaper reports, local government documents and key informant interviews were used to collect data which were analysed using two conceptual frameworks: Kingdon's Streams model and the Stakeholder model of policy development. Measurements Key informant narratives were categorized according to the concepts of the Streams and Stakeholder models. Findings Kingdon's theoretical concepts associated with increased likelihood of policy change seemed to apply in the rural and metropolitan communities. The political environment in the provincial city, however, was not favourable to the adoption of alcohol restrictions. The Stakeholder model highlighted differences between the communities in terms of power over agenda-setting and conflict between politicians and bureaucrats over policy solutions to alcohol-related harm. These differences were reflected in the ratio of policies considered versus adopted in each location. Decisions on local alcohol policies lie ultimately with local politicians, although the policies that can be adopted by local government are restricted by central government legislation. Conclusions The adoption of policies and strategies to reduce alcohol-related harm may be better facilitated by an agenda-setting process where no ‘gate-keepers’ determine what is included into the agenda, and community mobilization efforts to create competitive local government elections around alcohol issues. Policy adoption would also be facilitated by more enabling central government legislation. PMID:23130762

Developing a Framework of Facilitator Competencies: Lessons from the Field

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolb, Judith A.; Jin, Sungmi; Song, Ji Hoon

2008-01-01

People in organizations are increasingly called upon to serve as small group facilitators or to assist in this role. This article uses data collected from practicing facilitators at three points of time and a building block process of collection, analysis, further collection, and consolidation to develop and refine a list of competencies. A…

A Statewide Faculty Development Program for Community College Associate Degree and Other Nursing Educators. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roush, Robert E.; And Others

This final report describes a Texas educational improvement project designed to: (1) increase the amount of geriatric content in the curricula of community college associate degree nursing (ADN) programs; (2) further the development of baccalaureate nursing faculty in a Historically Black College/University (HBCU); and (3) facilitate other Texas…

Development, Validation, and Performance of a Scale to Measure Community Mobilization

PubMed Central

Lippman, Sheri A.; Neilands, Torsten B.; Leslie, Hannah H.; Maman, Suzanne; MacPhail, Catherine; Twine, Rhian; Peacock, Dean; Kahn, Kathleen; Pettifor, Audrey

2016-01-01

Rationale Community mobilization approaches (CMAs) are increasingly becoming key components of health programming. However, CMAs have been ill defined and poorly evaluated, largely due to the lack of measurement tools to assess mobilization processes and impact. Objective We developed the Community Mobilization Measure (CMM), composed of a set of scales to measure mobilization domains hypothesized to operate at the community-level. The six domains include: shared concerns, critical consciousness, leadership, collective action, social cohesion, and organizations and networks. We also included the domain of social control to explore synergies with the related construct of collective efficacy. Method A survey instrument was developed and pilot tested, then revised and administered to 1,181 young people, aged 18-35, in a community-based survey in rural South Africa. Item response modeling and exploratory factor analyses were conducted to assess model fit, dimensionality, reliability, and validity. Results Results indicate the seven-dimensional model, with linked domains but no higher order construct, fit the data best. Internal consistency reliability of the factors was strong, with ρ values ranging from .81 to .93. Six of seven scales were sufficiently correlated to represent linked concepts that comprise community mobilization; social control was less related to the other components. At the village level, CMM sub-scales were correlated with other metrics of village social capital and integrity, providing initial evidence of higher-level validity, however additional evaluation of the measure at the community-level is needed. Conclusion This is the first effort to develop and validate a comprehensive measure for community mobilization. The CMM was designed as an evaluation tool for health programming and should facilitate a more nuanced understanding of mechanisms of change associated with CM, ultimately making mobilizing approaches more effective. PMID:27085071

Disturbance-mediated facilitation by an intertidal ecosystem engineer.

PubMed

Wright, Jeffrey T; Gribben, Paul E

2017-09-01

Ecosystem engineers facilitate communities by providing a structural habitat that reduces abiotic stress or predation pressure for associated species. However, disturbance may damage or move the engineer to a more stressful environment, possibly increasing the importance of facilitation for associated communities. In this study, we determined how disturbance to intertidal boulders (i.e., flipping) and the subsequent movement of a structural ecosystem engineer, the tube-forming serpulid worm Galeolaria caespitosa, from the bottom (natural state, low abiotic stress) to the top (disturbed state, high abiotic stress) surface of boulders influenced the importance of facilitation for intertidal communities across two intertidal zones. Theory predicts stronger relative facilitation should occur in the harsher environments of the top of boulders and the high intertidal zone. To test this prediction, we experimentally positioned boulders with the serpulids either face up or face down for 12 months in low and high zones in an intertidal boulder field. There were very different communities associated with the different boulders and serpulids had the strongest facilitative effects on the more stressful top surface of boulders with approximately double the species richness compared to boulders lacking serpulids. Moreover, within the serpulid matrix itself there was also approximately double the species richness (both zones) and abundance (high zone only) of small invertebrates on the top of boulders compared to the bottom. The high relative facilitation on the top of boulders reflected a large reduction in temperature by the serpulid matrix on that surface (up to 10°C) highlighting a key role for modification of the abiotic environment in determining the community-wide facilitation. This study has demonstrated that disturbance and subsequent movement of an ecosystem engineer to a more stressful environment increased the importance of facilitation and allowed species to

The RAPID Toolkit: Facilitating Utility-Scale Renewable Energy Development

Science.gov Websites

energy and bulk transmission projects. The RAPID Toolkit, developed by the National Renewable Energy Renewable Energy Development The RAPID Toolkit: Facilitating Utility-Scale Renewable Energy Development information about federal, state, and local permitting and regulations for utility-scale renewable energy and

Facilitating Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals through Open Scientific Data and Indicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, R. S.; Levy, M. A.; de Sherbinin, A. M.; Fischer, A.

2015-12-01

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent an unprecedented international commitment to a shared future encompassing sustainable management of the planet and significant improvement in the human condition around the world. The scientific community has both an ethical responsibility and substantial self-interest—as residents of this planet—to help the world community to better understand the complex, interlinked behavior of human and environmental systems and to elucidate pathways to achieve long-term sustainability. Critical to making progress towards the SDGs is the open availability of timely, reliable, usable, and well integrated data and indicators relevant to all SDGs and associated targets. Such data and indicators will not only be valuable in monitoring and evaluation of progress, but also in developing policies and making decisions on environmental and societal issues affecting sustainability from local to global scales. The open availability of such data and indicators can help motivate performance, promote accountability, and facilitate cooperation. A range of scientific, technical, organizational, political, and resource challenges need to be addressed in developing a coherent SDG monitoring and indicator framework. For example, assembling and integrating diverse data on consistent spatial and temporal scales across the relevant natural, social, health, and engineering sciences pose both scientific and technical difficulties, and may require new ways to interlink and organize existing cyberinfrastructure, reconcile different data policy regimes, and fund integration efforts. New information technologies promise more timely and efficient ways of collecting many types of data, but may also raise privacy, control, and equity issues. Scientific review processes to ensure data quality need to be coordinated with the types of quality control and review employed by national statistical agencies for trusted economic and social statistics. Although

Developing accessible cyberinfrastructure-enabled knowledge communities in the national disability community: theory, practice, and policy.

PubMed

Myhill, William N; Cogburn, Derrick L; Samant, Deepti; Addom, Benjamin Kwasi; Blanck, Peter

2008-01-01

Since publication of the Atkins Commission report in 2003, the national scientific community has placed significant emphasis on developing cyberinfrastructure-enabled knowledge communities, which are designed to facilitate enhanced efficiency and collaboration in geographically distributed networks of researchers. This article suggests that the new cyberinfrastructure movement may not fully benefit those participants with disabilities, unless closer attention is paid to legal mandates and universal design principles. Many technology-enhanced learning communities provide geographically distributed collaboration opportunities that expand the inclusion of diverse peoples and help close the digital divide. However, to date, most collaboratory efforts have not emphasized the need for access among people with disabilities nor meeting minimum standards for technological accessibility. To address these concerns, this article reports on two pilot collaboratory studies that explore the role advanced information, communication, and collaboration technologies play in enhancing geographically distributed collaboration among specific research and applied networks within the national disability community. Universal design principles inform the design of the collaboratory and its use and our efforts to ensure access for all. Data for this article come from Web-based surveys, interviews, observations, computer logs, and detailed, mixed-methods accessibility testing. Emerging results suggest that with deliberate and systematic efforts, cyberinfrastructure can be more accessible and generate benefits among persons with disabilities. The authors provide lessons learned and recommendations for future research, policy, law, and practice.

Community Development in Ireland.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Anna

2003-01-01

In the last decade, community development in Ireland has emphasized social and economic inclusion, regeneration, and civic participation. Continuing challenges include designation of diverse community representatives, demand for increased administrative efficiency, and management of mandates and accountability. There are more community development…

Development of self-report measures of social attitudes that act as environmental barriers and facilitators for people with disabilities.

PubMed

Garcia, Sofia F; Hahn, Elizabeth A; Magasi, Susan; Lai, Jin-Shei; Semik, Patrick; Hammel, Joy; Heinemann, Allen W

2015-04-01

To describe the development of new self-report measures of social attitudes that act as environmental facilitators or barriers to the participation of people with disabilities in society. A mixed-methods approach included a literature review; item classification, selection, and writing; cognitive interviews and field testing of participants with spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic brain injury (TBI), or stroke; and rating scale analysis to evaluate initial psychometric properties. General community. Individuals with SCI, TBI, or stroke participated in cognitive interviews (n=9); community residents with those same conditions participated in field testing (n=305). None. Self-report item pool of social attitudes that act as facilitators or barriers to people with disabilities participating in society. An interdisciplinary team of experts classified 710 existing social environment items into content areas and wrote 32 new items. Additional qualitative item review included item refinement and winnowing of the pool prior to cognitive interviews and field testing of 82 items. Field test data indicated that the pool satisfies a 1-parameter item response theory measurement model and would be appropriate for development into a calibrated item bank. Our qualitative item review process supported a social environment conceptual framework that includes both social support and social attitudes. We developed a new social attitudes self-report item pool. Calibration testing of that pool is underway with a larger sample to develop a social attitudes item bank for persons with disabilities. Copyright © 2015 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Managing Dynamics of Power and Learning in Community Development: A Case Study of Iowan Farmers in Uganda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stephen, Lauer; Owusu, Francis Y.

2015-01-01

Extension professionals facilitate community development through the strategic manipulation of learning and power in peer-to-peer learning partnerships. We discuss the relationship between empowerment and power, highlight relevant literature on the difficulties power presents to learning and the efficacy of service learning tools to facilitate…

Development of a Framework and Measure for Assessing Principal Change Facilitator Style.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Gene E.; George, Archie

A framework is proposed for describing the underlying dimensions of different styles that principals have as facilitators of change. A measure, the Change Facilitator Style Questionnaire, was developed to assess these dimensions and change facilitator styles. A review of the literature suggested an organizing framework of the following dimensions:…

Management Classes as Online Learning Communities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shrivastava, Paul

1999-01-01

Conceptualizes management education in the digital economy through the development of online leaning communities. Essential elements for building community are described: technology and content infrastructure, organizational learning model, managed interactivity, and facilitator retraining. (SK)

Mental Health Facilitator (MHF) Service Implementation in Schools in Malawi, Africa: A Strategy for Increasing Community Human Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luke, Melissa; Hinkle, J. Scott; Schweiger, Wendi; Henderson, Donna

2016-01-01

The Mental Health Facilitator (MHF) program utilizes a population-based curriculum and has been implemented in Malawi for the past seven years. This article reports findings from an ethnographic study that explored how 40 MHF stakeholders have experienced the MHF program. This transdisciplinary program is a 30-hour training in community mental…

A Citizen Science and Government Collaboration: Developing Tools to Facilitate Community Air Monitoring

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is actively involved in supporting citizen science projects and providing communities with information and assistance for conducting their own air pollution monitoring. As part of a Regional Applied Research Effort (RARE) project, EP...

Black Americans' Perspectives of Barriers and Facilitators of Community Screening for Kidney Disease.

PubMed

Umeukeje, Ebele M; Wild, Marcus G; Maripuri, Saugar; Davidson, Teresa; Rutherford, Margaret; Abdel-Kader, Khaled; Lewis, Julia; Wilkins, Consuelo H; Cavanaugh, Kerri

2018-04-06

Incidence of ESKD is three times higher in black Americans than in whites, and CKD prevalence continues to rise among black Americans. Community-based kidney disease screening may increase early identification and awareness of black Americans at risk, but it is challenging to implement. This study aimed to identify participants' perspectives of community kidney disease screening. The Health Belief Model provides a theoretic framework for conceptualization of these perspectives and optimization of community kidney disease screening activities. Researchers in collaboration with the Tennessee Kidney Foundation conducted three focus groups of adults in black American churches in Nashville, Tennessee. Questions examined views on CKD information, access to care, and priorities of kidney disease health. Content analysis was used. Guided by the Health Belief Model, a priori themes were generated, and additional themes were derived from the data using an inductive approach. Thirty-two black Americans completed the study in 2014. Participants were mostly women (79%) with a mean age of 56 years old (range, 24-78). Two major categories of barriers to kidney disease screening were identified: ( 1 ) participant factors, including limited kidney disease knowledge, spiritual/religious beliefs, emotions, and culture of the individual; and ( 2 ) logistic factors, including lack of convenience and incentives and poor advertisement. Potential facilitators of CKD screening included provision of CKD education, convenience of screening activities, and use of culturally sensitive and enhanced communication strategies. Program recommendations included partnering with trusted community members, selecting convenient locations, tailored advertising, and provision of compensation. Findings of this study suggest that provider-delivered culturally sensitive education and stakeholder engagement are critical to increase trust, decrease fear, and maximize participation and early identification of

The Role of A Facilitated Online Workspace Component of A Community of Practice: Knowledge Building and Value Creation for NASA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davey, B.

2014-12-01

This study examined the role of an online workspace component of a community in the work of a community of practice. Much has been studied revealing the importance of communities of practice to organizations, project success, and knowledge management and some of these same successes hold true for virtual communities of practice. Study participants were 75 Education and Public Outreach community members of NASA's Science Mission Directorate Earth Forum. In this mixed methods study, online workspace metrics were used to track participation and a survey completed by 21 members was used to quantify participation. For a more detailed analysis, 15 community members (5 highly active users, 5 average users, and 5 infrequent users) selected based on survey responses, were interviewed. Finally, survey data was gathered from 7 online facilitators to understand their role in the community. Data collected from these 21 community members and 5 facilitating members suggest that highly active users (logging into the workspace daily), were more likely to have transformative experiences, co-create knowledge, feel ownership of community knowledge, have extended opportunities for community exchange, and find new forms of evaluation. Average users shared some similar characteristics with both the highly active members and infrequent users, representing a group in transition as they become more engaged and active in the online workspace. Inactive users viewed the workspace as having little value, being difficult to navigate, being mainly for gaining basic information about events and community news, and as another demand on their time. Results show the online workspace component of the Earth Science Education and Outreach Forum is playing an important and emerging role for this community by supporting knowledge building and knowledge sharing, and growing in value for those that utilizing it more frequently. The evidence suggests that with increased participation or "usage" comes

Understanding Barriers and Facilitators to Healthy Eating and Active Living in Rural Communities

PubMed Central

Seguin, Rebecca; Nelson, Miriam; LaCroix, Andrea

2014-01-01

Objective. Studies demonstrate that people's food and physical activity (PA) environments influence behavior, yet research examining this in rural communities is limited. Methods. Focus groups of 8–15 women were conducted in rural communities in seven US states. Questions were designed to identify factors within residents' food and PA environments they felt helped or hindered them from eating healthfully and being physically active. Results. Participants were aged 30–84 years; mean (SD) = 61 (14) (N = 95). On average, communities had fewer than 5,000 residents. Limited time, social norms, and distances from or lack of exercise facilities were common PA barriers. Facilitators for PA included social support, dog walking, and availability of affordable facilities. Healthy eating barriers included the perception that healthy foods were too expensive; calorically dense large portion sizes served at family meals; and frequency of eating foods away from home, which were perceived as generally unhealthy. Healthy eating supports included culture/value around local food gathering (e.g., hunting and gardening) and preservation (e.g., canning and smoking). Friends and family were frequently identified as key influencers of eating and PA behavior. Conclusions. Targeting both social and built environment factors, particularly those unique to rural locales, may enhance support for healthy eating and PA behavior change interventions. PMID:25574386

Facilitating Professional Development for Teachers of English Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molle, Daniella

2013-01-01

The study explores the process of facilitation in professional development for educators. The study relies on discourse analysis of interaction among K-12 teachers and administrators in a Midwestern U.S. state during a semester-long professional development program especially designed for educators working with English language learners (ELLs).…

Barriers and facilitators to development of standard treatment guidelines in India.

PubMed

Sharma, Sangeeta; Sethi, Gulshan R; Gupta, Usha; Chaudhury, Ranjit Roy

2015-01-01

This paper describes 15 years' experience of the development process of the first set of comprehensive standard treatment guidelines (STGs) for India and their adoption or adaptation by various state governments. The aim is to shorten the learning curve for those embarking on a similar exercise, given the key role of high-quality STGs that are accepted by the clinical community in furthering universal health coverage. The main overall obstacles to STG development are: (i) weak understanding of the concept; (ii) lack of time, enthusiasm and availability of local expertise; and (iii) managing consensus between specialists and generalists. Major concerns to prescribers are: encroachment on professional autonomy, loss of treating the patient as an individual and applying the same standards at all levels of health care. Processes to address these challenges are described. At the policy level, major threats to successful completion and focused implementation are: frequent changes in governance, shifts in priorities and discontinuity. In the authors' experience, compared with each state developing their own STGs afresh, adaptation of pre-existing valid guidelines after an active adaptation process involving local clinical leaders is not only simpler and quicker but also establishes local ownership and facilitates acceptance of a quality document. Executive orders and in-service sensitization programmes to introduce STGs further enhance their adoption in clinical practice.

Transcription and the IELTS Speaking Test: Facilitating Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stones, Thomas P.

2013-01-01

This article describes a transcription task cycle that was designed to facilitate the development of skills for the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) speaking test at a language school in Japan. The cycle involved practice test, transcription, student correction, teacher correction, and retrial of the original test and…

A community-based intervention to build community harmony in an Indigenous Guatemalan Mining Town.

PubMed

Caxaj, Claudia Susana; Parroquia de San Miguel Ixtahuacan, Kolol Qnan Tx'otx'

2018-01-24

The presence of large-scale mining operations poses many threats to communities. In a rural community in Guatemala, community leaders were motivated to address divisiveness and local conflict that have been exacerbated since the arrival of a mining company in the region. Prior research by our team identified spiritual and cultural strengths as important sources of strength and resilience in the community. We piloted a community-based intervention centred on spiritual and cultural practices in the region, to address divisiveness and build community harmony. One hundred and seventeen participants from over 18 villages in the municipality participated in the workshops and follow-up focus groups. Community leaders facilitated the intervention and partnered with the academic researcher throughout the research process. Overall, community members and facilitators expressed satisfaction with the workshop. Further, our analysis revealed three important processes important to the development of community harmony in the region: (a) mutual recognition and collectivisation; (b) affirmation of ancestral roots and connections to Mother Earth and (c) inspiring action and momentum towards solutions. These mechanisms, and the socio-political contexts that undermine them, have important implications for how global health programmes are developed and how collective processes for well-being are understood within an inequitable, conflict-laden world.

Development of biology student worksheets to facilitate science process skills of student

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahayu, Y. S.; Pratiwi, R.; Indana, S.

2018-01-01

This research aims to describe development of Biology student worksheets to facilitate science process skills of student, at the same time to facilitate thinking skills of students in senior high school are equipped with Assesment Sheets. The worksheets development refers to cycle which includes phase analysis (analysis), planning (planning), design (design), development (development), implementation (implementation), evaluation and revision (evaluation and revision). Phase evaluation and revision is an ongoing activity conducted in each phase of the development cycle. That is, after the evaluation of the results of these activities and make revisions at any phase, then continue to the next phase. Based on the test results for grade X, XI, and XII in St. Agnes Surabaya high school, obtained some important findings. The findings are as follows. (1) Developed biology student worksheets could be used to facilitate thinking ability of students in particular skills integrated process that includes components to formulate the problem, formulate hypotheses, determine the study variables, formulate an operational definition of variables, determine the steps in the research, planning data tables, organizing Data in the form of tables/charts, drawing conclusions, (2) Developed biology student worksheets could also facilitate the development of social interaction of students such as working together, listening/respect the opinions of others, assembling equipment and materials, discuss and share information and facilitate the upgrading of skills hands-on student activity. (3) Developed biology worksheets basically could be implemented with the guidance of the teacher step by step, especially for students who have never used a similar worksheet. Guidance at the beginning of this need, especially for worksheets that require special skills or understanding of specific concepts as a prerequisite, such as using a microscope, determine the heart rate, understand the mechanism of

Community response grids: using information technology to help communities respond to bioterror emergencies.

PubMed

Jaeger, Paul T; Fleischmann, Kenneth R; Preece, Jennifer; Shneiderman, Ben; Wu, Philip Fei; Qu, Yan

2007-12-01

Access to accurate and trusted information is vital in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from an emergency. To facilitate response in large-scale emergency situations, Community Response Grids (CRGs) integrate Internet and mobile technologies to enable residents to report information, professional emergency responders to disseminate instructions, and residents to assist one another. CRGs use technology to help residents and professional emergency responders to work together in community response to emergencies, including bioterrorism events. In a time of increased danger from bioterrorist threats, the application of advanced information and communication technologies to community response is vital in confronting such threats. This article describes CRGs, their underlying concepts, development efforts, their relevance to biosecurity and bioterrorism, and future research issues in the use of technology to facilitate community response.

75 FR 29560 - Identifying Unmet Public Health Needs and Facilitating Innovation in Medical Device Development...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-26

...] Identifying Unmet Public Health Needs and Facilitating Innovation in Medical Device Development; Notice of... entitled ``Identifying Unmet Public Health Needs and Facilitating Innovation in Medical Device Development... an initiative to proactively facilitate medical device innovation to address unmet public health...

Facilitating disaster preparedness through local radio broadcasting.

PubMed

Romo-Murphy, Eila; James, Ross; Adams, Mike

2011-10-01

The 2008 Disaster Mitigation Preparedness (DMP) study took place in Aceh province, Indonesia. It sought to help develop radio programmes and messages to increase resilience to disasters. The role of radio was evaluated during and after the 2004 Asian tsunami disaster. The study team interviewed 984 tsunami survivors from nine sub-districts of Banda Aceh, and local nongovernmental organisations convened eight focus groups around the area of Aceh Besar. Six key informant interviews were held with government disaster management agencies. The DMP survey is the first of its kind to interview a representative random sample of Banda Aceh residents. It reveals the importance of community and social networks, during disaster situations, when essential communications are down. A disaster warning information system based on a multi-media approach needs to be developed. The wider community should be involved in the planning, education and training of Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar residents to facilitate appropriate personal and community survival strategies. © 2011 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2011.

A Model for Implementation of Career Education into the Community College. A Comprehensive Program of Vocational Education for Career Development: K-University.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Mary Fulford

One of several products developed for a comprehensive program of career development (kindergarten through university) for vocational education in Florida, this resource manual, divided into two parts, presents a model for facilitating the life career development of students in the community college setting and provides guidelines for its…

Integrative Research and Intervention To Facilitate Child and Family Development, Education, Readiness for Head Start, and Family Self-Sufficiency.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lapidus, Leah Blumberg

This paper describes a project designed to facilitate and evaluate child and family mental health in the community, inside and outside of Head Start programs. Also detailed is a study of the effects of "Community Impact" programs and 6-week, focused, group interventions for children and families in programs predicted to increase…

Artificially accelerating the reversal of desertification: cyanobacterial inoculation facilitates the succession of vegetation communities.

PubMed

Lan, Shubin; Zhang, Qingyi; Wu, Li; Liu, Yongding; Zhang, Delu; Hu, Chunxiang

2014-01-01

Desertification has been recognized as a global environmental problem, and one region experiencing ongoing desertification is the eastern edge of Qubqi Desert (Inner Mongolia). To investigate the facilitating effects of cyanobacterial inoculation technology on the desertification control along this steppe-desert transition region, artificial cyanobacterial crusts were constructed with two filamentous cyanobacteria 3 and 8 years ago combined with Salix planting. The results showed that no crusts formed after 3 years of fixation only with Salix planting, whereas after cyanobacterial inoculation, the crusts formed quickly and gradually succeed to moss crusts. During that course, topsoil environments were gradually improved, providing the necessary material basis for the regeneration of vascular plants. In this investigation, total 27 species of vascular plants had regenerated in the experimental region, mainly belonging to Asteraceae, Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae and Leguminosae. Using space time substitution, the dominant species along with the application of cyanobacterial inoculation technology succeeded from Agriophyllum squarrosum ultimately to Leymus chinensis. In addition, it was found that the shady side of the dunes is more conducive to crust development and succession of vegetation communities. Conclusively, our results indicate artificial cyanobacterial inoculation technology is an effective and desirable path for desertification control.

Transitions to Care in the Community for Prison Releasees with HIV: a Qualitative Study of Facilitators and Challenges in Two States.

