(An item from ISHN Member information service) Several years ago, the process of inter-group collaboration was described in depth and the slogan "Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing" was used to capture the various stages of cooperation. However, as with many other health and social issues, this accumulated wisdom is not real until someone in that particular discipline or network reinvents the idea. Such may be the case of an article in Issue #5, 2012 of Administration & Policy on Mental Health Services/Mental Health Services Research, where the authors explored the process involved in inter-agency collaboration when providing Integrative Family and Systems Treatment (I-FAST) for families with severely emotionally or behaviorally disturbed children. Data were collected through a series of eight focus groups with 26 agency collaborators across 11 counties in Ohio. Data analysis revealed two emergent phenomena: the process of developing collaboration, consisting of making initial contact, a trial period and developing trust. As well, the authors suggest that the key ingredients of collaboration are focused on interpersonal and professional qualities. Hopefully, the full text of the article or the details of the study reveal an evolution in our knowledge that is not apparent in the abstract. Read more..
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(An item from ISHN Member information service) An article in the September 2012 Issue of the Journal of School Health analyzes the submissions made to a 2009 Parliamentary Inquiry into "the opportunities for schools to become a focus for promoting healthy community living. Submissions to the Inquiry varied widely in their positions about school health promotion. The aim of this review is to analyze the submissions to identify core themes in the debates about school health promotion and how stakeholders saw schools becoming a focus for promoting healthy communities. The submissions (N = 159) were downloaded from the Inquiry website. Open coding was used to code the data. The codes were then refined into conceptual categories to create themes. The Inquiry's terms of reference were used as an organizing framework. RESULTS: Emergent themes included barriers and enablers to school health promotion including the need for stronger leadership from the Departments of Health (DoH) and Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD). CONCLUSION: Rather than supporting the idea that schools could have a wider role in communities, submissions pointed to the acute need for increased resource allocation to support health promotion in schools, and for coordinated approaches with stronger leadership from the health and education sectors. Without these structures, schools can only address health in an ad hoc manner with limited resources, capacity, and outcomes" Read more..
(An item taken from the daily/weekly/monthly ISHN Member information service) Most of the discussion in school-based and school-linked human development is focused on the implementation of specific programs. When researchers, officials and policy-makers eventually realize that system capacity building is required, they too often focus solely on the school system and usually on teacher knowledge. So it is refreshing to read several articles in Issue 1-2, 2012 of Journal of Evidence-based Social Work which form part of a special Issue: Building Knowledge-Sharing Systems to Support Evidence-Informed Practice: Case Studies of “Works-in-Progress” in Public Sector Human Service Organizations. Several case studies of capacity-building in local social services agencies are presented. the topics examined include data-based decision-making, assigning senior staff to knowledge management, the development of key system performance indicators, and building organizational support for research-minded practitioners. Read more..
(An item taken from the daily/weekly/monthly ISHN Member information service) Farm to school nutrition programs are emerging in many countries as the next innovative approach to healthy eating. Three articles in Issue #4, 2012 of Childhood Obesity provide excellent analyses, along with others on school salad bars, school gardens and the elimination of processed foods by cooking from scratch in schools. All of these are good but in this commentary, we want to illustrate how narrow our focus can become, even when we use evidence-based logic models and behaviour theory. One article in this journal issue presents an excellent linear logic model that correctly depicts the multiple inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes associated with FtoS programs. As well, the model correctly seeks to take local context and feedback loops within the social system of the school and community into account. In summary, the paper presents one of the better linear logic models that we have seen. But here is the rub: what about the complexity of the school-neighbourhood-family setting and the competition from the many, many other school programs also entering that same context? If we do consider these things, then program innovations like this can become pretty academic pretty quickly. Read more
(An item taken from the daily/weekly/monthly ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #5, 2012 of the Journal of Community Psychology reports on a framework to guide and monitor the development of sustainable school-based prevention programs and approaches. School-based prevention and promotion interventions (SBPPI) improve desirable outcomes (e.g., commitment to school and attendance) and reduce undesirable outcomes (e.g., suspensions and violence). Unfortunately, our understanding of how to effectively implement and sustain SBPPI outside of well-controlled conditions is lacking. To bridge this science/“real world” practice gap, a system of sustainable implementation, which merges implementation strategies and sustainability strategies, is proposed in this article. Ecological levels and phases are part of this new concept. This conceptualization is supported by analyses from a diverse sample of 157 schools implementing Social-Emotional Character Development. The authors used the system of sustainable implementation that was measured using the Schools Implementing Towards Sustainability (SITS) scale, which was designed to be “user-friendly” in field settings by being viable and scalable. The SITS demonstrated strong reliability as well as promising concurrent and construct validity. Read more..
