Reading Groups: A Practical Means of Enhancing Professional Knowledge Among Human Service Practitioners

Quality human service provision is heavily dependent on practitioners maintaining up-to-date professional knowledge. We evaluated a monthly reading group process as a practical means of enhancing professional knowledge among educators in a program for adults with severe disabilities. The reading group process was designed to minimize disruptions to participants' direct contact time with students and to promote participant acceptance of the process. The process followed a structured format involving study questions and systematic prompting to ensure active participation. Comparison of pre- and post-quiz responses to short-answer and multiple-choice questions showed consistent improvement in correct answers following each of four reading group meetings. Survey responses indicated all participants reported the process to be highly acceptable. Results are discussed regarding guidelines for behavior analysts interested in enhancing professional knowledge of other practitioners with whom they work, with a focus on obtaining administrative approval for reading group activities, structuring the activities to promote active participation, and using strategies to enhance participant acceptance

Pathways to a Cancer-Free Future: a protocol for modelled evaluations to maximize the future impact on cervical cancer in Australia

Objective Australia's HPV vaccination and HPV-based cervical screening programs are changing the landscape in cervical cancer prevention. We aim to identify areas which can make the biggest further impact on cervical cancer burden. This protocol describes the first stage of a program of work called Pathways-Cervix that aims to generate evidence from modelled evaluations of interventions across the cervical cancer spectrum. Methods Based on evidence from literature reviews and guidance from a multi-disciplinary Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), the most relevant evaluations for prevention, diagnosis and treatment were identified. Results Priority evaluations agreed by the SAC included: increasing/decreasing and retaining vaccination uptake at the current level; vaccinating older women; increasing screening participation; methods for triaging HPV-positive women; improving the diagnosis of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cancer; treating cervical abnormalities and cancer; and vaccinating women treated for CIN2/3 to prevent recurrence. Evaluations will be performed using a simulation model, Policy1-Cervix previously used to perform policy evaluations in Australia. Exploratory modelling of interventions using idealised scenarios will initially be conducted in single birth cohorts. If these have a significant impact on findings then evaluations with more realistic assumptions will be conducted. Promising strategies will be investigated further by multi-cohort simulations predicting health outcomes, resource use and cost outcomes. Conclusions Pathways-Cervix will assess the relative benefits of strategies and treatment options in a systematic and health economic framework, producing a list of ‘best buys’ for future decision-making in cervical cancer control