PubMed

Hammett, Theodore M; Donahue, Sara; LeRoy, Lisa; Montague, Brian T; Rosen, David L; Solomon, Liza; Costa, Michael; Wohl, David; Rich, Josiah D

2015-08-01

One in seven people living with HIV in the USA passes through a prison or jail each year, and almost all will return to the community. Discharge planning and transitional programs are critical but challenging elements in ensuring continuity of care, maintaining treatment outcomes achieved in prison, and preventing further viral transmission. This paper describes facilitators and challenges of in-prison care, transitional interventions, and access to and continuity of care in the community in Rhode Island and North Carolina based on qualitative data gathered as part of the mixed-methods Link Into Care Study of prisoners and releasees with HIV. We conducted 65 interviews with correctional and community-based providers and administrators and analyzed the transcripts using NVivo 10 to identify major themes. Facilitators of effective transitional systems in both states included the following: health providers affiliated with academic institutions or other entities independent of the corrections department; organizational philosophy emphasizing a patient-centered, personal, and holistic approach; strong leadership with effective "champions"; a team approach with coordination, collaboration and integration throughout the system, mutual respect and learning between corrections and health providers, staff dedicated to transitional services, and effective communication and information sharing among providers; comprehensive transitional activities and services including HIV, mental health and substance use services in prisons, timely and comprehensive discharge planning with specific linkages/appointments, supplies of medications on release, access to benefits and entitlements, case management and proactive follow-up on missed appointments; and releasees' commitment to transitional plans. These elements were generally present in both study states but their absence, which also sometimes occurred, represent ongoing challenges to success. The qualitative findings on the

Why STEM Learning Communities Work: The Development of Psychosocial Learning Factors through Social Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carrino, Stephanie Sedberry; Gerace, William J.

2016-01-01

STEM learning communities facilitate student academic success and persistence in science disciplines. This prompted us to explore the underlying factors that make learning communities successful. In this paper, we report findings from an illustrative case study of a 2-year STEM-based learning community designed to identify and describe these…

The Leading Edge: A Career Development Workshop Series for Young Adults. Facilitator Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canadian Career Development Foundation, Ottawa (Ontario).

This booklet is designed to be used by facilitators of the Canadian Career Development Foundation's "The Leading Edge: A Career Development Workshop Series for Young Adults." The guide provides information, including objectives of the workshops and lists of required materials, needed in order to facilitate an introductory session as well…

Designing, Supporting, and Sustaining an Online Community of Practice: NASA EPO Workspace as an Ongoing Exploration of the Value of Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davey, B.; Davis, H. B.

2015-12-01

Increasingly, geographically diverse organizations, like NASA's Science Mission Directorate Education and Public Outreach personnel (SMD EPO), are looking for ways to facilitate group interactions in meaningful ways while limiting costs. Towards this end, of particular interest, and showing great potential are communities of practice. Communities of practice represent relationships in real-time between and among people sharing a common practice. They facilitate the sharing of information, building collective knowledge, and growing of the principles of practice. In 2010-11, SMD EPO established a website to support EPO professionals, facilitate headquarters reporting, and foster a community of practice. The purpose of this evaluation is to examine the design and use of the workspace and the value created for both individual community members and SMD EPO, the sponsoring organization. The online workspace was launched in 2010-11 for the members of NASA's SMDEPO community. The online workspace was designed to help facilitate the efficient sharing of information, be a central repository for resources, help facilitate and support knowledge creation, and ultimately lead to the development of an online community of practice. This study examines the role of the online workspace component of a community in the work of a community of practice. Much has been studied revealing the importance of communities of practice to organizations, project success, and knowledge management and some of these same successes hold true for virtual communities of practice. Additionally, we look at the outcomes of housting the online community for these past years in respect to knowledge building and personal and organizational value, the affects on professional dvelopment opportunities, how community members have benefited, and how the workspace has evolved to better serve the community.

Stochastic Assembly of Bacteria in Microwell Arrays Reveals the Importance of Confinement in Community Development

PubMed Central

Hansen, Ryan H.; Timm, Andrea C.; Timm, Collin M.; Bible, Amber N.; Morrell-Falvey, Jennifer L.; Pelletier, Dale A.; Simpson, Michael L.; Doktycz, Mitchel J.; Retterer, Scott T.

2016-01-01

The structure and function of microbial communities is deeply influenced by the physical and chemical architecture of the local microenvironment and the abundance of its community members. The complexity of this natural parameter space has made characterization of the key drivers of community development difficult. In order to facilitate these characterizations, we have developed a microwell platform designed to screen microbial growth and interactions across a wide variety of physical and initial conditions. Assembly of microbial communities into microwells was achieved using a novel biofabrication method that exploits well feature sizes for control of innoculum levels. Wells with incrementally smaller size features created populations with increasingly larger variations in inoculum levels. This allowed for reproducible growth measurement in large (20 μm diameter) wells, and screening for favorable growth conditions in small (5, 10 μm diameter) wells. We demonstrate the utility of this approach for screening and discovery using 5 μm wells to assemble P. aeruginosa colonies across a broad distribution of innoculum levels, and identify those conditions that promote the highest probability of survivial and growth under spatial confinement. Multi-member community assembly was also characterized to demonstrate the broad potential of this platform for studying the role of member abundance on microbial competition, mutualism and community succession. PMID:27152511

Academic Professional Development Strategies to Facilitate Educational Changes in Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez Alonso, Gloria Amparo

2009-01-01

This qualitative within-case study explored how planned educational change in universities can be facilitated through academic professional development strategies. Thus this study attempted to shed some light on the dynamics of educational planned change in universities and their implications for academic professional development of faculty. The…

The Internet’s Multiple Roles in Facilitating the Sexual Orientation Identity Development of Gay and Bisexual Male Adolescents

PubMed Central

Harper, Gary W.; Serrano, Pedro A.; Bruce, Douglas; Bauermeister, Jose A.

2016-01-01

One emerging avenue for the exploration of adolescents’ sexual orientation identity development is the Internet since it allows for varying degrees of anonymity and exploration. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the role of the Internet in facilitating the sexual orientation identity development process of gay and bisexual male adolescents. Qualitative interviews were conducted with an ethnically diverse sample of 63 gay/bisexual male adolescents (ages 15–23). Participants reported using a range of Internet applications as they explored and came to accept their sexual orientation identity, with the intended purpose and degree of anonymity desired determining which applications were used. Youth reported that the Internet provided a range of functions with regard to the exploration and acceptance of their sexual orientation identity, including: 1) increasing self awareness of sexual orientation identity; 2) learning about gay/bisexual community life; 3) communicating with other gay/bisexual people; 4) meeting other gay/bisexual people; 5) finding comfort and acceptance with sexual orientation; and 6) facilitating the coming out process. Future research and practice may explore the Internet as a platform for promoting the healthy development of gay and bisexual male adolescents by providing a developmentally and culturally appropriate venue for the exploration and subsequent commitment to an integrated sexual orientation identity. PMID:25585861

Effects on violence of laws and policies facilitating the transfer of youth from the juvenile to the adult justice system: a report on recommendations of the Task Force on Community Preventive Services.

PubMed

Hahn, Robert; McGowan, Angela; Liberman, Akiva; Crosby, Alex; Fullilove, Mindy; Johnson, Robert; Moscicki, Eve; Price, LeShawndra; Snyder, Susan; Tuma, Farris; Lowy, Jessica; Briss, Peter; Cory, Stella; Stone, Glenda

2007-11-30

The independent, nonfederal Task Force on Community Preventive Services (Task Force), which directs the development of the Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide), conducted a systematic review of published scientific evidence concerning the effectiveness of laws and policies that facilitate the transfer of juveniles to the adult criminal justice system to determine whether these transfers prevent or reduce violence among youth who have been transferred and among the juvenile population as a whole. For this review, transfer is defined as placing juveniles aged <18 years under the jurisdiction of the adult criminal justice system. The review followed Community Guide methods for conducting a systematic review of literature and for providing recommendations to public health decision makers. Available evidence indicates that transfer to the adult criminal justice system typically increases rather than decreases rates of violence among transferred youth. Available evidence was insufficient to determine the effect of transfer laws and policies on levels of violent crime in the overall juvenile population. On the basis of these findings, the Task Force recommends against laws or policies facilitating the transfer of juveniles to the adult criminal justice system for the purpose of reducing violence.

The Internet's Multiple Roles in Facilitating the Sexual Orientation Identity Development of Gay and Bisexual Male Adolescents.

PubMed

Harper, Gary W; Serrano, Pedro A; Bruce, Douglas; Bauermeister, Jose A

2016-09-01

One emerging avenue for the exploration of adolescents' sexual orientation identity development is the Internet, since it allows for varying degrees of anonymity and exploration. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the role of the Internet in facilitating the sexual orientation identity development process of gay and bisexual male adolescents. Qualitative interviews were conducted with an ethnically diverse sample of 63 gay/bisexual male adolescents (ages 15-23). Participants reported using a range of Internet applications as they explored and came to accept their sexual orientation identity, with the intended purpose and degree of anonymity desired determining which applications were used. Youth reported that the Internet provided a range of functions with regard to the exploration and acceptance of their sexual orientation identity, including (1) increasing self-awareness of sexual orientation identity, (2) learning about gay/bisexual community life, (3) communicating with other gay/bisexual people, (4) meeting other gay/bisexual people, (5) finding comfort and acceptance with sexual orientation, and (6) facilitating the coming out process. Future research and practice may explore the Internet as a platform for promoting the healthy development of gay and bisexual male adolescents by providing a developmentally and culturally appropriate venue for the exploration and subsequent commitment to an integrated sexual orientation identity. © The Author(s) 2015.

The development of a network for community-based obesity prevention: the CO-OPS Collaboration

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Community-based interventions are a promising approach and an important component of a comprehensive response to obesity. In this paper we describe the Collaboration of COmmunity-based Obesity Prevention Sites (CO-OPS Collaboration) in Australia as an example of a collaborative network to enhance the quality and quantity of obesity prevention action at the community level. The core aims of the CO-OPS Collaboration are to: identify and analyse the lessons learned from a range of community-based initiatives aimed at tackling obesity, and; to identify the elements that make community-based obesity prevention initiatives successful and share the knowledge gained with other communities. Methods Key activities of the collaboration to date have included the development of a set of Best Practice Principles and knowledge translation and exchange activities to promote the application (or use) of evidence, evaluation and analysis in practice. Results The establishment of the CO-OPS Collaboration is a significant step toward strengthening action in this area, by bringing together research, practice and policy expertise to promote best practice, high quality evaluation and knowledge translation and exchange. Future development of the network should include facilitation of further evidence generation and translation drawing from process, impact and outcome evaluation of existing community-based interventions. Conclusions The lessons presented in this paper may help other networks like CO-OPS as they emerge around the globe. It is important that networks integrate with each other and share the experience of creating these networks. PMID:21349185

Community Capacity for Implementing Clean Development Mechanism Projects Within Community Forests in Cameroon

PubMed Central

McCall, Michael K.; Bressers, Hans Th. A.

2007-01-01

There is a growing assumption that payments for environmental services including carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emission reduction provide an opportunity for poverty reduction and the enhancement of sustainable development within integrated natural resource management approaches. Yet in experiential terms, community-based natural resource management implementation falls short of expectations in many cases. In this paper, we investigate the asymmetry between community capacity and the Land Use Land Use Change Forestry (LULUCF) provisions of the Clean Development Mechanism within community forests in Cameroon. We use relevant aspects of the Clean Development Mechanism criteria and notions of “community capacity” to elucidate determinants of community capacity needed for CDM implementation within community forests. The main requirements are for community capacity to handle issues of additionality, acceptability, externalities, certification, and community organisation. These community capacity requirements are further used to interpret empirically derived insights on two community forestry cases in Cameroon. While local variations were observed for capacity requirements in each case, community capacity was generally found to be insufficient for meaningful uptake and implementation of Clean Development Mechanism projects. Implications for understanding factors that could inhibit or enhance community capacity for project development are discussed. We also include recommendations for the wider Clean Development Mechanism/Kyoto capacity building framework. PMID:17377732

Developing Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) for Parents of Treatment-Resistant Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirby, Kimberly C.; Versek, Brian; Kerwin, MaryLouise E.; Meyers, Kathleen; Benishek, Lois A.; Bresani, Elena; Washio, Yukiko; Arria, Amelia; Meyers, Robert J.

2015-01-01

We describe a project focused on training parents to facilitate their treatment-resistant adolescent's treatment entry and to manage their child after entry into community-based treatment. Controlled studies show that Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) is a unilateral treatment that fosters treatment entry of adults; however,…

Portraiture of constructivist parental involvement: A model to develop a community of practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dignam, Christopher Anthony

This qualitative research study addressed the problem of the lack of parental involvement in secondary school science. Increasing parental involvement is vital in supporting student academic achievement and social growth. The purpose of this emergent phenomenological study was to identify conditions required to successfully construct a supportive learning environment to form partnerships between students, parents, and educators. The overall research question in this study investigated the conditions necessary to successfully enlist parental participation with students during science inquiry investigations at the secondary school level. One hundred thirteen pairs of parents and students engaged in a 6-week scientific inquiry activity and recorded attitudinal data in dialogue journals, questionnaires, open-ended surveys, and during one-one-one interviews conducted by the researcher between individual parents and students. Comparisons and cross-interpretations of inter-rater, codified, triangulated data were utilized for identifying emergent themes. Data analysis revealed the active involvement of parents in researching with their child during inquiry investigations, engaging in journaling, and assessing student performance fostered partnerships among students, parents, and educators and supported students' social skills development. The resulting model, employing constructivist leadership and enlisting parent involvement, provides conditions and strategies required to develop a community of practice that can help effect social change. The active involvement of parents fostered improved efficacy and a holistic mindset to develop in parents, students, and teachers. Based on these findings, the interactive collaboration of parents in science learning activities can proactively facilitate a community of practice that will assist educators in facilitating social change.

A community translational research pilot grants program to facilitate community--academic partnerships: lessons from Colorado's clinical translational science awards.

PubMed

Main, Deborah S; Felzien, Maret C; Magid, David J; Calonge, B Ned; O'Brien, Ruth A; Kempe, Allison; Nearing, Kathryn

2012-01-01

National growth in translational research has increased the need for practical tools to improve how academic institutions engage communities in research. One used by the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) to target investments in community-based translational research on health disparities is a Community Engagement (CE) Pilot Grants program. Innovative in design, the program accepts proposals from either community or academic applicants, requires that at least half of requested grant funds go to the community partner, and offers two funding tracks: One to develop new community-academic partnerships (up to $10,000), the other to strengthen existing partnerships through community translational research projects (up to $30,000). We have seen early success in both traditional and capacity building metrics: the initial investment of $272,742 in our first cycle led to over $2.8 million dollars in additional grant funding, with grantees reporting strengthening capacity of their community- academic partnerships and the rigor and relevance of their research.

Popular Participation in Development: Emerging Trends in Community Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations, New York, NY. Dept. of Economic and Social Affairs.

A first attempt is made to place in perspective the accumulated experience of nearly 20 years of community development activity in both developed and developing countries. The purpose of this study is to stimulate further inquiry into community development practice, process, and theory in order for it to become a more effective instrument in the…

A Community of Practice Facilitated by Facebook for Integrating New Online EFL Writing Forms into Assiut University College of Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abdallah, Mahmoud Mohammad Sayed

2013-01-01

This paper reports on a design study conducted within the Egyptian context of pre-service EFL teacher education, which implemented a Community of Practice (CoP) design facilitated by Facebook, to integrate some new forms of online writing. Based on some preliminary empirical results triangulated with literature review, a preliminary design…

Community Development in the School Workplace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brouwer, Patricia; Brekelmans, Mieke; Nieuwenhuis, Loek; Simons, Robert-Jan

2012-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this study is to explore whether and to what degree community development of teacher teams takes place and how community development comes about, that is, what community-building efforts teacher teams undertake. Design/methodology/approach: Using a multi method approach, quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from…

Partnership Among Peers: Lessons Learned From the Development of a Community Organization-Academic Research Training Program.

PubMed

Jewett-Tennant, Jeri; Collins, Cyleste; Matloub, Jacqueline; Patrick, Alison; Chupp, Mark; Werner, James J; Borawski, Elaine A

2016-01-01

Community engagement and rigorous science are necessary to address health issues. Increasingly, community health organizations are asked to partner in research. To strengthen such community organization-academic partnerships, increase research capacity in community organizations, and facilitate equitable partnered research, the Partners in Education Evaluation and Research (PEER) program was developed. The program implements an 18-month structured research curriculum for one mid-level employee of a health-focused community-based organization with an organizational mentor and a Case Western Reserve University faculty member as partners. The PEER program was developed and guided by a community-academic advisory committee and was designed to impact the research capacity of organizations through didactic modules and partnered research in the experiential phase. Active participation of community organizations and faculty during all phases of the program provided for bidirectional learning and understanding of the challenges of community-engaged health research. The pilot program evaluation used qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques, including experiences of the participants assessed through surveys, formal group and individual interviews, phone calls, and discussions. Statistical analysis of the change in fellows' pre-test and post-test survey scores were conducted using paired sample t tests. The small sample size is recognized by the authors as a limitation of the evaluation methods and would potentially be resolved by including more cohort data as the program progresses. Qualitative data were reviewed by two program staff using content and narrative analysis to identify themes, describe and assess group phenomena and determine program improvements. The objective of PEER is to create equitable partnerships between community organizations and academic partners to further research capacity in said organizations and develop mutually beneficial research

Concept Mapping as an Approach to Facilitate Participatory Intervention Building.

PubMed

L Allen, Michele; Schaleben-Boateng, Dane; Davey, Cynthia S; Hang, Mikow; Pergament, Shannon

2015-01-01

A challenge to addressing community-defined need through community-based participatory intervention building is ensuring that all collaborators' opinions are represented. Concept mapping integrates perspectives of individuals with differing experiences, interests, or expertise into a common visually depicted framework, and ranks composite views on importance and feasibility. To describe the use of concept mapping to facilitate participatory intervention building for a school-based, teacher-focused, positive youth development (PYD) promotion program for Latino, Hmong, and Somali youth. Particiants were teachers, administrators, youth, parents, youth workers, and community and university researchers on the projects' community collaborative board. We incorporated previously collected qualitative data into the process. In a mixed-methods process we 1) generated statements based on key informant interview and focus group data from youth workers, teachers, parents, and youth in multiple languages regarding ways teachers promote PYD for Somali, Latino and Hmong youth; 2) guided participants to individually sort statements into meaningful groupings and rate them by importance and feasibility; 3) mapped the statements based on their relation to each other using multivariate statistical analyses to identify concepts, and as a group identified labels for each concept; and 4) used labels and statement ratings to identify feasible and important concepts as priorities for intervention development. We identified 12 concepts related to PYD promotion in schools and prioritized 8 for intervention development. Concept mapping facilitated participatory intervention building by formally representing all participants' opinions, generating visual representation of group thinking, and supporting priority setting. Use of prior qualitative work increased the diversity of viewpoints represented.

Barriers and facilitators to implementation, uptake and sustainability of community-based health insurance schemes in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

PubMed

Fadlallah, Racha; El-Jardali, Fadi; Hemadi, Nour; Morsi, Rami Z; Abou Samra, Clara Abou; Ahmad, Ali; Arif, Khurram; Hishi, Lama; Honein-AbouHaidar, Gladys; Akl, Elie A

2018-01-29

Community-based health insurance (CBHI) has evolved as an alternative health financing mechanism to out of pocket payments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in areas where government or employer-based health insurance is minimal. This systematic review aimed to assess the barriers and facilitators to implementation, uptake and sustainability of CHBI schemes in LMICs. We searched six electronic databases and grey literature. We included both quantitative and qualitative studies written in English language and published after year 1992. Two reviewers worked in duplicate and independently to complete study selection, data abstraction, and assessment of methodological features. We synthesized the findings based on thematic analysis and categorized according to the ecological model into individual, interpersonal, community and systems levels. Of 15,510 citations, 51 met the eligibility criteria. Individual factors included awareness and understanding of the concept of CBHI, trust in scheme and scheme managers, perceived service quality, and demographic characteristics, which influenced enrollment and sustainability. Interpersonal factors such as household dynamics, other family members enrolled in the scheme, and social solidarity influenced enrollment and renewal of membership. Community-level factors such as culture and community involvement in scheme development influenced enrollment and sustainability of scheme. Systems-level factors encompassed governance, financial and delivery arrangement. Government involvement, accountability of scheme management, and strong policymaker-implementer relation facilitated implementation and sustainability of scheme. Packages that covered outpatient and inpatient care and those tailored to community needs contributed to increased enrollment. Amount and timing of premium collection was reported to negatively influence enrollment while factors reported as threats to sustainability included facility

Community Action for Recreation Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christiansen, Rudolph A.; And Others

Examples of projects, notably those using watersheds, that local community action groups can promote in planning and developing needed recreational facilities are discussed in this study report. Objectives of the report are to create an awareness of group action in obtaining recreational development, to emphasize that community action is important…

Experiences of Pioneers Facilitating Teacher Networks for Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanraets, Irene; Hulsebosch, Joitske; de Laat, Maarten

2011-01-01

This study presents an exploration into facilitation practices of teacher professional development networks. Stimulating networked learning amongst teachers is a powerful way of creating an informal practice-based learning space driven by teacher needs. As such, it presents an additional channel (besides more formal traditional professional…

Community Environmental Response Facilitation Act (CERFA) report, Fort George G. Mead, Maryland. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schultheisz, D.; Ward, L.

1994-04-01

This report presents the results of the Community Environmental Response Facilitation Act (CERFA) investigation conducted by Environmental Resources Management (ERM) at Fort George G. Meade (FGGM), a U.S. Government property selected for closure by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission. Under CERFA, Federal agencies are required to expeditiously identify real property that can be immediately reused and redeveloped. Satisfying this objective requires the identification of real property where no hazardous substances or petroleum products, regulated by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), were stored for one year or more, known to have been released, or disposed.more » Fort George G. Meade, CERFA, Base closure, BRAC.« less

Facilitation of Psychiatric Advance Directives by Peers and Clinicians on Assertive Community Treatment Teams.

PubMed

Easter, Michele M; Swanson, Jeffrey W; Robertson, Allison G; Moser, Lorna L; Swartz, Marvin S

2017-07-01

Psychiatric advance directives (PADs) provide a legal mechanism for competent adults to document care preferences and authorize a surrogate to make treatment decisions. In a controlled research setting, an evidence-based intervention, the facilitated psychiatric advance directive (FPAD), was previously shown to overcome most barriers to PAD completion. This study examined implementation of the FPAD intervention in usual care settings as delivered by peer support specialists and nonpeer clinicians on assertive community treatment (ACT) teams. A total of 145 ACT consumers were randomly assigned, within teams, to FPAD with facilitation by either a peer (N=71) or a clinician (N=74). Completion rates and PAD quality were compared with the previous study's standard and across facilitator type. Logistic regression was used to estimate effects on the likelihood of PAD completion. The completion rate of 50% in the intent-to-treat sample (N=145) was somewhat inferior to the prior standard (61%), but the rate of 58% for the retained sample (those who completed a follow-up interview, N=116) was not significantly different from the standard. Rates for peers and clinicians did not differ significantly from each other for either sample. PAD quality was similar to that achieved in the prior study. Four consumer variables predicted completion: independent living status, problematic substance use, length of time served by the ACT team, and no perceived unmet need for hospitalization in crisis. Peers and clinicians can play a crucial role in increasing the number of consumers with PADs, an important step toward improving implementation of PADs in mental health care.

Sustainable Development: The Challenge for Community Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gamble, Dorothy N.; Weil, Marie O.

1997-01-01

Five areas of inquiry shape the sustainable development movement: environmental movement, women's movement, overpopulation concerns, critique of development models, and new indicators of social progress. Community development workers are challenged to prepare local development projects within a sustainable development framework. (SK)

From Principle to Practice: Using Children's Literature to Promote Dialogue and Facilitate the "Coming to Voice" in a Rural Latino Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keis, Richard

2006-01-01

When viewed through the lens of critical pedagogy, children's literature offers a viable avenue for tapping the "funds of knowledge" abounding in culturally and linguistically diverse communities. It is an effective means for promoting dialogue, arousing critical consciousness, and facilitating the "coming to voice" of…

Community Gardens as a Platform for Education for Sustainability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corkery, Linda

2004-01-01

Community gardens fulfil many roles, including the reclamation of public space, community building, and the facilitation of social and cultural expression. This paper discusses a nexus between research and education for sustainability that evolved out of an examination of the role of community gardens in fostering community development and…

Literacy Practitioner. Literacy and Community Development Issue.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Literacy Practitioner, 1997

1997-01-01

This theme issue of a newsletter for adult literacy practitioners focuses on community development. Nine articles on this topic include the following: "Adult Literacy and Community Development" (Hal Beder); "Why Community Development?" (Kirk Baker); "Freire's Revolution" (Ruth Pelz); "Impacting Communities…

[The process of empowering community development: the experience of a community in Taipei city].

PubMed

Li, I-Chuan; Chen, Yu-Chi; Wang, Hui-Chun

2006-04-01

Community participation and development are the most difficult aspects of building healthy communities. They are also, however, the most essential parts of the process. It has been established that empowerment can ultimately enhance individual self-efficacy, influence organizational and social structures, and increase the sense of community and citizen's capabilities. This article demonstrates the experience of one community in Taipei City during a lengthy period of organization and development. It illustrates the different stages involved in community development and the functions of community health professionals. It seeks to provide insight into the importance of using empowerment in promoting communities' capabilities and the fact that only by developing organic communities that are rich in the energy of life can we develop sustainable communities.

