Prev Chronic Dis

BackgroundAs evidence grows about the benefits of policy and environmental changes to support active living and healthy eating, effective tools for implementing change must be developed. Youth advocacy, a successful strategy in the field of tobacco control, should be evaluated for its potential in the field of obesity prevention.Community ContextSan Diego State University collaborated with the San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative to evaluate Youth Engagement and Action for Health! (YEAH!), a youth advocacy project to engage youth and adult mentors in advocating for neighborhood improvements in physical activity and healthy eating opportunities. Study objectives included documenting group process and success of groups in engaging in community advocacy with decision makers.MethodsIn 2011 and 2012, YEAH! group leaders were recruited from the San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative\ue2\u20ac\u2122s half-day train-the-trainer seminars for adult leaders. Evaluators collected baseline and postproject survey data from youth participants and adult group leaders and interviewed decision makers.OutcomesOf the 21 groups formed, 20 completed the evaluation, conducted community assessments, and advocated with decision makers. Various types of decision makers were engaged, including school principals, food service personnel, city council members, and parks and recreation officials. Eleven groups reported change(s) implemented as a result of their advocacy, 4 groups reported changes pending, and 5 groups reported no change as a result of their efforts.InterpretationEven a brief training session, paired with a practical manual, technical assistance, and commitment of adult leaders and youth may successfully engage decision makers and, ultimately, bring about change

Benefits of Conducting Postproject Reviews to Capture Lessons Learned

Organizational learning has been a focus of scholars since 1970. Researchers have demonstrated that conducting postproject reviews to capture lessons learned significantly improves organizational learning. Guided by the concept of organizational learning, the purpose of this case study was to explore how 6 New York metropolitan organizational leaders used postproject reviews to prevent project managers from repeating the same mistakes, increasing cost and time overruns, and experiencing project failure. Semistructured face-to-face and phone interviews were conducted with a project sponsor and 5 project managers in the New York metropolitan area. Data were analyzed using the process of coding and condensing the codes, which produced 5 themes, including effective lessons learned, capturing lessons learned, benefits of lessons learned, barriers to postproject reviews, and leadership support. The findings of this study indicated that organizational leaders used standard templates and organizational policies to ensure project managers execute postproject reviews. Organizational leaders and project managers may benefit from the findings of this study by learning the advantages of conducting postproject reviews. This study may contribute to positive social change by organizations achieving cost avoidance when they reduce project failures and increase project success

Engaging Rural Youth in Physical Activity Promotion Research in an After-School Setting

BACKGROUND: West Virginia, the second most rural state in the nation, has a higher than average prevalence of chronic diseases, especially those related to physical inactivity and obesity. Innovative educational approaches are needed to increase physical activity among adults and youth in rural areas and reduce rural health disparities. This paper describes West Virginia's Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) Education and Outreach on Healthy Weight and Physical Activity. The project involved teachers and underserved high school students in social science research aimed at increasing physical activity among student and community participants. CONTEXT: The HSTA is an ongoing initiative of university–school–community partnerships in West Virginia that offers academic enrichment to high-school students in after-school clubs. For this project, six HSTA clubs were awarded grants to conduct research on physical activity promotion during the 2003–2004 school year. The project was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. METHODS: Focus groups, workshops, and targeted technical assistance were used to assist teachers and students with developing, implementing, and evaluating their research projects. Each club completed one project, and students reported on their research at the annual HSTA symposium held in the spring. Teachers documented their experience with the projects in process journals before and during implementation. CONSEQUENCES: Data from the teachers' process journals revealed that they believed this research experience increased their students' interest in health and health science careers and increased their students' understanding of social science research methods. Challenges included lack of time after school to complete all activities, competing student activities, limited social science research experience of both teachers and students, and delays that resulted from a lengthy human subjects approval process. INTERPRETATION: The entire process was too ambitious to be achieved in one school year. Recommendations for future implementation include offering training modules on social science research methods for both teachers and students. These modules could be offered as a graduate course for teachers and as an in-school elective within the curriculum or as a summer institute for students. This preparatory training might alleviate some of the time management issues experienced by all the projects and could result in more skilled teacher and student researchers

Teacher Perceptions of the Impact of Digital Photo Stories on Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study employed a qualitative method, multiple case study design to examine teacher perceptions of the impact of digital photo stories used as an instructional strategy with students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Five highly qualified teachers of students with ASD from four public schools in a western North Carolina school district participated in open-ended interviews before and after creating and completing a digital photo story utilizing a digital photo-story tool with students with ASD. The guiding question for this study was “How does the use of digital photo stories as an instructional tool impact teacher perceptions of students with ASD?” Qualitative methods of observation and open-ended interview questions were used to collect data to answer three research questions. (RQ1) How do various teachers approach the experience of utilizing digital photo stories with students with ASD? (RQ2) What are teacher perceptions of the impact of the digital photo-story production experience on communication skills for their students with ASD? (RQ3) What are teacher perceptions of the impact of the digital photo-story production experience on social skills for their students with ASD? The results obtained from the data collection of pre and postproject interview responses and from observations of teacher-student interactions during the lessons indicated the teachers perceived the digital photo-story process had a positive impact on the communication and social skills of their students with ASD. Participants emphasized the connections the digital photo-story processes had with evidence-based practices such as activating prior knowledge, joint attention, technology-aided instruction and intervention (TAII), repeated readings, social stories, visual cues, use of a prompt hierarchy, feedback as reinforcement, and promoting appropriate communication skills and social behavior. Recommendations addressed further training for teachers and paraprofessionals in utilizing the digital photo-story strategy for children with ASD