(An item taken from the daily/weekly/monthly ISHN Member information service) Most of the discussion about organizational change in school mental health promotion focuses on school systems, so it is refreshing to read an article in Issue #8, 2012 of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry that reports on an intervention or strategy to improve the Availability, Responsiveness and Continuity of child/youth mental health services. Evidence-based Practice (EBP) implementation is likely to be most efficient and effective in organizations with positive social contexts (i.e., organizational culture, climate, and work attitudes of clinicians). The study objective was to test whether an organizational intervention labeled Availability, Responsiveness and Continuity (ARC) could improve the organizational social contexts of community-based mental health programs for youth. The study randomly assigned 26 community-based mental health programs for youth to ARC or control conditions. Hierarchical linear models (HLM) analyses indicated that organizational culture, climate, and work attitudes were significantly improved in the ARC condition after 18 months. Clinicians in programs assigned to ARC reported less rigid, less centralized and less apathetic organizational cultures, more engaged and functional organizational climates with less role conflict, and work attitudes with improved morale, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Read more..
(An item taken from the daily/weekly/monthly ISHN Member information service) An article in the June 2012 Issue of the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity shows the value of using an evidence-based and experience-tested implementation model to improve both the effectiveness and sustainability of a school nutrition program in a tough, low income environment. .Read More
(An item taken from the daily/weekly/monthly ISHN Member information service) The Transforming Public Health project, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and convened by RESOLVE, tasked a small group of public health thought leaders with developing guidance for public health officials and policy-makers in prioritizing vital public health functions in a shifting political and fiscal landscape. The resulting document stresses the need for health departments to develop policy goals; use integrated data sets; communicate with the public and other audiences to disseminate and receive information; mobilize the community and forge partnerships; cultivate leadership along with organization, management, and business skills; and protect the public in the event of an emergency. These emerging concepts are intended for consideration by governmental health practitioners to help guide difficult resource allocation decisions while also trying to adapt to ever changing challenges, demands, and opportunities. There is much to agree with in this paper but I want to isolate and debate a key contradiction or competition within the report that dramatically affects how public health systems work with schools. Read More
(An item taken from the daily/weekly/monthly ISHN Member information service) With one of the highest participation rates of schools in an extensive school accreditation program, a dedicated team at the national level and a range of highly focused and evidenced-based programs, Singapore is among the leaders of national school health programs. This summer, they have extended the SH approach to pre-schools and universities in the most extensive set of programs found around the world. News Story (Jul 26-12) Singapore School Health CHERISH Award extended to pre-schools & universities Read more
(An item taken from the daily/weekly/monthly ISHN Member information service) An analysis of the School Health profiles in 45 US states reveals that the commitment to effective school sexual health education may be waning. CDC analyzed 2008 and 2010 School Health Profiles data for public secondary schools in 45 states. This report summarizes the results of those analyses, which indicated that in 2010, compared with 2008, the percentage of secondary schools teaching 11 topics on HIV, other STD, and pregnancy prevention in a required course in grades 6, 7, or 8 was significantly lower in 11 states and significantly higher in none; the percentage of secondary schools teaching eight topics in a required course in grades 9, 10, 11, or 12 was significantly lower in one state and significantly higher in two states; and the percentage of secondary schools teaching three condom-related topics in a required course in grades 9, 10, 11, or 12 was significantly lower in eight states and significantly higher in three states. Read more...
The Health Council of Canada is mandated to report on progress being made as a result of the 2004 Federal-Provincial Health Care Accord. Its recent 2012 progress report fails to mention anything on the commitments of Canadian governments: " governments commit to accelerate work on a pan-Canadian Public Health Strategy. For the first time, governments will set goals and targets for improving the health status of Canadians through a collaborative process with experts. The Strategy will include efforts to address common risk factors, such as physical inactivity, and integrated disease strategies. First Ministers commit to working across sectors through initiatives such as Healthy Schools".
(Posted by ISHN) The ISHN information service provided to its members monitors over 200 journals, over 100 media outlets and over 100 social media accounts and posts the titles, with links, into the School Health Insider, a members only web site as well as selected Twitter accounts. In the first week of May, 2012, we identified three journal articles that provide examples of why system, organizational and professional capacity matter in implementing/operating and sustaining programs and approaches.
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