Reviewing a Reading Program: Professional Development Module. Facilitator's Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kosanovich, Marcia; Jordan, Georgia; Arndt, Elissa; VanSciver, Mary; Wahl, Michelle; Rissman, Lila

2008-01-01

This "Facilitator's Guide" has been prepared for presenters of the Reviewing a Reading Program professional development training. It is one of three pieces comprising a suite of materials on reviewing reading programs: this "Guide", the "Reviewing a Reading Program Participant's Guide" and the "Reviewing a Reading Program" Professional Development…

Arthropod community organization and development in pear

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gut, Larry J.; Liss, W. J.; Westigard, P. H.

1991-01-01

Arthropod communities in pear are conceptualized as hierarchically organized systems in which several levels of organization or subsystems can be recognized between the population level and the community as a whole. An individual pear tree is taken to be the community habitat with arthropod subcommunities developing on leaf, fruit, and wood subcommunity habitats. Each subcommunity is composed of trophically organized systems of populations. Each system of populations is comprised of a functional group or guild of phytophagous arthropods that use the habitat primarily for feeding but also for overwintering or egg deposition, and associated groups of specialized predators, parasitoids, and hyperparasitoids. Several species move from one subcommunity to another during the course of community development and thus integrate community subsystems. Community development or change in organization through time is conceptualized as being jointly determined by the development of the habitat and the organization of the species pool. The influence of habitat development on community development within a species pool is emphasized in this research. Seasonal habitat development is expressed as change in the kinds and biomasses of developmental states of wood, leaf, and fruit subcommunity habitats. These changes are accompanied by changes in the kinds, biomasses, and distributions of associated community subsystems.

Partnership Among Peers: Lessons Learned From the Development of a Community Organization–Academic Research Training Program

PubMed Central

Jewett-Tennant, Jeri; Collins, Cyleste; Matloub, Jacqueline; Patrick, Alison; Chupp, Mark; Werner, James J.; Borawski, Elaine A.

2017-01-01

Background Community engagement and rigorous science are necessary to address health issues. Increasingly, community health organizations are asked to partner in research. To strengthen such community organization–academic partnerships, increase research capacity in community organizations, and facilitate equitable partnered research, the Partners in Education Evaluation and Research (PEER) program was developed. The program implements an 18-month structured research curriculum for one mid-level employee of a health-focused community-based organization with an organizational mentor and a Case Western Reserve University faculty member as partners. Methods The PEER program was developed and guided by a community–academic advisory committee and was designed to impact the research capacity of organizations through didactic modules and partnered research in the experiential phase. Active participation of community organizations and faculty during all phases of the program provided for bidirectional learning and understanding of the challenges of community-engaged health research. The pilot program evaluation used qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques, including experiences of the participants assessed through surveys, formal group and individual interviews, phone calls, and discussions. Statistical analysis of the change in fellows’ pre-test and post-test survey scores were conducted using paired sample t tests. The small sample size is recognized by the authors as a limitation of the evaluation methods and would potentially be resolved by including more cohort data as the program progresses. Qualitative data were reviewed by two program staff using content and narrative analysis to identify themes, describe and assess group phenomena and determine program improvements. Objectives The objective of PEER is to create equitable partnerships between community organizations and academic partners to further research capacity in said organizations and

Facilitating Adoption of News Tool to Develop Clinical Decision Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Robin T.

2017-01-01

This scholarly project was a non-experimental, pre/post-test design to (a) facilitate the voluntary adoption of the National Early Warning Score (NEWS), and (b) develop clinical decision making (CDM) in one cohort of junior level nursing students participating in a simulation lab. NEWS is an evidence-based predictive scoring tool developed by the…

Facilitating a transition from compulsory detention of people who use drugs towards voluntary community-based drug dependence treatment and support services in Asia.

PubMed

Tanguay, Pascal; Kamarulzaman, Adeeba; Aramrattana, Apinun; Wodak, Alex; Thomson, Nicholas; Ali, Robert; Vumbaca, Gino; Lai, Gloria; Chabungbam, Anand

2015-10-16

Evidence indicates that detention of people who use drugs in compulsory centers in the name of treatment is common in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. The expansion of such practices has been costly, has not generated positive health outcomes, and has not reduced supply or demand for illicit drugs. United Nations agencies have convened several consultations with government and civil society stakeholders in order to facilitate a transition to voluntary evidence- and community-based drug dependence treatment and support services. In an effort to support such efforts, an informal group of experts proposes a three-step process to initiate and accelerate national-level transitions. Specifically, the working group recommends the establishment of a national multisectoral decision-making committee to oversee the development of national transition plans, drug policy reform to eliminate barriers to community-based drug dependence treatment and support services, and the integration of community-based drug dependence treatment in existing national health and social service systems.In parallel, the working group recommends that national-level transitions should be guided by overarching principles, including ethics, human rights, meaningful involvement of affected communities, and client safety, as well as good governance, transparency, and accountability. The transition also represents an opportunity to review the roles and responsibilities of various agencies across the public health and public security sectors in order to balance the workload and ensure positive results. The need to accelerate national-level transitions to voluntary community-based drug dependence treatment and support services is compelling--on economic, medical, sustainable community development, and ethical grounds--as extensively documented in the literature. In this context, the expert working group fully endorses initiation of a transition

Facilitating Lecturer Development and Student Learning through Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Westhuizen, C. N.

2008-01-01

The aim of the action research project is to improve my own practice as research methodology lecturer to facilitate effective student learning to enable students to become reflective practitioners with responsibility for their own professional development through action research in their own classrooms, and to motivate the students and increase…

Facilitating Transdisciplinary Sustainable Development Research Teams through Online Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dale, Ann; Newman, Lenore; Ling, Chris

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential of online communication technologies to facilitate university-led transdisciplinary sustainable development research and lower the ecological footprints of such research projects. A series of case studies is to be explored. Design/methodology/approach: A one year project is conducted…

Development of a web-based pharmaceutical care plan to facilitate collaboration between healthcare providers and patients.

PubMed

Geurts, Marlies M E; Ivens, Martijn; van Gelder, Egbert; de Gier, Johan J

2013-01-01

In medication therapy management there is a need for a tool to document medication reviews and pharmaceutical care plans (PCPs) as well as facilitate collaboration and sharing of patient data between different healthcare providers. Currently, pharmacists and general practitioners (GPs) have their own computer systems and patient files. To facilitate collaboration between different healthcare providers and to exchange patient data we developed a paper-based tool. As a result the structured collection of all relevant information for a clinical medication review was more protocol driven. The tool also enabled to plan interventions and follow-up activities: the PCP. The PCP was piloted among three GPs and six community pharmacists. Interviews with all healthcare providers concluded the PCP was found a very useful tool to collect and share patient data. A disadvantage was the time spent to collect all information. We therefore developed our PCP into a web-based tool: the web-based PCP (W-PCP). Development of a W-PCP to (1) provide healthcare providers with information from pharmacist- and GP computer systems and (2) facilitate collaboration between healthcare providers and patients. Development and Application: W-PCP facilitates uploading and sharing of patient data among health care professionals and collaboration between professionals and patients on performing treatment plans. The W-PCP is a stand-alone application developed by cocreation using a generic software platform that provides developmental speed and flexibility. The W-PCP was used in three research lines, two in primary care and one in a hospital setting. Outcomes measures were defined as satisfaction about efficiency and effectiveness during data sharing and documentation in providing care and conducting medication reviews using the W-PCP. First experiences concerning the use of W-PCP in a primary care setting were collected by a questionnaire and interviews with pharmacists and GPs using the W-PCP. A

Barriers and facilitators to partnership working between Early Intervention Services and the voluntary and community sector.

PubMed

Lester, Helen; Birchwood, Max; Tait, Lynda; Shah, Sonal; England, Elizabeth; Smith, Jo

2008-09-01

Partnership working between health and the voluntary and community sector has become an increasing political priority. This paper describes and explores the extent and patterns of partnership working between health and the voluntary and community sector in the context of Early Intervention Services for young people with a first episode of psychosis. Data were collected from 12 Early Intervention Services and through semistructured interviews with 47 voluntary and community sector leads and 42 commissioners across the West Midlands of England. Most partnerships were described as ad hoc and informal in nature although four formal partnerships between Early Intervention Services and voluntary and community sector organizations had been established. Shared agendas, the ability to refer clients onto an organization that could provide a service they could not and shared training facilitated partnership working in this context. Barriers to closer working included differences in culture such as managing risk, the time required to make and maintain relationships and recognition of the advantages of remaining a small and autonomous organization. The four more formal partnerships were also built on the organizations' experience of working together informally, in one case through a specific pilot project. The voluntary and community organizations involved were also branches of larger national organizations for whom finding sustainable funding was less of an issue. In theoretical terms, eight Early Intervention Service: voluntary and community sector partnerships were at a stage of 'pre-partnership collaboration', three at 'partnership creation and consolidation' and one at 'partnership programme delivery'. The empirical data viewed through the lens of the partnership life-cycle model could help early intervention services, and voluntary and community sector professionals better understand where they are, why they are there and the conditions needed to realise the full

75 FR 10561 - Request for Public Comment: Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, Community...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-08

...: Comments should be sent by mail to: Scott Berman, Acting Chief Operating Officer, CDFI Fund, U.S... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Community Development Financial Institutions Fund Request for Public Comment: Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, Community Development Financial and Technical...

Value Creation in Online Communities for Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Booth, Sharon E.; Kellogg, Shaun B.

2015-01-01

The popularity and pervasiveness of online communities have led researchers and practitioners alike to closely examine the utility of online communities for supporting and facilitating professional learning. As economic constraints leave fewer resources available for professional development, educators in particular are examining the potential of…

Using Modeling Tasks to Facilitate the Development of Percentages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shahbari, Juhaina Awawdeh; Peled, Irit

2016-01-01

This study analyzes the development of percentages knowledge by seventh graders given a sequence of activities starting with a realistic modeling task, in which students were expected to create a model that would facilitate the reinvention of percentages. In the first two activities, students constructed their own pricing model using fractions and…

Community Development in Brazil: Two Experiences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Gorman, Frances; Speyer, Anne Marie; Tedrus, Maria Aparecida L.

1998-01-01

O'Gorman provides "Five Points for Reflection" on nongovernmental and community organizations in Brazil. Speyer and Tedrus discuss "Community Libraries: An Experience in Community Development in the Periphery of Sao Paulo." (SK)

24 CFR 570.415 - Community Development Work Study Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... and economic development, community planning, and community management. The primary objectives of the... economic development, community planning, and community management, and to provide a cadre of well... economic development, community planning, community management, land use and housing activities. Community...

Using a Virtual Environment to Deliver Evidence-Based Interventions: The Facilitator's Experience

PubMed Central

Villarruel, Antonia; Tschannen, Dana; Valladares, Angel; Yaksich, Joseph; Yeagley, Emily; Hawes, Armani

2015-01-01

Background Evidence-based interventions (EBIs) have the potential to maximize positive impact on communities. However, despite the quantity and quality of EBIs for prevention, the need for formalized training and associated training-related expenses, such as travel costs, program materials, and input of personnel hours, pose implementation challenges for many community-based organizations. In this study, the community of inquiry (CoI) framework was used to develop the virtual learning environment to support the adaptation of the ¡Cuídate! (Take Care of Yourself!) Training of Facilitators curriculum (an EBI) to train facilitators from community-based organizations. Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of adapting a traditional face-to-face facilitator training program for ¡Cuídate!, a sexual risk reduction EBI for Latino youth, for use in a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE). Additionally, two aims of the study were explored: the acceptability of the facilitator training and the level of the facilitators’ knowledge and self-efficacy to implement the training. Methods A total of 35 facilitators were trained in the virtual environment. We evaluated the facilitators' experience in the virtual training environment and determined if the learning environment was acceptable and supported the acquisition of learning outcomes. To this end, the facilitators were surveyed using a modified community of inquiry survey, with questions specific to the Second Life environment and an open-ended questionnaire. In addition, a comparison to face-to-face training was conducted using survey methods. Results Results of the community of inquiry survey demonstrated a subscale mean of 23.11 (SD 4.12) out of a possible 30 on social presence, a subscale mean of 8.74 (SD 1.01) out of a possible 10 on teaching presence, and a subscale mean of 16.69 (SD 1.97) out of a possible 20 on cognitive presence. The comparison to face-to-face training showed no

Implementation of evidence-based practice by nurses working in community settings and their strategies to mentor student nurses to develop evidence-based practice: A qualitative study.

PubMed

Brooke, Joanne Mary; Mallion, Jaimee

2016-08-01

The aim of the study was to explore how community nurses apply the best available evidence to their practice, and how they mentor student nurses to conceptualize and implement evidence-based practice in community settings. In the UK, the expansion of health-care provision in the community has supported the development of highly skilled community nurses. However, there is limited literature regarding the strategies used by community nurses to implement evidence-based practice and mentor student nurses to conceptualize evidence-based practice in community placements. An exploratory qualitative approach applying inductive reasoning to focus group data was used. As a result, nurses working for a community NHS Foundation Trust in South England with a mentor qualification were invited to participate in one of the seven focus groups, 33 nurses participated. Data were analyzed with thematic analysis. The themes discussed in this paper are: 'our practice is evidence-based' as guidelines and policies provided structure, but occasionally stifled autonomous clinical decision-making, and 'time' as a barrier and facilitator to mentoring student nurses in community settings. In conclusion, nurses need to develop the ability to incorporate patients' needs and wishes within evidence-based care. Time was a facilitator for some community mentors, but protected time is required to complete the necessary practice documentation of student nurses. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

On Defining and Developing Literacy across Communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernardo, Allan B. I.

2000-09-01

The paper attempts to raise a few issues relating to the task of defining and operationalizing literacy and literacy development across communities with diverse socio-economic profiles. In particular, the following concerns are raised: (1) Can literacy development be assessed using one set of domains, given that the domains of literacy practices vary across cultures? (2) Does the acquisition of literacy skills mean the same thing to people across different communities? (3) Does illiteracy have the same consequences for people in different communities? (4) Is the process of literacy acquisition and development the same across diverse communities? The paper underscores the importance of considering the diverse socio-economic patterns in different communities in trying to determine present levels of literacy development and in proposing programs to increase levels of literacy skill. It also proposes using the level of community (in addition to the macro-level of nation-state and the micro-level of individual) in analyzing matters relating to literacy development.

Central Practitioners' Developing Legitimate Peripheral Participation in a Community of Practice for Changing Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woo, David James

2015-01-01

As new technologies continue to shape society, there has been a greater need for communities of practice to facilitate changing teaching and learning practices through technology in schools. Legitimate peripheral participation through these communities of practice has become an essential means to spread and support this technology integration…

Developing Local Community Leaders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dyer, Delwyn A.; Williams, Oscar M.

The successful development of local leaders is the goal of leadership training and community development. Development involves defining and developing leadership. Although leader-centered leadership offers few chances of meeting the maintenance needs of the group as a whole, shared leadership allows the group to join in the decision-making…

Development and Testing of a Scale to Assess Interprofessional Education (IPE) Facilitation Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sargeant, Joan; Hill, Tanya; Breau, Lynn

2010-01-01

Introduction: Interprofessional education (IPE) is interactive and constructivist in nature and requires specific facilitation skills to engage participants in a unique body of content, interpersonal interaction, and learning from each other. This article describes the development and testing of a scale, the Interprofessional Facilitation Scale…

Mobile Technology for Empowering Health Workers in Underserved Communities: New Approaches to Facilitate the Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases.

PubMed

Stanton, Michelle; Molineux, Andrew; Mackenzie, Charles; Kelly-Hope, Louise

2016-01-01

As global mobile phone penetration increases, direct health information communication from hard-to-reach communities is becoming commonplace. Mobile health (mHealth) tools that enable disease control programs to benefit from this information, while simultaneously empowering community members to take control of their own health, are vital to the goal of universal health care. Our aim was to highlight the development of the Liverpool mHealth Suite (LMS), which has been designed to address this need and improve health services for neglected tropical diseases being targeted for global elimination, such as lymphatic filariasis. The LMS has two main communication approaches-short message service and mobile phone apps-to facilitate real-time mass drug administration (MDA) coverage, reporting patient numbers, managing stock levels of treatment supplies, and exchanging health information to improve the quality of care of those affected. The LMS includes the MeasureSMS-MDA tool to improve drug supplies and MDA coverage rates in real-time (currently being trialed in urban Tanzania); the MeasureSMS-Morbidity tool to map morbidity, including lymphedema and hydrocele cases (initially piloted in rural Malawi and Ghana, then extended to Ethiopia, and scaled up to large urban areas in Bangladesh and Tanzania); the LyMSS-lymphedema management supply system app to improve distribution of treatments (trialed for 6 months in Malawi with positive impacts on health workers and patients); and the HealthFront app to improve education and training (in development with field trials planned). The current success and scale-up of the LMS by many community health workers in rural and urban settings across Africa and Asia highlights the value of this simple and practical suite of tools that empowers local health care workers to contribute to local, national, and global elimination of disease.

Building Learning Communities: Foundations for Good Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davies, Alison; Ramsay, Jill; Lindfield, Helen; Couperthwaite, John

2005-01-01

The School of Health Sciences at the University of Birmingham provided opportunities for the development of student learning communities and online resources within the neurological module of the BSc Physiotherapy degree programme. These learning communities were designed to facilitate peer and independent learning in core aspects underpinning…

Cell communities and robustness in development.

PubMed

Monk, N A

1997-11-01

The robustness of patterning events in development is a key feature that must be accounted for in proposed models of these events. When considering explicitly cellular systems, robustness can be exhibited at different levels of organization. Consideration of two widespread patterning mechanisms suggests that robustness at the level of cell communities can result from variable development at the level of individual cells; models of these mechanisms show how interactions between participating cells guarantee community-level robustness. Cooperative interactions enhance homogeneity within communities of like cells and the sharpness of boundaries between communities of distinct cells, while competitive interactions amplify small inhomogeneities within communities of initially equivalent cells, resulting in fine-grained patterns of cell specialization.

Exploring the Benefits of a Collaborative Inquiry Team in Education (CITE) Initiative to Develop a Research Community and Enhance Student Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cantalini-Williams, Maria; Curtis, Debra; Eden-DeGasperis, Kimberley; Esposto, Lauren; Guibert, Jenny; Papp, Heather; Roque, Carlos

2015-01-01

This study examined a collaborative inquiry process, facilitated by university faculty in an elementary school, intended to develop a research community, foster knowledge mobilization, and enhance student engagement. The Collaborative Inquiry Team in Education (CITE) initiative consisted of five school-based sessions that included videos,…

The GETE approach to facilitating the commercialization and use of DOE-developed environmental technologies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harvey, T.N.

The Global Environmental Technology Enterprise (GETE) was conceived to develop and implement strategies to facilitate the commercialization of innovative, cost-effective Department of Energy (DOE)-developed environmental technologies. These strategies are needed to aid DOE`s clean-up mission; to break down barriers to commercialization; and to build partnerships between the federal government and private industry in order to facilitate the development and use of innovative environmental technologies.

Developing Environmental Scanning/Forecasting Systems To Augment Community College Planning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morrison, James L.; Held, William G.

A description is provided of a conference session that was conducted to explore the structure and function of an environmental scanning/forecasting system that could be used in a community college to facilitate planning. Introductory comments argue that a college that establishes an environmental scanning and forecasting system is able to identify…

Developing a Community-Academic Partnership to Improve Recognition and Treatment of Depression in Underserved African American and White Elders

PubMed Central

Dobransky-Fasiska, Deborah; Brown, Charlotte; Pincus, Harold A.; Nowalk, Mary P.; Wieland, Melissa; Parker, Lisa S.; Cruz, Mario; McMurray, Michelle L.; Mulsant, Benoit; Reynolds, Charles F.

2011-01-01

Objective Reducing mental health disparities among underserved populations, particularly African American elders, is an important public health priority. The authors describe the process and challenges of developing a community/academic research partnership to address these disparities. Methods The authors are using a Community-Based Participatory Research approach to gain access to underserved populations in need of depression treatment. The authors identify six stages: 1) Collaborating to Secure Funding; 2) Building a Communications Platform and Research Infrastructure; 3) Fostering Enduring Relationships; 4) Assessing Needs/Educating about Research Process; 5) Initiating Specific Collaborative Projects (meeting mutual needs/interests); and 6) Maintaining a Sustainable and Productive Partnership. Data from a needs assessment developed collaboratively by researchers and community agencies facilitated agreement on mutual research goals, while strengthening the partnership. Results A community/academic-based partnership with a solid research infrastructure has been established and maintained for 3 years. Using the results of a needs assessment, the working partnership prioritized and launched several projects. Through interviews and questionnaires, community partners identified best practices for researchers working in the community. Future research and interventional projects have been developed, including plans for sustainability that will eventually shift more responsibility from the academic institution to the community agencies. Conclusions To reach underserved populations by developing and implementing models of more effective mental health treatment, it is vital to engage community agencies offering services to this population. A successful partnership requires “cultural humility,” collaborative efforts, and the development of flexible protocols to accommodate diverse communities. PMID:20104053

Community College Finance Resource Development. UCLA Community College Bibliography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carducci, Rozana

2006-01-01

The references in this bibliography provide an overview of recent scholarship on community college finance and resource development. In addition to documents that present a national portrait and comparative analysis of community college funding models and resource management practices, this bibliography also includes recent publications that…

From parent to 'peer facilitator': a qualitative study of a peer-led parenting programme.

PubMed

Thomson, S; Michelson, D; Day, C

2015-01-01

Peer-led interventions are increasingly common in community health settings. Although peer-led approaches have proven benefits for service users, relatively little is known about the process and outcomes of participation for peer leaders. This study investigated experiences of parents who had participated as 'peer facilitators' in Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities (EPEC), a peer-led programme designed to improve access to evidence-based parenting support in socially disadvantaged communities. A qualitative cross-sectional design was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 peer facilitators and scrutinized using thematic analysis. Peer facilitators developed their knowledge and skills through personal experience of receiving parenting support, participation in formal training and supervised practice, access to an intervention manual, and peer modelling. Peer facilitators described positive changes in their own families, confidence and social status. Transformative personal gains reinforced peer facilitators' role commitment and contributed to a cohesive 'family' identity among EPEC staff and service users. Peer facilitators' enthusiasm, openness and mutual identification with families were seen as critical to EPEC's effectiveness and sustainability. Peer facilitators also found the training emotionally and intellectually demanding. There were particular difficulties around logistical issues (e.g. finding convenient supervision times), managing psychosocial complexity and child safeguarding. The successful delivery and sustained implementation of peer-led interventions requires careful attention to the personal qualities and support of peer leaders. Based on the findings of this study, support should include training, access to intervention manuals, regular and responsive supervision, and logistical/administrative assistance. Further research is required to elaborate and extend these findings to other peer-led programmes. © 2014 John Wiley

Development of a practice tool for community-based nurses: the Heart Failure Palliative Approach to Care (HeFPAC).

PubMed

Strachan, Patricia H; Joy, Cathy; Costigan, Jeannine; Carter, Nancy

2014-04-01

Patients living with advanced heart failure (HF) require a palliative approach to reduce suffering. Nurses have described significant knowledge gaps about the disease-specific palliative care (PC) needs of these patients. An intervention is required to facilitate appropriate end-of-life care for HF patients. The purpose of this study was to develop a user-friendly, evidence-informed HF-specific practice tool for community-based nurses to facilitate care and communication regarding a palliative approach to HF care. Guided by the Knowledge to Action framework, we identified key HF-specific issues related to advanced HF care provision within the context of a palliative approach to care. Informed by current evidence and subsequent iterative consultation with community-based and specialist PC and HF nurses, a pocket guide tool for community-based nurses was created. We developed the Heart Failure Palliative Approach to Care (HeFPAC) pocket guide to promote communication and a palliative approach to care for HF patients. The HeFPAC has potential to improve the quality of care and experiences for patients with advanced HF. It will be piloted in community-based practice and in a continuing education program for nurses. The HeFPAC pocket guide offers PC nurses a concise, evidence-informed and practical point-of care tool to communicate with other clinicians and patients about key HF issues that are associated with improving disease-specific HF palliative care and the quality of life of patients and their families. Pilot testing will offer insight as to its utility and potential for modification for national and international use.

Getting Actionable About Community Resilience: The Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project

PubMed Central

Williams, Malcolm; Plough, Alonzo; Stayton, Alix; Wells, Kenneth B.; Horta, Mariana; Tang, Jennifer

2013-01-01

Community resilience (CR)—ability to withstand and recover from a disaster—is a national policy expectation that challenges health departments to merge disaster preparedness and community health promotion and to build stronger partnerships with organizations outside government, yet guidance is limited. A baseline survey documented community resilience–building barriers and facilitators for health department and community-based organization (CBO) staff. Questions focused on CBO engagement, government–CBO partnerships, and community education. Most health department staff and CBO members devoted minimal time to community disaster preparedness though many serve populations that would benefit. Respondents observed limited CR activities to activate in a disaster. The findings highlighted opportunities for engaging communities in disaster preparedness and informed the development of a community action plan and toolkit. PMID:23678906

Getting actionable about community resilience: the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience project.