Reviewing the Past for a Better Future: Reevaluating the IT Project Retrospective

This paper provides a commentary on previous research to inform our understanding of IT project retrospectives. The literature surrounding project retrospective outcomes, measurement and processes are discussed, and critical factors necessary for project retrospective success are considered. Consequently, semi-structured interviews are undertaken with experienced project managers to determine levels of agreement between research and practitioner disciplines. Outcome findings include multiple project retrospective definitions being used, differing project retrospective outcomes being desired, thirteen project retrospective processes being advocated, and no project retrospective measurements given to confirm whether these outcomes have been successfully achieved. Subsequently, project retrospective processes are presented such that each process has the capability to deliver on any outcome irrespective of its nature. Further research is suggested necessary to pursue a more rigorous and relevant conceptual understanding of the IT project retrospective construct

Measuring in action research : four ways of integrating quantitative methods in participatory dynamics

Background of INCASI Project H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 GA 691004. WP1: CompilationAlthough action research uses both qualitative and quantitative methods, few contributions have addressed the specific role of the latter in this kind of research. This paper focuses on how quantitative methods can be integrated with participatory dynamics in action research designs. Four types of integration are defined and exemplified. The paper concludes with some reflections on how the integration of quantitative methods in these designs must address epistemological and methodological issues

Community-based landslide risk reduction:Managing disasters in small steps

Many areas of the world are at risk from landslides and their consequences; rainfall-triggered landslides particularly affect developing countries in the tropics. Rapid urbanization and the associated growth of unauthorized and densely populated communities in hazardous locations, such as steep slopes, are powerful drivers in a cycle of disaster risk accumulation. Frequently, it is the most socioeconomically vulnerable who inhabit landslide-prone slopes?thus increasing their exposure to landslide hazards and often increasing the hazard itself. There is growing recognition that urban landslide disaster risk is increasing in developing countries, and that new approaches to designing and delivering landslide risk reduction measures on-the-ground are urgently needed. Community-based Landslide Risk Reduction: Managing Disasters in Small Steps gives practical guidance to policy makers, project managers, and practitioners on how to work with the most vulnerable urban communities to mitigate landslide disasters. The book aims to establish three foundations for delivering ex-ante landslide risk reduction: ?a scientific base: landslide hazard can often be reduced through the construction of strategically aligned networks of surface drains; ?a community base: community residents are not just seen as those ?at risk,? but as the people with the best practical knowledge of the slopes where they live, and who can actively participate in delivering landslide risk reduction solutions; and, ?an evidence base: delivering effective landside risk reduction measures can change ex-ante risk management practices and policies. The authors provide a flexible blueprint for Management of Slope Stability in Communities (?MoSSaiC?) in which policy makers, project managers, practitioners, and communities are engaged in understanding rainfall-triggered landslide hazards, developing local teams for project delivery, prioritizing the most at-risk communities, designing and constructing appropriate slope drainage solutions, and adopting good slope stability management practices. This approach can lead governments to develop new policies for reducing landslide risk

Journal of Applied Communications vol. 92 (1-2) Full Issue

Journal of Applied Communications vol. 92 (1-2) - Full Issu

Towards the strict legal enforcement of best practice principles in oil and gas exploration and production in Nigeria

The exploration and production of oil and gas remains a priority for the Federal  Government of Nigeria, as the revenue that comes from it is a major source of  foreign income, and offers the opportunity for the transfer of technology to the  country. However, oil and gas exploration and production has the potential to cause severe environmental degradation, not only to the physical environment, but also to the health, culture, economic and social structure of the communities where it is produced. Environmental impacts of the extraction of oil and gas at different times and in various places have included air and water pollution, oil spills, sociocultural impacts, which disproportionately affect women and children, ecological damage and accidental fires that result in the destruction of lives and properties. The  achievement of a synergy between environmental protection and the economic  benefits afforded by oil and gas exploitation has posed a challenge in the past and continues to do so now and into the future. The aim of this article is to contribute to the growing literature on the need to integrate the protection of the environment into the regulatory regimes that control the exploration and production of oil and gas in Nigeria. The article provides an overview of the environmental issues and a little incursion into the disproportionate effect on women and children and the technical and management approaches to achieving high environmental performance in the activities of the oil and gas exploration and production. The article found that environmental regulations are often ineffective because they are substantively inadequate and/or inadequately enforced. This accounts for environmental pollution arising from oil and gas industry. The article highlighted some of the best approaches to achieving high environmental performance in the oil and gas sector and made some useful recommendations.Key Words: Best Practice, Oil and Gas, Exploration, Production, Legal Enforcement, Nigeri

A Regional Guidebook for Applying the Hydrogeomorphic Approach to the Functional Assessment

The Hydrogeomorphic (HGM) Approach is a method for developing and applying indices for the site-specific assessment of wetland functions. The HGM Approach was initially designed to be used in the context of the Clean Water Act Section 404 Regulatory Program permit review process to analyze project alternatives, minimize impacts, assess unavoidable impacts, determine mitigation requirements, and monitor the success of compensatory mitigation. However, a variety of other potential uses have been identified, including the design of wetland restoration projects, and management of wetlands.https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ebooks/1014/thumbnail.jp