PubMed

Chandra, Anita; Williams, Malcolm; Plough, Alonzo; Stayton, Alix; Wells, Kenneth B; Horta, Mariana; Tang, Jennifer

2013-07-01

Community resilience (CR)--ability to withstand and recover from a disaster--is a national policy expectation that challenges health departments to merge disaster preparedness and community health promotion and to build stronger partnerships with organizations outside government, yet guidance is limited. A baseline survey documented community resilience-building barriers and facilitators for health department and community-based organization (CBO) staff. Questions focused on CBO engagement, government-CBO partnerships, and community education. Most health department staff and CBO members devoted minimal time to community disaster preparedness though many serve populations that would benefit. Respondents observed limited CR activities to activate in a disaster. The findings highlighted opportunities for engaging communities in disaster preparedness and informed the development of a community action plan and toolkit.

Developing Community College Faculty as Leaders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Joanne E.; Pagotto, Louise

2003-01-01

Discusses the national crises of community college leadership in America. Describes the role of faculty members in community college leadership. Describes motivational factors involved in college leadership, some leadership challenges, leadership development initiatives, and some opportunities for faculty leadership development. Also describes two…

Faculty Development and the Community College LRC.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kazlauskas, Edward John; Maxwell, William

1990-01-01

Urges community college libraries to provide and expand services in faculty development. Considers trends toward an increasing emphasis on faculty development, the professional development needs of community college faculty, faculty development methods, consulting services, reward structures for faculty development, and program evaluation. (DMM)

Facilitator and Participant Use of Facebook in a Community-Based Intervention for Parents: The InFANT Extend Program.

PubMed

Downing, Katherine L; Campbell, Karen J; van der Pligt, Paige; Hesketh, Kylie D

2017-12-01

Social networking sites such as Facebook afford new opportunities for behavior-change interventions. Although often used as a recruitment tool, few studies have reported the use of Facebook as an intervention component to facilitate communication between researchers and participants. The aim of this study was to examine facilitator and participant use of a Facebook component of a community-based intervention for parents. First-time parent groups participating in the intervention arm of the extended Infant Feeding, Activity and Nutrition Trial (InFANT Extend) Program were invited to join their own private Facebook group. Facilitators mediated the Facebook groups, using them to share resources with parents, arrange group sessions, and respond to parent queries. Parents completed process evaluation questionnaires reporting on the usefulness of the Facebook groups. A total of 150 parents (from 27 first-time parent groups) joined their private Facebook group. There were a mean of 36.9 (standard deviation 11.1) posts/group, with the majority being facilitator posts. Facilitator administration posts (e.g., arranging upcoming group sessions) had the highest average comments (4.0), followed by participant health/behavior questions (3.5). The majority of participants reported that they enjoyed being a part of their Facebook group; however, the frequency of logging on to their groups' page declined over the 36 months of the trial, as did their perceived usefulness of the group. Facebook appears to be a useful administrative tool in this context. Parents enjoyed being part of their Facebook group, but their reported use of and engagement with Facebook declined over time.

Organising Communities-of-Practice: Facilitating Emergence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akkerman, Sanne; Petter, Christian; de Laat, Maarten

2008-01-01

Purpose: The notion of communities of practice (CoP) has received great attention in educational and organisational practice and research. Although the concept originally refers to collaborative practices that emerge naturally, educational and HRD practitioners are increasingly searching for ways to create these practices intentionally in order to…

Institutionalization of community action projects to reduce alcohol-use related problems: systematic facilitators.

PubMed

Holder, H D; Moore, R S

2000-01-01

This article reviews papers from a recent conference on community action research in order to identify factors that contribute to long-term maintenance, sustainability, or institutionalization of community project interventions. The descriptions of long-term outcomes and aftereffects of projects that emerged in the conference are valuable because relatively few instances of institutionalization have been documented in the scientific literature. After a general theoretical discussion of institutionalization in communities, the article identifies characteristics of successful community action programs that outlived their original funding. These characteristics include honoring community values and cultural relevance, cultivating key leader support, and utilizing indigenous staff. They also include developing local resources, maintaining flexibility, and leveraging prior success. The paper concludes by noting that aiming for policy and structural changes is a goal for an institutionalization of measures positively affecting desired health outcomes, even if the programs which created them are not themselves sustained.

Facilitators: One Key Factor in Implementing Successful Experience-Based Training and Development Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wagner, Richard J.; Roland, Christopher C.

An increasing number of corporations are using some form of experience-based outdoor training and development. Most of these programs follow a general process that includes: (1) introduction of the activity by the facilitator; (2) the experiential activity (during which the facilitator is observer or safety monitor); and (3) debriefing or…

"Stepping Up": A Focus on Facilitator Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kostouros, Patricia; Warthe, D. Gaye; Carter-Snell, Catherine; Burnett, Che

2016-01-01

This article examines the impact on peer facilitators in "Stepping Up," a dating violence prevention program at a Canadian university. A focus group held eight months following the delivery of the program determined the personal impact of involvement in the program. Results indicate that peer facilitators experienced personal growth as…

An exploration of facilitators and challenges in the scale-up of a national, public sector community health worker cadre in Zambia: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Phiri, Sydney Chauwa; Prust, Margaret Lippitt; Chibawe, Caroline Phiri; Misapa, Ronald; van den Broek, Jan Willem; Wilmink, Nikhil

2017-06-24

In 2010 a public sector cadre of community health workers called Community Health Assistants (CHAs) was created in Zambia through the National Community Health Worker Strategy to expand access to health services. This cadre continues to be scaled up to meet the growing demands of Zambia's rural population. We summarize factors that have facilitated the scale-up of the CHA program into a nationwide CHW cadre and the challenges of introducing and institutionalizing the cadre within the Zambian health system. Semi-structured, individual interviews were held across 5 districts with 16 CHAs and 6 CHA supervisors, and 10 focus group discussions were held with 93 community members. Audio recordings of interviews and focus group discussions were transcribed and thematically coded using Dedoose web-based software. The study showed that the CHAs play a critical role in providing a wide range of services at the community level, as described by supervisors and community members. Some challenges still remain, that may inhibit the CHAs ability to provide health services effectively. In particular, the respondents highlighted infrequent supervision, lack of medical and non-medical supplies for outreach services, and challenges with the mobile data reporting system. The study shows that in order to optimize the impact of CHAs or other community health workers, key health-system support structures need to be functioning effectively, such as supervision, community surveillance systems, supplies, and reporting. The Ministry of Health with support from partners are currently addressing these challenges through nationwide supervisor and community data trainings, as well as advocating for adding primary health care as a specific focus area in the new National Health Strategy Plan 2017-2021. This study contributes to the evidence base on the introduction of formalized community health worker cadres in developing countries.

The Effect of a Teacher Professional Development in Facilitating Students' Creativity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hosseini, Afzal S.; Watt, Anthony P.

2010-01-01

The Iranian educational system would benefit from major refinement in order to better develop the creativity of children. The extension of teachers' understanding of creativity is one of the main factors in facilitating change. A theory and practice based professional development program was designed, therefore, to assist teachers to acquire…

Co-ordinated action between youth-care and sports: facilitators and barriers.

PubMed

Hermens, Niels; de Langen, Lisanne; Verkooijen, Kirsten T; Koelen, Maria A

2017-07-01

In the Netherlands, youth-care organisations and community sports clubs are collaborating to increase socially vulnerable youths' participation in sport. This is rooted in the idea that sports clubs are settings for youth development. As not much is known about co-ordinated action involving professional care organisations and community sports clubs, this study aims to generate insight into facilitators of and barriers to successful co-ordinated action between these two organisations. A cross-sectional study was conducted using in-depth semi-structured qualitative interview data. In total, 23 interviews were held at five locations where co-ordinated action between youth-care and sports takes place. Interviewees were youth-care workers, representatives from community sports clubs, and Care Sport Connectors who were assigned to encourage and manage the co-ordinated action. Using inductive coding procedures, this study shows that existing and good relationships, a boundary spanner, care workers' attitudes, knowledge and competences of the participants, organisational policies and ambitions, and some elements external to the co-ordinated action were reported to be facilitators or barriers. In addition, the participants reported that the different facilitators and barriers influenced the success of the co-ordinated action at different stages of the co-ordinated action. Future research is recommended to further explore the role of boundary spanners in co-ordinated action involving social care organisations and community sports clubs, and to identify what external elements (e.g. events, processes, national policies) are turning points in the formation, implementation and continuation of such co-ordinated action. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Linking Workforce Development to Economic Development: A Casebook for Community Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rothwell, William J., Ed.; Gerity, Patrick E., Ed.

2008-01-01

"Linking Workforce Development to Economic Development: A Casebook for Community Colleges" is a compilation of best practice examples, which illustrate what it takes for community colleges to achieve their goal of helping people acquire education and skills, helping employers, supporting communities, and building the nation. The book is…

Building community research capacity: process evaluation of community training and education in a community-based participatory research program serving a predominantly Puerto Rican community.

PubMed

Tumiel-Berhalter, Laurene M; McLaughlin-Diaz, Victoria; Vena, John; Crespo, Carlos J

2007-01-01

Education and training build community research capacity and have impact on improvements of health outcomes. This manuscript describes the training and educational approaches to building research capacity that were utilized in a community-based participatory research program serving a Puerto Rican population and identifies barriers and strategies for overcoming them. A process evaluation identified a multitiered approach to training and education that was critical to reaching the broad community. This approach included four major categories providing a continuum of education and training opportunities: networking, methods training, on-the-job experience, and community education. Participation in these opportunities supported the development of a registry, the implementation of a survey, and two published manuscripts. Barriers included the lack of a formal evaluation of the education and training components, language challenges that limited involvement of ethnic groups other than Puerto Ricans, and potential biases associated with the familiarity of the data collector and the participant. The CBPR process facilitated relationship development between the university and the community and incorporated the richness of the community experience into research design. Strategies for improvement include incorporating evaluation into every training and educational opportunity and developing measures to quantify research capacity at the individual and community levels. Evaluating training and education in the community allows researchers to quantify the impact of CBPR on building community research capacity.

Family Support and Community Economic Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lalley, Jacqueline, Ed.

1997-01-01

This report of the Family Resource Coalition of America examines the interrelationship of sustainable community economic strategies and sustainable family units. The introductory section of the report consists of one article, "Integrating Community Development and Family Support." The second section, "Community Building: A Movement…

Developing Critical Reflection in Professional Focused Doctorates: A Facilitator's Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sambrook, Sally; Stewart, Jim

2008-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the challenges and opportunities for expediting critical reflection in management education and development to highlight particularly how critical reflection has been facilitated within the context of a professionally focused doctoral programme. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on empirical research…

Community-Based Development of Standards for Geochemical and Geochronological Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lehnert, K. A.; Walker, D.; Vinay, S.; Djapic, B.; Ash, J.; Falk, B.

2007-12-01

The Geoinformatics for Geochemistry (GfG) Program (www.geoinfogeochem.org) and the EarthChem project (www.earthchem.org) aim to maximize the application of geochemical data in Geoscience research and education by building a new advanced data infrastructure for geochemistry that facilitates the compilation, communication, serving, and visualization of geochemical data and their integration with the broad Geoscience data set. Building this new data infrastructure poses substantial challenges that are primarily cultural in nature, and require broad community involvement in the development and implementation of standards for data reporting (e.g., metadata for analytical procedures, data quality, and analyzed samples), data publication, and data citation to achieve broad acceptance and use. Working closely with the science community, with professional societies, and with editors and publishers, recommendations for standards for the reporting of geochemical and geochronological data in publications and to data repositories have been established, which are now under consideration for adoption in journal and agency policies. The recommended standards are aligned with the GfG and EarthChem data models as well as the EarthChem XML schema for geochemical data. Through partnerships with other national and international data management efforts in geochemistry and in the broader marine and terrestrial geosciences, GfG and EarthChem seek to integrate their development of geochemical metadata standards, data format, and semantics with relevant existing and emerging standards and ensure compatibility and compliance.

KDU E-Community Network.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jonhendro; Ching, Goh Bee; Wahab, Rohazna; Leng, Wang Meei; Aun, Jimmy Tan Lip; Yeoh, Eugene; Hock, Oon; Koo, W. K.

2001-01-01

Describes an education initiative developed by a company in Malaysia, the KDU, to implement a student-centered, teacher-facilitated, educational technology-enabled and knowledge-based learning environment. Explains the KDU e-Community Network that enables passive, interactive, collaborative, and constructivist learning for a variety of…

Facilitating Learner Autonomy: Reading and Effective Dictionary Use for Lexical Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Debbita Tan Ai; Pandian, Ambigapathy; Jaganathan, Paramaswari

2017-01-01

Effective dictionary use facilitates reading and subsequently, vocabulary knowledge development. Reading, especially extensive reading, has time and again been proven to be highly effective for both receptive and productive lexical development. Possessing control over a large vocabulary is essential for language competence--be it L1, L2, or L3.…

High definition for systems biology of microbial communities: metagenomics gets genome-centric and strain-resolved.

PubMed

Turaev, Dmitrij; Rattei, Thomas

2016-06-01

The systems biology of microbial communities, organismal communities inhabiting all ecological niches on earth, has in recent years been strongly facilitated by the rapid development of experimental, sequencing and data analysis methods. Novel experimental approaches and binning methods in metagenomics render the semi-automatic reconstructions of near-complete genomes of uncultivable bacteria possible, while advances in high-resolution amplicon analysis allow for efficient and less biased taxonomic community characterization. This will also facilitate predictive modeling approaches, hitherto limited by the low resolution of metagenomic data. In this review, we pinpoint the most promising current developments in metagenomics. They facilitate microbial systems biology towards a systemic understanding of mechanisms in microbial communities with scopes of application in many areas of our daily life. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implementing a Measurement Feedback System in Community Mental Health Clinics: A Case Study of Multilevel Barriers and Facilitators

PubMed Central

Gleacher, Alissa A.; Olin, Serene S.; Nadeem, Erum; Pollock, Michele; Ringle, Vanesa; Bickman, Leonard; Douglas, Susan; Hoagwood, Kimberly

2015-01-01

Measurement feedback systems (MFSs) have been proposed as a means of improving practice. The present study examined the implementation of a MFS, the Contextualized Feedback System (CFS), in two community-based clinic sites. Significant implementation differences across sites provided a basis for examining factors that influenced clinician uptake of CFS. Following the theoretical implementation framework of Aarons, Hurlburt & Horwitz (2011), we coded qualitative data collected from eighteen clinicians (13 from Clinic U and 5 from Clinic R) who participated in semi-structured interviews about their experience with CFS implementation. Results suggest that clinicians at both clinics perceived more barriers than facilitators to CFS implementation. Interestingly, clinicians at the higher implementing clinic reported a higher proportion of barriers to facilitators (3:1 vs. 2:1); however, these clinicians also reported a significantly higher level of organizational and leadership supports for CFS implementation. Implications of these findings are discussed. PMID:25735619

Community-based advocacy training: applying asset-based community development in resident education.

PubMed

Hufford, Laura; West, Daniel C; Paterniti, Debora A; Pan, Richard J

2009-06-01

Communities and Physicians Together (CPT) at University of California, Davis Health System provides a novel approach to teaching residents to be effective community advocates. Founded in 1999, CPT is a partnership between a pediatric residency program, five community collaboratives located in diverse neighborhoods, and a grassroots child advocacy organization. Using the principles of Asset-Based Community Development, the program emphasizes establishing partnerships with community members and organizations to improve child health and identifies community assets and building capacity. Community members function as the primary faculty for CPT.The authors describe the CPT curriculum, which teaches residents to build partnerships with their assigned community. Residents have three, two-week blocks each year for CPT activities and maintain a longitudinal relationship with their community. In the first year, collaborative coordinators from each community orient residents to their community. Residents identify community assets and perform activities designed to provide them with a community member's perspective. In the second and third years, residents partner with community members and organizations to implement a project to improve the health of children in that community. CPT also provides faculty development to community partners including a workshop on medical culture and resident life. A qualitative evaluation demonstrated residents' attitudes of their role as pediatricians in the community changed with CPT.CPT is unique because it provides a model of service learning that emphasizes identifying and utilizing strengths and building capacity. This approach differs from the traditional medical model, which emphasizes deficits and needs.

Environmental Scanning for Occupational Education. A Facilitator's Guide. A Model for Environmental Scanning to Systematically Assess Future Occupational Education and Training Needs of a Michigan Community College Service Area.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek, MI.

This manual is designed to facilitate the planning and implementation of an environmental scanning project in Michigan's community colleges. (Environmental scanning is a systematic process for gathering and analyzing information about the external environment and relating it to an organization's internal environment.) This facilitator's guide is…

Exchanging environmental information and decision making: developing the local Pilot Environmental Virtual Observatory with stakeholder communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mackay, E.; Beven, K.; Brewer, P.; M, Haygarth, P.; Macklin, M.; Marshall, K.; Quinn, P.; Stutter, M.; Thomas, N.; Wilkinson, M.

2012-04-01

Public participation in the development of flood risk management and river basin management plans are explicit components of both the Water Framework and Floods Directives. At the local level, involving communities in land and water management has been found to (i) aid better environmental decision making, (ii) enhance social, economic and environmental benefits, and (iii) increase a sense of ownership. Facilitating the access and exchange of information on the local environment is an important part of this new approach to the land and water management process, which also includes local community stakeholders in decisions about the design and content of the information provided. As part of the Natural Environment Research Council's pilot Environment Virtual Observatory (EVO), the Local Level group are engaging with local community stakeholders in three different catchments in the UK (the rivers Eden, Tarland and Dyfi) to start the process of developing prototype visualisation tools to address the specific land and water management issues identified in each area. Through this local collaboration, we will provide novel visualisation tools through which to communicate complex catchment science outcomes and bring together different sources of environmental data in ways that better meet end-user needs as well as facilitate a far broader participatory approach in environmental decision making. The Local Landscape Visualisation Tools are being evolved iteratively during the project to reflect the needs, interests and capabilities of a wide range of stakeholders. The tools will use the latest concepts and technologies to communicate with and provide opportunities for the provision and exchange of information between the public, government agencies and scientists. This local toolkit will reside within a wider EVO platform that will include national datasets, models and state of the art cloud computer systems. As such, local stakeholder groups are assisting the EVO

Understanding Facilitation: Theory and Principles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hogan, Christine

This book introduces newcomers to the concept of facilitation, and it presents a critical analysis of established and current theory on facilitation for existing practitioners. The following are among the topics discussed: (1) emergence of the field of facilitation; (2) development of facilitation in management; (3) development of facilitation in…

Professional Learning Communities: Assessment--Development--Effects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hipp, Kristine Kiefer; Huffman, Jane Bumpers

This presentation addresses three topics: (1) the assessment of professional learning communities in schools; (2) the design and development of professional learning communities in schools; and (3) the effects of professional learning communities in schools. The purpose of this brief document is to share descriptions, processes, and materials…

Integrating Community into the Classroom: Community Gardening, Community Involvement, and Project-Based Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Langhout, Regina Day; Rappaport, Julian; Simmons, Doretha

2002-01-01

Culturally relevant, ongoing project-based learning was facilitated in a predominantly African American urban elementary school via a community garden project. The project involved teachers, students, university members, and community members. This article evaluates the project through two classroom-community collaboration models, noting common…

Community Colleges and Economic Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallego, Augustine

This document argues that regions that sustain economic growth or recover rapidly from economic slumps are often the same communities that have aggressively developed and continue to strengthen collaborations with business and industry, universities, community colleges, high schools, and other key public and private sector entities. In San Diego…

Facilitating complex shape drawing in Williams syndrome and typical development.

PubMed

Hudson, Kerry D; Farran, Emily K

2013-07-01

Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) produce drawings that are disorganised, likely due to an inability to replicate numerous spatial relations between parts. This study attempted to circumvent these drawing deficits in WS when copying complex combinations of one, two and three shapes. Drawing decisions were reduced by introducing a number of facilitators, for example, by using distinct colours and including facilitatory cues on the response sheet. Overall, facilitation improved drawing in the WS group to a comparable level of accuracy as typically developing participants (matched for non-verbal ability). Drawing accuracy was greatest in both groups when planning demands (e.g. starting location, line lengths and changes in direction) were reduced by use of coloured figures and providing easily distinguished and clearly grouped facilitatory cues to form each shape. This study provides the first encouraging evidence to suggest that drawing of complex shapes in WS can be facilitated; individuals with WS might be receptive to remediation programmes for drawing and handwriting. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Community Economic Development: Perspectives on Research and Policy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galaway, Burt, Ed.; Hudson, Joe, Ed.

This book contains 27 papers that were originally developed for a research and policy symposium at which Canadian community economic development (CED) was examined in terms of research and policy requirements. The book contains the following papers: "Community Economic Development Practice in Canada" (Brodhead); "Community Economic…

Community Evaluation for Economic Development. Small Town Strategy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gault, George H.; Coppedge, Robert O.

Many communities have economic development efforts, which are generally undertaken in an attempt to create productive employment opportunities and to strengthen the local tax base. Unfortunatley, the economic development efforts of many communities, especially rural communities, are not productive ones. Many rural development efforts fail because…

[The Connecticut Community Development Action Plan (CDAP), the Community Development Act and Related Legislation, and Additional Guidelines.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Connecticut State Dept. of Community Affairs, Hartford.

This report of the Connecticut Community Development Action Plan (CDAP) contains a brochure on how to plan and execute a CDAP, detailed guidelines for municipalities, the Community Development Act (Public Act 522) and related legislation (Public Acts 768 and 760), and provisions of 20 other public acts. Interpersonal communication, citizen…

Sources of Inequities in Rural America: Implications for Rural Community Development and Research. Community Development Research Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fujimoto, Isao; Zone, Martin

As part of a series prepared to acquaint small community officials with information on the latest community related research findings at the University of California at Davis, this monograph explicates the way in which tax structure, rural development assumptions, and even rural development policies and subsidies contribute to the inequities found…

Professional Learning Communities Facilitator's Guide Handouts for the What Works Clearinghouse™ Practice Guide: Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School. REL 2015-105

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dimino, Joseph A.; Taylor, Mary Jo; Morris, Joan

2015-01-01

These handouts, which are meant to accompany the facilitator's guide, are designed to assist professional learning communities (PLCs) in applying evidence-based strategies to help K-8 English learners acquire the language and literacy skills needed to succeed academically. The facilitator's guide uses a five-step process for collaborative…

The Inclusion Facilitator's Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jorgensen, Cheryl M.; Schuh, Mary C.; Nisbet, Jan

2005-01-01

Inclusion facilitators are educators who do more than teach children with disabilities--they advocate for change in schools and communities, sparking a passion for inclusion in teachers, administrators, and families and giving them the practical guidance they need to make it work. This is an essential new role in today's schools, and this guide…

Building capacity in disadvantaged communities: development of the community advocacy and leadership program.

PubMed

Sharpe, Patricia A; Flint, Sylvia; Burroughs-Girardi, Ericka L; Pekuri, Linda; Wilcox, Sara; Forthofer, Melinda

2015-01-01

Successful community groups have the capacity to mobilize community assets to address needs. Capacity-building education is integral to building competent communities. A community-university team developed and pilot tested an education program for community advocates from disadvantaged neighborhoods with high chronic disease burden. The Community Advocacy and Leadership Program (CALP) included eight monthly workshops, a mini-grant opportunity, and technical assistance. A nominal group with community health practitioners, focus group with community advocates, and a literature search comprised a triangulated educational needs assessment. A participating pretest with 35 community health practitioners guided curriculum refinement. Seven representatives from three community groups in a medically underserved South Carolina county participated in pilot implementation and evaluation. Qualitative and quantitative data informed the process and impact evaluation. The mean knowledge score at 1 month after the program was 77% (range, 52%-96%). The mean score on post-program self-assessment of skills improvement was 3.8 out of a possible 4.0 (range, 3.6-4.0). Two groups submitted successful community mini-grant applications for playground improvements, and the third group successfully advocated for public funding of neighborhood park improvements. Participants reported favorable impressions and both personal and community benefits from participation. A community-university partnership successfully conducted a local educational needs assessment and developed and pilot tested a capacity development program within a CBPR partnership. Successes, challenges, and lessons learned will guide program refinement, replication, and dissemination.

STAR Algorithm Integration Team - Facilitating operational algorithm development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mikles, V. J.

2015-12-01

The NOAA/NESDIS Center for Satellite Research and Applications (STAR) provides technical support of the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) algorithm development and integration tasks. Utilizing data from the S-NPP satellite, JPSS generates over thirty Environmental Data Records (EDRs) and Intermediate Products (IPs) spanning atmospheric, ocean, cryosphere, and land weather disciplines. The Algorithm Integration Team (AIT) brings technical expertise and support to product algorithms, specifically in testing and validating science algorithms in a pre-operational environment. The AIT verifies that new and updated algorithms function in the development environment, enforces established software development standards, and ensures that delivered packages are functional and complete. AIT facilitates the development of new JPSS-1 algorithms by implementing a review approach based on the Enterprise Product Lifecycle (EPL) process. Building on relationships established during the S-NPP algorithm development process and coordinating directly with science algorithm developers, the AIT has implemented structured reviews with self-contained document suites. The process has supported algorithm improvements for products such as ozone, active fire, vegetation index, and temperature and moisture profiles.

Community Development in Canada. Document 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lloyd, Antony John

This first survey of community development in Canada attempts to give a conspectus of activities past, in progress, and planned, in the communities of the socially and economically deprived Indians, Negroes, and Eskimos. It examines the extent of commitment of federal and provincial governments to community programs and projects, and comments on…

A Community Health Advisor Program to reduce cardiovascular risk among rural African-American women

PubMed Central

Cornell, C. E.; Littleton, M. A.; Greene, P. G.; Pulley, L.; Brownstein, J. N.; Sanderson, B. K.; Stalker, V. G.; Matson-Koffman, D.; Struempler, B.; Raczynski, J. M.

2009-01-01

The Uniontown, Alabama Community Health Project trained and facilitated Community Health Advisors (CHAs) in conducting a theory-based intervention designed to reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) among rural African-American women. The multiphased project included formative evaluation and community organization, CHA recruitment and training, community intervention and maintenance. Formative data collected to develop the training, intervention and evaluation methods and materials indicated the need for programs to increase knowledge, skills and resources for changing behaviors that increase the risk of CVD. CHAs worked in partnership with staff to develop, implement, evaluate and maintain strategies to reduce risk for CVD in women and to influence city officials, business owners and community coalitions to facilitate project activities. Process data documented sustained increases in social capital and community capacity to address health-related issues, as well as improvements in the community’s physical infrastructure. This project is unique in that it documents that a comprehensive CHA-based intervention for CVD can facilitate wide-reaching changes in capacity to address health issues in a rural community that include improvements in community infrastructure and are sustained beyond the scope of the originally funded intervention. PMID:19047648

Development of transparent microwell arrays for optical monitoring and dissection of microbial communities

DOE PAGES

Halsted, Michelle; Wilmoth, Jared L.; Briggs, Paige A.; ...

2016-09-29

Microbial communities are incredibly complex systems that dramatically and ubiquitously influence our lives. They help to shape our climate and environment, impact agriculture, drive business, and have a tremendous bearing on healthcare and physical security. Spatial confinement, as well as local variations in physical and chemical properties, affects development and interactions within microbial communities that occupy critical niches in the environment. Recent work has demonstrated the use of silicon based microwell arrays, combined with parylene lift-off techniques, to perform both deterministic and stochastic assembly of microbial communities en masse, enabling the high-throughput screening of microbial communities for their response tomore » growth in confined environments under different conditions. The implementation of a transparent microwell array platform can expand and improve the imaging modalities that can be used to characterize these assembled communities. In this paper, the fabrication and characterization of a next generation transparent microwell array is described. The transparent arrays, comprised of SU-8 patterned on a glass coverslip, retain the ability to use parylene lift-off by integrating a low temperature atomic layer deposition of silicon dioxide into the fabrication process. This silicon dioxide layer prevents adhesion of the parylene material to the patterned SU-8, facilitating dry lift-off, and maintaining the ability to easily assemble microbial communities within the microwells. These transparent microwell arrays can screen numerous community compositions using continuous, high resolution, imaging. Finally, the utility of the design was successfully demonstrated through the stochastic seeding and imaging of green fluorescent protein expressing Escherichia coli using both fluorescence and brightfield microscopies.« less

Evaluating Community-Based Participatory Research to Improve Community-Partnered Science and Community Health

PubMed Central

Hicks, Sarah; Duran, Bonnie; Wallerstein, Nina; Avila, Magdalena; Belone, Lorenda; Lucero, Julie; Magarati, Maya; Mainer, Elana; Martin, Diane; Muhammad, Michael; Oetzel, John; Pearson, Cynthia; Sahota, Puneet; Simonds, Vanessa; Sussman, Andrew; Tafoya, Greg; Hat, Emily White

2013-01-01

Background Since 2007, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Policy Research Center (PRC) has partnered with the Universities of New Mexico and Washington to study the science of community-based participatory research (CBPR). Our goal is to identify facilitators and barriers to effective community–academic partnerships in American Indian and other communities, which face health disparities. Objectives We have described herein the scientific design of our National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study (2009–2013) and lessons learned by having a strong community partner leading the research efforts. Methods The research team is implementing a mixed-methods study involving a survey of principal investigators (PIs) and partners across the nation and in-depth case studies of CBPR projects. Results We present preliminary findings on methods and measures for community-engaged research and eight lessons learned thus far regarding partnership evaluation, advisory councils, historical trust, research capacity development of community partner, advocacy, honoring each other, messaging, and funding. Conclusions Study methodologies and lessons learned can help community–academic research partnerships translate research in communities. PMID:22982842

The Linkage between Community Services and College Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mays, Sylvia A.; Vogler, Daniel E.

1985-01-01

Provides a summary of a 1984 study of the importance of 40 functions for community college resource development officers. Concludes that development officers are responsible for making friends for the college in the community, sharing this responsibility with others. Sees a role for community services personnel in development functions. (AYC)

Facilitative-Competitive Interactions in an Old-Growth Forest: The Importance of Large-Diameter Trees as Benefactors and Stimulators for Forest Community Assembly

PubMed Central

Fichtner, Andreas; Forrester, David I.; Härdtle, Werner; Sturm, Knut; von Oheimb, Goddert

2015-01-01

The role of competition in tree communities is increasingly well understood, while little is known about the patterns and mechanisms of the interplay between above- and belowground competition in tree communities. This knowledge, however, is crucial for a better understanding of community dynamics and developing adaptive near-natural management strategies. We assessed neighbourhood interactions in an unmanaged old-growth European beech (Fagus sylvatica) forest by quantifying variation in the intensity of above- (shading) and belowground competition (crowding) among dominant and co-dominant canopy beech trees during tree maturation. Shading had on average a much larger impact on radial growth than crowding and the sensitivity to changes in competitive conditions was lowest for crowding effects. We found that each mode of competition reduced the effect of the other. Increasing crowding reduced the negative effect of shading, and at high levels of shading, crowding actually had a facilitative effect and increased growth. Our study demonstrates that complementarity in above- and belowground processes enable F. sylvatica to alter resource acquisition strategies, thus optimising tree radial growth. As a result, competition seemed to become less important in stands with a high growing stock and tree communities with a long continuity of anthropogenic undisturbed population dynamics. We suggest that growth rates do not exclusively depend on the density of potential competitors at the intraspecific level, but on the conspecific aggregation of large-diameter trees and their functional role for regulating biotic filtering processes. This finding highlights the potential importance of the rarely examined relationship between the spatial aggregation pattern of large-diameter trees and the outcome of neighbourhood interactions, which may be central to community dynamics and the related forest ecosystem services. PMID:25803035

Facilitative-competitive interactions in an old-growth forest: the importance of large-diameter trees as benefactors and stimulators for forest community assembly.

PubMed

Fichtner, Andreas; Forrester, David I; Härdtle, Werner; Sturm, Knut; von Oheimb, Goddert

2015-01-01

The role of competition in tree communities is increasingly well understood, while little is known about the patterns and mechanisms of the interplay between above- and belowground competition in tree communities. This knowledge, however, is crucial for a better understanding of community dynamics and developing adaptive near-natural management strategies. We assessed neighbourhood interactions in an unmanaged old-growth European beech (Fagus sylvatica) forest by quantifying variation in the intensity of above- (shading) and belowground competition (crowding) among dominant and co-dominant canopy beech trees during tree maturation. Shading had on average a much larger impact on radial growth than crowding and the sensitivity to changes in competitive conditions was lowest for crowding effects. We found that each mode of competition reduced the effect of the other. Increasing crowding reduced the negative effect of shading, and at high levels of shading, crowding actually had a facilitative effect and increased growth. Our study demonstrates that complementarity in above- and belowground processes enable F. sylvatica to alter resource acquisition strategies, thus optimising tree radial growth. As a result, competition seemed to become less important in stands with a high growing stock and tree communities with a long continuity of anthropogenic undisturbed population dynamics. We suggest that growth rates do not exclusively depend on the density of potential competitors at the intraspecific level, but on the conspecific aggregation of large-diameter trees and their functional role for regulating biotic filtering processes. This finding highlights the potential importance of the rarely examined relationship between the spatial aggregation pattern of large-diameter trees and the outcome of neighbourhood interactions, which may be central to community dynamics and the related forest ecosystem services.

The evolution of ethics for community practice.

PubMed

Racher, Frances E

2007-01-01

Defining the community as client or partner requires a different ethical approach, an approach focused on the aggregate, community, or societal level. A discussion of rule ethics, virtue ethics, and feminist ethics transports the community practitioner beyond traditional ethical principles to consider a more contemporary ethical foundation for public health and community practice. Inclusion, diversity, participation, empowerment, social justice, advocacy, and interdependence create an evolving ethical foundation to support community practice. Collaboration among health care professionals and members of the organizations, communities, and societies in which they practice will facilitate the further development of moral thought and ethical theory to underpin community practice.

Linking case management and community development.

PubMed

Austin, Carol D; McClelland, Robert W; Gursansky, Di

2006-01-01

Case management, in various forms, is now institutionalized as a core part of policy and programs designed to deliver home- and community-based services to older adults. The case management role, in theory, requires attention to both client and system goals, although in practice the system goals that have received most attention have been gatekeeping and resource allocation. While case managers have been admonished to find and develop resources in the community, this has primarily taken the form of including informal services in individual client care plans. What has been missing is focused attention to the potential of the community as a nurturing environment with the capacity to support older adults and their caregivers. Sustainable care for older adults cannot be achieved by formal service and family support alone. This article proposes the creation of linkages between case managers, who build the service arrangements for older people, and community developers, who are responsible for building community capacity and social capital. It is argued that this linkage is essential for establishing the foundations of a caring community with the capacity to support older people.

77 FR 37742 - Community Development Financial Institutions Fund

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-22

... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Community Development Financial Institutions Fund Funding Opportunity... of the BEA Program. The BEA Program is administered by the Community Development Financial..., services, and technical assistance within Distressed Communities, and financial assistance to CDFIs through...

Development of a Tool to Measure Youths' Food Allergy Management Facilitators and Barriers.

PubMed

Herbert, Linda Jones; Lin, Adora; Matsui, Elizabeth; Wood, Robert A; Sharma, Hemant

2016-04-01

This study's aims are to identify factors related to allergen avoidance and epinephrine carriage among youth with food allergy, develop a tool to measure food allergy management facilitators and barriers, and investigate its initial reliability and validity.  The Food Allergy Management Perceptions Questionnaire (FAMPQ) was developed based on focus groups with 19 adolescents and young adults with food allergy. Additional youth with food allergy (N = 92; ages: 13-21 years) completed food allergy clinical history and management questionnaires and the FAMPQ.  Internal reliability estimates for the FAMPQ Facilitators and Barriers subscales were acceptable to good. Youth who were adherent to allergen avoidance and epinephrine carriage had higher Facilitator scores. Poor adherence was more likely among youth with higher Barrier scores.  Initial FAMPQ reliability and validity is promising. Additional research is needed to develop FAMPQ clinical guidelines. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Implementing a Measurement Feedback System in Community Mental Health Clinics: A Case Study of Multilevel Barriers and Facilitators.

PubMed

Gleacher, Alissa A; Olin, Serene S; Nadeem, Erum; Pollock, Michele; Ringle, Vanesa; Bickman, Leonard; Douglas, Susan; Hoagwood, Kimberly

2016-05-01

Measurement feedback systems (MFSs) have been proposed as a means of improving practice. The present study examined the implementation of a MFS, the Contextualized Feedback System (CFS), in two community-based clinic sites. Significant implementation differences across sites provided a basis for examining factors that influenced clinician uptake of CFS. Following the theoretical implementation framework of Aarons et al. (Adm Policy Mental Health Mental Health Serv Res 38(1):4-23, 2011), we coded qualitative data collected from eighteen clinicians (13 from Clinic U and 5 from Clinic R) who participated in semi-structured interviews about their experience with CFS implementation. Results suggest that clinicians at both clinics perceived more barriers than facilitators to CFS implementation. Interestingly, clinicians at the higher implementing clinic reported a higher proportion of barriers to facilitators (3:1 vs. 2:1); however, these clinicians also reported a significantly higher level of organizational and leadership supports for CFS implementation. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Can we infer plant facilitation from remote sensing? A test across global drylands

PubMed Central

Xu, Chi; Holmgren, Milena; Van Nes, Egbert H.; Maestre, Fernando T.; Soliveres, Santiago; Berdugo, Miguel; Kéfi, Sonia; Marquet, Pablo A.; Abades, Sebastian; Scheffer, Marten

2016-01-01

Facilitation is a major force shaping the structure and diversity of plant communities in terrestrial ecosystems. Detecting positive plant-plant interactions relies on the combination of field experimentation and the demonstration of spatial association between neighboring plants. This has often restricted the study of facilitation to particular sites, limiting the development of systematic assessments of facilitation over regional and global scales. Here we explore whether the frequency of plant spatial associations detected from high-resolution remotely-sensed images can be used to infer plant facilitation at the community level in drylands around the globe. We correlated the information from remotely-sensed images freely available through Google Earth™ with detailed field assessments, and used a simple individual-based model to generate patch-size distributions using different assumptions about the type and strength of plant-plant interactions. Most of the patterns found from the remotely-sensed images were more right-skewed than the patterns from the null model simulating a random distribution. This suggests that the plants in the studied drylands show stronger spatial clustering than expected by chance. We found that positive plant co-occurrence, as measured in the field, was significantly related to the skewness of vegetation patch-size distribution measured using Google Earth™ images. Our findings suggest that the relative frequency of facilitation may be inferred from spatial pattern signals measured from remotely-sensed images, since facilitation often determines positive co-occurrence among neighboring plants. They pave the road for a systematic global assessment of the role of facilitation in terrestrial ecosystems. PMID:26552256

Using learning theory, interprofessional facilitation competencies, and behavioral indicators to evaluate facilitator training.

PubMed

LeGros, Theresa A; Amerongen, Helen M; Cooley, Janet H; Schloss, Ernest P

2015-01-01

Despite the increasing need for faculty and preceptors skilled in interprofessional facilitation (IPF), the relative novelty of the field poses a challenge to the development and evaluation of IPF programs. We use learning theory and IPF competencies with associated behavioral indicators to develop and evaluate six key messages in IPF training and experience. Our mixed methods approach included two phases: quantitative data collection with embedded qualitative data, followed by qualitative data collection in explanatory sequential fashion. This enabled triangulated analyses of both data types and of facilitation behaviors from facilitator and student perspectives. Results indicate the competency-based training was effective. Facilitators felt comfortable performing behaviors associated with IPF competencies; student observations of those behaviors supported facilitator self-reported performance. Overall, students perceived more facilitation opportunities than facilitators. Findings corroborate the importance of recruiting seasoned facilitators and establishing IPF guidelines that acknowledge variable team dynamics and help facilitators recognize teachable moments.

Service Learning in Undergraduate Nursing Education: Strategies to Facilitate Meaningful Reflection.

PubMed

Schmidt, Nola A; Brown, Janet M

2016-01-01

Service learning is recognized as a valuable pedagogy involving experiential learning, reflection, and reciprocal learning. Students develop critical thinking and social awareness by using the crucial activity of reflecting upon their experiential learning with community partners. The purpose of this paper is to demystify the process of reflection by identifying best practices to enhance reflection and offering suggestions for grading. By understanding "the what" and "the how" of reflection, educators can implement service learning experiences designed to include the essential component of reflection. Strategies for facilitating meaningful reflection are described including descriptions of what students should reflect upon and how to initiate reflection through writing, reading, doing, and telling. Grading rubrics are suggested to facilitate evaluation of student reflection. When properly implemented, service learning encourages students to be good citizens of the world. By using best practices associated with reflection, students can be challenged to think critically about the world and how their service can achieve community goals. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

How Does "Community" Facilitate Early Childhood Service Use in a Multicultural Australian Suburb?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hopkins, Liza; Lorains, Jen; Issaka, Ayuba; Podbury, Rachel

2017-01-01

Participation in early childhood development and education services is an important contributor to how well children develop throughout their early years and their success later in life. This article reports on research which examined how multicultural groups identify and use their community connections to share information and inform…

Early childhood development: the role of community based childcare centres in Malawi.

PubMed

Munthali, Alister C; Mvula, Peter M; Silo, Lois

2014-01-01

Somatic changes including growth and development of the brain of a human being occur very early in life. Programmes that enhance early childhood development (ECD) therefore should be part of the national agenda. Cognizant of this fact, the Malawi Government together with development partners facilitated the establishment of community-based child care centres (CBCCs) which are owned and managed by community members. This study was aimed at understanding how CBCCs operated and their core functions. Using information from databases kept by the District Social Welfare Officers from all the 28 districts in Malawi, coupled with snowballing, all functioning CBCCs were enumerated. A questionnaire was administered to the head of the CBCC or a care giver. Highly trained Research Assistants also carried our observations of the structures around the centres and the activities that actually happened. Data was analysed using a Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Communities provide structures, support for care givers, food, utensils, labour and play materials for the children in CBCCs. The first ECD centre was established in 1966 but the real surge in establishing these happened towards the end of the 1990s and by 2007 there were 5,665 CBCCs in Malawi caring for 407,468 children aged between 3 and 5 years. CBCCs were established to provide pre-primary school learning, and in some cases provide special care to orphans and other vulnerable. Despite the fact that most CBCC premises and structures fell short of the standards laid down by the CBCC profile, the activities and services provided were mostly to the book. Children were provided with nutritious foods and subjected to play that stimulated their cognitive and mental development. Despite the fact that some members of the community do not realize the value of the CBCCs, the existence of these institutions is an opportunity for the community to take care of their children communally, a task that has become imperative as a

Using Comic Books and Graphic Novels to Improve and Facilitate Community College Students' Literacy Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke, Brian Patrick

2012-01-01

This study evaluated how comic books and graphic novels enhanced the reading comprehension of the students enrolled in the intermediate reading course at Western Pennsylvania Community College. The three research questions are: (1) How can a developmental reading course make use of comics as a learning tool? (2) What impact does reading comics…

Architecting Ourselves: Schema to Facilitate Growth of the International Space Architecture Community

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sherwood, Brent

2006-01-01

This paper develops a conceptual model, adapted from the way research and development non-profits and universities tend to be organized, that could help amplify the reach and effectiveness of the international space architecture community. The model accommodates current activities and published positions, and increases involvement by allocating accountability for necessary professional and administrative activities. It coordinates messaging and other outreach functions to improve brand management. It increases sustainability by balancing volunteer workload. And it provides an open-ended structure that can be modified gracefully as needs, focus, and context evolve. Over the past 20 years, Space Architecture has attained some early signs of legitimacy as a discipline: an active, global community of practicing and publishing professionals; university degree programs; a draft undergraduate curriculum; and formal committee establishment within multiple professional organizations. However, the nascent field has few outlets for expression in built architecture, which exacerbates other challenges the field is experiencing in adolescence: obtaining recognition and inclusion as a unique contributor by the established aerospace profession; organizing and managing outreach by volunteers; striking a balance between setting admittance or performance credentials and attaining a critical mass of members; and knowing what to do, beyond sharing common interests, to actually increase the market demand for space architecture. This paper develops a conceptual model, adapted from the way research-anddevelopment non-profits and universities tend to be organized, that could help amplify the reach and effectiveness of the international space architecture community. The model accommodates current activities and published positions, and increases involvement by allocating accountability for necessary professional and administrative activities. It coordinates messaging and other outreach

Engaging the Community To Support Student Achievement. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cunningham, Chris

School systems have long recognized the need for public support and participation, but now many districts are renewing their commitment to strengthen the ties with their communities. To build community support for schools that facilitates student achievement, school boards are developing communication strategies that routinely reach diverse…

Great expectations and hard times: developing community indicators in a healthy communities initiative in Canada.

PubMed

Smith, Neale; Littlejohns, Lori Baugh; Hawe, Penelope; Sutherland, Lisa

2008-06-01

This paper reports on expectations for and community members' experience in the development of community indicators in a healthy communities initiative (HCI) in Alberta, Canada. The HCI process involved community visioning, the creation of action plans to further the vision by addressing key health priorities and/or community capacity building activities and the development of indicators to monitor and report on progress towards goals. Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with community participants to discuss definitions of success in the HCI and participant experience in developing indicators. Three themes emerged: the formal indicators lacked relevance to community members; the community did not own the HCI indicators and participants instead drew upon measures of success which were largely experiential in nature. The study provides a critically reflective, candid account of on-the-ground work with communities. The findings reveal limitations in the process of developing community indicators in this HCI, which we attribute in part to skills and discontinuities on the staffing side of the health authority and in part to failure to recognize and fully appreciate 'different ways of knowing' between communities and agencies.

Training for Community Development Personnel in India.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Makhija, H. R.

The book traces the development of training schemes in India for community development workers. It is divided into four parts which deal with: origin and growth of the Community Development Training Programme; problems encountered and the process of solutions through trial and error; major reorganization of the initial program and the research…

Creating Meaningful Partnerships Between Communities and Environmental Health Researchers

PubMed Central

De Souza, Rachael; Aguilar, Genevieve C.; de Castro, A. B.

2014-01-01

Community engagement is a necessary, although challenging, element of environmental health research in communities. To facilitate the engagement process, direct action community organizing agencies can be useful in bringing together communities and researchers. This article describes the preliminary activities that one direct action community organizing agency used in partnership with researchers to improve community engagement in the first 6 months of an environmental health study conducted in a major U.S. city. Activities included developing communication strategies, creating opportunities for researcher–community interaction, and sustaining project momentum. To conduct environmental research that is both scientifically rigorous and relevant to communities, collaborating partners had to develop professional skills and strategies outside of their areas of expertise. PMID:23875568

Empowering community settings: agents of individual development, community betterment, and positive social change.

PubMed

Maton, Kenneth I

2008-03-01

The pathways and processes through which empowering community settings influence their members, the surrounding community and the larger society are examined. To generate the proposed pathways and processes, a broad range of studies of community settings were reviewed, in the domains of adult well-being, positive youth development, locality development, and social change. A set of organizational characteristics and associated processes leading to member empowerment across domains were identified, as well as three pathways through which empowering settings in each domain contribute to community betterment and positive social change. The paper concludes with an examination of the ways that community psychology and allied disciplines can help increase the number and range of empowering settings, and enhance the community and societal impact of existing ones.

Developments in home-care use. Policy and changing community-based care use by independent community-dwelling adults in the Netherlands.

PubMed

Plaisier, Inger; Verbeek-Oudijk, Debbie; de Klerk, Mirjam

2017-01-01

Reforms have recently been introduced in the Dutch care system in order to constrain the rising expenditure on long-term care. In this study we examined changes in community-based care use between 2004 and 2011 and changes in the explanatory effects of its determinants (health, personal and facilitating factors) that may result from these reforms. The study drew on care use registration data linked to data from national health surveys and income data from the tax authorities. Changes in community-based care use determined by health, personal and facilitating factors between 2004 and 2011 were studied. Changes in determinants were investigated by incorporating time-interaction terms of each determinant in logistic regression models. The main findings show among other things that the use of community-based care did not increase between 2004 and 2011 if allowances made for the increase in the number of (elderly) older people. The role of income and household composition has changed the most (and to a lesser extent the role of age and physical impairments). Care use decreased among individuals with high incomes and increased among single persons. The changes in community-based care use and in the role of income and household composition could be due to changes in eligibility for care, in which the applicant's personal situation is given a more prominent role alongside health considerations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploring the barriers to and facilitators of implementing research into practice.

PubMed

Johnston, Bridget; Coole, Carol; Narayanasamy, Melanie; Feakes, Ruth; Whitworth, Gillian; Tyrell, Tracy; Hardy, Beth

2016-08-02

District and community nursing roles have changed rapidly in recent years. Community nurses are increasingly being tasked with carrying out multiple roles, which require them to put research into practice and use evidence-based tools and interventions. The implementation of interventions and tools needs to be developed from empirical research, requiring evidence, to be translated into practice. However, this process may be compromised or enhanced by a number of factors. This exploratory, descriptive qualitative study sought to identify barriers and facilitators to community nurses implementing research into practice. Four focus groups were conducted with registered community nurses and district nurses (n=22). Analysis identified four main themes: keeping up to date with evidence; using a clinical tool; education/training and implementation. Findings suggest that there are barriers at a personal, professional and organisational level. Strategies are suggested to overcome these obstacles.

The Development of Professional Learning Community in Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sompong, Samoot; Erawan, Prawit; Dharm-tad-sa-na-non, Sudharm

2015-01-01

The objectives of this research are: (1) To study the current situation and need for developing professional learning community in primary schools; (2) To develop the model for developing professional learning community, and (3) To study the findings of development for professional learning community based on developed model related to knowledge,…

Community Development and Rural Issues. Community Development Briefing Paper No. 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Francis, David; Henderson, Paul

Rural poverty and wide-ranging environmental concerns are some of the problems driving a growing public debate on rural issues across the United Kingdom. This briefing paper assesses the contribution that a community development approach can make to these issues. Rural areas have a long history of collective action, from farm families helping each…

Examining How Model Youth Sport Coaches Learn to Facilitate Positive Youth Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camiré, Martin; Trudel, Pierre; Forneris, Tanya

2014-01-01

Background: Research indicates that some youth sport coaches have specific strategies in their coaching plan to facilitate positive youth development (PYD) while others struggle in articulating how they promote the development of their athletes in actual practice. These variations can be largely attributed to the fact that coaching is a complex…

Experienced Teachers and School Reform: Exploring How Two Different Professional Communities Facilitated and Complicated Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levine, Thomas H.

2011-01-01

Scholars have proposed that "the path to change in the classroom lies within and through" more collaborative professional communities among teachers (McLaughlin and Talbert, 1993: 18). How do different approaches to developing collaborative professional communities impact experienced teachers and their ability to change? This article identifies…

A Model for the Development of Virtual Communities for People with Long-Term, Severe Physical Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tilley, C. M.; Bruce, C. S.; Hallam, G.; Hills, A. P.

2006-01-01

Introduction: This paper reports results of an investigation into the needs of persons with disabilities wanting to participate in the use of virtual communities. The aim was to investigate "how virtual communities for persons with long-term, severe physical disabilities can best be facilitated"? Method: A Grounded Theory approach was…

Understanding Microbial Communities: Function, Structure and Dynamics

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-02-11

allow us to characterise the species composition of these communities from a variety of environmentally and medically-relevant habitats. Despite this...ecology. The primary purpose of this program was to facilitate the building a scientific community around using and developing mathematical...biology and advancement of new biotechnologies and medical applications. Summary of results (a) Activities Over the course of the 4 months of

Developing Shared Youth and Adult Leadership within Communities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins, Timothy; Branham, Dan

This paper proposes a model in which the rural school becomes an active agent in community economic development through leadership development and civic education. Families, school, and community are the three pillars of public education, and the concept of community engagement is crucial to rebuilding this educational partnership and creating an…

A Community of Narratives: Developing Transracialized Selves through a Community of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laughter, Judson; Han, Keonghee Tao; King, Donna; Madhuri, Marga; Nayan, Rohany; Williams, Toni

2015-01-01

The story presented here developed from a study group where we found space to explore and analyze ourselves and each other. In recounting our development from a Community of Interest to a Community of Practice (CoP), we first introduce a guiding theoretical framework building on a foundation of two concepts: "CoP" and…

Collection Development Policies in Community College Libraries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mesling, Chris Fowler

2003-01-01

Emphasizes the need for collection development policy in community college academic libraries. Highlights areas of resource sharing, community analysis, and collection assessment. Also provides an overview of how to create a collection for development policy, and recommends books on writing such policy. Includes model policy statements. (NB)

Facilitation may not be an adequate mechanism of community succession on carrion.

PubMed

Michaud, Jean-Philippe; Moreau, Gaétan

2017-04-01

The facilitation model of ecological succession was advanced by plant ecologists in the late 1970s and was then introduced to carrion ecology in the late 1980s, without empirical evidence of its applicability. Ecologists in both disciplines proposed removing early colonists, in this case fly eggs and larvae, from the substrate to determine whether other species could still colonize, which to our knowledge has never been attempted. Here, we tested the facilitation model in a carrion system by removing fly eggs and larvae from carcasses that were exposed in agricultural fields and assigned to one of the following treatment levels of removal intensity: 0, <5, 50, and 100%. Subsequent patterns of colonisation did not provide support for the applicability of the facilitation model in carrion systems. Although results showed, in part, that the removal of fly eggs and larvae decreased the decomposition rate of carcasses, the removal did not prevent colonization by secondary colonizers. Finally, we discuss future studies and make recommendations as to how the facilitation model could be improved, firstly by being more specific about the scale where facilitation is believed to be occurring, secondly by clearly stating what environmental modification is believed to be involved, and thirdly by disentangling facilitation from priority effects.

Teacher Design Teams as a Strategy for Professional Development: The Role of the Facilitator

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becuwe, Heleen; Tondeur, Jo; Pareja Roblin, Natalie; Thys, Jeroen; Castelein, Els

2016-01-01

The goal of the current study was to explore the role and importance of the facilitator in teacher design teams. The study took place in the context of a pre-service teacher education institution in Belgium, where teacher design teams were set up to facilitate the professional development of teacher educators. The findings from focus-group…

Evolution of models to support community and policy action with science: Balancing pastoral livelihoods and wildlife conservation in savannas of East Africa.

PubMed

Reid, R S; Nkedianye, D; Said, M Y; Kaelo, D; Neselle, M; Makui, O; Onetu, L; Kiruswa, S; Kamuaro, N Ole; Kristjanson, P; Ogutu, J; BurnSilver, S B; Goldman, M J; Boone, R B; Galvin, K A; Dickson, N M; Clark, W C

2016-04-26

We developed a "continual engagement" model to better integrate knowledge from policy makers, communities, and researchers with the goal of promoting more effective action to balance poverty alleviation and wildlife conservation in 4 pastoral ecosystems of East Africa. The model involved the creation of a core boundary-spanning team, including community facilitators, a policy facilitator, and transdisciplinary researchers, responsible for linking with a wide range of actors from local to global scales. Collaborative researcher-facilitator community teams integrated local and scientific knowledge to help communities and policy makers improve herd quality and health, expand biodiversity payment schemes, develop land-use plans, and fully engage together in pastoral and wildlife policy development. This model focused on the creation of hybrid scientific-local knowledge highly relevant to community and policy maker needs. The facilitation team learned to be more effective by focusing on noncontroversial livelihood issues before addressing more difficult wildlife issues, using strategic and periodic engagement with most partners instead of continual engagement, and reducing costs by providing new scientific information only when deemed essential. We conclude by examining the role of facilitation in redressing asymmetries in power in researcher-community-policy maker teams, the role of individual values and character in establishing trust, and how to sustain knowledge-action links when project funding ends.

Community Environment Response Facilitation Act (CERFA) report, Cameron Station, Alexandria, VA. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

This report presents the results of the Community Environmental Response Facilitation Act (CERFA) Investigation Conducted by Environmental Resources Management (ERM) at Cameron Station, A U.S. Government property selected for closure by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission. Under CERFA, Federal agencies are required to identify expeditiously real property that can be immediately reused and redeveloped. Satisfying this objective requires the identification of real property where no hazardous substances or petroleum products, regulated by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), were stored for one year or more, known to have been released, or disposed. Cameron Station ismore » 169-acre site located in Alexandria, Virginia. Cameron Station was purchased by the Federal Government at the start of World War II. It has served primarily as a supply and administrative facility. The current mission is to provide support to the Commanding General of the Military District of Washington (MDW). Support functions of environmental significance include vehicle maintenance, print and paintshops, and photographic laboratories.« less

Economic Development Practices among Small/Rural Community Colleges.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Esbeck, Tim, Comp.; Falcone, Lisa, Ed.

In developing this compendium of exemplary economic development practices among small and/or rural two-year colleges, the American Association of Community Colleges Commission on Small/Rural Community Colleges (CSMCC) sent out a call for program descriptions to all community colleges with less than 3,000 full-time employees or that were…

Developing Interoperable Air Quality Community Portals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falke, S. R.; Husar, R. B.; Yang, C. P.; Robinson, E. M.; Fialkowski, W. E.

2009-04-01

Web portals are intended to provide consolidated discovery, filtering and aggregation of content from multiple, distributed web sources targeted at particular user communities. This paper presents a standards-based information architectural approach to developing portals aimed at air quality community collaboration in data access and analysis. An important characteristic of the approach is to advance beyond the present stand-alone design of most portals to achieve interoperability with other portals and information sources. We show how using metadata standards, web services, RSS feeds and other Web 2.0 technologies, such as Yahoo! Pipes and del.icio.us, helps increase interoperability among portals. The approach is illustrated within the context of the GEOSS Architecture Implementation Pilot where an air quality community portal is being developed to provide a user interface between the portals and clearinghouse of the GEOSS Common Infrastructure and the air quality community catalog of metadata and data services.

Facilitating Professional Learning Communities among Higher Education Faculty: The Walden Junto Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bedford, Laurie A.; Rossow, Katie A.

2017-01-01

Virtual Professional Learning Communities (PLC) have become an innovative way to meet the professional development needs of faculty in the online learning environment. Walden University's model for PLCs, the Walden Junto, uses a combination of synchronous and asynchronous online strategies and is based on a philosophy that embraces the faculty…

Home Quick – Occupational Therapy Home Visits Using mHealth, to Facilitate Discharge from Acute Admission Back to the Community

PubMed Central

NIX, JACQUELINE; COMANS, TRACY

2017-01-01

This article reports upon an initiative to improve the timeliness of occupational therapy home visits for discharge planning by implementing technology solutions while maintaining patient safety. A community hospital in Queensland, Australia, hosted a process evaluation that examined which aspects of home visiting could be replaced or augmented by alternative technologies. Strategies were trialled, implemented and assessed using the number of home visits completed and the time from referral to completion as outcomes. A technology-enhanced solution called “Home Quick” was developed using technology to facilitate pre-discharge home visits. The implementation of Home Quick resulted in an increase in the number of home visits conducted prior to discharge (50% increase from 145 to 223) and significantly increased the number of patients seen earlier following referral (X2=69.3; p<0.001). The substitution of direct home visits with technology-enabled remote visits is suitable for a variety of home visiting scenarios traditionally performed by occupational therapists. PMID:28814994

Facilitation among plants in alpine environments in the face of climate change.

PubMed

Anthelme, Fabien; Cavieres, Lohengrin A; Dangles, Olivier

2014-01-01

While there is a large consensus that plant-plant interactions are a crucial component of the response of plant communities to the effects of climate change, available data remain scarce, particularly in alpine systems. This represents an important obstacle to making consistent predictions about the future of plant communities. Here, we review current knowledge on the effects of climate change on facilitation among alpine plant communities and propose directions for future research. In established alpine communities, while warming seemingly generates a net facilitation release, earlier snowmelt may increase facilitation. Some nurse plants are able to buffer microenvironmental changes in the long term and may ensure the persistence of other alpine plants through local migration events. For communities migrating to higher elevations, facilitation should play an important role in their reorganization because of the harsher environmental conditions. In particular, the absence of efficient nurse plants might slow down upward migration, possibly generating chains of extinction. Facilitation-climate change relationships are expected to shift along latitudinal gradients because (1) the magnitude of warming is predicted to vary along these gradients, and (2) alpine environments are significantly different at low vs. high latitudes. Data on these expected patterns are preliminary and thus need to be tested with further studies on facilitation among plants in alpine environments that have thus far not been considered. From a methodological standpoint, future studies will benefit from the spatial representation of the microclimatic environment of plants to predict their response to climate change. Moreover, the acquisition of long-term data on the dynamics of plant-plant interactions, either through permanent plots or chronosequences of glacial recession, may represent powerful approaches to clarify the relationship between plant interactions and climate change.

76 FR 67021 - Community Development Financial Institutions Fund

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-28

... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Community Development Financial Institutions Fund Proposed Collection...)). Currently, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (the ``CDFI Fund'') within the Department... Development Financial Institutions Fund, U.S. Department of the Treasury, 601 13th Street NW., Suite 200 South...

Developing Community Health Worker Diabetes Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferguson, W. J.; Lemay, C. A.; Hargraves, J. L.; Gorodetsky, T.; Calista, J.

2012-01-01

We designed, implemented and evaluated a 48-hour training program for community health workers (CHWs) deployed to diabetes care teams in community health centers (CHCs). The curriculum included core knowledge/skills with diabetes content to assist CHWs in developing patient self-management goals. Our qualitative evaluation included…

24 CFR 570.415 - Community Development Work Study Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 3 2011-04-01 2010-04-01 true Community Development Work Study... Grants § 570.415 Community Development Work Study Program. (a) Applicability and objectives. HUD makes... students who participate in a work study program while enrolled in full-time graduate programs in community...

Using a Critical Service-Learning Approach to Facilitate Civic Identity Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitchell, Tania D.

2015-01-01

This article highlights elements of civic engagement programs that have the rich potential to facilitate civic identity development. Focusing on research with alumni, the study examines 3 civic engagement programs, the approaches of which are guided by critical service-learning. It explores elements of the experiences that alumni name as…

Developing a Discourse of the Postmodern Community Development Professional

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McArdle, Karen; Mansfield, Sue

2013-01-01

This article seeks to promote the generation of a discourse of the postmodern community work professional. A shared discourse will lead, we propose to shared capital. We argue that there is a tension between the modern and postmodern for those of us engaged in the profession of community learning and development (CL&D). We need to value…

Condition of karangkepatihan village community balong district ponorogo regency in supporting development of community based tourism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutedjo, A.; Prasetyo, K.; Sudaryono, L.

2018-01-01

In Karangkepatihan village, it can be found some attractions that have the potential to develop. Some attractions have been developed by involving the community in its management, but its development has not been as expected. The purpose of this research is to know the attitude of the community and the level of human resources of the community of Karangkepatihan village in supporting the development of community-based tourism and the right strategy for its development. Subjects in this study were the head of the family and the physical condition of tourist objects, with a sample of 100 family heads taken randomly. Research data which are knowledge, understanding, participation, support to the development of tourism and level of education and skill obtained by interview while observation is done to get potential data of tourism object. The data obtained are analyzed by using scoring technique and SWOT analysis. The results show that community attitudes are positive in supporting community-based tourism development, but have not been shown to participate in developing tourism in Karangkepatihan village. The level of human resources in Karangkepatihan village to support the development of tourism is low so that the development of tourism is slow. An appropriate strategy for developing tourism development in Karangkepatihan village is to grow and build. Improving the skills of the community to fill the job opportunities in the field of tourism, increase the participation or involvement of the community in tourism activities, increasing the accessibility of tourism objects, increasing the facilities and infrastructure of tourism needs to be done.

Designing clinically valuable telehealth resources: processes to develop a community-based palliative care prototype.

PubMed

Tieman, Jennifer Joy; Morgan, Deidre Diane; Swetenham, Kate; To, Timothy Hong Man; Currow, David Christopher

2014-09-04

Changing population demography and patterns of disease are increasing demands on the health system. Telehealth is seen as providing a mechanism to support community-based care, thus reducing pressure on hospital services and supporting consumer preferences for care in the home. This study examined the processes involved in developing a prototype telehealth intervention to support palliative care patients involved with a palliative care service living in the community. The challenges and considerations in developing the palliative care telehealth prototype were reviewed against the Center for eHealth Research (CeHRes) framework, a telehealth development model. The project activities to develop the prototype were specifically mapped against the model's first four phases: multidisciplinary project management, contextual inquiry, value specification, and design. This project has been developed as part of the Telehealth in the Home: Aged and Palliative Care in South Australia initiative. Significant issues were identified and subsequently addressed during concept and prototype development. The CeHRes approach highlighted the implicit diversity in views and opinions among participants and stakeholders and enabled issues to be considered, resolved, and incorporated during design through continuous engagement. The CeHRes model provided a mechanism that facilitated "better" solutions in the development of the palliative care prototype by addressing the inherent but potentially unrecognized differences in values and beliefs of participants. This collaboration enabled greater interaction and exchange among participants resulting in a more useful and clinically valuable telehealth prototype.

Phenotypic variation in nurse traits and community feedbacks define an alpine community.

PubMed

Michalet, Richard; Xiao, Sa; Touzard, Blaise; Smith, David S; Cavieres, Lohengrin A; Callaway, Ragan M; Whitham, Thomas G

2011-05-01

Much is known about facilitation, but virtually nothing about the underlying genetic and evolutionary consequences of this important interaction. We assessed the potential of phenotypic differences in facilitative effects of a foundation species to determine the composition of an Alpine community in Arizona. Two phenotypes of Geum rossii occur along a gradient of disturbance, with 'tight' competitive cushions in stable conditions and 'loose' facilitative cushions in disturbed conditions. A common-garden study suggested that field-based traits may have a genetic basis. Field experiments showed that the reproductive fitness of G. rossii cushions decreased with increasing facilitation. Finally, using a dual-lattice model we showed that including the cost and benefit of facilitation may contribute to the co-occurrence of genotypes with contrasting facilitative effects. Our results indicate that changes in community composition due to phenotypic differences in facilitative effects of a foundation species may in turn affect selective pressures on the foundation species. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.

Germination phenology determines the propensity for facilitation and competition.

PubMed

Leverett, Lindsay D

2017-09-01

A single plant can interact both positively and negatively with its neighbors through the processes of facilitation and competition, respectively. Much of the variation in the balance of facilitation and competition that individuals experience can be explained by the degree of physical stress and the sizes or ages of plants during the interaction. Germination phenology partly controls both of these factors, but its role in defining the facilitation-competition balance has not been explicitly considered. I performed an experiment in a population of the winter annual Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae) to test whether germinating during physically stressful periods leads to facilitation while germinating during periods that promote growth and reproduction leads to competition. I manipulated germination and neighbor presence across two years in order to quantify the effects of the local plant community on survival, fecundity, and total fitness as a function of germination phenology. Neighbors increased survival when germination occurred under conditions that were unsuitable for survival, but they reduced fecundity in germinants that were otherwise the most fecund. Later germination was associated with facilitation in the first year but competition in the second year. These episodes of facilitation and competition opposed each other, leading to no net effect of neighbors when averaged over all cohorts. These results indicate that variation in germination timing can explain some of the variation in the facilitation-competition balance in plant communities. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Students as facilitators in a teacher training program: motivation for leadership roles.

PubMed

Burgess, Annette; van Diggele, Christie; Mellis, Craig

2015-01-01

Although students often partake in peer-teaching activities during medical school, they are rarely provided with formal training in teaching. We have previously described our teacher training (TT) program for medical students. The TT program is delivered face-to-face across two sessions. In order to alleviate academic teaching load required to run the course, and at the same time provide our final-year students with practical opportunities to develop their leadership skills, we engaged five senior students as co-facilitators alongside academic staff. By developing an understanding of our students' motivation to participate as facilitators, we may be able to promote an interest within leadership in teaching among other students. Our study sought to examine students' motivation to take part as facilitators in the TT program. Data were collected through a focus group session with the five student facilitators. Self-determination theory, which poses that there are three elements key to intrinsic motivation, including autonomy, competence, and relatedness, was used as a conceptual lens to identify and code recurrent themes in the data. Elements that motivated students to assist in facilitation included an opportunity to review and build on their knowledge and skills in teaching practices; the recognition and acknowledgement received from school staff and fellow students; the opportunity to develop these relationships; and a desire to increase their peer-teaching responsibilities. By actively involving our students in leadership practices, we were able to not only engage the students, but also develop our student community and contribute to the promotion of a culture of excellence in teaching within the hospital.

Unconventional gas development facilitates plant invasions.

PubMed

Barlow, Kathryn M; Mortensen, David A; Drohan, Patrick J; Averill, Kristine M

2017-11-01

Vegetation removal and soil disturbance from natural resource development, combined with invasive plant propagule pressure, can increase vulnerability to plant invasions. Unconventional oil and gas development produces surface disturbance by way of well pad, road, and pipeline construction, and increased traffic. Little is known about the resulting impacts on plant community assembly, including the spread of invasive plants. Our work was conducted in Pennsylvania forests that overlay the Marcellus and Utica shale formations to determine if invasive plants have spread to edge habitat created by unconventional gas development and to investigate factors associated with their presence. A piecewise structural equation model was used to determine the direct and indirect factors associated with invasive plant establishment on well pads. The model included the following measured or calculated variables: current propagule pressure on local access roads, the spatial extent of the pre-development road network (potential source of invasive propagules), the number of wells per pad (indicator of traffic density), and pad age. Sixty-one percent of the 127 well pads surveyed had at least one invasive plant species present. Invasive plant presence on well pads was positively correlated with local propagule pressure on access roads and indirectly with road density pre-development, the number of wells, and age of the well pad. The vast reserves of unconventional oil and gas are in the early stages of development in the US. Continued development of this underground resource must be paired with careful monitoring and management of surface ecological impacts, including the spread of invasive plants. Prioritizing invasive plant monitoring in unconventional oil and gas development areas with existing roads and multi-well pads could improve early detection and control of invasive plants. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Online Workforce Development in Community Colleges: Connection with Community, Institutional, and Governance Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Githens, Rod Patrick; Sauer, Timothy M.; Crawford, Fashaad L.; Cumberland, Denise M.; Wilson, Kristin B.

2014-01-01

This study examined community and institutional factors that influence offering online workforce development programs in community colleges. The study included a random sample of 321 community college in the United States. Findings conclude that colleges operating under statewide governance structures and in states with more highly centralized…

Coaches' Perspectives on Their Roles in Facilitating the Personal Development of Student-Athletes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banwell, Jenessa; Kerr, Gretchen

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate coaches' perspectives on the personal development student-athletes experience through interuniversity sport. Additionally, it explored the ways in which coaches understand, enable, and facilitate the personal development of student-athletes. Eight in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with…

The Facilitator. Technical Note No. 11.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barriga, Patricio; And Others

This paper describes the concept, training, and experiences of community facilitators as change agents in a nonformal education project in rural Ecuador. Presently, the social, economic, and political context of the rural Ecuadorian consists of poverty, racial prejudice, economic exploitation, and psychological dependency. The project attempted to…

Community Health Education in Developing Countries. Appropriate Technologies for Development. Manual M-8.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Public Health Association, Washington, DC.

This manual was developed for those interested in promoting change to improve health conditions of their communities. Parts I and II focus on fundamental health education processes and discuss techniques and approaches for working with community members to plan and develop programs that are responsive to the community's expressed needs and goals.…

The People's College & the Street People: Community Colleges & Community Development (Part One of Two).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Banion, Terry; Gillett-Karam, Rosemary

1996-01-01

Argues that, despite the provision of community-based educational services, community colleges do not play a key role in social change in their communities. Reviews the history of community development in the colleges, suggesting that original goals were designed to be noncontroversial. Discusses increasing foundation support to address community…

How Do Communities Use a Participatory Public Health Approach to Build Resilience? The Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project.

PubMed

Bromley, Elizabeth; Eisenman, David P; Magana, Aizita; Williams, Malcolm; Kim, Biblia; McCreary, Michael; Chandra, Anita; Wells, Kenneth B

2017-10-21

Community resilience is a key concept in the National Health Security Strategy that emphasizes development of multi-sector partnerships and equity through community engagement. Here, we describe the advancement of CR principles through community participatory methods in the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience (LACCDR) initiative. LACCDR, an initiative led by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health with academic partners, randomized 16 community coalitions to implement either an Enhanced Standard Preparedness or Community Resilience approach over 24 months. Facilitated by a public health nurse or community educator, coalitions comprised government agencies, community-focused organizations and community members. We used thematic analysis of data from focus groups ( n = 5) and interviews ( n = 6 coalition members; n = 16 facilitators) to compare coalitions' strategies for operationalizing community resilience levers of change (engagement, partnership, self-sufficiency, education). We find that strategies that included bidirectional learning helped coalitions understand and adopt resilience principles. Strategies that operationalized community resilience levers in mutually reinforcing ways (e.g., disseminating information while strengthening partnerships) also secured commitment to resilience principles. We review additional challenges and successes in achieving cross-sector collaboration and engaging at-risk groups in the resilience versus preparedness coalitions. The LACCDR example can inform strategies for uptake and implementation of community resilience and uptake of the resilience concept and methods.

How Do Communities Use a Participatory Public Health Approach to Build Resilience? The Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project

PubMed Central

Bromley, Elizabeth; Eisenman, David P.; Magana, Aizita; Williams, Malcolm; Kim, Biblia; McCreary, Michael; Chandra, Anita; Wells, Kenneth B.

2017-01-01

Community resilience is a key concept in the National Health Security Strategy that emphasizes development of multi-sector partnerships and equity through community engagement. Here, we describe the advancement of CR principles through community participatory methods in the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience (LACCDR) initiative. LACCDR, an initiative led by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health with academic partners, randomized 16 community coalitions to implement either an Enhanced Standard Preparedness or Community Resilience approach over 24 months. Facilitated by a public health nurse or community educator, coalitions comprised government agencies, community-focused organizations and community members. We used thematic analysis of data from focus groups (n = 5) and interviews (n = 6 coalition members; n = 16 facilitators) to compare coalitions’ strategies for operationalizing community resilience levers of change (engagement, partnership, self-sufficiency, education). We find that strategies that included bidirectional learning helped coalitions understand and adopt resilience principles. Strategies that operationalized community resilience levers in mutually reinforcing ways (e.g., disseminating information while strengthening partnerships) also secured commitment to resilience principles. We review additional challenges and successes in achieving cross-sector collaboration and engaging at-risk groups in the resilience versus preparedness coalitions. The LACCDR example can inform strategies for uptake and implementation of community resilience and uptake of the resilience concept and methods. PMID:29065491

Community Work Development: A Marketing Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Como, Perry; Hagner, David

This manual is concerned with developing community-based work for persons with disabilities, particularly disabled workers in segregated settings and individuals who are considered not yet ready for or capable of work. The first part of the publication deals with the following topics: the concepts of community, work, and severe disabilities; the…

Reaching out: medical students leading in local communities.

PubMed

Bannon, Aidan; O'Hare, Niamh; Corr, Michael; Sterling, Margaret; Gormley, Gerard J

2015-06-01

Queen's University Red Cross is a medical student-led volunteer group with a key aim of promoting social change within local communities and empowering young people to aspire to higher education. We describe 'The Personal Development Certificate', a 12-week community development programme devised by third-year medical students at Queen's University Belfast to target young people who are lacking educational motivation, are disengaged at home or are marginalised through social circumstances. Community-based education is of increasing importance within undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in the UK, and further afield. We evaluated the perceived improvements in key skills such as teamwork, leadership, communication, and problem solving in students following participation in this programme, and the extent to which their attitude and appreciation of community-based medicine changed. [Students] appreciated the opportunity to translate a series of classroom-learned skills to real-life environments Following facilitation of this community-based initiative, all students reported a perceived improvement in the acquired skill sets. Students made strong links from this programme to previous clinical experiences and appreciated the opportunity to translate a series of classroom-learned skills to real-life environments and interactions. The students' appreciation and understanding of community-based medicine was the single most improved area of our evaluation. We have demonstrated that medical students possess the skills to develop and facilitate their own educational projects. Non-clinical, student-led community projects have the potential to be reproduced using recognised frameworks and guidelines to complement the current undergraduate medical curriculum. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Characteristics of Sports-Based Youth Development Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perkins, Daniel F.; Noam, Gil G.

2007-01-01

The term "sports-based youth development programs" is coined and defined in the context of the community youth development framework. Sports-based youth development programs are out-of-school-time programs that use a particular sport to facilitate learning and life skill development in youth. Community youth development programs use a community…

Barriers and Facilitators to Implementing Functional Family Therapy in a Community Setting: Client and Practitioner Perspectives.

PubMed

McPherson, Kerri E; Kerr, Susan; Casey, Beth; Marshall, John

2017-10-01

While Functional Family Therapy (FFT) is known to be effective in addressing adolescent behavioral problems, there has been little exploration of issues relevant to its transport from the tightly controlled setting of clinical trials into routine service delivery. This study sought the views of key stakeholders, clients, and practitioners, on barriers and facilitators to the successful implementation of FFT. Undertaken in a community setting in Scotland, interviews were carried out with 12 adolescents, 14 parents/caregivers, and 6 practitioners. Results focus on: Referral process and pre-intervention contact; Engagement of families; Structure and delivery; Organizational factors. Although barriers to engagement were identified, FFT was viewed as an acceptable, appropriate and feasible intervention with the potential to improve adolescent wellbeing in 'real-world' settings. © 2017 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Barriers and facilitators of prostate cancer screening among Filipino men in Hawaii.

PubMed

Conde, Francisco A; Landier, Wendy; Ishida, Dianne; Bell, Rose; Cuaresma, Charlene F; Misola, Jane

2011-03-01

To examine perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs regarding barriers and facilitators to prostate cancer screening, and to identify potential interventional strategies to promote prostate cancer screening among Filipino men in Hawaii. Exploratory, qualitative. Community-based settings in Hawaii. 20 Filipino men age 40 years or older. Focus group discussions were tape recorded and transcribed, and content analysis was performed for emergent themes. Perceptions regarding prostate cancer, barriers and facilitators to prostate cancer screening, and culturally relevant interventional strategies. Perceptions of prostate cancer included fatalism, hopelessness, and dread. Misconceptions regarding causes of prostate cancer, such as frequency of sexual activity, were identified. Barriers to prostate cancer screening included lack of awareness of the need for screening, reticence to seek health care when feeling well, fear of cancer diagnosis, financial issues, time constraints, and embarrassment. Presence of urinary symptoms, personal experience with family or friends who had cancer, and receiving recommendations from a healthcare provider regarding screening were facilitators for screening. Potential culturally relevant interventional strategies to promote prostate cancer screening included screening recommendations from healthcare professionals and cancer survivors; radio or television commercials and newspaper articles targeting the Filipino community; informational brochures in Tagalog, Ilocano, or English; and interactive, educational forums facilitated by multilingual Filipino male healthcare professionals. Culturally relevant interventions are needed that address barriers to prostate cancer screening participation and misconceptions about causes of prostate cancer. Findings provide a foundation for future research regarding development of interventional strategies to promote prostate cancer screening among Filipino men.

Connecting to Communities: Powerful Pedagogies for Leading for Social Change.

PubMed

Wagner, Wendy; Mathison, Patricia

2015-01-01

This chapter explores the use of powerful pedagogies such as service-learning, cultural immersion, and community-based research to enhance leadership development. Four key principles are presented that describe how leadership educators can facilitate community-based learning in a way that creates an optimal learning environment for students, while also engaging ethically with individuals and organizations in the community. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company.

Reimagining Energy in the North: Developing Solutions for Improving Renewable Energy Security in Northern Communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Creed, I. F.; Poelzer, G.; Noble, B.; Beatty, B.; Belcher, K.; Chung, T.; Loring, P. A.

2017-12-01

The global energy sector is at a crossroads. Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, volatile fossil fuel prices, the emergence of sustainability markets, and advances in renewable energy technologies are setting the foundation for what could be one of the most significant societal transitions since the industrial revolution. There is a growing movement to "re-energize" Canada, through embracing pathways to facilitate a societal transition a low-carbon future. For example, circumpolar jurisdictions are poised for a transition to renewable energy. There are more than 250 remote, off-grid communities across Canada's North, of which approximately 170 are Indigenous, that rely largely on diesel-fueled generators. Diesel-fueled generation is generally reliable when properly maintained; however, supply is limited, infrastructure is at capacity or in need of major upgrading, and the volatile price of fuel can mean significant social, community and economic opportunity loss. Renewable energy projects offer one possible opportunity to address these challenges. But, given the challenges of human capacity, limited fiscal resources, and regulatory barriers, how can Northern communities participate in the global energy transition and not be left behind? To answer this question, the University of Saskatchewan, together with partners from the circumpolar North, are leading an initiative to develop a cross-sectoral and multi-national consortium of communities, utilities, industries, governments, and academics engaged in renewable energy in the North. This consortium will reimagine energy security in the North by co-creating and brokering the knowledge and understanding to design renewable energy systems that enhance social and economic value. Northern communities and utilities will learn directly from other northern communities and utilities across Canada and internationally about what can be achieved in renewable energy development and the solutions to current and future

Development of the Community Impact Scale Measuring Community Organization Perceptions of Partnership Benefits and Costs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Srinivas, Tejaswinhi; Meenan, Chelsea E.; Drogin, Elizabeth; DePrince, Anne P.

2015-01-01

This article describes the development and psychometric properties of the Community Impact Scale (CIS), a measure of benefits and costs of community-university partnerships across a range of outcomes as perceived by community partners. Scale development was carried out in two phases: (a) item generation, through which the research team, in close…

Service delivery, community development, and disability.

PubMed

Murphy, John W

2010-01-01

Service delivery has traditionally been based on market forces. When this is the case, the community becomes a silent partner in this process. Services, accordingly, are directed mostly to correcting personal ills and have little to do with community uplift. Another model, based on the work of Amartya Sen, is available that conceptualizes interventions in a very different way. If understood in the context of community development, the focus of services is social change, rather than merely personal rehabilitation. This reorientation is discussed in this article.

77 FR 51616 - Open Meeting of the Community Development Advisory Board

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-24

... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Community Development Financial Institutions Fund Open Meeting of the Community Development Advisory Board AGENCY: Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, Department... of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (the CDFI Fund). The meeting will be...

Developing a practice guideline for the occupational health services by using a community of practice approach: a process evaluation of the development process.

PubMed

Kwak, Lydia; Wåhlin, Charlotte; Stigmar, Kjerstin; Jensen, Irene

2017-01-18

One way to facilitate the translation of research into the occupational health service practice is through clinical practice guidelines. To increase the implementability of guidelines it is important to include the end-users in the development, for example by a community of practice approach. This paper describes the development of an occupational health practice guideline aimed at the management of non-specific low back pain (LBP) by using a community of practice approach. The paper also includes a process evaluation of the development providing insight into the feasibility of the process. A multidisciplinary community of practice group (n = 16) consisting of occupational nurses, occupational physicians, ergonomists/physical therapists, health and safety engineers, health educators, psychologists and researchers from different types of occupational health services and geographical regions within Sweden met eleven times (June 2012-December 2013) to develop the practice guideline following recommendations of guideline development handbooks. Process-outcomes recruitment, reach, context, satisfaction, feasibility and fidelity were assessed by questionnaire, observations and administrative data. Group members attended on average 7.5 out of 11 meetings. Half experienced support from their workplace for their involvement. Feasibility was rated as good, except for time-scheduling. Most group members were satisfied with the structure of the process (e.g. presentations, multidisciplinary group). Fidelity was rated as fairly high. The described development process is a feasible process for guideline development. For future guideline development expectations of the work involved should be more clearly communicated, as well as the purpose and tasks of the CoP-group. Moreover, possibilities to improve support from managers and colleagues should be explored. This paper has important implications for future guideline development; it provides valuable information on how

Innovations in Community Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flora, Cornelia Butler

1997-01-01

Decentralization and budget reduction in the public sector, and globalization and downsizing in the private sector have placed more responsibility on localities to address challenges to the health of their economies, ecosystems, and people. Community development theory and practice are also changing, evidenced by changes in vocabulary. Community…

DEVELOPING A TRANSCULTURAL ACADEMIC-COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP TO ARREST OBESITY

PubMed Central

LEE, REBECCA E.; SOLTERO, ERICA G.; MAMA, SCHEREZADE K.; SAAVEDRA, FIORELLA; LEDOUX, TRACEY A.; McNEILL, LORNA

2015-01-01

Innovative and empirically tested strategies are needed to define and understand obesity prevention and reduction in a transcultural society. This manuscript describes the development of Science & Community, a partnership developed over a 3-year period with the end goal of implementing a community-based participatory research (CBPR) trial to reduce and prevent obesity. Outreach strategies focused on promoting the project via existing and new channels and identifying and contacting potential partners using established strategies. Science & Community developed and fostered partnerships by hosting a series of interactive meetings, including three Opportunity Receptions, four Community Open Forum Symposia, and quarterly Community Advisory Board (CAB) meetings. Opportunity Reception (N = 62) and Symposia attendees (N = 103) represented the diversity of the community, and participants reported high satisfaction with content and programming. From these events, the CAB was formed and was comprised of 13 community representatives. From these meetings, a Partnership representing 34 organizations and 614 individuals emerged that has helped to guide the development of future proposals and strategies to reduce obesity in Houston/Harris County. PMID:25030103

Discussions with adults and youth to inform the development of a community-based tobacco control programme

PubMed Central

Arora, Monika; Tewari, Abha; Dhavan, Poonam; Nazar, Gaurang P.; Stigler, Melissa H.; Juneja, Neeru S.; Perry, Cheryl L.; Reddy, K. Srinath

2013-01-01

Project Advancing Cessation of Tobacco in Vulnerable Indian Tobacco Consuming Youth (ACTIVITY) is a community-based group randomized intervention trial focused on disadvantaged youth (aged 10–19 years) residing in 14 low-income communities (slums and resettlement colonies) in Delhi, India. This article discusses the findings of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) conducted to inform the development and test the appropriateness of Project ACTIVITY’s intervention model. The findings of the FGDs facilitated the understanding of factors contributing to increased tobacco uptake and cessation (both smoking and smokeless tobacco) among youth in this setting. Twenty-two FGDs were conducted with youth (10–19 years) and adults in two urban slums in Delhi. Key findings revealed: (i) youth and adults had limited knowledge about long-term health consequences of tobacco use; (ii) socio-environmental determinants and peer pressure were important variables influencing initiation of tobacco use; (iii) lack of motivation, support and sufficient skills hinder tobacco cessation and (iv) active involvement of community, family, religious leaders, local policy makers and health professionals is important in creating and reinforcing tobacco-free norms. The results of these FGDs aided in finalizing the intervention model for Project ACTIVITY and guided its intervention development. PMID:22824533

Conducting a Community Audit: Assessing the Workforce Development Needs and Resources of Your Community.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

2000

This document details the purposes and principles of community audits and presents guidelines for designing and conducting a community audit to assess a local community's workforce development needs and resources. Section 1 presents an overview of the U.S. Department of Labor's Community Audit Project and explains the following key steps in…

Graphic facilitation as a novel approach to practice development.

PubMed

Leonard, Angela; Bonaconsa, Candice; Ssenyonga, Lydia; Coetzee, Minette

2017-10-10

The active participation of staff from the outset of any health service or practice improvement process ensures they are more likely to become engaged in the implementation phases that follow initial service analyses. Graphic facilitation is a way of getting participants to develop an understanding of complex systems and articulate solutions from within them. This article describes how a graphic facilitation process enabled the members of a multidisciplinary team at a specialist paediatric neurosurgery hospital in Uganda to understand how their system worked. The large graphic representation the team created helped each team member to visualise their day-to-day practice, understand each person's contribution, celebrate their triumphs and highlight opportunities for service improvement. The process highlighted three features of their practice: an authentic interdisciplinary team approach to care, admission of the primary carer with the child, and previously unrecognised delays in patient flow through the outpatients department. The team's active participation and ownership of the process resulted in sustainable improvements to clinical practice. ©2012 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers.

Joining Others for Community Economic Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borgen, Joseph A.; Shade, William B.

1984-01-01

Examines the basic principles of economic development and provides a case study of the Communitywide Work Force Development Project, which was designed to involve the community in solving the economic development and work force problems of Terre Haute, Indiana. (DMM)

A system for household enumeration and re-identification in densely populated slums to facilitate community research, education, and advocacy.

PubMed

Thomson, Dana R; Shitole, Shrutika; Shitole, Tejal; Sawant, Kiran; Subbaraman, Ramnath; Bloom, David E; Patil-Deshmukh, Anita

2014-01-01

We devised and implemented an innovative Location-Based Household Coding System (LBHCS) appropriate to a densely populated informal settlement in Mumbai, India. LBHCS codes were designed to double as unique household identifiers and as walking directions; when an entire community is enumerated, LBHCS codes can be used to identify the number of households located per road (or lane) segment. LBHCS was used in community-wide biometric, mental health, diarrheal disease, and water poverty studies. It also facilitated targeted health interventions by a research team of youth from Mumbai, including intensive door-to-door education of residents, targeted follow-up meetings, and a full census. In addition, LBHCS permitted rapid and low-cost preparation of GIS mapping of all households in the slum, and spatial summation and spatial analysis of survey data. LBHCS was an effective, easy-to-use, affordable approach to household enumeration and re-identification in a densely populated informal settlement where alternative satellite imagery and GPS technologies could not be used.

Facilitation among plants in alpine environments in the face of climate change

PubMed Central

Anthelme, Fabien; Cavieres, Lohengrin A.; Dangles, Olivier

2014-01-01

While there is a large consensus that plant–plant interactions are a crucial component of the response of plant communities to the effects of climate change, available data remain scarce, particularly in alpine systems. This represents an important obstacle to making consistent predictions about the future of plant communities. Here, we review current knowledge on the effects of climate change on facilitation among alpine plant communities and propose directions for future research. In established alpine communities, while warming seemingly generates a net facilitation release, earlier snowmelt may increase facilitation. Some nurse plants are able to buffer microenvironmental changes in the long term and may ensure the persistence of other alpine plants through local migration events. For communities migrating to higher elevations, facilitation should play an important role in their reorganization because of the harsher environmental conditions. In particular, the absence of efficient nurse plants might slow down upward migration, possibly generating chains of extinction. Facilitation–climate change relationships are expected to shift along latitudinal gradients because (1) the magnitude of warming is predicted to vary along these gradients, and (2) alpine environments are significantly different at low vs. high latitudes. Data on these expected patterns are preliminary and thus need to be tested with further studies on facilitation among plants in alpine environments that have thus far not been considered. From a methodological standpoint, future studies will benefit from the spatial representation of the microclimatic environment of plants to predict their response to climate change. Moreover, the acquisition of long-term data on the dynamics of plant–plant interactions, either through permanent plots or chronosequences of glacial recession, may represent powerful approaches to clarify the relationship between plant interactions and climate change. PMID

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of facilitated percutaneous coronary intervention compared with primary percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction transferred from community hospitals.

PubMed

Coleman, Craig I; McKay, Raymond G; Boden, William E; Mather, Jeffrey F; White, C Michael

2006-07-01

Primary percutaneous coronary intervention ([PCI], percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty+stenting) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is regarded as superior to fibrinolysis even if it means that patients need to be transferred from one center to another to undergo the procedure. However, this inevitable delay between symptom onset and PCI, caused by the time required to travel, might increase the occurrence of cardiac events. A hybrid method called facilitated PCI uses fibrinolysis and/or glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa inhibitors before transfer to a tertiary medical center where urgent PCI might be performed. This approach, however, has not been systematically evaluated. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness (combined end point of in-hospital mortality, reinfarction, stroke, or emergency revascularization) and cost-effectiveness of utilizing a bolus thrombolytic agent with GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor followed by transfer to a tertiary institution for facilitated PCI or standard of care transfer without primary PCI drugs among patients presenting to a community hospital with STEMI. This was a prospective, single-center, cohort study comprising data from STEMI patients transferred from community hospitals to Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Connecticut, from the years 2000 to 2003. At the time of analysis, patients receiving primary PCI were matched (1:1) with those receiving facilitated PCI, utilizing propensity scores to assure similar demographics. The combined incidence of major adverse cardiac end points (MACE) and total hospital costs was compared between groups. Non-parametric bootstrapping was conducted to calculate CIs for the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio and generate a quadrant analysis. Based on 254 propensity score-matched patients (127 facilitated PCI and 127 primary PCI), in-hospital MACE and total hospital costs were reduced by 61.3% and US 4563 dollars (2005), respectively, in patients receiving

Minority Woman's Survival Kit: Personal and Professional Development for Minority Women. Facilitator's Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Stanlie M., Ed.

This facilitator's manual consists of guidelines and materials for use in conducting a workshop dealing with the professionl and personal development of minority women. Included in the first half of the manual are the following pieces of information pertaining to implementation of the workshop: background on the need for and development of the…

Development of a sustainable community-based dental education program.

PubMed

Piskorowski, Wilhelm A; Fitzgerald, Mark; Mastey, Jerry; Krell, Rachel E

2011-08-01

Increasing the use of community-based programs is an important trend in improving dental education to meet the needs of students and the public. To support this trend, understanding the history of programs that have established successful models for community-based education is valuable for the creation and development of new programs. The community-based education model of the University of Michigan School of Dentistry (UMSOD) offers a useful guide for understanding the essential steps and challenges involved in developing a successful program. Initial steps in program development were as follows: raising funds, selecting an outreach clinical model, and recruiting clinics to become partners. As the program developed, the challenges of creating a sustainable financial model with the highest educational value required the inclusion of new clinical settings and the creation of a unique revenue-sharing model. Since the beginning of the community-based program at UMSOD in 2000, the number of community partners has increased to twenty-seven clinics, and students have treated thousands of patients in need. Fourth-year students now spend a minimum of ten weeks in community-based clinical education. The community-based program at UMSOD demonstrates the value of service-based education and offers a sustainable model for the development of future programs.

An Ethical Principle for Social Justice in Community Development Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sabre, Ru Michael

1980-01-01

Defines community development and shows how community development as an educational process embodies an ethical principle which, when applied to the analysis of community practices, promotes justice. (JOW)

Facilitation- vs. competition-driven succession: the key role of resource-ratio.

PubMed

Koffel, Thomas; Boudsocq, Simon; Loeuille, Nicolas; Daufresne, Tanguy

2018-05-02

Symbiotic nitrogen (N)-fixing plants are abundant during primary succession, as typical bedrocks lack available N. In turn, fixed N accumulates in soils through biomass turnover and recycling, favouring more nitrophilous organisms. Yet, it is unclear how this facilitation mechanism interacts with competition for other limiting nutrients such as phosphorus (P) and how this affects succession. Here, we introduce a resource-explicit, community assembly model of N-fixing species and analyze successional trajectories along resource availability gradients using contemporary niche theory. We show that facilitation-driven succession occurs under low N and high enough P availabilities, and is characterised by autogenic ecosystem development and relatively ordered trajectories. We show that late facilitation-driven succession is sensitive to catastrophic shifts, highlighting the need to invoke other mechanisms to explain ecosystem stability near the climax. Put together with competition-driven succession, these results lead to an enriched version of Tilman's resource-ratio theory of succession. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Developing Partnerships with the Community for Coastal ESD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kawabe, Midori; Kohno, Hiroshi; Ikeda, Reiko; Ishimaru, Takashi; Baba, Osamu; Horimoto, Naho; Kanda, Jota; Matsuyam, Masaji; Moteki, Masato; Oshima, Yayoi; Sasaki, Tsuyoshi; Yap, Minlee

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to draw lessons for developing community-university partnerships from experiences in promoting coastal education for sustainable development (ESD). Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative data collected from two coastal community outreach projects were analyzed. Findings: The outreach projects improved the…

Bank Community Development Corporations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Illinois State Dept. of Commerce and Community Affairs, Springfield.

This handbook provides a brief overview of bank and bank holding company community development corporations (CDCs), the types of activities for which they can be used, the legal requirements in establishing such an entity, and how they are organized and operated. Case studies, including studies of the Shorebank Corporation of Chicago, the First…

Use of Writing with Symbols 2000 Software to Facilitate Emergent Literacy Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parette, Howard P.; Boeckmann, Nichole M.; Hourcade, Jack J.

2008-01-01

This paper outlines the use of the "Writing with Symbols 2000" software to facilitate emergent literacy development. The program's use of pictures incorporated with text has great potential to help young children with and without disabilities acquire fundamental literacy concepts about print, phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, vocabulary…

Community-Sourcing a New Marketing Course: Collaboration in Social Media

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schirr, Gary R.

2013-01-01

This paper shows the value of an online personal learning network or community in educational innovation. It shows how theories and best practices from service and product innovation, as well the theories of learning communities, were applied using social media to facilitate the grant proposal and course development processes for a new course in…

Developing Molecular Genetic Tools to Facilitate Economic Production in Green Algae

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-10

Economic Production in Green Algae FA9550-10-1-0052 Georgianna, David, R Gimpel, Javier Hannon, Michael, J Mayfield, Stephen, P Prof. Stephen...Final Performance Report Project Title: Developing Molecular Genetic Tools to Facilitate Economic Production in Green Algae Award Number... ECONOMIC PRODUCTION IN GREEN ALGAE ABSTRACT It is now accepted that algae have enormous potential to generate economically viable and

Trends in Community Development: Looking Back, Looking Forward.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Chris; And Others

1990-01-01

Includes "Community Work in the U.K.: Reflections on the 1980s" (Miller, Bryant); "Multiplication and Divisions: Trends in Community Development in Ireland since the 1960s" (Cinneide, Walsh); "Reconstruction to Deconstruction: The Transformation of Community Work in Australia" (Meekosha; Mowbray): "Community…

Community development: an important way for coordinating development of population and social economy in rural areas of China.

PubMed

Li, J

1995-01-01

This article explains how community development is important to rural socioeconomic development in China. Almost all rural socioeconomic activities occur at the community level. Community development encourages voluntarism and self-development, which contribute to adoption of more modern ideas, morals, and values. Community development stimulates changes that favor decreased childbearing and a high quality of child rearing. The special features of Chinese rural communities are identified as underdevelopment, population pressure and resource degradation, collective entities, greater social cohesion, flexibility, affiliations as government units, and access to other useful community organizations. The development model for communities varied over time from an emphasis on family planning to a focus on women's development, poverty alleviation, or economic development. Well-developed communities focused on social security systems, service networks, or environmental protection. Community development is tied to economic development. The growth of collectives played an important role in community development. Women's active and extensive participation and leadership by other influential persons were important forces in community development. Women served as agents of change. Mass participation is now a key feature of community development. Former communes did not include the same level of voluntarism. Community development directly supports increased incomes for families, which decreases the emphasis on children as a source of income. The economic value of children is reduced when communities provide social security. The greater value placed on males is reduced when women's income is increased. Community development lowers the social value of children by improving people's quality of life and by creating a modern social environment.

Integrating pharmacists into primary care teams: barriers and facilitators.

PubMed

Jorgenson, Derek; Laubscher, Tessa; Lyons, Barry; Palmer, Rebecca

2014-08-01

This study evaluated the barriers and facilitators that were experienced as pharmacists were integrated into 23 existing primary care teams located in urban and rural communities in Saskatchewan, Canada. Qualitative design using data from one-on-one telephone interviews with pharmacists, physicians and nurse practitioners from the 23 teams that integrated a new pharmacist role. Four researchers from varied backgrounds used thematic analysis of the interview transcripts to determine key themes. The research team met on multiple occasions to agree on the key themes and received written feedback from an external auditor and two of the original interviewees. Seven key themes emerged describing the barriers and facilitators that the teams experienced during the pharmacist integration: (1) relationships, trust and respect; (2) pharmacist role definition; (3) orientation and support; (4) pharmacist personality and professional experience; (5) pharmacist presence and visibility; (6) resources and funding; and (7) value of the pharmacist role. Teams from urban and rural communities experienced some of these challenges in unique ways. Primary care teams that integrated a pharmacist experienced several common barriers and facilitators. The negative impact of these barriers can be mitigated with effective planning and support that is individualized for the type of community where the team is located. © 2013 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Training Civic Bridge Builders: Outcomes of Community Leadership Development Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keating, Kari Hall

2011-01-01

As rural communities experience rapid economic, demographic, and political change, program interventions that focus on the development of community leadership capacity could be valuable. Community leadership development programs have been deployed in rural U.S. communities for the past 30 years by university extension units, chambers of commerce,…

Environmental variability facilitates coexistence within an alcid community at sea

USGS Publications Warehouse

Haney, J. Christopher; Schauer, Amy E.S.

1994-01-01

We examined coexistence at sea among 7 taxa of diving, wing-propelled seabirds (Alcidae) in the genera Aethia, Uria, Cepphus, and Fratercula. Species abundances were measured simultaneously with a suite of environmental factors in the northern Bering Sea, Alaska, USA; data from 260 adjacent and non-adjacent sites occupied by alcids foraging offshore near breeding colonies were then subjected to principal component analysis (PCA). We used PCA to group redundant environmental descriptors, to identify orthogonal axes for constructing a multi-dimensional niche, and to differentiate species associations within niche dimensions from species associations among niche dimensions. Decomposition of the correlation matrix for 22 environmental and 7 taxonomic variables with PCA gave 14 components (10 environmental and 4 species interactions) that retained 90% of the original available variance. Alcid abundances (all species) were most strongly correlated with axes representing tidal stage, a time-area interaction (due to sampling layout), water masses, and a temporal or intra-seasonal trend partially associated with weather changes. Axes representing tidal stage, 2 gradients in macro-habitat (Anadyr and Bering Shelf Water masses), the micro-habitat of the sea surface, and an air-sea interaction were most important for detecting differences among species within niche dimensions. Contrary to assumptions of competition, none of 4 compound variables describing primarily species-interactions gave strong evidence for negative associations between alcid taxa sharing similar body sizes and feeding requirements. This exploratory analysis supports the view that alcids may segregate along environmental gradients at sea. But in this community, segregation was unrelated to foraging distance from colonies, in part because foraging 'substrate' was highly variable in structure, location, and area1 extent. We contend that coexistence within this seabird group is facilitated via expanded niche

Evaluating Community Partnerships Addressing Community Resilience in Los Angeles, California

PubMed Central

Williams, Malcolm V.; Chandra, Anita; Spears, Asya; Varda, Danielle; Wells, Kenneth B.; Plough, Alonzo L.; Eisenman, David P.

2018-01-01

Community resilience has grown in importance in national disaster response and recovery efforts. However, measurement of community resilience, particularly the content and quality of relationships aimed at improving resilience, is lacking. To address this gap, we used a social network survey to measure the number, type, and quality of relationships among organizations participating in 16 coalitions brought together to address community resilience in the Los Angeles Community Disaster Resilience project. These coalitions were randomized to one of two approaches (community resilience or preparedness). Resilience coalitions received training and support to develop these partnerships and implement new activities. Both coalition types received expert facilitation by a public health nurse or community educator. We also measured the activities each coalition engaged in and the extent to which partners participated in these activities at two time points. We found that the community resilience coalitions were initially larger and had lower trust among members than the preparedness communities. Over time, these trust differences dissipated. While both coalitions grew, the resilience community coalitions maintained their size difference throughout the project. We also found differences in the types of activities implemented by the resilience communities; these differences were directly related to the trainings provided. This information is useful to organizations seeking guidance on expanding the network of community-based organizations that participate in community resilience activities. PMID:29584681

Evaluating Community Partnerships Addressing Community Resilience in Los Angeles, California.

PubMed

Williams, Malcolm V; Chandra, Anita; Spears, Asya; Varda, Danielle; Wells, Kenneth B; Plough, Alonzo L; Eisenman, David P

2018-03-27

Community resilience has grown in importance in national disaster response and recovery efforts. However, measurement of community resilience, particularly the content and quality of relationships aimed at improving resilience, is lacking. To address this gap, we used a social network survey to measure the number, type, and quality of relationships among organizations participating in 16 coalitions brought together to address community resilience in the Los Angeles Community Disaster Resilience project. These coalitions were randomized to one of two approaches (community resilience or preparedness). Resilience coalitions received training and support to develop these partnerships and implement new activities. Both coalition types received expert facilitation by a public health nurse or community educator. We also measured the activities each coalition engaged in and the extent to which partners participated in these activities at two time points. We found that the community resilience coalitions were initially larger and had lower trust among members than the preparedness communities. Over time, these trust differences dissipated. While both coalitions grew, the resilience community coalitions maintained their size difference throughout the project. We also found differences in the types of activities implemented by the resilience communities; these differences were directly related to the trainings provided. This information is useful to organizations seeking guidance on expanding the network of community-based organizations that participate in community resilience activities.

Career-Community Development: A Framework for Career Counseling and Capacity Building in Rural Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cox, Robin S.; Espinoza, Adriana

2005-01-01

The authors propose a framework for career counseling in rural communities that addresses the psychosocial and economic challenges of natural disasters and other catastrophic transitions. The career-community development framework expands the notion of "client" to include a community-as-client approach within a capacity building…

Barriers and Facilitators of Health Literacy among D/deaf Individuals: A Review Article

PubMed Central

NASERIBOORIABADI, Tahereh; SADOUGHI, Farahnaz; SHEIKHTAHERI, Abbas

2017-01-01

Background: The implication of health literacy is the ability of individuals to find, understand, and use their required health information from reliable sources. It is an indicator of the individuals’ participation in their own medical decision-making. Deaf individuals have limited health literacy and poor health status due to low literacy. Hence, this review was conducted to understand barriers and facilitators influencing health literacy among deaf community. Methods: We searched the ISI Web of Sciences, Scopus, and Medline from 1987 to 2016. Seventy-three papers were analyzed thematically. Results: We found three primary themes, including inadequate health literacy, barriers, and facilitators to accessing health information and health care services among deaf individuals. Facilitators were composed of four sub-theme including legal activities protecting the right of deaf patients to accessing health services, training health professionals about effective communication with deaf patients, providing sign language interpreter services, and developing deaf-tailored educational health programs and materials. Conclusion: Closing the deaf cultural gap and their limited access to health information are achievable through the removal of the communication barriers, allowing deaf individuals with more access to health learning opportunities, and informing the hearing community about the communicative skills of deaf individuals. PMID:29167764

Implementing communities of practice in the Georgia Department of Transportation.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-12-01

This study explored strategies through which the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) can develop communities of : practice to help managers facilitate critical exchanges of knowledge, support organization learning, and ultimately achieve : im...

Facilitating Video Analysis for Teacher Development: A Systematic Review of the Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baecher, Laura; Kung, Shiao-Chuan; Ward, Sarah Laleman; Kern, Kimberly

2018-01-01

Video analysis of classroom practice as a tool in teacher professional learning has become ever more widely used, with hundreds of articles published on the topic over the past decade. When designing effective professional development for teachers using video, facilitators turn to the literature to identify promising approaches. This article…

Developing Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) for Parents of Treatment-Resistant Adolescents.

PubMed

Kirby, Kimberly C; Versek, Brian; Kerwin, MaryLouise E; Meyers, Kathleen; Benishek, Lois A; Bresani, Elena; Washio, Yukiko; Arria, Amelia; Meyers, Robert J

2015-05-04

We describe a project focused on training parents to facilitate their treatment-resistant adolescent's treatment entry and to manage their child after entry into community-based treatment. Controlled studies show that Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) is a unilateral treatment that fosters treatment entry of adults; however, there are no controlled trials for parents with a substance-abusing child. We examined the behavioral parent training literature to guide us in tailoring CRAFT for parents of adolescents. We discuss adaptations to CRAFT, outcomes and experiences gained from a brief pilot of the revised CRAFT program, and the future directions of this work.

The Vitality of Latino Communities in Rural Minnesota = La vitalidad de las comunidades latinas en Minnesota rural.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bushway, Deborah, Comp.

In response to the growing Latino population, a project examined barriers and supports for community development for Latinos in seven rural Minnesota communities. In each community, bilingual facilitators conducted two Latino and one non-Latino focus groups. Findings revealed much strength in these communities. Residents appreciated the economic…

Implementation of a Substance Use Recovery Support Mobile Phone App in Community Settings: Qualitative Study of Clinician and Staff Perspectives of Facilitators and Barriers.

PubMed

Lord, Sarah; Moore, Sarah K; Ramsey, Alex; Dinauer, Susan; Johnson, Kimberly

2016-06-28

Research supports the effectiveness of technology-based treatment approaches for substance use disorders. These approaches have the potential to broaden the reach of evidence-based care. Yet, there is limited understanding of factors associated with implementation of technology-based care approaches in different service settings. In this study, we explored provider and staff perceptions of facilitators and barriers to implementation of a mobile phone substance use recovery support app with clients in 4 service settings. Interviews were conducted with leadership and provider stakeholders (N=12) from 4 agencies in the first year of an implementation trial of the mobile phone app. We used the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research as the conceptual foundation for identifying facilitators and barriers to implementation. Implementation process facilitators included careful planning of all aspects of implementation before launch, engaging a dedicated team to implement and foster motivation, working collaboratively with the app development team to address technical barriers and adapt the app to meet client and agency needs, and consistently reviewing app usage data to inform progress. Implementation support strategies included training all staff to promote organization awareness about the recovery support app and emphasize its priority as a clinical care tool, encouraging clients to try the technology before committing to use, scaling rollout to clients, setting clear expectations with clients about use of the app, and using peer coaches and consistent client-centered messaging to promote engagement. Perceived compatibility of the mobile phone app with agency and client needs and readiness to implement emerged as salient agency-level implementation facilitators. Facilitating characteristics of the recovery support app itself included evidence of its impact for recovery support, perceived relative advantage of the app over usual care, the ability to adapt the

Community Education Development in the States.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Phillip A., Ed.; Zemlo, John S., Ed.

1994-01-01

Includes "Community Education (CE) Development in the States" (Clark, Zemlo); "State of the States" (Clark, Zemlo); "In Support of State-Level CE Development" (Decker, Romney); "CE in Florida" (Hanley, Robinson); ""CE in Kentucky" (Christenson, Whitus); "CE in Minnesota" (Kerns,…

Essence of Black Colleges in Community Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Technical Assistance Consortium To Improve Coll. Services, Washington, DC.

The response of black colleges and universities in the area of community development are discussed in relation to management and organization development, telecommunication, human resource development, educational innovations, and environmental services. Management and organization development encompasses small business development, public service…

Do Community Recommendations Improve Metadata?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordon, S.; Habermann, T.; Jones, M. B.; Leinfelder, B.; Mecum, B.; Powers, L. A.; Slaughter, P.

2016-12-01

Complete documentation of scientific data is the surest way to facilitate discovery and reuse. What is complete metadata? There are many metadata recommendations from communities like the OGC, FGDC, NASA, and LTER, that can provide data documentation guidance for discovery, access, use and understanding. Often, the recommendations that communities develop are for a particular metadata dialect. Two examples of this are the LTER Completeness recommendation for EML and the FGDC Data Discovery recommendation for CSDGM. Can community adoption of a recommendation ensure that what is included in the metadata is understandable to the scientific community and beyond? By applying quantitative analysis to different LTER and USGS metadata collections in DataOne and ScienceBase, we show that community recommendations can improve the completeness of collections over time. Additionally, by comparing communities in DataOne that use the EML and CSDGM dialects, but have not adopted the recommendations to the communities that have, the positive effects of recommendation adoption on documentation completeness can be measured.

Imagining and Moving beyond the ESL Bubble: Facilitating Communities of Practice through the ELL Ambassadors Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Przymus, Steve Daniel

2016-01-01

When educators do not facilitate English language learners' (ELLs) social integration in schools, this can perpetuate ELLs' marginalized status and the plateauing of ELLs' English language development. This study highlights a program for secondary ELLs called the ELL Ambassadors program, which partnered ELLs with non-ELLs based on shared…

Barriers and Facilitators to Community CPR Education in San José, Costa Rica.

PubMed

Schmid, Kristin M; Mould-Millman, Nee-Kofi; Hammes, Andrew; Kroehl, Miranda; García, Raquel Quiros; McDermott, Manrique Umaña; Lowenstein, Steven R

2016-10-01

's will, and fear of legal risk were associated with a likelihood of not attending a CPR class and not performing CPR on a stranger (range of ORs: 2.4-3.9). Most San José residents are willing to take CPR classes and perform CPR on a stranger. To implement a community CPR program, barriers must be considered, including misgivings about CPR efficacy and legal risk. Hands-only CPR programs may alleviate hesitancy to perform mouth-to-mouth. Schmid KM , Mould-Millman NK , Hammes A , Kroehl M , Quiros García R , Umaña McDermott M , Lowenstein SR . Barriers and facilitators to community CPR education in San José, Costa Rica. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(5):509-515.

Facilitators and Barriers to Linkage to HIV Care among Female Sex Workers Receiving HIV Testing Services at a Community-Based Organization in Periurban Uganda: A Qualitative Study

PubMed Central

Kintu, Betty N.

2016-01-01

Introduction. While four in ten female sex workers (FSWs) in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV, only a small proportion is enrolled in HIV care. We explored facilitators and barriers to linkage to HIV care among FSWs receiving HIV testing services at a community-based organization in periurban Uganda. Methods. The cross-sectional qualitative study was conducted among 28 HIV positive FSWs from May to July 2014. Key informant interviews were conducted with five project staff and eleven peer educators. Data were collected on facilitators for and barriers to linkage to HIV care and manually analyzed following a thematic framework approach. Results. Facilitators for linkage to HIV care included the perceived good quality of health services with same-day results and immediate initiation of treatment, community peer support systems, individual's need to remain healthy, and having alternative sources of income. Linkage barriers included perceived stigma, fear to be seen at outreach HIV clinics, fear and myths about antiretroviral therapy, lack of time to attend clinic, and financial constraints. Conclusion. Linkage to HIV care among FSWs is influenced by good quality friendly services and peer support. HIV service delivery programs for FSWs should focus on enhancing these and dealing with barriers stemming from stigma and misinformation. PMID:27493826

Cheatgrass facilitates spillover of a seed bank pathogen onto native grass species

Treesearch

Julie Beckstead; Susan E. Meyer; Brian M. Connolly; Michael B. Huck; Laura E. Street

2010-01-01

Attack by pathogens can have ecological consequences for plants at many scales, such as the individual, population and community scale, although the latter is the least studied. Community-level consequences of disease in natural plant communities can drive facilitation in succession (Van der Putten, Van Dijk & Peters 1993), maintain species diversity in...

The Development of the Milwaukee Consortium for Hmong Health: Capacity Building Through Direct Community Engagement.

PubMed

Sparks, Shannon M; Vang, Pang C

2015-01-01

Hmong women experience increased incidence and mortality rates for cervical cancer, yet their cancer risk is often masked by their inclusion within the comparatively low-risk Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) category. Key to this disparity is late stage at diagnosis, a consequence of low rates of screening. This article describes the establishment and community engagement efforts of the Milwaukee Consortium for Hmong Health, established in 2008 to build capacity to investigate and address barriers to screening and cancer care. The Consortium facilitated a series of three community dialogues to explore with community members effective ways to overcome barriers to accessing screening and cancer care. The community dialogues produced a series of six recommendations for action, detailed herein, supported and prioritized by the community. We posit that the integral involvement of the Hmong community from the outset promoted buy-in of ensuing Consortium education and outreach efforts, and helped to ensure fit with community perspectives, needs, and priorities.

Facilitating Deployment of Community Solar PV systems on Rooftops and Vacant Land in Northeast IL - Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stone, Deborah; Oakleaf, Laura

The Cook County Community Solar project set out to unlock the potential of community solar in the Chicago region with lessons that could be applied nationally. One of the first steps was to prove out the potential market. This was done through an opportunity assessment which showed there is over 9,000 megawatts worth of site capacity available for community solar projects in Cook County – nearly enough to offset all of Cook County’s residential electricity use. The assessment also showed that almost 75% of Cook County households are not able to invest directly in solar photovoltaic systems due to amore » variety of issues from physical barriers such as shading, or condition of the roof, to financial barriers such as lack of roof ownership, or the up-front costs of installation. Because of these barriers, community solar is an essential part of making the benefits of renewable energy available to all of the residents of Cook County. In addition to the opportunity assessment the project team also worked with the over 200 individuals who participated in the stakeholder advisory group to develop a number of other products including: 1) an Economic & Policy Barriers Resolutions and Work Plan document which laid out best practices to address the policy barriers that existed at the time (May of 2016) 2) Value Proposition Report I and Report II which summarize the value of community solar to potential developers and subscribers, 3) The Community Solar Business Case Tool, which provides a flexible financial model that projects the costs and befits to the system developer and subscriber for a project, 4) Bill Crediting Analysis and the 5) Final Report. The Final Report contains 15 case studies which prove that community solar projects are economically feasible in Cook County with a variety of sites, solar designs, ownership and subscriber models.« less

Merging Social Networking Environments and Formal Learning Environments to Support and Facilitate Interprofessional Instruction

PubMed Central

King, Sharla; Greidanus, Elaine; Carbonaro, Michael; Drummond, Jane; Patterson, Steven

2009-01-01

This study describes the redesign of an interprofessional team development course for health science students. A theoretical model is hypothesized as a framework for the redesign process, consisting of two themes: 1) the increasing trend among post-secondary students to participate in social networking (e.g., Facebook, Second Life) and 2) the need for healthcare educators to provide interprofessional training that results in effective communities of practice and better patient care. The redesign focused on increasing the relevance of the course through the integration of custom-designed technology to facilitate social networking during their interprofessional education. Results suggest that students in an educationally structured social networking environment can be guided to join learning communities quickly and access course materials. More research and implementation work is required to effectively develop interprofessional health sciences communities in a combined face-to-face and on-line social networking context. PMID:20165519

Merging social networking environments and formal learning environments to support and facilitate interprofessional instruction.

PubMed

King, Sharla; Greidanus, Elaine; Carbonaro, Michael; Drummond, Jane; Patterson, Steven

2009-04-28

This study describes the redesign of an interprofessional team development course for health science students. A theoretical model is hypothesized as a framework for the redesign process, consisting of two themes: 1) the increasing trend among post-secondary students to participate in social networking (e.g., Facebook, Second Life) and 2) the need for healthcare educators to provide interprofessional training that results in effective communities of practice and better patient care. The redesign focused on increasing the relevance of the course through the integration of custom-designed technology to facilitate social networking during their interprofessional education. Results suggest that students in an educationally structured social networking environment can be guided to join learning communities quickly and access course materials. More research and implementation work is required to effectively develop interprofessional health sciences communities in a combined face-to-face and on-line social networking context.

Impact of nurse-delivered community-based CD4 services on facilitating pre-ART care in rural South Africa.

PubMed

Kompala, T; Moll, A P; Mtungwa, N; Brooks, R P; Friedland, G H; Shenoi, S V

2016-08-11

HIV testing, diagnosis and treatment programs have expanded globally, particularly in resource-limited settings. Diagnosis must be followed by determination of treatment eligibility and referral to care prior to initiation of antiretroviral treatment (ART). However, barriers and delays along these early steps in the treatment cascade may impede successful ART initiation. New strategies are needed to facilitate the treatment cascade. We evaluated the role of on site CD4+ T cell count phlebotomy services by nurses in facilitating pre-ART care in a community-based voluntary counseling and testing program (CBVCT) in rural South Africa. We retrospectively evaluated CBVCT services during five continuous time periods over three years: three periods when a nurse was present on site, and two periods when the nurse was absent. When a nurse was present, CD4 count phlebotomy was performed immediately after HIV testing to determine ART eligibility. When a nurse was absent, patients were referred to their local primary care clinic for CD4 testing. For each period, we determined the proportion of HIV-positive community members who completed CD4 testing, received notification of CD4 count results, as well as the time to test completion and result notification. Between 2010 and 2013, 7213 individuals accessed CBVCT services; of these, 620 (8.6 %) individuals were HIV-positive, 205 (33.1 %) were eligible for ART according to South African national CD4 count criteria, and 78 (38.0 % of those eligible) initiated ART. During the periods when a professional nurse was available to provide CD4 phlebotomy services, HIV-positive clients were significantly more likely to complete CD4 testing than during periods when these services were not available (85.5 % vs. 37.3 %, p < 0.001). Additionally, when nurses were present, individuals were significantly more likely to be notified of CD4 results (60.6 % vs. 26.7 %, p <0.001). The time from HIV screening to CD4 test completion was also

Bridging Community Development and Environmental Education: Rural Water Conservation in Jordan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hansen, Lexine Tallis

2010-01-01

International community development is a fertile area of research for environmental education scholars and practitioners. Although the community development field is well established, there is relatively little focus on education and learning in community development literature, especially in developing country settings. Particularly,…

Positioning Community Colleges via Economic Development. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zeiss, Anthony

Community colleges, because of their late arrival in the development of American education, have suffered from an image and identity problem since their inception. To deal with this problem, community colleges should position themselves as unique community-based service-oriented colleges and market a specific focus to the general public. The first…

Mapping the Landscape of Communities of Practice as Professional Development in Irish Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Melissa; Patton, Kevin; Tannehill, Deborah

2012-01-01

Numerous primary and post-primary communities of practice (CoP) are used as educational change mechanisms to support teachers improving physical education (PE) practice in Irish schools. This study's purpose was to examine perspectives of program facilitators and participants of Irish PE CoP created to address teachers' interests. Specifically…

A VIRTUAL LEARNING COMMUNITY TO FACILITATE SUSTAINABLE BEHAVIOR

EPA Science Inventory

Research to date on virtual learning communities suggests that electronic interaction can be a useful way to impact new skills and to encourage innovative practices by creating networked systems of mutual support. We expect that by being able to exchange information, trade tip...

Community Environmental Response Facilitation Act (CERFA) report, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1994-04-01

Fort Benjamin Harrison (FBH) has been investigated by Arthur D. Little, Inc. under the Community Environmental Response Facilitation Act (CERFA). FBH is located 12 miles northeast of downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The installation's mission includes administrative and training activities. The objective of CERFA is to expeditiously identify real property offering the greatest opportunity for immediate reuse and redevelopment. This investigation included interviews, visual inspections, and review of existing documents, regulatory records, data bases, and title documents. This information was used to divide the installation into four categories of parcels. CERFA parcels approximately 1,825 acres of the facility have no history ofmore » Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) regulated hazardous substance or petroleum product release, disposal, or storage. CERFA parcels with qualifiers approximately 78 acres had no evidence of such release, disposal, or storage, but contained non-CERCLA hazards, such as asbestos or radon. CERFA disqualified parcels for approximately 399 acres of the investigated areas there is a history of release, disposal, or storage for one year or more of CERCLA-regulated hazardous substances or petroleum products; and CERFA excluded parcels approximately 201 acres have an existing mandate for retention by the federal government or have already been designated for transfer.« less

Determining the competences of community based workers for disability-inclusive development in rural areas of South Africa, Botswana and Malawi.

PubMed

Lorenzo, Theresa; van Pletzen, Ermien; Booyens, Margaret

2015-01-01

system' and 'promoting participation in economic activities'. Third, coordinated and efficient intersectoral management systems involved 'gaining community and professional recognition' and the ability to coordinate efforts ('it's not a one-man show'). The CDWs spoke of their commitment to fighting the inequities and social injustices that persons with disabilities experienced. They facilitate change and manage the multiple transitions experienced by the families at different stages of the disabled person's development. Disability-inclusive development embraces a philosophy of social inclusion and a set of values that seeks to protect the human dignity and rights of persons with disabilities. It requires a workforce equipped with skills to work intersectorally and in a cross-disciplinary manner in order to operationalise the community-based rehabilitation guidelines that are designed to promote delivery of services in remote and rural areas. CDWs potentially have a unique set of competencies that enables them to facilitate disability-inclusive community development in rural areas. The themes reveal how the CDWs contribute to building relationships that restore the humanity and dignity of persons with disabilities in their family and community. These competencies draw from different disciplines which necessitates recognition of the CDWs as a cross-disciplinary profession.

Final Report of Nursing Transition: A Process to Facilitate Career Mobility, July 1, 1980-June 30, 1981.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brookdale Community Coll., Lincroft, NJ.

A program was developed to facilitate the transition of Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) into a program to become registered nurses (RNs) and acquire an associate degree in allied health at Brookdale Community College (New Jersey). A committee of four nursing faculty compared the curriculum of an exemplary practical nursing program with…

End-of-life conversations and care: an asset-based model for community engagement.

PubMed

Matthiesen, Mary; Froggatt, Katherine; Owen, Elaine; Ashton, John R

2014-09-01

Public awareness work regarding palliative and end-of-life care is increasingly promoted within national strategies for palliative care. Different approaches to undertaking this work are being used, often based upon broader educational principles, but little is known about how to undertake such initiatives in a way that equally engages both the health and social care sector and the local communities. An asset-based community engagement approach has been developed that facilitates community-led awareness initiatives concerning end-of-life conversations and care by identifying and connecting existing skills and expertise. (1) To describe the processes and features of an asset-based community engagement approach that facilitates community-led awareness initiatives with a focus on end-of-life conversations and care; and (2) to identify key community-identified priorities for sustainable community engagement processes. An asset-based model of community engagement specific to end-of-life issues using a four-step process is described (getting started, coming together, action planning and implementation). The use of this approach, in two regional community engagement programmes, based across rural and urban communities in the northwest of England, is described. The assets identified in the facilitated community engagement process encompassed people's talents and skills, community groups and networks, government and non-government agencies, physical and economic assets and community values and stories. Five priority areas were addressed to ensure active community engagement work: information, outreach, education, leadership and sustainability. A facilitated, asset-based approach of community engagement for end-of-life conversations and care can catalyse community-led awareness initiatives. This occurs through the involvement of community and local health and social care organisations as co-creators of this change across multiple sectors in a sustainable way. This approach

Barriers and facilitators for breastfeeding among working women in the United States.

PubMed

Johnston, Marina L; Esposito, Noreen

2007-01-01

To review the literature and describe the barriers and facilitators to the continuation of breastfeeding for at least 6 months by working women in the United States. A search of PubMed, CINAHL, Sociological Abstracts, ISI, PsychInfo, and ProQuest. Twenty studies based on the inclusion criteria and published between January 1, 1995, and January 2006. An ecologic framework, which includes the individual (microsystem), social support and relationships (mesosystem), and the workplace environment (exosystem). When working mothers possess certain personal characteristics and develop a strategic plan, breastfeeding is promoted. When social support is available and when support groups are utilized, lactation is also facilitated. Part-time work, lack of long mother-infant separations, supportive work environments and facilities, and child care options facilitate breastfeeding. Health care providers can use the findings of this review to promote breastfeeding among working women by using tactics geared toward the mother, her social network, and the entire community.

Developing the community empowered research training program: building research capacity for community-initiated and community-driven research.

PubMed